Squire_Dawson

Hall 1
 

Recently life has been incredibly stressful and been getting to me a bit. Mrs SiC was off doing her own thing this morning, so I decided to have my own little jolly trip to a local(ish) museum.
 
The Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum claim to fame is that its the only car museum of Wiltshire. Its based in what can be described as a bunch of posh cow sheds just on the outskirts of Calne. I've passed the sign to the place for many years and kept saying I should pay a visit. At one point I thought it closed down. However they've frequented the NEC Classic Car Shows, so I guess they are very much alive and active.
 
Not the cheapest to get in at £7 and its not the biggest museum. But then it is the expensive South and they need to pay the bills somehow. If you're near or passing by, I'd say its well worth a visit.
 
Without a further a do, here are the pictures from today.

 
That electric van outside hasn't even done 100 miles!

 
This sign inside made me chuckle. Electric French van? DO NOT PRESSURE WASH!

 
If you're interested in going.

 
Once you pull in, you see the main museum shed.







 
Now lets go into the museum.

Fab, thanks again.
 
In case anyone needs gingering up about this, here’s what Past Parts did with the clutch master cylinder on my SD1:
 
Before:

Clutch master cylinder - before refurb by Skizzer, on Flickr
 
After:

Clutch master cylinder - after refurb by Past Parts by Skizzer, on Flickr
 
Obviously you can’t see all the re-sleeving and other work but you get the gist. Three and a half years later the clutch hydraulics are still tippy-top, of course.

RTV?
 
A coating of grease is another option, the trouble is that makes 3 choices I must decide from, my theory is grease will aid future removal but jointing compound should give a better seal. Keep us updated.

Those rudimentary things must've been humiliating for the people forced to use them. They remind me of an L.S. Lowry painting, 'The Contraption'. Lowry stood transfixed as this thing creaked along the road, the occupant caught him staring and swore and cursed at him as he jerked past.

ok so Ill post about the Q plater first
 
the long and the short of it, is he gave me his email and full post code and gave me the ok to pass all the details onto "my friend in Sheffield"
 
 
but he actually wants to keep it but was/is selling it because he was losing garage space and because of the Q plate, he could not park it on the road and that if he could get it back to its original registration he would park it on the road and keep it (im suddenly getting deja view ), and that someone had actually already offered £2K for it (and that 5 others have enquired about it), but he does not ACTUALLY want to sell it
 
so I told him that he can get the original registration back and how he may go about doing so (he thought he really could not, by some BS the DVLA told him) and i showed him where the Chassis numbers are located and to apply for its log book via a V62 etc
 
and that you can road register an invacar again (he really thought you could not so I got him to bring up the DVLA checker and punch in TWC725K, he asked me whats that one about to which I just said "oh its one a friend of mine owns and recently got back on the road"   )
 
I also told him how it was ringed with a Mk12s chassis number, and he got a bit funny thinking I was suggesting his dad was a car ringer LOL, but I just told him it was probably done by whoever, so the DHSS wouldn't take it back, and he was happy with that
 
(from what I understand his dad got the car from the a Service agent, and then eventually he ended up with the car, and I think his dad died at some point between 1997 and now so he ended up with it)
 
 
 
 
Im aware that there is a chance this could all be BS and he is just messing me around, but he knows I cant do £2K, so if there really is someone else offering £2K regardless then thats me out of the race already, so iv got nothing to lose by telling him what I told him, and it means another Model 70 might return to the road properly
 
plus if he does, actually want to keep it, im not going to withhold information just for my own means so I could acquire it. im not that sort of person
 
so yeah, ill pass the post code and email etc to busmansholiday, but I dont think ill be getting this one sadly if he plans to keep it, but I am happy to see it might have a future with the guy and get its original registration back
 
plus who knows maybe he will still decide to sell it to me or something
 
(as a side note, he didn't seem to be a techy guy so I doubt he has found autoshite etc, he was not even aware of the DVLA look up site until i showed it to him)
 
and finally as I was saying my thanks and goodbye, he said something along the lines of: no thank you! you have told me so much and ill go get a V62 as soon as possible!. and he seemed genuinely happy about everything
 
so thats the Q plate Model 70 stuff, ill write up the stuff stuart told me in a bit, my brain is still a bit frazlled LOL
 
(as a side note, Stuart did make a very good observation that it might be a Model 67, because we cant see the rear wheel arches in the 1 picture we have LOL)

Lifted the shitty old universal thick rubber mats up and was amazed at how fresh the carpets actually are.
 

 
 
 
Also noted that the thick rubber mat was robbing the throttle pedal of its last portion of travel.
We can't have that.
 
