I agree 95% with that. I'd always rather be driving with the hood down.
The other 5% relates to driving on streaming wet roads where other vehicles can cause that "up periscope" moment.
MOT Pass
Passed MOT today after an embarrassingly low annual mileage. Best to take an average over almost 5 years now- 1450 per annum.
Rear Brake Caliper Bolt Dust Caps
Pre-MOT I'd renewed the rear disc pads and parking brake shoes. One of the dust caps protecting the caliper bolts was missing. Looked on eBay and they sell for about £9 each.
My solution was to buy four 22mm (7/8") "Round Plastic Black Blanking End Cap Caps Tube Pipe Inserts Plug Bung Steel Leg" for £1.66 and trim the three retaining flanges off with a craft knife. Perfect fit.
Hope it doesn't invalidate the warranty.
Barchetta by the beach
Now that it appears to be summer, I went to the "last Thursday" Bike/Car Nite on the Weymouth Esplanade last evening.
Over 160 bikes and a dozen interesting cars attended: Mclaren, Corvette, 3 Mustangs, Ford Galaxie, blown Chevy, 1600E Cortina, RS500 Sierra, TR6, etc.
The news is that from July, cars will be welcome EVERY Thursday. Charity contribution £3. 18:00 to 20:00-ish.
Another toy
I've been enjoying the recent dry weather and putting the time to good use by reviving another of my toys- a classic Sylva Fury with 1700 crossflow engine:
Now MOTed and taxed after a 9 year rest under cover on the drive.
"TinyPic is shutting down in 2019
TinyPic will be ending its image hosting service in 2019 because we can no longer support a free service that derives 100% of its revenue from ever declining on-site ad revenues. "
Yes, unencumbered by the scoops and bulges required for bike engines which came later.
The Phoenix, which is a Fury without doors is based on the chassis of the Striker which is his Seven-style car. Lets just say that I tried one of those before I settled on a Fury. The passenger seat was comfortable but the driver side was narrower.
Needed tyres, battery, starter solenoid, column switches, fan belt, all fluids, water pump, heater matrix, exhaust manifold gaskets, rocker cover gasket and carbs overhaul. Waxoyl and Hammerite too.
To be enjoyed anytime- no hood but it has a tonneau cover.
I went to the Old Ford Rally at the British Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon yesterday.
This year I was very impressed by the site itself- no more parking on gravel, lots of tarmac parking areas nicely landscaped and marked out. There are 24hour toilets and showers for the over-nighters as well. The camping area is still on a windy ridge but it has a good view of the show. I gift-aided my entry fee so have free entrance to the museum for a year.
I had a quick look around the ground floor of the Jaguar museum building but the only other person there was a lady polishing the fingermarks off of some of the cars. The upstairs area is still rammed having seen it through the windows whilst driving past to the new car park. A shame as there are some interesting cars up there but too close together. The Sunbeam Alpine Club also had a gathering in one of the car parks- they got 78 cars there...
I saw this on one of them- it had a set of stainless wires with "reverse ear" spinners. Never seen ones like that before.
Car Show in the village
There was a car show in our village last weekend. Held as part of an activities weekend, it also included the chance to climb the church tower hence the view from the top.
Full list:
Alvis 1952 Tourer
Aston Martin DB7 Vantage
Caterham Seven
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
Frontline Abingdon (modernised MGB Roadster)
Honda 750 F2 4-cyl
Land Rover Defender V8 6 wheeler
Land Rover S1
Maserati GranTurismo Stradale
Massey Ferguson tractor 1949
McLaren 720S
MG Midget 1930
MGB GT
Morris Minor Traveller
My Z300S Barchetta
Porsche Carrera
Subaru Impreza Estate STT
Subaru Impreza STI
Westfield Seight
For all you twitterati out there
If you use twitter, that's one of those new-fangled interweb thingies; check out "Belles Italiennes". They tweet some great pics of classic Italian cars.
Like this one:
https://t.co/y4LCILPcBX
Retromobile 2020
Just returned from Retromobile 2020 in Paris. A very good show- it gets larger each year but didn't feel so crowded. Felt really at home (being from Abingdon) because it was over-run with MGBs. At least two Aston Zagatos and a fair few Jaguar XKs from SS to Es.
Of course the gem of the show for me was the little jewel pictured from the Fisken stand. I'm guessing that Bruce Male has put it up for sale. I wasn't sure it was his and didn't think to ask but comparing pics it probably is.
The Fisken's site says:
Ex Jean Estager Tour de France class winner
Subsequently raced extensively in France and Spain
Modified in period to longnose with headrest
Comprehensively researched history and still complete with the original engine
One of the most recognised and loved participants on the Mille Miglia, initially in the 1980’s in the hands of Stirling Moss and 15 times with its current owners family!
