As this last week as been ever so slightly stressful and busy, there hasn't been much of an update on the internet for a short while. Part of the problem is that there are quite a few deadlines looming that I want to meet plus the usual experiences that anyone who runs a small business ( or even a large one) will find all too familiar. Anyway, all we can do is press on as usual...
This week we have had one or two new arrivals. The first of these was this every day driver. The thing with classic cars is that if they are in regular use they often get to look a little shabby. At shows a car like this will tend to get parked at the back of the show ring- sometimes I get the impression that the organisers would rather cars like this were left parked at the back of the car park. The thing is though they usually tend to be the most reliable and dependable cars- especially if they happen to be a forty one year old Volvo Amazon.
If this car has a name at all it should surely be called Dreadnought: built like a battle ship, it's obviously been in a few battles but it's still going!
It's only in for a service this week but it then disgraced it's self by reeking of petrol when Sadie and Beau took it for a test drive around the yard. This turned out to be a leaking fuel pump so it's an easy fix for next week. I hope that we will see this car again.
The other “battleship” that we have in is the Rover p4. I think that this car has been getting a little too comfortable here- it obviously doesn't want to go. However on the third attempt it passed it's MOT with an advisory list as long as my arm. We are just fixing these points now and then it will be off on another rally ( it's done the Monte Carlo three times already). Although it's been slightly knocked about, it still drives really nicely.
One car that we were sorry to see in was this Mercedes 230. Only a few weeks ago it was in for cavity waxing and we were only just saying what a nice original car it was when it arrived back here. As you can see it's been in the wars but will live to fight another day. These cars are tough- I wonder what sort of state the other car was in! It does strike me that if you drive one of the larger solid cars such as a Rover Jaguar, or Mercedes/BMW you may well be safer than you would in a modern thin tin car with air bags. I'm sure people who know more about this sort of thing would disagree but never pull out on one of these old tanks!
On the subject of big cars, all three of our Rover P5B3's have been coming along.
We suffered a set-back last week when we were finally forced to admit defeat with one of our specialist contractors and remove an engine that just wasn't getting done. This has since gone to a contact of the owner in Birmingham and after speaking to the man in question, I can see this being done and delivered back to us in no time at all. I'll keep his number handy for future reference. The engine is due to go into the second of our P5B projects “GOV”. We have a tight deadline here and Clint has spent the morning with the wiring loom making all sorts of mods. Hopefully by next week end it will all be completed.
Project P5B# 1 ( Reginald) is starting to move now. The engine re-build should be finished next week and the body shell is scheduled to get it's top coat of paint in the next three weeks or so ( painting classics can be very slow). Sadie has re-bushed the front suspension and now the sub frame can go back together.
P5b #3 is also progressing well with the welding work being done at a fairly speedy rate- another 15 hours were devoted to this this week and the welding should be completed by the end of March when it will join the queue for painting.
Going in the opposite direction is the Scimitar. The next phase of the job was to weld in new outriggers but as more corrosion has been found on the chassis- we have now decided to do the whole job and get the body off. The chassis will then be stripped and sent away for galvanising. One of the problems is that the Rover V8 engine fitted (- should be a Ford 3.0 Essex job) isn't quite fitted properly and the exhaust is too Heath-Robinson. The plan at the moment is to fit a stainless steel tubular manifold and create an exit route through the chassis it's self. It should look great when finished but careful planning will be required to pull this off.
The Spitfire 2 litre continues to progress well. The deadline is very tight here and still some spares have not arrived. The seats are now in. Because they are not standard they used to catch on the hood frame resulting in unsightly ripping. The seats have been beautifully re-covered in Connelly hide with a one- off diamond print pattern, but how to stop the seat fowling the frame in the future?
I had plans for seats that could tip forwards and backwards with elaborate locking mechanisms but then Sadie said why don't we just make our own seat runners with the seats mounted slightly off centre! ..We went with Sadie's idea. Even so the complexity of making sure the runners worked without catching on the convoluted floor and avoiding the seats being close to the handbrake caused an extra 15 hours work. Now its all done you'd hardly notice the mods.
The Austin A35 is also now on a tight schedule. It's planned to have it MOT'd in march and ready to go home. Parts have been ordered and Sadie and Beau will be very busy here this month fitting up the doors etc.
The Spitfire 1500 that we restored last year has been back for improvements. The hard top should be back very soon and in the meantime Sadie is swapping over the quarter lights in the doors for newly re-chromed ones. Other than that we have the usual rattles and squeaks to sort out and some polishing here and there.
The other Spitfire ( MK3) is now almost ready for painting. In fact the underside has now been done. There are a few more welding jobs to do-mostly around the dashboard area but it should be ready for the paint shop very soon.
The VW Karmann Ghia has stood for a while since being blast cleaned. Being an early example we have struggled to find repair panels for it but we are getting through these issues gradually. All in all the shell is in good order so it shouldn't take too long to get it ready for it's turn in the paint shop.
The next big project for me next week is to get the Dolomite Sprint sills completed. This car has been waiting for some three weeks now but it's time that the job was finished. I'll try to update this on Facebook as it happens.
Other projects not listed above are also starting to move again. The Escort RS2000 project has re-started. Delays here caused by outside influences have been a real nucense but hopefully we are now over this.
The MG Midget has been waiting patiently since before Chrismass and I hope that next week the final welding will start.
We have also located a set of rare doors for the Cortina and possibly a pair of new front wings. These are like rocking horse doo-dahhs so we are very fortunate to have located some!
