Ley Hill Rootes Convertible Rapier and Gazelle Meeting
After the run to Gaydon last Month the next adventure planned in the Sunbeam Rapier was the Ley Hill Car Show where Chris was invited to meet up with a number of other Rootes convertible four-seaters. This time we had a crew of three - Chris, his friend Norman and myself.
Ley Hill is just over 110 miles from Chris’ home he had chosen a route to take us on A roads as far as possible. Setting off just after 9 am we had a Good run to start with on the Suffolk stretch of the A12 – the car still had a little vibration but seemed better after the replaced UJs.
About 9:30 we were crossing the Orwell Bridge when we all heard a resounding loud ‘Thud’ that reverberated around the car. Nothing apparently changed though, no metallic noises, no more vibrations and all the gauges were reading normally so we put it down to just hitting something on the road we had not seen. On we went.
We had passed Colchester by 10:00 and were making steady progress turning onto the A120 at Marks Tey running between 40-50 most of the way. Once onto the Braintree bypass Chris sped up and he thought that the car started to vibrate a little more. The road surface was not that good though so we put it down to that. Further on it was more obvious that the vibration was coming from the car and not the road so Chris slowed down which helped but did not cure the problem.
We’d thought of swapping drivers at Bishops Stortford which was about half way but decided to stop early at the Great Dunmow Rest Area to check the car over before we went any further. We all looked underneath – nothing falling off, checked the spinners - still firm, the tyres - no obvious problems and the engine bay - all dry and a comfortable temperature.
I took over the driving and as Norman thought he had sensed a slight unevenness in the ride as we parked I slowly left the rest area to see if it returned. It did not seem to be causing problems and as I accelerated onto the main road it seemed OK.
However, about 5 miles later the vibration was making the car uncomfortable to drive. I decided to speed up and see if I could drive through the vibration. “NO!” – was the emphatic answer from the car and I slowed down quickly to a very sedate pace – it was going to be a long journey now. Passing the Bishops Stortford interchange and roadworks we all heard a new noise, a metallic scratching on the rear near side. Luckily I immediately found a convenient place to pull off the road into a sandy layby and we got out to investigate.
It did not take us long to spot the problem. We had driven about 50 miles since we heard the ‘thump’ crossing the Orwell Bridge and the tyre had finally given up. The tyre had lost some outer tread and the wire reinforcing had broken through. Somehow the tyre was still holding air and it had not disintegrated at speed.
We set to work unpacking the boot to get at the jack etc. as Chris re-arranged the roadwork barriers to give us some protection from the oncoming traffic.
The thee of us had the wheel changed in quick time and we were on a way again in just over five minutes. I was very happy to report that the car felt immeasurably better. I even braved the M25 for a few miles.
Arriving slightly later than planned the show was in full swing but we managed to get there before the group photographs. Chris was welcomed enthusiastically as we took our place on the end of the row of gleaming Rootes four seaters.
The day passed quickly, as Chris fielded questions and swapped information and we wandered around the cars. I like shows like this as they are multi-marque/multi-age and throw up modern and vintage surprises. Two of my favourites were the Vintage Hillman parked near us and the air-cooled Jowlett Javelin previously used as a Taxi covering a claimed 200,000 miles.
Eventually it was time say our farewells. We had decided to take a slightly less direct but easier route back which took us on the M25 for longer and M11 as well, but given the car’s steady progress in the morning (post tyre change) we had every confidence in her.
Stopping for a driver swap at the services 60 miles later we were met by smiles from the two young women who drew in beside us as well as some nice comments from passers by. Norman took the final leg and immediately had to cope with to the car’s slightly poor steering and breaks as he headed strait into the traffic chaos in the roadworks on the exit. After this baptism of fire he was able to enjoy himself and the journey settled down to the monotony of the A120/A12 for the next 50 miles. We finally arrived back to base just before 7:30 pm.
Looking back we suspect the tyres were close to 40 years old and as the car was used so sparingly they were never an issue. The MOT pass also gave a false sense of security. A lesson we will all take home.
Thanks again to Chris for the invite and the organisers of the show.
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