2020 and all that jazz….

How do peeps

Hope everybody has had a belting time over the festivities and are feeling energised for the new year? My trousers don’t seem to button up too well presently, so I guess that equals to having a good time…..or they have just shrunk in the wash maybe? I have already started the New Year fitness regime and purchased a new spin bike. My fitness is going really well at the moment and the bike even doubles up as a coat hanger after a hard days work for my work coat. So win win situation right there in my book. I suspect it will more and more become a coat hanger though in the future.

My friend visited me for a couple of days around the festivities. I don’t see much of him during the year due to living in different countries, so it is always great having a catch up (and drinking beer). During day one, he informed that he was virtually vegan these days….just before ordering a chicken pie for his dinner!!! Other meals during the visit included Lamb Tikka Rhogan Josh & another chicken dish from the Indian restaurant….glad to see the veganism is going well for you buddy. I am virtually a millionaire in this line of thinking….just short of nearly a million to qualify.

Anyways, onto Porsche things. We have some cheeky cars coming in within the next few weeks, so exciting stuff for us. I will update in the next blog when I know which ones we have secured. We have still been mad busy through the festivities, mainly selling/ packing stuff to ship out. One particular large part was shipped to Norway recently and Andy had a brilliant idea to save damages occurring whilst the parts are in transit. As well as putting ‘Caution’ or ‘Fragile’ tape on, he thought writing ‘bomb’ on the package would help to stop the parcels from being manhandled roughly, his logic being the couriers would think twice before throwing parcels around. I could see some flaws to his cheeky plan but didn’t have the heart to disagree with him. I told him I would consider it and get back to him….say in the year 2060. Oh take me now Lord.

Anyhow, will sign off for now to just go and do a few miles on the spin bike….or in real terms, drink some beer whilst listening to music.

All the best

Mac McGovern

Goodbye 2019…hello 2020

How do folks

Would just like to say from myself and the crew, Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to each and every one of our customers past and present. It has been a pleasure dealing with you all this year, it has been a real blast. We have met many nice folks along the way and hope this continues for next year too.

We have made our ‘final’ move hopefully and we are settling in nicely to our new place. Some building work to be done in spring but giddy already for next year and for all the cars we will encounter…I know it sounds sad but we do get giddy over nothing at times.

A little story for you. Last Christmas about a week before the big day I got a message from a French guy saying he would like to pop over and pick up a body shell from ourselves but it would probably be Christmas Day when he arrived. I said no problem as I didn’t expect him to turn up as we get these kind of messages all the time. Anyway to cut a long story short, a knock on the door Christmas Day morning and lo and behold two French guys standing there smiling their heads off….well bonjour and all that malarkey. I was not in the good books whilst I did Porsche things I can tell you, no festive cheer for the next hour or so!!

But that little story reinforces why I like doing what I do, no two days are ever the same and you have a chuckle everyday. I actually look forward to getting up and doing Porsche things.

Right then, waffled long enough now. Will speak soon but in the meantime look after each other and have a safe time over the Festive period. Oh yeah, and buy some parts too.

All the best

Mac McGovern

Worse garage purchases…

Hi guys

As we are going through the motions of another garage move, I do like to de-clutter and watch things getting binned, as there is a certain satisfaction to filling skips up with the non-moving items. The only problem with this is we generally get asked for those very same parts about three weeks after I skipped them even though they have sat on the shelf for the last four years without any interest or enquires!! True story.

Anyway, as we are moving again, it gives you time to take stock of things that will come with you and the things that won’t. I have bought some truly great workshop tools throughout the years which have made the job easier & safer and have saved me loads of man hours on various jobs. The times over my lifetime when I didn’t have the right tool for the job and I have tried to make do or driven around the world to borrow the tool with promises of getting it back to the owner within three milliseconds of completing the job must run into the hundreds…..well about eight times to be truthful but that isn’t the point. It is eight times too many.

So anyway, this leads me on to my worst garage buys. Maybe not worst but not actually needed or used in the end is probably more correct. I bought a pallet banding machine to save time and effort to securing items on pallets but it was so fiddly that it lasted just one pallet job, so we put it away into a corner of the workshop to just gather dust where it still sits to this day. And yes it is going in the skip. The next one I recall was a battery jump starter by an unknown company name, didn’t bother reading the reviews and just went out and bought it. It failed miserably first time on the smallest of engine, so it was returned pronto back to the seller. The next one was an engine stand so that I could work on engines when time allowed it but to be fair, engines don’t last long in the workshop before they are sold so that was a big fat waste of time. Plus, most of the locking pins have been lost/mislaid over time, so now it is as much use as Anne Franks drum kit.

Other things I recall were specialised oil baths/parts cleaners, which when you got a bit giddy and were giving it loads to get some ingrained dirt off parts it looked like the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster with more oil on you/the floor than actually in the oil bath. Yes you guessed it…..binned straight away. Now that I think more about it, there has been loads of crap stuff…wheel dollies that didn’t do what they were supposed to do and became all weak and feeble. I really must concentrate on decent tools in the future and not buy tat.

Anyways, must shuffle off now

All the best

Mac McGovern

PS I have just sorted out WhatsApp on Andys phone and now he calls it WhatsUp??!!! Ffs, will this pain never end…

Moving Units….again

Howdy folks

Well what can I say….moving again!!!! Jeez this is getting painful now…second move in as many years. To be fair, we are struggling with the limited room so it is time to up sticks and move on. We really must make this next move work and be our permanent home, as I don’t think I can do this again as I am beginning to lose the will to live. Anyway, we are well underway with the move, so we best get our skates on as I have a holiday to enjoy coming up the rails quickly. Looking forward to 2 weeks away doing diddly squat apart from eating/drinking. That’s probably a big fat lie….I will be worried sick that the new unit will be burnt down by the time I get back or a plague of locusts will have descended on us in biblical proportions & devoured all the Brembo brake calipers or some other catastrophe!!!! Palpitations now….do I really want a holiday????

