[Mick O'Malley]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Then disaster struck when I stopped to fill up with petrol, although I'm still not 100% what happened exactly.

Either way, the end result was "rivers of petrol" overflowing out of the filler cap and all over the rear deck.

With the pump nozzle still in my hand, I watched helplessly as the petrol dropped neatly into the gap around the boot lid.

I mopped up the mess as best I could and headed straight home as carefully as I could.

I then used a watering can to rinse the rear deck area with water and then spotted one corner overflowing.

Hi Paul

Sorry to hear of your tribulations, I know exactly how you felt!

Originally Posted by Mick O'Malley

Completely forgetting the right angled bend in the filler neck (it's in the fin, and the only previous filling was from a can) and with my eyes glued to the spinning numbers I proceeded until the petrol blown back stared to splash my hand - aaaaaaargh!!! Stupid boy!

About half a litre was swilling about inside the fin and a wide dribble was coming from the bottom of the boot lid, which I opened to reveal a thin stream coming from a tiny hole under the rear of the fin inside the boot. This proved serendipitous as mopping up inside the fin would be impossible. I pushed her backwards a couple of feet so the dribble was over the gulley and fetched a sand bucket. Once the dribbling ceased I pushed her further back into the sunny bay for non-fuel customers and sanded the spill.

There was still about a cupfull in the boot so I grabbed a few handfulls of paper towels and mopped up. This was very messy as the petrol was dissolving the black paint on the boot floor. I then sat in the sun for half an hour (after paying) with the fin flap and boot lid open until everything dried off in the heat. This interlude was punctuated by interested parties coming to ask about the car, with some very flattering comments.

Good luck with cleaning up your paintwork, I'd give it a try with a petrol soaked rag first, it might work and save you the trouble of re-painting.

Regards, Mick