Lofty

Thanks Gav, I'll not lie, it's been an emotional couple of days knowing she was going, testament I think to the fact that I'd done more on the car than anything else prior, and it's been a real labour of love. I'll keep the thread updated with any pics of the car I get as time goes by. I would like to say thank you to all of you who've commented, contributed etc, these positive comments are more impactful that you'd ever know. Much love.x

Update time As you know I was talking about the possibility of the Fabia finding a new home, but before that I needed to get the final mapping sorted so that it was at least set up properly for any prospective new owner. I went back to Performance Torque in nearby Wombourne, and Will (the owner) remembered the car from back when he did the initial base mapping. I discussed the fact that the car was going to be sold and we agreed for him to set the car up on not too an aggressive a set up, to make sure it was going to be as nice and reliable as possible, and not just set up for headline figures. A couple of days later I get the call to say the car is done. With the larger injectors the car was still making more power than the 300bhp, but with the downside of much greater smoke levels, so in the interest of not being a complete unsociable animal, he settled at 2.0 bar of boost and the amount of 300.6 bhp. I'm made up that the car made a number starting with a 3, and that it was at such a conservative boost level. Kind of proved the concept right I had in my mind when building the engine. End result is a car that is very fast indeed, with nearly 400lb/ft of torque it just gathers pace very, very quickly indeed. The drive back from mapping was an emotional bitter sweet journey as a few days before I had agreed a deal to sell the car to a friend who had previously bought my classic 1969 Mk2 Austin Mini from me, so I know above all else the car is going to a good home. The Fabia will be joining his other cars in his eclectic collection such as GT3 RS, Audi R8, Escort Cosworth, Numerous 306 GTI-6's and will lead a pampered life within his heated garage, much like it has done with me for all these years. So today I waved goodbye to her. Time now to focus on getting my Mercedes W124 concours restoration back underway and try not to mourn the passing of Daffodil too much.

Appreciate the kind words Gav, and yes nice spec Fabias are creeping up in price. With mine I’m confident it’s pretty unique in the market place, especially with the finish all over, so I’m looking for circa £10k for it.

Yeah it’ll not be your typical Facebook Fabia price🤣

After all these years, and all that work, I’m having serious thoughts about moving the Fabia on to concentrate on current and future projects. While strictly not a “For Sale” post it’s more of a question of if anyone is interested in discussing this with me off here, drop me a message and we can have a chat. Cheers Matt

I'm never far from a Picnic Chair. Or indeed a Picnic.

Thanks Gav, i think the last Brisky event the car saw was at Gaydon??? Although i do remember a Rockingham one as well - i remember that because my kids moaned all day!!! Both events years ago!

Not quite 12 months since the last update but the best part of... sorry! The car is out and about, albeit doing only special journeys, shows and evening drives to still try and run the new engine in, but slow progress is better than no progress right? I did book onto the Skoda Owners Club "Skodafest 2025" day held this year again at Chetwynd Deer Park in Shropshire, a mere hour from home. Bear in mind the lovely weather the UK had had the previous many weeks, the show day started off wet. So off we set, in the rain, wincing at every puddle and headed towards Newport. Luckily as we got into Newport the skies brightened and we chanced across a Shell garage with a snow foam jet wash, so a quick blast off of what was quite a grubby car saw it at least a bit cleaner. Into the show and I dried the car, cleaned inside the wheels (bloody stupid idea yellow wheels, grumble grumble) and the car looked great. The sun even came out for the majority of the afternoon and i met a number of people off here who recognised the car and came to say hi. There were prizes being awarded on the day for Best Car Prior to 1994, Best Car Post 1994 and Best in Show overall. Consider me humbled to be called up to be awarded Best in Show. Honestly my vote had gone to an immaculate Favorit in Blue that was simply beautiful, a true classic if ever there was one. So yeah, there we go, an update and a trophy. Dunno what else to say really, apart from thank you. Photos to follow.

Cheers Gav, feel quite humbled but equally chuffed to be awarded best in show. I guess it means I’ve gotta up the level for next year now! Good to meet everyone who come and said hello and talked about the car.

Looking forward to it, even given the old knacker a polish.