Aero sandwich

Alpine to marina to look at the boat. Three up both ways.

Then pack up and fill up Aero for Liverpool trip. 

Final sunset run in Alpine again for more fuel - chap in petrol station noticed another car in the fleet. 

Saturday running

Golf around the block twice. Low on water and after a top up ran cool - spotted small drips of oily water in the drive - at least it's washing something off. 

Added to the list. 

Aero back to dump as well - just for the fun of it. 

Bumper part 2

Aero back to Essex.

Dropped bumper off for Chroming - we'll see what it looks like when finished in November. The Alpine needs other parts re-done - will have to survey.

Bumper to bumper

Aero run to Folkestone 250 miles to get a bumper for the Alpine.

Followed a S2 E-type for a lot of the way - it looked very small even compared to "small" cars.

Finished the day with a buzz in the Mk2 - smells of stale water and started to get hot in traffic - I must examine it again. 

Aero Splashing

Backwards and forwards through the heavy rain across Suffolk for our sins. Aero as solid as ever.

AA meeting

Dodged the showers in the Aston after a Aero trip to town.

Key question is which car gets the outdoor bubble this winter ?

Nothing doing

Autumn day with rain for the morning then lack of reason to move.

More reports on the driverless taxi and all the papers/mags talking about the two Ferraris donated to the RNLI. 

Oil not anywhere near running out though - which is nice. 

Alpine Sun

Great run through Suffolk countryside with the Alpine. We got back with only a few splatters of rain.

Earlier I spotted two generations of Golf on the drive.

Some travel

Caterham to recycling. 

Then around the block. 

Another Three

Mid morning Aero trip into town, then pm Alpine run to get oil for the Aston. Topped up with all of 250ml until I realised it was supposed to be 250cl.

Finished off with a 308 blast in the sun.

All grown up again

Grown up car again - firstly deep into Suffolk countryside (why do they always resurface the road when I do ?) then 60 miles down and back into the Essex bad-lands.

Aston adept in both circumstances.

Series of average speed cameras now on A12 - but it's acceleration that's the best bit, not top speed anyway - especially in a modern car.

AAC

Aero, Aston and Caterham. 

Also Lowflying arrived with the picture of the Caterham in it. 

Which was nice. 

Another airport run

Ride in MK7 around the M25. 

Then Aero to town. 

Aero workhorse

Early dump run stuffed with bags. 

Then sunset drive in the Golf - cleaned and full of petrol (topping up the old unleaded from the Caterham). 

Nice turn in the Jag

Drained all the fuel out of the Caterham and it noticed it had low oil pressure when I started it.

Then took a friend's father in law to his birthday meal in the E-Type - he had owned several etypes etc. of his own in his youth and now has 10+ bikes. 

Looked good but was very dusty. 

When I got back I checked the Caterham oil - very low. Topped up 5 pints and went for fuel and a run - does it sound the same ?

Blat

Long 200+ miles in the Caterham. Shared driving with Oliver, through some great backlanes through Suffolk and Norfolk.

Even got on the front of the grid for the picture. 

Nail biting as we almost ran out of petrol - so I know it can go 180 miles and more if you are gentle. Had to top up with normal unleaded not super though. 

Another Aston Outing

Short drive for a meeting - felt like a grown up today as I was in my suit.

Exhilarating acceleration still amuses me. Article in magazine saying the V12V is 'the' modern Aston to have. I could not agree more.

Finished cleaning the Caterham for tomorrow's blast too. Pray for a nice day.

Back in it's spot

Drove into carpark and my space was free.

Nice night drive home too. 

Earlier I shuffled a few cars around and cleaned the Carerham for Saturday. 

A few more miles under my belt

150 miles in the Aero after a nice 30 miles in the Caterham. 

Parked in small town UK - they thought it was charming - until Oli revved the engine as we left !

August was Ferrari month

Car	Ferrari 308 GTB
Miles this month	314
Latest costs	£86

I believe that every car deserves a long run each year and this August it was the turn of the 308. You learn more about the car on a long run and get a better feel for it. Also you notice problems before they become major fallings – like the lack of charging I noticed last year on the way back from Dunsfold. The Ferrari especially responds well to a long high speed run too.

This August the excuse was a visit to the Cranleigh Car Show in Surrey (incidentally where I grew
up) on Sunday after a visit to Oliver’s “soon to be” in-laws and extended family on Saturday afternoon. I’d detailed the car over the previous week – washed it and applied a full wax – using Dodo juice dark seems to be the best one I have found – and the car looked spotless. We had an easy run on the way down – A12, M25 etc. but I was a bit alarmed by the small backroads we used across the south Surrey countryside. 

Just for old time’s sake I parked the bright red Italian outside my parent’s old house in Brookside and took a snap for Instagram. The final leg was mistakenly over an unmade road as we missed a turning. However, through everything the car behaved itself as normal and shows what an un-temperamental beast the 308 is.

