Gears were a bit hard to operate this morning so when I parked up at the office I had a quick check under the bonnet and the clips seemed to be seated OK. The one that I’d replaced wednesday morning clicked when I pushed it so I guess it wasn’t on 100% correctly. I opened the sunroof to let out all the damp that had accumulated from getting in the car with snowy feet over the last few days, then thought about the weather. The car was parked on a slight downward slope so if it rained the sunroof would tend to catch the water, so I thought I’d turn the car around. Got in, pressed the clutch, couldn’t get it in gear. Pumped the clutch (a habit from driving old Brit cars with hydraulic clutches) and heard an almighty TWANG and the clutch pedal fell to the floor. A rapid exploration with a screwdriver reveals that the clutch cable has snapped off right at the pedal end. It looks easy enough to get to but the haynes manual is at home and I’m not at all sure what the replacement procedure entails.

It’s going to be interesting getting to Riccall tonight crashing the gears all the way. The idea is that if the revs match the speed then the cogs in the gearbox line up and you don’t need the clutch. I can do that in a mini or the spitfire, but the fiat is so free-revving it’ll be … well, interesting.

Oh, and I’m beginning to believe the assertion that FIAT stands for Fix It Again Tomorrow…