Managed to get hold of the donor vehicle today - a 1987 Ford Sierra Estate 1.8L. The bodywork is as rusty as a rusty thing, but the mechanicals are in top condition. Must have been the luck of the Gods shining down on me as I read the classifieds in the newpaper. Not only was this the cheapest car I could find, but it also turns out that the car has only had one owner, firstly as a company car and then as a privately owned car, and it also has a full service history on it from the day it was driven away from the showroom.

Before parting with £150 the guy selling the car insisted I take the old doors that he needed to replace (I told you rust had got to it). So, reluctantly, I loaded the doors into the back of the car and set off, wifey and kids following just in case it breaks down. Got home a treat.

Driving the car home was fun. Being the first time I'd actually been in a Sierra, let alone driven one, I never spent too much time familiarising myself with the controls first. This wasn't too much of a problem as the only thing I couldn't find at first was the full beam. After trying lights (off) and wipers I finally found it.

So, that's the donor vehicle sorted out. One thing I noticed straight away was the battery seems much stronger in the Sierra than it does on my main family car, a Carlton. So the battery will come out of the Sierra and into the Carlton ASAP. Oh, and just as well we picked up the old doors as one of them still has the original door lock, although at this early stage I'm not sure if I'll be putting on door lock - may go electronic. I'm still awaiting the build manual to see an overall guide to what's required.

January 14th

Lovely trip to some quaint little village just the other side of Oxford to go and collect the engine. This guy Tim has an old 3.5litre Rover V8 up for sale, £150. Sounds a bargain, even if it need some work. So I jump in the Sierra and off we go. I'm accompanied by my son Aaron for this trip although I don't know how much help a 3 year old will be putting the engine into the back of the car, but he'll be good company for the trip - until he falls asleep.

An hour and a half later I'm meeting Tim at his barn conversion. Turns out that he too is building a Cobra replica, but rather than use a kit from a specialist manufacturer he has got hold of a TVR chassis, a bodyshell of unknown origin, and a Ford small block inside it. My first view of a close up kit being built.

Tim tells me that he was the last person to be running the Rover engine and said that it drove well and didn't give out any nasty smoke or smells that it shouldn't. He aslo tells me that the engine has been stood for about a year but has been looked after, oild down the plug holes, etc. He advised me to fit a new clutch, put it together and it should be tickety-boo. At this stage I may take his word for that and try to put the chassis together, insert the engine and see what happens. If it turns out that the engine is a no-goer then I'll sort that out before any bodywork gets put into place. So, apart from a general clean up and replacement of parts that are missing, I'm hoping nothing else is required. Call it laziness and/or cost saving, but they do say don't fix what isn't broke. Tell me if you think different.

Oh, there was a gearbox with it also.