Out the old thick universal mats came, and some old SLK ones are in there till I can find something more period and in keeping. And rubber.
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
I know I probably go on a bit much about floor mats, and for that I do apologize.

An engine.
 
With a strut brace. Was that factory?
 

DO.NOT.VARNISH.

Tragically, this wet cold Friday morn has not yielded quite so much diecast loveliness at the market...



No 50p rummage boxes. No trays of 70s/80s Corgi and Matchbox.

At first, I thought maybe some other bugger had been in and scooped it all as a job-lot, but no: blokey on the stall is planning a quick getaway this afternoon, so didn't bring everything with him today.

Sadly, the Corgi Rovers and Dinky Volvo are therefore unavailable to Mr. Tenmil Socket, who had requested that I make overtures on his behalf.

So what is there today?

Well, this lot:









Old Corgi & Dinky stuff does tend to appeal to me less than the newer stuff that i had as a kid, but if anyone's pickle is tickled by the above, they're a fiver each and I'll be hanging around for a few hours yet...

Not sure how much he wants for the sun-damaged General Lee or the Solido Beetle, but I can ask.

Also available is this mahoosive boxed crane:



Verdict: I ARE DISSAPOINT

Better shots of the Vitesse Mini, I really like the model,one of the better Mini castings, may search for others when funds permit.
 

 

From Twitter
 

Chuffin' hell that is a good haul for a bluey.....Cider wagon is a  Wells Pocketoy.

So, today's haul (for Amishtat's delight) comprises:

Two Dinkys - Packard convertible and big Hudson sedan, in fairly playworn but otherwise unmolested condition:







Some tyres might be on the shopping list, mebbe?


Also a brace of Corgis:







The Impala taxi has a bit of grille damage and some Humbrol to the lower flanks, but otherwise not too bad - the glazing is intact and everything. A damn sight better than the last Impala that passed between myself and Amishtat.

The Suburban has been subject to a doubtless well-intentioned but god-defeatingly rubbish restoration involving substantial quantities of Uhu glue, a clear plastic window cut from ready-meal packaging, and a fence brush coated in Tipp-Ex. It will provide some excellent 'before' pics once its been rebuilt in a more sympathetic manner, for sure...

Watched this hubnut review day before yesterday and was thinking of it as I read this thread!

This is the reverse of the last problem, the Civic's were stuck ON!
 
Also, today I've learned it is possible to drive through Glasgow rush hour without a foot brake. It isn't however, advisable. Also, the Acclaim has a sensor for low brake fluid and illuminates a warning light on the dash, how fancy!
 

Viewed another car last night, more broken than expected.
 
Naturally, I've bought it. 
 
Getting delivered tonight!

I was trying to be nice. If I had said my rockers were rusty, some smartypants would have been along to point out I have a sidevalve engine.
 
Phil

Needed a van that's not a van......snagged this off eBay...............3.5 litre petrol [apparently the diesels aren't that brilliant, if the head gasket goes, it's a new head !]  Zoomed up that there London yesterday...........very impressed.

Yeah, the frames are definitely made from better metal than Fisher was using.
 
The brakes on mine are good, though they do need a bit of adjustment because the pedal travel is excessive.
 
Mine is bad along the passenger side sill, A pillars are both bad and the base of the C pillars in front of the rear wheels- all the places mud collects and stays damp.
 
The air here is so moist that any unprotected steel looks Italian within a few months- my old engine lifting chain pictured a few pages back was galvanized and now looks like it's been sat in salt water at the docks for decades.
 
We don't get the gentle patina like you do out west, here the rust bites in hard, but usually top down. It's odd to find a vehicle here where the underside has gone before the top. This car spent a lot of its life inland.
 
Phil

I was considering it, but I'll pick up the correct thickness stuff, in composite. That's the correct type for it. It's also a little more forgiving of surfaces that aren't 100% smooth.
 
Phil

Good work. It looks much better painted and as the engine is out, why not. I would cut another gasket and use them together equals correct thickness.

I ordered a spare spark plug to replace the Autolite oddity amongst the Delcos.
 

They changed the size of the things. This one is smaller... I may order 7 more else that'll break my OCD.
 

Traced the water pump gasket.
 

Cut it out. Then measured the thickness of the paper properly and realized it needs to be 1/32" thick not 1/64". Shall try again.
 

Finished painting the head. That's now drying, hopefully no flies decide to land in the fresh paint.
 
Phil

God's geese that BMW 'bodykit' transcends laughability.

My Dad got me this job lot for £5 at a chatateee shop. 
 

 
The Fiat is equipped with luggage on roof! Surely there must be more scale sized Studebaker Wagonaires than real size Studes.

See look!

 
I like cider and I also like this cider tanker so win win. I'm not sure what make it is but it says made in Britain on the fake wood metal bed.