To see and be seen

One of the problems with my age is that I was designed for a much more genteel era of motoring, when the roads were not so crowded and people took greater care. Nowadays, drivers are so much more protected from the real world I am sure that less thinking goes on behind the wheel.

Everyone expects high-level brake lights, bright brake lights, indicators all around the car – some even have them on their mirrors these days! I have none of these things.

I have some lovely trafficators that pop out like little signal arms, but they don’t flash and no one these days is looking for such items, so Murray went shopping on the web to see what he could find.

Some other Y owners have fitted indicators to the front and rear mudguards but Murray wanted to avoid making changes to my panels if at all possible. He thought of all manner of ways that lights could be mounted but was not certain which way to go. Then he came across Stafford Vehicle Components and their wonderful range of goodies.

The clever people there have come up with a cunning way of making my front side lamps double as indicators so a pair of 1130 conversion kits was immediately on the list. Then Murray saw some dinky new LED indicators that could be mounted in my rear window, so they went on the list. SVC also sells high-level brake lights, again for inside my rear window – so one of those. Naturally to make these flash, a pair of flasher relays was required, a couple of buzzers to remind Murray to turn the indicators off and he was done.

So, in his spare time recently, he has built all the bits into a control box; mounted the rear indicators and high-level brake light on some plastic trunking that sits in my very small rear window ledge; fitted the 1130 conversion kits; and run cunningly concealed wires all over the place to make it all work.

Murray is very pleased with the end result and hopefully other drivers will now have a bit more warning when I stop or turn.

He also took up Neil Cairns suggestion of a cheap and effective theft deterrent, a simple tube over the engaged handbrake, padlocked to the gear shift. A few minutes' work, a padlock and £2 for an off-cut of tube. It may not be the prettiest accessory a girl could have but it should do the trick.