JIM'LL FIX IT

We have had quite a few issues with our battery on poor old Jeeves. We got a new one a few months ago, as the old one didn't quite make it through the very cold winter. First everything was good, but it soon started playing up. We thought it might be the alternator, which would be quite expensive to fix, so we kept hoping it could be something else.

Black cabs, especially the older models, are made to be driven every day, so sometimes if they are not, the battery dies quite quickly. So when we went away for a month a while ago we had a friend look after Jeeves and babysit him, which he did very well. But Jeeves wouldn't have any of it, and when we came back the battery was dead again.

As our usual friendly mechanics were very busy, we went to Jim at Hackney Road Motor Engineers, who was recommended to us by a friend. The garage is on hackney road (the name might give that away), close to Cambridge Heath Station. When we walked in we realised it is actually back to back with our usual mechanics. Its good to keep it local.

The entrance on Hackney Road. Next to the bike shop disguised as a Chinese take-away

Jim's place is not a black cab garage but he does all sorts of cars. When we went, there were normal modern family ones and a couple of 1930's beautiful vintage pieces sitting side by side all being seen too with the same loving care.

The place to go

As Jeeves was completely out of juice Jim had picked him up from our street and hooked him up like a patient in an emergency room to once and for all charge his poor little battery. He was charging for one day and then left standing for two days to test if the battery would hold up.

Jim discovered that we have a light in the boot of the car, one of those that switches on when the door is open. As the general feel of Jeeves sometimes can be described as 'rustic', the boot hatch does not always reach the off-switch for the light, leaving it on and draining the battery. So Jim disconnected the light as we have no need for it anyway.

A general note on old black cab boot hatches; You should always double check that it is properly closed and locked as it otherwise can open while you are driving and bang into cars behind you. The hatch opens down, not up as on modern cars. We have seen it happen to others and have had a close call ourselves. So now we always double-check it when we have had it open.

However, the best thing that Jim introduced us to was the disconnection of the battery. We were about to go to Glastonbury, this being the longest drive we have done in Jeeves and having to leave him in a field for a week with the prospect of not getting home made us a little nervous. But this new exciting trick saved the day! Its super easy, and we think it is well worth knowing about so stay tuned for the next post with the instructions on how to do this.

Instead of hoping the battery will last, or relying on other cars to jump start us, we are now just disconnecting the whole thing, so there is no chance for the battery to get drained. The purr with which Jeeves started after a week of having been disconnected was positively the best sound ever. It is easily the best thing since sliced bread. In fact, sliced bread is not even close.

SIGNS OF SUMMER

As opposed to his Swedish miniature version, Good ol' Original Jeeves is enjoying the first moments of spring. So we thought it fit to change to his summer wheel, courtesy of Anna, Mia's sister.

One happy driver

Yes, it might be a small thing to write about, but look how happy Jacqui is. Some things only the soft touch of a comfy steering wheel can achieve.

FOAM MATTRESS

We had a slightly crazy idea that we could sleep in Jeeves. Make him pay his way in the form of a hotel room. We do plan on a more sophisticated method of making a bed in the back, but for starters we thought we would try a piece of custom cut foam to place in the back on the floor.

Holy moly which foam should we get?

Pentonville rubber is an old-school and great shop on Pentonville road near angel (104-106 Pentonville road, N1 9JB to be precise) They have a huge range of different densities and shapes of foam including tubular foam that was being purchased at our time of visit by a guy who was going to use it to make huge 'spagetti hair' for a prop. 

Trying to decipher the complex world of foam

We were lucky because we were able to get our foam cut to size in about 10 minutes while we waited. In case anyone is interested in this ridiculous amount of detail, the size to fit on the floor in the back is 52cm x 172cm. We chose medium density foam in  3inch thickness which was pretty comfortable for a nights sleep here and there. It cost us about £30 and should "last a lifetime".

Mia with our cut-to-size foam bed

The opening hours are normal working hours during the week 9-5pm, 10am-3pm on Saturdays and its closed on Sundays. 

Stay tuned for futher progress on the sleeping conversion.

TWO UP FRONT

This post is a long time coming, and probably one of our favourite and earliest modifications we made to Jeeves when we got him. That is... a front passengers seat. As you may or may not know, black cabs have a bit of a void in this area. We really wanted to be able to both sit in the front. Some of the important jobs for passengers include - getting the driver un-lost, being the DJ, holding the coffee and providing general entertainment.

We had seen a few different options around for the front seat, including a folding seat similar to the flip-down ones on the back. This would have been an OK option, but with a comfort factor of about 5... on the other hand, our friendly mechanics managed to install a drivers seat from another (dead) taxi into our space. There were some previous fairway models with a narrower drivers seat, and this was perfect as our passenger's seat.

If you have mega long legs, its not the most ideal of options, but given there is less space on the passengers side, we think this is a great solution and works perfectly for us. Apparently it is the seat belt that was actually a bit trickier to install, but our guys did an amazing job.

Here you can get an idea of the amount of space at the front, and the seat bolted firmly onto the floor.