The A6GCS/53 was a triumph from its dazzling debut in the 1947 season. The Maserati 2-Litre, 1,985cc inline six was updated with a cast aluminium block and overhead twin cam with dual plug ignition to produce 170bhp - gaining 50bhp on the A6GCM Grand Prix car from whence the engine came. Combined with the lightweight tubular chassis from Gilco, vast hydraulic drum brakes and drivers such as Ascari at the wheel, these spartan sports racers seemed unstoppable. Indeed, the successes of the A6GCS/53 provided such an economic bolster to Maserati, that it was able to make the transition from building purely racing machines to producing some of the most beautiful road-going cars of the era.
#2071 has led a rich sporting life across several continents. Its engine blasted on to the competition scene when it powered Luigi Musso’s car to fourth place in the 1954 Mille Miglia before being united with its matching chassis upon its completion in May 1954, the same year in which Jean Estager drover the motor car to a class victory in the Tour de France. Fitted with its distinctive ‘slipper nose’ later that year, the car then passed between private enthusiasts in South America, California and Europe and undergoing an extensive restoration in Holland. Following its restoration, it was entered by its German owner in to the 1986 Mille Miglia with none other than Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel.
The recent entry list is vast and varied, encompassing Tour Auto, Laguna Seca and no fewer than fifteen Mille Miglia entries with its current custodian. The Maserati is accompanied by an extensively researched history and retains its original engine. This immensely eligible and capable Maserati is one of the finest of its kind.
Price on Application of course...
Ex Jean Estager Tour de France class winner
Subsequently raced extensively in France and Spain
Modified in period to longnose with headrest
Comprehensively researched history and still complete with the original engine
One of the most recognised and loved participants on the Mille Miglia, initially in the 1980’s in the hands of Stirling Moss and 15 times with its current owners family!
The A6GCS/53 was a triumph from its dazzling debut in the 1947 season. The Maserati 2-Litre, 1,985cc inline six was updated with a cast aluminium block and overhead twin cam with dual plug ignition to produce 170bhp - gaining 50bhp on the A6GCM Grand Prix car from whence the engine came. Combined with the lightweight tubular chassis from Gilco, vast hydraulic drum brakes and drivers such as Ascari at the wheel, these spartan sports racers seemed unstoppable. Indeed, the successes of the A6GCS/53 provided such an economic bolster to Maserati, that it was able to make the transition from building purely racing machines to producing some of the most beautiful road-going cars of the era.
#2071 has led a rich sporting life across several continents. Its engine blasted on to the competition scene when it powered Luigi Musso’s car to fourth place in the 1954 Mille Miglia before being united with its matching chassis upon its completion in May 1954, the same year in which Jean Estager drove the motor car to a class victory in the Tour de France. Fitted with its distinctive ‘slipper nose’ later that year, the car then passed between private enthusiasts in South America, California and Europe and undergoing an extensive restoration in Holland. Following its restoration, it was entered by its German owner in to the 1986 Mille Miglia with none other than Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel.
The recent entry list is vast and varied, encompassing Tour Auto, Laguna Seca and no fewer than fifteen Mille Miglia entries with its current custodian. The Maserati is accompanied by an extensively researched history and retains its original engine. This immensely eligible and capable Maserati is one of the finest of its kind.
Price on Application of course...
Electric Z300S
Well it looks as if Z300S number 8 (?) is going to be electric.
Check out the thread here:
https://zroadster.org/threads/z3-00s-ev-project.37379/
Air Intake Hose Replacement
I spent a happy hour yesterday on my 2.8 undoing jubilee clips whose heads I couldn't see to release the pictured items into the wild. The car exhibited the start/not run symptoms but unplugging the MAF sorted that. I think that the splits have been present for some time. Nice surprise- £25 the pair on eBay.
Air Intake Hose 13541705209 (the one on the left)
Air Intake Hose 13541435627 (the one on the right)
I guess that's what kit cars are all about. Pursuing goals with individual ingenuity. It transfers to life in general as well.
I think you'll find that electric cars are almost silent !!! (gets coat).
The guy is obviously an electrical/electronics engineer to be playing about with CANBUS signalling, etc.
Simpler times- a guy in the Jago club electrified his Fiat 850 by replacing (just) the engine with a forklift truck motor. Even used the standard clutch and gearbox. Controlling the battery output was the hardest part, trying to emulate the throttle via the right hand pedal.
I'm in the process of replacing a battery-to-fusebox lead on a Z3. It's a 40mm2 cable rated at 300A that goes to a busbar behind the glove box. There is a good number of 200A, 100A and 80A fuses before you get to the "small" fuses under the bonnet.
Wasn't the Czech (?) supercar that Hammond crashed an electric device- that burned rather well as I remember.
I've now sorted the electrics on mine- just got to get the trim panels back in now before refitting the driver's seat.