Pacific_Blue

Glad you enjoy them! Yes, the foliage has been interesting. A lot of the places I've been to so far have all been preserved pretty well intact but it is the thing that can make you need a second or third look to make sure it's the right spot. And the mean streets of London - don't even start me! Remember how everyone laughed at Prince Charles when he said London was potentially going to become unrecognisable and full of 'carbuncles'? Wasn't far wrong, was he? It's like downtown Dubai these days. I was amazed that the site of the Silvertown explosion in 1917 was finally being developed a couple of years back. Because of any number of reasons (not least probably the residue of having an entire munitions factory explode), the area had just been left for 100 years and was one of the locations used in Ashes to Ashes, the pastiche/tribute to shows of the era, to recreate the docklands area as it was in 1981. Now the Qataris are building a 'village' of glass and steel tower blocks on it. When the BBC filmed Ashes to Ashes, the biggest part of the budget was on CGI to remove various modern tower buildings from almost every exterior shot. A lot of the East London locations used in later series of The Professionals were previously used in The Sweeney. I think these things passed around quite a bit then as they do today. I rented a cottage in Oxfordshire for a year or so, turned out that at least three episodes of Midsomer Murders had been filmed there! I'll happily put other then-and-now pics up if there's interest but I'm afraid they're a bit light on Skodas!

Thank you! I find it intriguing to see how places change (or don't). I've been to almost all of the pubs used in Inspector Morse over the years as well. My Dad and I used to go on road trips to find WW2 airfields or places of interest - all round where the Great Train Robbery took place and so on. My friend inspired me as he's got a forum for Seventies TV and they go off on tours for anything from The Sweeney (most popular!) to On The Buses. Usually half of them are in fancy dress and/or have appropriate transport. When they went to the block of flats used as Regan's home in the Sweeney for the first time the lady living there apparently came back home with her shopping to find a dozen men in flares and a couple of Ford Consuls outside. "Oh, you'd better come in I'll put the kettle on," said she. With The Professionals I think it would take two full days in summer to go to everywhere around Oxford, Aylesbury, St. Albans, Reading, Maidenhead, Henley and Windsor that was used. Most of that was the first series because after that they moved camp closer to London, a lot round Enfield, Wembley, Highgate and Crouch End.

During lockdown I went back to my favourite go-to TV show and watched all 57 episodes again from start to finish. When we got eased a bit in July I thought I'd go and have a scout out for some of the filming locations, and the results are here with my Fabia standing in for the CI5 Fords wherever possible! I shan't put any of them without the car up as that might be stretching the point, but I've now got about 5 days out mapped and ready to go before we even think about going into London. Lutman's Haven is a little side road that was used for a shot of Bodie and Doyle heading to a motorcycle scramble in the episode Wild Justice... Just around the corner from this spot is the old Seven Stars pub in Knowl Hill, where the bikers met in the same episode, Wild Justice, before going off to the competition. It's now a private residence. One of my all-time favourite episodes is Blackout, where a girl with amnesia may have information to help prevent a terrorist attack. They take her to a 'hospital' which was - and remains - the Holiday Inn at Maidenhead! In the same episode, Blackout, the CI5 boys take the girl on a road trip to see if anything triggers memories about the planned terrorist attack. They stop at a little garage for ice creams and innuendo. Fuel pumps have gone and a dealership is on the property now. About half a mile away in the village itself, the girl in Blackout lets out a squeak and they stop. She remembers the timbered house on the green. Makes things easier to spot! And the last one with the Fabia for now, at the end of the episode 'Foxhole on the Roof' they discover that there has been a 'Mr. Big' involved in the plot to hold a hospital to ransom. Doyle goes off to raid his house, which is on a farm near Fairoaks airfield... Yes, it's probably a bit batty. I should probably limit my emissions and stay at home. But these lovely spots were all within a few miles of where I live and I've done less than a third of my annual mileage this year! Hope you like them, anyway.

Hi Nigel, originally Northamptonshire here too and still in motorsport. Just. 2020 has a lot to answer for! Glad you're happy with your Octavia, I've always had a soft spot for them.

We've got a 12-year-old Terrorist called Newby. Deaf as a post but still pulling like a train! Enjoy the car.

Thanks, Lee. Yes I hope this 'costing lots of time and money right before Christmas' thing is just a phase she's going through! The main things for 2021 are going to be stereo-related: 1) get it going again (the code I had written down was wrong and the previous owner gave me a wrong code so now i'm locked out) 2) get the radio to hold a signal 3) fit a CD player under the passenger seat After that it will just be keeping the bodywork in good shape. Until the next thing!

Hi everyone, I can't believe my old login worked! I seem to have last visited in 2015 or so, so thanks for still being here I guess. As I've just put in my profile, my first ever car, in 1990, was a 1988 Skoda 120L in battleship grey that my Dad picked up at the auctions for very little. In 1996-98 I worked for Skoda UK on the motorsport side, doing the British Rally Championship with Steve Wedgbury, the amazing 1996 RAC and 1997 British season with Stig Blomqvist and finally as manufacturer representative on the Skoda Trophy. In that final year we also launched the Octavia WRC at the 1998 Rally GB. Skoda in its infinite wisdom saw fit to give me a new Felicia every year. I had a 1.3, a 1.9 diesel and a 1.6 MPI, all of which were fully branded up in the rally livery and attracted rather too much attention from the XR2 brigade! Did a lot of miles in that time - I think the record was 34,000 miles in the diesel through 1997, until it was savagely assaulted by Harri Rovanpera's SEAT Ibiza Kit Car on a road section of the RAC. After living abroad for a few years, I moved back in 2009 and needed a car. I found a lovely 1.3 Felicia Pacific that served me well until the rot became terminal. Last summer, 2019, I was driving almost 70 miles a day and spending a fortune in fuel. My colleague had inherited a yellow Mk.1 vRS from her granny (!!) and wanted an upgrade when she became a manager, so I gladly took it off her hands. Saved me a fortune in fuel and is without doubt the nicest modern(ish) car I've owned in many years. The car cost me next to nothing as it had been written off due to age in 2018 after a delivery van reversed into the right front corner. Because of the family history with the car from new, my colleague repaired it as it only needed a new headlight unit, and bonnet. It's now been written off a second time after I got rear-ended during lockdown while waiting for oncoming traffic. There was barely any contact and all that happened was the bumper was pushed out of alignment on one side and a couple of scuffs that the body shop polished out. I have no idea what insurers do as a result! Here to chat about nonsense and call upon your knowledge when the little Fabia has a tizzy. So far I've had to fix: New headlight bulb (when purchased) New turbo (original went 'pop', December 2019) New brake calliper (nearside rear corroded and stuck on, November 2020) Heating vent (bottom of the dash fell off, November 2020) Alternator belt (gave up, December 2020) Anti roll-bar bushes (clonking noise became unbearable, December 2020) Multiple tail light bulbs (seems to eat them) The current jobs I've got to do on it are to sort out the radio code, fix the fuel filler door, and find a way to encourage the radio to keep hold of a station for longer than 5 minutes because I spend more time scanning for a signal than anything else. Longer term I'll probably fit a new bonnet (the one that's on it came from a scrappy and is slightly faded compared to the rest of the car), a new nearside wing mirror (currently held together with tape from the previous owner) and get the little nicks and scratches fixed. Overall I'm delighted to be back in the realm of Skoda owners. The car's not perfect but it is original and I want to preserve it. One day I'd like to build a replica Felicia Kit Car for weekend fun, assuming that one is left by then. For now the Fabia does work and play duties admirably. Thanks for reading this far, if you have. Look forward to seeing you on the forums.