Rover Vitesse, Good Bye Tess

Well the time finally came, Tess is now with her new owner.

I know I have been quiet for the past month or so, but funnily enough, I had been driving Tess a lot recently and she had been completely solid and reliable, so there wasn’t a lot actually going on. I have also recently started a new job, so been flat out working.

Tess had been advertised for sale for about a month, with a lot of interest, and two people claiming to be “getting the money together” to buy her (and one of them even viewing the car and loving her). Recently a third interested party contacted me, offering to swap his boat for Tess. Unfortunately I have no use for a boat (or anything to even tow it) so declined the offer.

Instead, he chose to list and sell the boat, which happened fast, and that freed up the cash to enable him to purchased Tess. It all happened very quickly, and Tess ended up on a trailer to her new owner up in Auckland, yesterday.

She certainly got some looks from passersby, and it’s easy to see why. Stunning.

Brent from Classic Towing (big thanks to him for taking good care of her, again) was the lucky fellow that got to transport her again, so it was a familiar sight, albeit, just a bit different.

She didn’t need blocks to help her clear the ramps, and she started and drove on easily (unlike last time, where she just didn’t want to start).

Unfortunately it sounds like she had some teething issues with the new owner, who had her delivered this morning, but I’m sure she will pull herself together and play nice soon.

So that is Tess. Its been a wild ride, and I have sunken a lot of time and some money (just shy of $3000 in parts)into her, but she should be a good sorted example now. I’ll miss the noise, and her stunning looks.

I will have some parts available for sale once I sort through my spares, so keep an eye on the SD1 Facebook page in the next couple of weeks.

In other news, Snicket was dropped off at VTNZ yesterday for its re-registration inspection, but im still waiting to see how that goes. They’re really dragging their feet, for what should be a quick and simple process. It’s almost like someone who books in and pays a couple of hundred dollars, doesn’t get priority…

I also have a flight booked for Monday, to pick the new car up from Hamilton and drive it back, so keep an eye out for that one. I’ll be posting that trip on Instagram as I hoon down the Island, with a post to follow.

I leave you with a couple of videos of Tess I took for the new owner

Good bye Tess, please be good for your new owner.