Another wheel un-turned

Checked the miles but nothing else for the fleet today.

Nill miles by the Alpine - sitting there waiting for me to fix it all month.

The E-Type did 260 miles though after the good run to Hampton Court early in the month.

Selfie with the AE-1 as it's got a timer.

Just a ride and a photo

Popped out in Mk7. Not much else.

Oh and the Ferrari is not ready - they forgot to do the MOT ... again.

Nice AE-1 photo of Ferrari 250SWB though.

Fleet Management Report

Call for the SAAB again and lugging wood about

Then a bit of Mk 7 running around.

Looking at the fleet its a bit of a sad story.

Ferrari - in for the service - should be back soon.

E-type - MOT passed now waiting for the cylinder head to come off and the valve seals to be looked at to try to stop it smoking - another month.

Alpine - not used all month due to poor running at slow speed and leaking fuel tank. Gave the distributor but worried about fitting it. No estimate from the garage to restore it either.

Golf MK2 - awaiting the garage to fix the non-starting so just sitting there getting dirty. Oh and it's got a large hole in the exhaust too.

Caterham - knocking noise from the rear (UJ?) when it gets warmed up. Also the rocker cover gasket is leaking.

SAAB - filthy inside and out and exhaust rattles.

Golf Mk7 - bump on the back thet the owner can't be bothered to get repaired.

Aston - best of the bunch - but did fail to start after I stopped it and tried to start it too early. Oh and the air bag light sometimes stays on.

Other than that - they are all going well.

SAAB Shopping

SAAB off to the shops t get stuff for the light box.

That's aluminium a 2m bar shining in there.

Work gets in the way

Full day working from home so no trips out.

Drop of and Drive

Dropped James off half a mile away for his trip and then Aston to the bank and shops.

Spaces are getting smaller I suspect.

E-type will be gone for another month at least - head will come off and then see what the valves look like.

4-12 and 6

AERO for jobs and then Aston to Station again.

The Six is the fact that I spotted my car in the E-type magazine 155.

Nice, but as it was a picture I took it was doubly surprising !

SAAB and Seven

SAAB for jobs then Seven to drop James off in Manningtree.

Lots of cobwebs found inside as well.

Van time 2

Off to Silk Street first thing to look after people on Maintenance and do jobs in the SAAB as works van again.

Perhaps I can get a sticker for it ?

The afternoon was warm and bright so treated myself to a run in the Aston to the shops and then the Caterham around the block. Lots of cobwebs on it.

Sounded a bit 'rattly' too but I remembered that I'd not check the Oil since we got back from Donnington - so will do that tomorrow.

'Clonk' did not appear until the very end.

Van time 1

SAAB used to collect drill, steel stand and lamp from around Ipswich tonight.

Lugging them back fine.

In good company

Dropped the Ferrari off at Grimaldi's for service and MOT - two years time it won't need the MOT - bizzar.

Anyway - nice 250 Lusso in for work. That and a few Testarossas and other 308 etc. in the packed workshop.

Twenty Little Cylinders

Ferrari out in the sunshine - running well. Looking clean still too.

Then Aston off to the shops - again in the sun.

Not a bad couple of drives.

Very Short Drive

Aero to Bottle Bank - must have been all of half a mile.

Rain easing off though. Tomorrow I will pop out in something.

Running back in the Swede

Aero back from London. Easier run too.

Big Shit

Now that Cruse liner in the bay was a bit bigger than us.

It must have been a few feet tall.

Train both ways.

Van Time

OK SAAB packed up and ready to rumble.

Not sure we'd use it all - but we did.

SAAB sat on the street in London like a pro.

Ready time

Just packing it all up - in the rain again.

Two Trees in the boot

It seems you can get two trees in the boot of the Golf Mk7.

I wonder why they don't use that in their advert ?

Mind you most of the apples had fallen off before we got home.

Time for the Seven

Next to get a run about was the dusty Seven.

Dust from the cover and the cobwebs on the boot tell a story of 'un-use'.

Seemed to go well as usual and the knock only appeared at the end - as if it needs to heat up ?

Getting back into the groove

Jumped into the Ferrari when the sun came out and took it out. Looked like a toy parked on the drive.

It has not seem much action recently - in fact just over 200 miles in the best 16 weeks of the year. About 12 miles a week or just the tour around my run.

No long runs and I missed the event as it was just too hard to get up at 5:00 am again after Hampton Court.

Anyway it looked good next to the Aston in the garage.

Finally tried to start the Golf which was un-startable on Sunday. After 5 mins of tinkering with the ignition I got it started. Points to a shot ignition switch.

Adjusted the washers too - the type of job I can do.

Oh and also ordered up the distributor for the Alpine. They type of job I can't really do properly.

Eight Hours Later

SAAB back and forward to the North.

The chap I dropped off the kit with had three cars in the store and another five scattered about. All Alpines or Tigers.

SAAB All packed up again

Squeezed everything into the SAAB fore the run to Manchester with all the SAOC equipment.

A bit low on the suspension but seemed OK.

Jags in Sweden

Dropped off the E-type for work at Abbotts.

It will be a while before it comes back - and cost a lot I think - but it deserves it.

Nice XK150 coupe (£80k to you Sir) in there along with an XJS and Classic SAABs. They should really make more of everything - but they need a showroom.

Just a passenger

Lift to the station and back - letting the train take the strain.

Organising the fleet

Booked the Ferrari in for a service today.

Meant to take it for a run but it was a bit dull so I took the Aston out instead. First World problem indeed.

Not the best picture though but it shows the dull weather.

Inspector in Norfolk

Went to look at an Series V Alpine that had been stored for 10-15 years up in Norfolk. I went cross country and passed Lotus at Hethal, by accident.

The car was tucked into a small garage in Wynmondam.

More solid than mine underneath and in better condition overall as well !

I would like to re-commission it, but it would probable be more work than it looked.

I then went to look at another car restorer - they looked quite rough and ready. They did have an 4.2 E-type in there among 20 other cars in various states, but it was hard to see the quality of their work.

Not a lot on Monday

Seemed to miss taking any car out - no wait - the SAAB round the corner and short hop.

It had to be the Aston today

Short run round the block to warm up the Aston. It's got twice the cylinders of the E-Type and probably twice the power.

The Jaguar got a clean and a detail though first, so it looks good for the service to come.

Used just over a pint of oil in the 250 miles so not bad at all.

Show Time Again

Early 5:30 start to get into London before the traffic.

E-type awoke fine and coped with everything well.

Run down and through West London went well and I managed to follow my directions exactly - which is a first. Arrived at 8:30 having left at 6:00 am.

No sign on the gate but went in anyway. Got sent to the wrong place - then sent back and eventually parked up about 10:00.

Some great cars - you don't often see five D-Types together either. Oh and yes, that is Prince Michael of Kent's Bentley in the background on the left. I'll photoshop it out later.

Made it back in just under three hours and put the car away. It's filthy again, has a blowing exhaust and the valve seals need attending to as it smokes a bit too much now.

It drove well though, coped with 250 miles, in and out of London, Motorways and M25 traffic jambs and did not misbehave. Long run back but we got photographed twice by admirers so that kept me going.

It now deserves a clean and a good service.

September SAAB Shufle

Only driving was moving the cars around on the drive to free the E-Type for the early departure for the show.