MadaboutKitcars

Quite right. They drag you down to their level and beat you through experience.

Wicked post Paul. Thanks for the amusing Sunday summary.

Dave

Mick & Dave - Cheers chaps.

The funny thing is I had read this post from Mr T on Mick's A352/D Type thread before I left home…



I can honestly say that the Swordfish is the first vehicle I've owned where I have no interest in finding out how fast it will go.

Mister Towed also mentioned "defensive" driving on his own build thread yesterday and I can relate to that too.

As I pride myself on good 'road craft' learned from years of motorcycling, where you are definitely connected to what is going on around you.

Whilst I wouldn't put myself in the same league as Police drivers, I'd like to think I am better than average.

Ironically, the road I was on will feature in The Wembley Job as it is quite a twisty section.

So if I had actually been driving with a GoPro fitted & running I could have "proved" my story within seconds.

Now I've been thinking about getting a dash cam for my normal car due to the antics of other motorists for quite a while.

Yesterday's 'adventure' has confirmed this is definitely a good idea, so I will look for one of these after Christmas.

Finally, I want to make it clear that whilst I was expecting to be pulled over, I was completely happy with the Police's decision.

In fact, I'd have been surprised, maybe even slightly disappointed, if I wasn't, as clearly I had just been described as a potential killer.

Still, it is now officially Christmas week, so lets hope for some joy and goodwill to all men.
( Even the crazy ones. )

Cheers, Paul.

Great post Paul really enjoyed reading through your days adventure.

Living in London you will have a large number of loony tunes so i suppose it's just another day in the big city. We have visited London a couple of times and i was surprised at how people don't make eye contact or speak to each other especially on the tube which coming from the north took a bit of getting used to.

Some friends who are Londoners have come up to us many times now and just can't get over how friendly people are especially on nights out in Newcastle.

Keep posting Paul, as ever they are great to read.

Funnily enough I fitted a dash-cam to my daily driver, the awesome 2007 Nissan Micra, due to the appallingly bad driving that too many people display on the roads today.

When people drive drunk, too fast for the road conditions (and/or driver ability) or while talking on a handheld mobile phone their driving is often noticeably bad and obviously stupid and dangerous.

These days though, there are people who check their social media threads while driving, and I'd argue that their driving is more dangerous than drink drivers (as proven on an episode of 'mythbusters').

The trigger for me to buy a dash-cam was the car ahead of me swerving all over the road in the dark on the way into work as its young, female driver turned on the interior light every thirty seconds and lifted a tablet up to look at the screen. During a particularly lengthy bit of screen staring she hit the kerb, over-corrected and came within a second of going head-on into an HGV coming the other way.

After driving steadily for about another two minutes the interior light came back on as I presume she felt the need to tweet about her near death experience.

Okay, so I had kept a decent distance behind her as a safety zone (which itself led me to have an Audi W*nker tailgating me in nose to tail traffic in a 40 limit at 40 because I wasn't tailgating the car ahead so I could clearly be going faster for a few nanoseconds until having to slow for tablet girl) so there wasn't much danger to me, but if she had gone under the truck I'd have been late for work and we can't have that.

Anyway, rant over, dash-cam for Crimbo is good idea.

Swifty - Cheers.

Just remember that talking to a stranger on the tube usually marks you out as either a tourist or a "crazy person".
( Thankfully, as you are from 'Up North' and that counts as a tourist around here. )

Which is why driving this car has been such a pleasure, as people react in a very "non Londoner" way, smiling, waving and chatting.

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Mister Towed - Maybe it is an age thing, but I'd forgotten to mention that I don't text and drive.

Whilst I post a lot on this forum, I do so from the comfort of my home, not the comfort of the driver's seat of my car!

Without wishing to turn this into a bad driving RANT fest, a couple of my pet hates include:

"There is something blocking my path so I'll just swerve around it no matter what is coming the other way."
- I've lost count of the number of times I've braked hard to avoid a head on collision with a car in "my" lane.
- This is usually followed by them ranting at me that I should look where I am going!
- The concept of slowing down and checking it is safe before manoeuvring seems a lost art of driving.
- I'd rank this as my number one reason for considering a dash cam.

"I can join the roundabout as long as there is a gap ahead of me"
- Thankfully these drivers are easy to spot, as they approach roundabouts without looking to their right first.
- As an added bonus these drivers will usually also put their foot down, because, seemingly, speed will always make bad driving safer.
- Clearly, the fact I am already heading toward the gap they are now aiming for, with the right of way, means nothing.
- They also don't seem to understand that if I didn't brake I would probably plough straight into their driver's side door.

Actually, I'll stop there before I really start ranting and raving.

This is another reason I respect the job the Police have to do, as they see the consequences of bad driving on a daily basis.

Personally, I could barely watch the "in cab" footage of that lorry driver ploughing into stationary traffic while using his phone.

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Anyway, depressing posts from me will not do much for the season of goodwill.

So I'll leave you with a more uplifting thought...

"There are only 5 more sleeps 'til Christmas.



Take care, Paul.

Christmas Countdown:
This is the first Christmas in years where I don't need to tidy up tools & parts associated with car work before the 'big day'.

Actually, it around this time last year that I had just finished re-shaping the first wheel arch on the rear passenger side.



Which was then closely followed by Mister Towed pointing out I should have aligned the wheels first.

Anyway, my Christmas present to myself has arrived and I had forgotten just how small these GoPro things are.



I also got a bundle of various mounting points so I can bolt this to the car and start some test filming.

