Part 3 The rejuvenation
Year 2018, I quit my full time job & started working as a consultant. This meant I could work out of anywhere, as long as I have a stable internet connection. Suzan & me had had enough of busy metropolitan city life & decided to move to a tier 2 city. After considering several places, we decided on Mysore. So, in July 2018, we moved to Mysore. My initial thought was to sell the Linea and get another car. Since I would be working out of home, the driving would dramatically reduce.
After several rounds of discussion, we both decided that buying another car at this point of time in my career was needless. The Linea was running fine and was more than sufficient for my usage. So, we decided to keep the Linea till she breaks down completely and has to be junked. One of the most important factors for this decision was the price being offered for the Linea. Suffice to say, it was less than the IDV in the insurance. Crashing the car & claiming insurance would be more profitable, albeit unethical & illegal.
The car had several bruises from Bangalore & Kolkata traffic encounters, but nothing major. Then in June, we drove down to visit a few Tibetan Monasteries, near Kollegal in Karnataka. In the monastery, I parked the car & for the first time in my life, forgot to engage hand brakes. I usually park in neutral, unless I am on a steep slope. I got off the car, shut the door, the car rolled forward and stopped after hitting a tree 10 foot ahead. The front upper grill broke & there was a medium sized dent in the bonnet. That was the last straw.
I decided that if I am going to keep the car, then a full body repaint & ceramic coating are in order. Decided to give the car to URS cars in Mysore for the repaint. The MD happens to be a friend & I was sure they will take extra care of the car. They did their best and I was quite satisfied with the results. I stuck with same body colour, but decided to get the alloys painted anthracite
Once this was done, the next step was to get the car detailed and then ceramic coating done. Also, my car originally came with gloss black stickers on the A,B & C pillars, to give a continuous flowing look for the glass windows. Unfortunately, Fiat only provides matt black now & gloss isn't an option any longer. The original film was of very good quality, did not fade or peel in all these years & was pretty scratch resistant too. I wanted similar quality film. So, I ordered a roll of 5" gloss black film from ShadowLineTrim. The film is made by Avery Dennison and that sealed the deal.
I was not keen on going to a detailing studio and getting things done, as that would limit my choices of the products. So, i started looking for freelance detailers, who would come home and detail the car. For the ceramic coating, I decided to go with Avalon King Armor Shield IX. It was at this time that a fellow BHPian reached out to me and offered to come down & detail the car. He had recently started a detailing service called GlossWerkz and was based out of Mumbai. I was not very keen on the idea initially, as he would hardly break even with all the travelling expenses. But then I decided that the best way to support a friend who has started a new business would be to use his service. So, I gave him the go ahead, with the condition that I will pay for the travel & will host him at my house. After a bit of back & forth, the deal was struck & tickets were booked. The dates for detailing were 31st August to 2nd Sept.
Everything went to plan, but the ceramic coating did not arrive. It arrived in Mysore post office on 31st August, but wasn't delivered. This meant, I will have to apply the coating myself. The BHPian & his business partner Joe went to work on the car and I was very impressed with the attention to detail and the meticulous work they did.
The ceramic coating was delivered on Wednesday. I had already received the black film & applied that on Tuesday. Ceramic coating was done on Thursday. I am quite pleased with the results & hope that the car will serve me for another 7 years. Here are some pics of the final results.
Thanks for reading.