We have just suffered a theft of parts at the unit too. Broad daylight, hopped over the fence and robbed some catalytic converters then high tailed it off the industrial estate in their getaway Citreon Piccasso. All caught on CCTV but Police can’t be bothered doing much even though number plate is easily visible…probably not a big enough crime for them to put their doughnuts down for. And as for the ‘security’ guards on site…who needs a password or anything when they just wave you on and wish the tea leaves well in their thieving expedition. Shoulders being shrugged from everybody as it is not their problem. Double thumbs up from me guys, you are all special.

Also in the same week, I received a parking fine too. I couldn’t understand this one as I always pain the £1 charge to park, so you can imagine my horror to getting a fine for £160. I still had my parking receipt so was scratching my head till I realised that I had paid for the next car park along and not the one that I was parked on. Run by the same company, they didn’t want to know about human error or any other nonsense, it was the fine or nothing. That’s me on dry bread and water this week then….

I would also like to welcome my daughter aboard onto the team, joining us as a Director of the company. Looking forward to mithering her for things and being a general pain in the a*se 🙂 I am sure it will be all good honey x

Now onto the phenomenon that is Andy. Whilst picking up our respective meals at the end of the day, he thought it was highly amusing that he had a bastard chicken meal, the school boy humour really tickled him till I pointed out that it was actually a basted chicken meal but that didn’t seem to stop him chuckling that it was a bastard meal and telling complete strangers who were shopping what he had discovered!!! The sad thing was some laughed with him (the 6 fingered on one hand variety) whilst others just looked at him as though he was moonstruck or something….I really do need a holiday I think. Also he thinks it is highly amusing when the van’s reserve light comes on as it makes an audible ‘ping’…he smiles like a Cheshire cat whilst I search for my wallet (again). The joys of picking up all the bills eh?

Anyway till next time, adieu

Mac McGovern

 

And here’s another one….

Hi all

Just like buses, when one arrives another one is just around the corner. As predicted, virtually everything has flown off the first S2 we only got a couple of weeks ago…engine & gearbox off to Poland, black leather interior off to a good home…in fact not a lot left full stop!! We have just about finished off sweeping up around this carcass when the next S2 has rocked up.

The ‘new’ one has got a good engine & gearbox, so cannot see any reason why these units will hang around too long. The interior is quite nice too, cream leather seats which should sell themselves. Will be listing the sets of Brembo brake calipers we now have in stock off these two vehicles and fingers crossed they will be soon on their merry way.

We have had a good few months this year selling loads of parts off after a pretty quiet start to the year and I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the team for all their hard work and dedication to the effort.

Anyways, I think that is all for the time being. Will keep you posted to anymore exciting developments in the land of the Porsche parts.

All the best

Mac McGovern

944 S2..Well it’s been a while…

Hi everybody

Well look what we have found!! A 3.0 Porsche 944 S2 in good nick…well, the bodywork isn’t fab but the interior is belting. Full black leather seats in great condition with matching black interior in good condition too. Giddy kipper time all round…even comes with a working Porsche tyre compressor.

I suspect that the engine and the interior won’t hang around, they are getting increasingly rare to get in this condition. There is quite a lot of good salvageable parts on this one, so I will keep you posted on the parts as they come off.

Also just managed to pick another 944 S2 up, so will let you know when that one makes an appearance. We seem to be having a run on the older stuff at the moment..at least it keeps Andy out of mischief. You don’t hear a peep out of him when these rock up, I am sure he could dismantle one in his sleep.

Anyways, all the best and will write soon’ish.

Mac McGovern

More stories from the madhouse…

Hi to each and everyone of you

Just thought I would have a catch up and keep peeps up to date with goings on at the madhouse. We had a slow start to the year but it has picked up nicely now, so now we are running around like headless chickens trying to keep up….sometimes failing badly but generally all good on the madness scales.

Our bubble wrap, scotch tap, cellotape etc are bought in from the internet in bulk so we always have plenty in to get orders out on time and in a safe manner. But our boxes are the bane of my life at times, we have all manner of sizes and shapes which just take up soooooooo much room…..plus rolls of bubble wrap everywhere just puts a top hat on things!! We get given packing boxes from everywhere and anywhere as we are always in constant need and I never check what is on the external packaging labels. I should do because one time there were hazardous chemical symbols all over the box and the courier had to be persuaded that it wasn’t nuclear waste he would be carrying from Chernobyl but a brake caliper. I was even close to opening the package to convince him!!

Anyway to cut a long story short, this particular day we had boxed different orders up as we always do, booked them for collection etc. I didn’t think anymore about it till a few days later an irate customer contacted me demanding answers. Perplexed I tried to get to the bottom of the matter as I knew the part was a good one. It turned out it was the packaging that was the problem as we had dispatched his order in a ‘Rampant Rabbit’ vibrator box that had been left on his door step by the courier due to nobody being home. He wasn’t best pleased….I mean what would his neighbours think of him/his wife in leafy suburbia Chalfont St Giles? I shudder to think…. shudder probably not the best choice of word there 🙂

Hopefully he understood that it was a genuine mistake and we promised that we would be more careful with our packaging next time….I have a sneaky suspicion that the courier knew all about it all along and left it in plain view for chuckle purposes.

Anyways, will write again soonest.

All the best

Mac McGovern