Unfortunately, I am working in the client's office tomorrow and that may be the last nice day here before Christmas.

So until next time, take care, Paul.

Brrrrrrr!

'Twas the morning before Christmas
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse...

Well, apart from me tip-toeing around in the dark.

As if there was going to be any chance of me getting out for a drive, my 'To Do" list needed to be done.

So I arrived at Sainsburys before dawn to pick up the last few bits for our Christmas Day meal.

I was back home and out in our garden as dawn was breaking to cut some holly for the mantlepiece.

Next up was clearing the dining room and setting the table for the big day with all our 'nice' stuff.

Which meant that by 12.30 I was able to get some time off for good behaviour and head out.

This was also a chance to try out my new toy.



I only filmed for a couple of minutes to see the difference between the wide and narrow view settings.

Unfortunately, my Mac is so old, it doesn't support the software needed to process the video files.

So the on board footage will have to wait until the new year, by which time I will have got a proper microphone too.
( As the sound was rubbish. )

Instead, I will leave you will a couple of photos.





I was out for just under an hour and half and covered almost 30 miles, but I was pretty cold by the time I got home.

I've got a few more chores to do, so I'd better go.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Take care, Paul.

merry xmas to you and all.....hope to see you in new year

Merry Christmas Paul
2016 marked a huge milestone in the build
Looking forward to you posts for 2017
Paint and more adventures to come

Seasons Greetings Paul, thanks for your postings during the year.

Happy motoring to one and all!

Have a great break all. Thanks for the most complete thread Paul.

Looking forward to more of the same in 2017

Dave

Phil9, Roadster, Froggyman, Mister Towed & Dave P - Cheers Gentlemen.

2016 was certainly a great year for me to finally get this epic build on the road.

Let's hope that 2017 will see the car finally painted and really looking the part.

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And Relax…
We had a nice Christmas Day at our house.



And Santa brought me a great present.



Take care, Paul.

will see if myself or towed can put pics up of to days run ......enjoy the book its a great read...

Phil - Looking forward to seeing the photos.

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Testing! 1 - 2 - 3!
I've finally managed to upload some on board video footage onto YouTube.

These clips were taken on Christmas Eve and, as I said at the time, the sound is rubbish.

It actually sounds like the GoPro itself was vibrating inside the protective case.
( Either that, or I have fitted a clockwork engine by mistake. )

Please Note: This will be 4 minutes of your life that you will not get back again.

So my apologies for the fact it is not very interesting, but I just wanted to start testing the camera settings.

Both clips were taken with the camera clipped to the scuttle, the first section is "Wide", followed by "Narrow".

The wide angle shows why I need to fit some bonnet pins to stop the bonnet bouncing around.

The narrow angle makes it look like I am going a lot faster than I was, especially up the narrow Harrow hill road.

Cheers,

Paul.

https://youtu.be/MV9cPm2_bho

I rather enjoyed that.

Well done Paul!

Love it - nice burble!

Oxford, Molleur & Mick - Thanks chaps.

I've ordered an external microphone for the GoPro from Ebay, which I hope will make it easier to hear the exhaust.

Now I just need to spend some time collecting video clips and learning more about editing them into "The Wembley Job".

Cheers, Paul.

Nice work Paul, looking forward to the release of the Wembley job.

Swifty - Cheers.

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Last Engine Start Of 2016:
Just back from a short break with my family in a very foggy Windsor.



But it was just too wet and miserable to take the car out today, so I only peeled back the covers…



And started her up on the driveway for a short while, as tomorrow's forecast looks like a wash out too.

Unfortunately, it looks like this new cover is not quite as waterproof as the supplier claims.

Anyway, I also remembered to check the mileage and I've ended the year with 695 miles under my belt.

I've leave you with this view from my bedroom window taken over the Christmas holidays.



Until next time, take care, Paul.

Happy New Year!
In between domestic chores in the morning and a trip out with my wife in the late afternoon, I managed to sneak in a quick drive today.

It was a lovely crisp winter's day, although at around 4 degrees C, you would have to say it was a bit fresh.

I wanted to collect a few more video clips, so I headed to Harrow Hill, where I parked the car, so I could set up my "opening shot".



I am still getting the hang of how all this technology works, but later on I took some more 'on board' footage.

Thankfully, I've also worked out how to convert a frame of the video into a photo.



I also took some footage of me driving along, as per The Italian Job.



Now, technically, if I wanted to accurately recreate the film I should have a cigarette permanently hanging out of my mouth.

But as I can't recreate the mountain scenery, I don't think I need to take up smoking either.

At some point I will need to persuade my wife to come out to record some exterior shots of me driving.

Whilst I know this will end up being a poor imitation of the original, I am looking forward to pulling it together.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

great stuff always good to see car out on open road top job paul

Phil9 - You and Barry have led the way with your "Run out" thread.

I'm just glad that I can finally start following in your footsteps, or is that tyre tracks?

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Drizzle Stops Play:
Unfortunately, I was working inside during the really nice days we had here recently.

But with some family stuff lined up for tomorrow, chances are that it really was today, or nothing, for a drive.

So I waited until some blue sky finally broke through the gloom and headed out.

But within minutes, all the blue sky had vanished and the sky was now an ominous shade of black.

Which meant I stuck to local roads and wasn't far from home when the drizzle finally arrived.

A fraction under 7 miles hardly seems worth it, but it does help keep everything ticking over.

Thankfully, by the time I'd parked, the sky was already starting to clear up again.



So I wiped the aero screens down…



And put the cover back on.

Until next time, take care, Paul.