Lightweight sorted

I always like to see a nice Lightweight, and the one which came in a couple of weeks ago was an absolute cracker, immaculately refinished in 1980s NATO green and black camouflage and with all its original features intact. I heard it before I saw it, and straight away thought that sounds horrible. It was set to a very fast idle, and pressing the accelerator resulted in a bad misfire and clouds of black smoke from the exhaust. The owner had driven it up from London – I’m not sure I would have trusted it to get me to the village post office and back. I see this time and time again… old Land Rovers with lovely paintwork and interior trim, but plagued with mechanical issues which make them a nightmare to drive. The owner was aware that the vehicle was not running right and had brought it to me to sort out the black smoke and also to get various electrical items working properly.