Hello (again) from the UK

[4muddyfeet]

I don't have an Aurora, but my friend Rico does (aurorah.proboards.com/thread/29744/new-member-uk) and he's storing it in my barn/garage/hovel over winter while we work on it and bring it back to it's best, so I thought I'd introduce myself as well.

I'm Alex, 29, English, and the owner of a couple of Land Rovers, a Skoda, an Alfa Romeo, and now an adoptive father (or maybe just a weird uncle) of Rico's Aurora MK1. We will have stupid questions to ask you. We will make stupid mistakes. We only hope you can help guide us to making this Aurora the best in the UK (shouldn't be hard, it's the only one).

So; Hello, I look forward to asking you all ridiculous questions.

My Defender and Rico's Aurora for your time:

[Marc]

Welcome to ACNA! And you'll get lots of help here. There are people in this forum who are experts when it comes to the Aurora.

[XJSman89]

Nice story, and welcome! We'll be glad to help any way we can!

Sent from my Galaxy Note 4 via the ProBoards app

[Toronado3800]

Oh wow. Across the pond!

Curious, what did you do about the left hand drive?

[skizo]

First dumb question for you ... how does an Aurora end up in Merry Old anyway?


- GM company car?
- Military trans ship?
- It's not really an Aurora ... it's a customized Rover?
- Mail it over piece by piece?

PS ... is Bob it's uncle? <G>

[tigger]

Welcome Alex!

Nice Rover! Is that a snorkel cover plate?

[4muddyfeet]

Sept 28, 2015 20:07:59 GMT -6 Toronado3800 said:

Oh wow. Across the pond!

Curious, what did you do about the left hand drive?

Nothing yet, and for the vehicle to pass it's MOT over here it only requires stick-on headlight adjusters. The UK doesn't care about LHD, although there is normally a slight insurance bump, probably because insurance companies are insurance companies.

[4muddyfeet]

Sept 28, 2015 20:26:17 GMT -6 skizo said:

First dumb question for you ... how does an Aurora end up in Merry Old anyway?


- GM company car?
- Military trans ship?
- It's not really an Aurora ... it's a customized Rover?
- Mail it over piece by piece?

PS ... is Bob it's uncle? <G>

It was imported from Canada. I'm not sure what year, but I know it was early on in it's life. I'm hoping it got on the PartyBoat, got wasted, and then hid in someone's garage for 7 years before Rico found it.

[4muddyfeet]

Sept 28, 2015 22:39:12 GMT -6 tigger said:

Welcome Alex!

Nice Rover! Is that a snorkel cover plate?

Yeh, this one is ex-army and it normally has a breather pod on each wing, each connected to one end of a t-pipe which connects to the air box. It's so (when wading) that if one side gets covered then the other still allows the engine to breathe. I took them off for daily use but you could also attach a snorkel to it if you want.

[RCA1186]

Great to have you here. Any problems you run in to we'll be glad to try and help out!

[skizo]

Sept 29, 2015 2:37:05 GMT -6 4muddyfeet said:

for the vehicle to pass it's MOT over here it only requires stick-on headlight adjusters.

Might not even need that ... the classics have adjuster bubbles built in ...

Sept 29, 2015 2:41:22 GMT -6 4muddyfeet said:

It was imported from Canada. I'm not sure what year, but I know it was early on in it's life. I'm hoping it got on the PartyBoat, got wasted, and then hid in someone's garage for 7 years before Rico found it.

Aha ... it might even have "gotten busy" with a Rover to pass the time ... might explain this then.

[4muddyfeet]

Sept 29, 2015 8:38:09 GMT -6 skizo said:

Sept 29, 2015 2:37:05 GMT -6 4muddyfeet said:

for the vehicle to pass it's MOT over here it only requires stick-on headlight adjusters.

Might not even need that ... the classics have adjuster bubbles built in ...

Will they adjust Left to Right as well as Up and Down? The focus of the beam needs to be adjusted completely to the left hand side for the UK MOT. Also, could you tell me if the Aurora has 'flood' type headlights, or the more Euro style of headlight whereby the beams are focused and there's a clear difference between the night and where the headlight is shining? It's for the German TÜV, flood headlights are not permitted!

[RCA1186]

You can adjust the headlights side to side too. It has been my experience though that these adjusters can get somewhat corroded. The Aurora definitely doesn't have what I would call a focused headlight beam.

