Having thought it over for a while, I decided to scrap Jazzy Jeff. Having been sat on my drive for 5 weeks, he started up first time, but initially refused to release his handbrake. Luckily, a relatively recent clutch managed to force Jeff into motion, and with the scrape of a wheel and the twang of a spring, he inched backwards, turned around and reversed back into place to await the executioner.
The jolly car breaker arrived soon after and managed to coax Jeff up the steep ramps and on to the back of the Mercedes Sprinter. With a tear in my eye I watched him as he was conveyed to his death by a thousand eBay spare parts. Oh how my son must have regretted feeding him a tank full of petrol a mere 60 miles before his crippling encounter with a series of pot holes.
RIP Jazzy Jeff. Born 2004, Japan. Died 2024, Baxenden. Mileage - 148,000 - 63,000 of them with us. Value - £213.
Know you were loved.
History...
Jeff joined the Frost Family in November 2013, at 84,000 miles and costing £2,900, having had just two previous owners. He was intended for my eldest for his 21st birthday, to use at University and generally mobility. Jeff really helped him in his early film career, scouting and getting to locations and various brief jobs. The car was in pretty good condition apart from a few dents, with 85,000 miles on the clock and two previous owners. He turned the air-con off to save fuel and sadly it never worked again. If he'd have mentioned it I would have told him to leave it on.
He went to London in 2017 to make his fortune and left Jazzy Jeff here on my drive. I drove him a little bit but mostly he sat there as I couldn't figure out what to do with him. Eventually, my younger son's partner's car packed in, so she drove Jeff for a year or so, before leasing a new car.
In early 2020, just before lockdown, my youngest passed his driving test and took on Jeff as his first car, and he has been working as his tiler's van and runabout ever since, famously making the Kessler Run (Yorkshire to Pembrokeshire and back) in less than 12 parsecs. We must have spent a few thousand pounds on Jeff over the years to keep him going. He's a bit like Trigger's Broom now, most recently a new battery, NSR window and clutch. He was written off a couple of years ago in a minor front end collision but we got a bumper from a scrapper and kept him going, despite the rust and on board swimming pool.
Sadly, the state of our roads has done for his suspension. I'm not sure it would be a cheap repair but there comes a time when you have to stop investing in a car that was built 20 years ago. He is at almost 150,000 miles, has the usual wheel arch rust and flooded boot problem, only one working key, the mechanical lock mechanism doesn't work and, as of this week, the rear hatch does not lock, which is an issue when there's hundreds of pounds of tools in there.
So we decided to cut our losses and got my lad something which is not a van but more suitable for his job as a tiler. We chose a Dacia Duster 4x4 with the ubiquitous Renault 1.5DCi engine. Jeff is technically still a runner with 9 months MOT, a good engine and transmission, but dreadful suspension damage and a partially collapsed rear wheel. So, sadly, Jazzy Jeff has driven his last few metres - off my drive and on to the back of a Mercedes Sprinter.