When we arrived I was given the safe slot on the drive and the car was admired on and off, with Oliver playing “find the door handle” and “where is the fuel cap?” with a younger cousin. Best of all was that the grandmother disappeared for a while and was found outside on the drive just admiring it. She also wanted to come out and hear it start up when we left – for a lifelong non-driver she has good taste. A Ferrari can divide opinion but I feel that the old ones like mine don’t offend too many people.

The hotel we chose was in the Surrey hills and the drive in the dark over roads I used to tear up as a teenager was only partially remembered, that’s what 30 years away will do for you. On arrival I deliberately parked ostentatiously outside the main reception of the hotel and was glad to hear an appreciative American voice. I’d forgotten the slightly poor turning circle the car has so had to do a five-point turn to get out - I passed it off coolly I thought. Our room was on the edge of the complex and I never did find the car park, but with a bit of manoeuvring and a slight clutch smell I parked it overnight outside the room safely tucked away. That’s one element of taking the car out and leaving it in an unfamiliar place that still worries me after these years – is it the value or just the apprehension of it getting damaged ?

The car show was packed and even though we got here early we had to queue for quite a while to get in. I parked on the end of a row of very red cars, a TR3 a MGB and a TVR. Overall there was a great selection of cars I had not seen before as well as the usual suspects. I was especially taken with a grey Lancia (a 1962 Flaminia Touring 218 GT) and white BMW Isetta 300, but I did find myself being drawn back to the 440 Dodge Charger.

Overall I’m finding less cars to photograph, although the weather was a bit dull towards the end of the day which always dampens my enthusiasm. However no other Ferrari’s on show – just one lone 360 on a trade stand. Where were they all?

During the day I opened the bonnet and went into the boot for some water to spot a small split in the top of the large “bellows” that attaches the air filter to the air intake on the right hand side. I mentally added it to the fix list.

Wondering round the show, with Oliver despairing at the costs of everything and how he’ll ever buy anything classic, we chatted to two opposite ends of the classic car spectrum. Firstly a young chap with a pristine white Volvo P1800S he had had for a few years. He lived in London and ran the car for six months a year then put it away when the weather turned bad. Proof you can run a classic in the city? His take was that the car was becoming too valuable, it was concourse and needed to be kept that way. Although he had invested emotionally in it and was desperate to keep it, he worried about using it more.

The second was an older chap at the side of the Aston Martin owner’s club group. He had a DB6, again concourse, but had owned the car for many years. He had paid for a superb renovation and was revelling in the astronomic values they commanded and saw nothing to worry about.

Early on Monday a look at the Eurospares website identified the part quickly (the same as on a Ferrari 288 GTO I was shocked to see) from their diagram, I phoned to confirm it was in stock and that I was right. It arrived the next day and I  set about to fit it. Having a great Ferrari spares supplier in Halstead only thirty miles away and coincidentally just around the corner from Grimaldi’s who service the car, is an added bonus.

The fixings were a strange affair – bands of metal like large diameter self-tightening jubilee clips.On taking the bellows off it was obvious that the split on the top was tiny compared to the shredded lower portion – not sure why I had missed that before. Thirty minutes of twisting got the new one back in position, although I am not sure it should be resting on the water pipe – that might explain the damage to the underside over the years.

I’d hoped that it would also fix the whistle that you can hear at 70 but it did not, although I thought the note changed a bit on the test drive. And yes the car did seem to go better after the long run.

And this month's winner is

The Ferrari (or the Aero if you are really counting).

Ferrari did 314 miles in August - mostly Cranleigh and back. 

Aero just shy of a thousand miles - camping, London and the airport twice. 

Load lugging again

Stuffed Aero with geer for camping.

Weekend away in dull and wet weather. 

Monday packed it up again using tent flap as shelter from the rain. 

Very useful. 

Golf fixed

Bit of Aero to town first thing. Then picked up Golf. 

Pesky speedo drive - glad I got the professionals to do it as I read horror stories of it falling off into the gear box. 

Late afternoon Alpine run too. 

Recalcitrant Mr E

Not started for a while and a bit miffed I suspect - so hard to get going. 

But rewarded me with a great drive - sucking in the cool August morning air and roaring over the bridge. 

Golfing Weather

MK2 to the garage to look at the speedo - needed speedos to swim through the rain storm. 

Aston and Caterham out

Early morning run in the Caterham. No doors - yes more exhilarating but windy. 

Especially that close to the ground. 

Letter got the Aston out for once - now on battery charger too as I feel I'm not using it much. 

Run in Audi and Golf Mk 7 to round off the day before the rain. 

G2R - again

G to R on Friday then sail up to the Deben. 

Early evening jaunt in the smallest member of the fleet - the Zodiac inflatable. First launch but started first time - 4 stroke and petrol. 