[4muddyfeet]

Thanks Rob. We'll need to find a workaround for German inspection then (if it becomes necessary).

[skizo]

Might end up having to do a projector headlamp conversion to make it work your side of the pond. I'd think a retrofit kit for a Nissan or Honda could be ... er ... retrofit to the Aurora shells. On the bright side, they Aurora shells are large and you've got a lot of room to work with. If size IS a problem, don't see why a motorcycle projector system x2 wouldn't work. Those tend to be quite compact. A bit of slice 'n dice, and glue should do the trick, and you could still use the stock adjusters to fine tune the alignment.

You also have to deal with headlight type ... I understand HID is OK, but Xenon would be a problem.

[rorafan]

Welcome, Alex! Great story. We will certainly do what we can to help.

What Alfa do you own? I've always been a fan of those. Happy to see new models once again in the US too!

[XJSman89]

Sept 30, 2015 21:03:22 GMT -6 skizo said:

Might end up having to do a projector headlamp conversion to make it work your side of the pond.

The Retrofit Source worked great for me. Lkraft92 and I successfully used their Mini H1 kit in our Auroras. Sall went above and beyond with his custom projector retro. But it can be done fairly easily. I put 55w Mini D2S's from TRS in the Jag and have been very happy with them.


Sent from my Galaxy Note 4 via the ProBoards app

[RCA1186]

Sept 30, 2015 21:03:22 GMT -6 skizo said:

On the bright side, they Aurora shells are large and you've got a lot of room to work with.

There really isn't that much room in there. They're deep but the height is restricting.


A couple of us have done retrofits as Collins mentioned. sall has done the most extensive retrofit on a classic. It can be done though and would probably solve your problem. Here's a how to thread Collins made awhile back for reference.

[Randy T.]

Welcome to the club!

[schaefft]

Sept 28, 2015 20:26:17 GMT -6 skizo said:

First dumb question for you ... how does an Aurora end up in Merry Old anyway?


- GM company car?
- Military trans ship?
- It's not really an Aurora ... it's a customized Rover?
- Mail it over piece by piece?

PS ... is Bob it's uncle? <G>

Thanks again for the welcome guys! Some background info about how it got here:

Looking at the vehicle title someone working at Roebuck Air Services bought the car in 1995 and registered it here in the UK. I have no idea why he would do that (I guess he just liked the car when he saw it in the US/Canada and the GBP/US Dollar exchange rate was favorable at the time) but he didn't have the car for too long. He sold it 2 years later to the next guy who drove it for 4 or 5 years. From the registration number I can tell that the last MOT/inspection happened in 2001, so it didn't really move much since then. No idea why he didn't renew the MOT, I do hope it wasn't anything serious. The guy I bought it from bought it between 2001 and 2007 and just kept it in his driveway/backyard until I bought it just recently.

About the projector conversion: I will most likely register the car in Germany. Since a few years ago, US-halogen headlights are seen as a pretty big issue here, which kept me quite busy trying to register my Mark VIII which will hopefully be done soon. There are companies here that specialize in this kind of work, so I'm quite certain that we'll find a way to install those projectors properly so everyones happy. 

[skizo]

Interesting.

Wouldn't be surprised to find out that the original owner had some buddies in freight lift who brought it over on the cheap. Getting it there would seem to be the hard (and expensive) part ... probably about $3500US back in the day.

Be even more interesting to find out that said buddies worked for military airlift command and they just stuck it on a lift with extra capacity available. You could fit a LOT of Auroras on a C5 Galaxy ... You'd need a point of arrival to track that down.

[schaefft]

Oct 21, 2015 12:39:55 GMT -6 skizo said:

Interesting.

Wouldn't be surprised to find out that the original owner had some buddies in freight lift who brought it over on the cheap. Getting it there would seem to be the hard (and expensive) part ... probably about $3500US back in the day.

Be even more interesting to find out that said buddies worked for military airlift command and they just stuck it on a lift with extra capacity available. You could fit a LOT of Auroras on a C5 Galaxy ... You'd need a point of arrival to track that down.

Yeah, who knows. In wouldn't be surprised if many Brits got inspired by this old Top Gear Episode where JC praised American cars (very unlike him) and how cheap they are to buy and bring over. Quite a few cars probably made their way over here because of it.