The 200 mile headlight saga

The first new car problem arose on the Passat today, a headlight bulb had blown, a quick flick through the Haynes manual revealed it wasn’t going to be a nice straightforward job like it was on the Golf. The book suggested the easiest way was to completely remove the light cluster to access the bulb, the internet guide hinted that by unclipping a few plastic panels and ducts the bulb could be taken out the back, either way it was going to be more than a five minute fettle and with the temperature a couple degrees above freezing I needed somewhere warm to attempt the task. Whilst trawling through the RetroRides forum I chanced upon a comment from Bruce, the owner of Area52..

"Free space to work on your car in the dry, out of the rain and in the warmth thanks to Grunty's wood burner"

..the only downside was that Area52 is a 200 mile roundtrip away, so I fired up the unnamed daily driver and hit the M4 West, rolling into the yard near Bristol in time for a cuppa, much to the surprise of Bruce, Ben and Sean who were already at the unit planning the days work, Jed was running round barking and enjoying the attention.



First up was to manoeuvre Bens Volvo onto the two post lift for a replacement steering rack.



Having first removed the work bench that was hindering long car access, the motor hauled the first proper car into the air (the Hustler that was elevated the previous week was a tiny lightweight taster)





The newly cleaned window allowed a great view from the snug (or should that be MOT viewing area!)



With the Swede at a sensible working height Ben set to with spanners and a mallet, Sean rolled his amazingly retro Citroen CX inside to fettle the French wonder while Bruce and I pondered the bench problem



The three benches in a line were separated and spread to create enough clearance for longer motors to stick out the front of the lift, the idea being that longer supports could be fab’d up and the worktop hinged to allow access, with tape measure, grinder and welding kit Bruce leapt into action.





I moved from spark catcher to steering rack duties, a bit of lateral thinking and some slaps from the mallet and the new rack sldie into place.



With rumbling stomachs we nipped out for supplies and the new headlight bulb (£17/pair!) and fired the BBQ up.



All burgered up it was bulb time, the various panels and ducts unclipped and with squashed fingers I swapped the offending article out, there really isn’t much space in that gap. I’ve heard about modern cars being a pain to work on, now I’ve seen first hand! The climate control and quiet drive home makes up for the hassle though.



Work on the retro interloper complete I grabbed the famous garage door shot and packed up my stuff, leaving the chaps to fettle for the rest of the day and night.



Big thanks to Bruce for the warm and dry space to work on the car and to Ben and Sean for bulb changing advice. The RetroRides spirit is alive and kicking in Area52, even when the car in question is far from Retro! The rest of the photos are here thanks for reading.

Steve.