Saturday return leg. Then R to Golf home. 

Seven Fan Fixed

Oli replaced the offending thermostatic switch - warned the car up and it worked - switched on the fan.

Not sure why I was surprised it worked - more to the point how do you make such a switch ?

Working on a couple

Replaced Ferrari 'bellows' for the air filter - far worse than I thought it was - with splits hidden underneath too. 

New one seems to rest on the lower pipe too ?

Then looked at Caterham to find 1. I'd not put the radiator cap on completely so water was coming out of it and 2. The thermostat for the elec fan was not working. 

Got one in order. 

Rain set in

Aero round the block and the Ferrari part arrived - so that get's fitted tomorrow.

Golf speedo research showed a nightmare scenario of the speedo drive dropping off in the gear box...

Cleaning up

Fixed the exhaust mounting on the Golf then got all the mud off the Alpine. 

Then a run to bottle bank. 

Final MK7 potter as passenger. 

Long Day

Night in the open at the hotel - still not sure where we should have parked.

Lots of admiring at the show - but only one other Ferrari as far as I could see - where were they ?

 

Long run back on M25 and squeezed 280 miles from the tank - so it will do 300 at a push. Also found the air intake pipe is split. One more job for me.

Southern man

Down to Cranleigh in the Ferrari. 

M25 etc. not a bad run and via Brookside for a look too. 

They probably wondered what I was doing. 

Night run to hotel in the Surry hills - nice comment as we arrived but a bit of clutch burnt trying to manoeuvre in the dark. 

Wet and Dry

Late night Alpine run ended in thunderstorm and drenched car - tonneau held up well though.

Going to need a clean inside though as someone was a bit muddy !

308 cleaned and ready to go though on the morning. 

A and F

Aero to town, the Ferrari to get petrol before the storms hit.

308 prep

Cleaned and polished the Ferrari for the show - bad weather on the way - so will probably get rained on. 

Golf mk2 - fixed misplaced front splitter and found it has a broken exhaust mount so off to get one if those in the Caterham. 

Did not get one to fit so ended up buying on line. 

Passenger

Just a brief pop to the shops in the Mk7. 

Nothing of note on the roads. Well it is a dull Tuesday. 

Monday too

Back from London in the Aero - London traffic can be a bit frantic - good thing it's a big old car. 

London Bound

Aero to London via Heatherow - load lugging. 

Alpine National

Left at 07:50 heading for the Fens with 20252 on the clock. 

Car also felt more lively after (totally over) filling with BP 98 octane and a larger than usual dose of Redex plus Octane boost. Somewhere there is a leak when the tank gets too full - but I can't see where - made a mess on the forecourt though. 

Early run on A14 not the much fun but the second half was a picturesque 50 mile drive over the Fens I arrived at 10:17 - mileage now 20340 about 90 miles on the clock plus the 10% error so about 100 miles. 

Weather warming up very nicely - too hot by 12:00. 

Encouraged into the concourse as there were so few S1 cars - actually only 4 ! Forgot how ratty it's got - but very original compared to the pampered and over restored ones. 

Mumbling from the judges about the time it took for one car. Mine was second on the list of about 25 cars and only just done by 12:00. 

Not sure what they thought - and I'll have to leave before the results - but I assume lots of 3's and 2's do not score that highly. 

Worth going though as I picked up a pair of chrome window channels - unique to S1's - add it to the job list. 

Run back was great in the summer sun - punctuated by the bonnet coming open three times and witnessing a small accident. Some of the Fen roads are very bumpy though - need to check out the underside. 

Umm

Total of 0.5 miles in the trusty Aero. 

Umm that's about it. 

Oh and yesterday Classic and Sports Car had the first artical on the classic car market stalling - apart from 70's and 80's classics - especially the 308. 

Water water everywhere

And not a drop to drink - when it's from the burst pipe on the VW - top of the main pipe from the water pump so lots came out when I removed it. 

Caterham run to town and came back on 3 cylinders. Oli cleaned plugs up and then we went for a blast without the doors. Whoosh. 

I also don't think the fan is working. Add it to the list. 

Aero Dawn Wednesday

4:00 am start to take James etc. to airport in SAAB. 

Then cleaned and polished front half of the Alpine for Saturday. 

Two A's

Aero to dump - Aston to shops. It's much better with the new garage doors - you can open the boot. 

GGGGhent

Run in MK2 to the train station - water light flashing, suspension banging, headlining fallen down at the back and two holes have appeared in it. 

Not very concourse at all at the moment. 

Arrived in Ghent - Morris Minor soft top in the carpark. Very British welcome. 

Very few nice cars in the town - and the only classic we saw was a Customised Volvo Amazon the Morris leaving. 

Best was this bike - ITOM. 

Ride back the Golf it had no speedo and a banging exhaust - work pilling up now.