il Addio Aurelia

 So after completing as much of the aesthetics as desired up till this stage it was time to get Aurelia off to my good friends at Superior Automotive for a good going over to see where we stood mechanically before taking her out for her first track day. She had driven 2000km from Melbourne with no issue so I was fairly confident nothing major was required.

I was able to drop her off on Monday 21st February  (date will become significant) and leave for a couple of days in Sandgate Road, just round the corner from my new offices in Edmondstone Road, Bowen Hills.

The verdict on Tuesday from the mechanics was good as the minor oil leak underneath was merely a seeping from the transmission oil plug; replaced, fixed. New rear suspension arm replaced and a couple rear bushes and other than what was expected to be done, timing belt kit, water pump, thermostat, drive belt, serpentine belt, oil filter, plugs etc (major service) she was in excellent condition mechanically. We also decided to replace the transmission oil and brake fluid with high temp versions for the upcoming track days. The only issue then was the mechanic working on Aurelia decided to contract Covid, so the service ended up stretching out the whole week. 

Therefore on a wet Friday afternoon (25th February) at 4.30pm I got the call she was ready for collection. As it was pissing down with rain, one of the guys came and picked me up and then returned to settle the bill before bringing her back to the safety of a dry carpark. I was impressed with the drive back from the mechanics ( all of three blocks) as she seemed more responsive than previous and the gear box was a pleasure to shift (crazy what an oil change can do), really looking forward to finally getting her to the track. As I had been driving the Subaru into work each day I decided to leave Aurelia in the safety of a dry car park at work and come back and collect her over the weekend.

As people are now aware, the days of that week and weekend were a severe weather event in South East Queensland and when I was finally able to get back to the office on Sunday I couldn't even get close due to the flooding. 

Under there somewhere

So it wasn't until later that week I was allowed on site and the water was still in the car park awaiting pumping. This meant Aurelia was about half metre under water, fully submerged. Got a funny feeling that's not a good thing. It took them nearly a fortnight to pump it out as the combination of more rain and high tides hampered the exercise and finally almost a month to the day she was dragged out and sent off on the tow truck to the graveyard with the other thousands of vehicles that succumbed to this rain event.

Just a few photos to show the scene and her final state. As I've said to many, it was only a small car involved, not life and death and in comparison to others in SEQ and Northern Rivers NSW, just a blip on the radar. 

Farewell Aurelia, it was great fun while it lasted; now I wonder what's available? Anyone up for a road trip ;-)

Postscript: This modern building has had the basement car park flooded at least twice before and at no time when we moved here was mention made of this to employees!! Insert angry emoji.