A couple of weeks later, the engine, transmission, hubs, brakes etc had all been cleaned up, several lines replaced, fluids bled and changed and it was time for the car to be tested.
By now the interior had been completed after much deliberation and selection of fabrics, their breathing, cleaning and maintenance properties being taken into account, foam qualities tested by many back sides, everything was installed and vehicle was usable once again.
With the "Eye of the Tiger" theme playing in my head I jumped in the car, for this moment I had a new key cut out of the finest light weight Italian aluminium dud.
I gently stroked the dashboard of the beast, scratched it's belly, whispering "easy tiger, easyyyy easy" and turned the key half way...
The instrumentation lit up, fuel gauge showing that the 90 liter tank had around 5 liters in it, I eased the handbrake to the unlock position, the handbrake light turned off... looking good so far, the presence of glo-plugs in the 3.4 liter direct injection turbo B13 T engine meant I didnt need to wait for ignition coils to heat up so I cranked...
ok, something was not right here, the car wasn't talking to me, thinking to my self "kitt, where the eff are you, kitt,
talk to me baby" I tried again, the half drained batteries made a feeble attempt to turn over... still nothing.
Houston, we have a problem...
Red faced I got out of the car, scanned the workshop looking for blood, I saw the elves scamper away hiding behind parked cars, the troll crawled under hydrolic ramp's inspection pit and hid, ustaad looked up at the sky concentrating immensely on the flying habits of the local birds, I swallowed my temper, politely asked for a battery and some jump-start cables, we connected her up to a spare battery,
ok, attempt No.3, key turning, turning, turning,
reminiscent of Frankenstein, in a half attempt the dragon puffed out some smoke and came to life, "I've created a monster" she looked good, sounded better. As I kicked the accelerator the car vibrated and the workshop reverberated with cheers, the crowds went wild... well a singular cheer as I cheered myself.
Beaming I stepped out of the beast, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind... patted ustaad, patted the elves on their little elfish heads, snapped my fingers and winked at the troll, it was now time for electrics.
I had previously figured that there was a battery charging problem since I had already installed a pair of brand new 100amp batteries, but was secretly hoping it would magically disappear... it didnt, so off to the electrician the next morning and it turned out the cut off switch was burned, alternator was under charging, also the AC fan switch relay was gone, I ran around the car with a jacket tester and amp-meter testing everything, it all looked good. So it was time for the Shershah chronicles to begin.