Then, of course, disaster struck again. I took Coleen to be inspected. This is an annual thing in New Jersey. Every twelve months, you have to trek to the local inspection station and have them stick a tube up your tailpipe (sounds rude, dosent it!), and tell you wether your car meets emission standards or not, as well as check your brakes and lights and such. Unfortunately, I didn't get to find out wether or not she passed the inspection, because during the process, the muffler fell off. This of course instantly fails the vehicle. I'm a little suspiscious of the circumstances of the muffler's failure, since, while it was leaky when I took it in, it seemed fairly solid. When they came to tell me it had failed, the exhaust-pipe was broken clean through and the tail-pipe had dissapeared. I'm coming to feel that the garages in my area are owned by a lot of lowlife crooks. In addition to failing it for the muffler, he informed me that the top had to be on the vehicle as well. Since it's a canvas top, and it comes off and goes on in minutes, I was a little baffled. If you bring in your convertible with the top down, do they fail you for that too? What added to my suspiscion was that the inspection papers were stamped with a waiver which allowed the garage to do the repairs for me, if I so desired. They got a hearty "sod you", and I left.

Disasters, of course, never arrive alone. I looked under the car, and noted that the break was at the intermediate pipe. So I called Rovers North to order an intermediate pipe, muffler, and pipe hangers. Informed that for only a little more, I could get all three parts, front, intermediate pipe, and muffler as a set, I decided "why not?". After all, why not replace the whole business at a fell swoop, and save myself the hassle of replacing the old front pipe at a later date. The parts arrived, and not being a complete git, I layed them out, preparatory to installing them, to see how things would have to be put in and set up so the job would go smoothly. This is where the "disaster" happened: upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the exhaust manifold and intake manifold on my 'Rover aren't stock! In fact, the exhaust manifold looks like a completely hand-made custom item. A stream of invective ensued fit to startle a sailor. Off I went to the catalog to price an exhaust manifold. $110 for an exhaust manifold. However, the exhaust manifold and intake manifold of a Series Rover, while disparate items, appear to function as a unit. In other words, if you have a stock exhaust manifold, you must needs have a stock intake manifold. And that little item costs almost $300. $100 I could handle, but $400 was stretching things a bit. So I did the only thing I could and went hunting the 'Net. Several hours later I found a gent who was parting out a '62 SIIA. He offered me the motor for $125. Tempting, but what would I do with another motor? (Yes, I know, "build another 'Rover", but I want to finish this one first, t hankyou!). So he offered me the manifolds for $25 each plus, if I could tell him how to tell if they were in good condition, and how to get the bloody things off the engine. I accepted, and sent him a diagram showing how they were attached, and instructions to give them a good tap with a ball-peen hammer and a good tug or two, and if they didn't rip off, didn't shatter into crumbly rust, and the hammer and his fingers didn't punch through the metal, they were just spiffy.