A year in old cars. Diary, September (Citroens, houses)

[barrett]

thx for the poss comments <3

 

Right, July got off to a good start. My gaffer had bust his knee up so I had been chauffeuring him around for a while now in the Xant. The first weekend of July sees one of my favourite old-car events, the Vintage Hot Rod Association's Pendine Sands speed trials. The VHRA is all about authentic, pre-1950 hot rods and they take it quite seriously. Three years ago they convinced the authorities to allow timed speed runs on Pendine Sands for the first time in decades. This was the site of numerous LSR attempts, and perhaps most famously the location of Parry Thomas's ill-fated final run in Babs, when a wheel gave way and he was decapitated by the drive-chain... Malcolm Campbell broke the LSR here in the '20s (twice) so last year we went in the Woodie, and the nice folks at the VHRA allowed us a run along the course, taking an ex-Campbell car over his historic wheeltracks was a pretty special moment for me.

 This year, the Woodie was out of action so we were planning to take our 'other' V8, the Ford Vedette pick-up, but that wouldn't start so we ended up taking the Lancia Aurelia instead. Actually pretty good, as I was going to be doing all the driving whilst the Invalid chilled out in the passenger seat (note - Pendine is in Wales. We are in Sussex).

 The Aurelia has a good story actually; it was owned by the last Emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, during his exile in Paris. It was always chauffeur-driven, and was fitted out with a bespoke leather interior when new by, we think, Pininfarina (Aurelias always had cloth trim as standard). He kept it until he died, and left it to his loyal driver in his will, who in turn kept it until he died.

 Anyway, obviously such a rare and historic car deserves the utmost respect. Here it is parked on the beach at Pendine soaking up the salt

 

Along with the competing cars, there are always lots of cool hangars-on dotted around too, like this Caddy

 

 

And perhaps my favourite American car, a two-door Falcon wagon

 

 

The sight of proper hot rods running on the sand really shouldn't be missed. There's nothing else like it. Sadly the weather turned on the Sunday and I got hardly any pics

 

Pendine and the surrounding areas are absolutely swamped with cool cars over the weekend, it's hard to walk around any of the neighbouring towns without tripping over something awesome. I spotted this supa-smooth Shoebox Ford at dusk in Saundersfoot harbour

 

Next weekend it was the inaugural hill climb at Chateau Impney, near Droitwich. This place used to host motor sport in the '50s and '60s and was recently bought by a VSCC family who have done a lot of hard work to bring it back. For a first try, it was a bloody good event, with a great mix of cars and a decent auction too. There was room for improvement, but this is one to keep an eye on in future I reckon. This was another one-day trip so we just had a brisk walk around, watched a couple of cars slide up the hill and then went home again. This little Fiat was a non-sale at the auction

 

The car park was full of old tat, including this most appealing pair of Oily Rag motors

 

A few days later I went to Surrey to see a man about a Wolseley. Another relatively stressful photo shoot, except this time I was taking the photos and I don't know WTF I'm doing. I also really, really dislike Wolseley Hornets. No pics on my computer, but here's the general idea

 

The next week, in stark contrast, I organised a shoot with an amazing car that went totally smoothly in every way! I also made a quick detour to pick up a Rodolfo Bonetto B-line table (he was a car stylist too, google it man) which I collected from opposite this fine example of Archishite - original signage and everything (sry for crap pic)

 

Then, on to the shoot. You probably know the deal with this car by now. It was owned by the same family since 1935 and driven all over the country - it was even used to tow a caravan on family holidays right into the '50s. When the car eventually became too much for the elderly owner, he put it away in his garage and bought a new Nissan Micra instead... It's been undisturbed for 30 years and was recently extracted and sold by Bonhams at the Beaulieu Autojumble sale, for a shade under £700,000.

 The new owner has been in touch, and he plans to keep it absolutely original in every way, just doing the bare minimum to get it safe and reliable. He's already got it running and driving and has been cruising around his village in it...

 

A few days later it was the Hot Rod Hayride at Bisley. Another traditional hot rod event, but with the emphasis more on looking cool, drinking beer and eating pies than any form of competition. It's held each year at the Bisley Shooting Range, a real rabbit-hole of weirdness at the best of times, with amazing post-colonial mini-mansions and grim static caravans dotted around at random. One shooting club even has a decommissioned steam train, on a length of track, as their clubhouse. Definitely a 'must-do' event if you're into Americana. They have a strict 'no billet' rule and anything deemed uncool by the organisers is relegated to an area called 'shit car parking'. You get the idea. I love it. This time we coaxed the Vedette into life and, fortunately, were not ushered into the aforementioned car park

 

 

 

 

There are loads of cool bikes too. This Bathtub Triumph was a highlight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a lot of cars this year, but without a shadow of a doubt this was my favourite. Just look at the amount of work that's gone into it... staggering. I wouldn't change a thing

 

And that was it for July. Busy!

[Asimo]

This is brill. Reminds me of reading wossisname Baldwin's piece in Supercar Classics magazine.

 

Please can you get a go in a Trojan and tell us/me what it is like?

I mean the square-four, two stroke split cylinder jobbie.

[barrett]

Er, don't want to sound like too much of a smarmy git or anything, but we've got a 1925 Trojan Utility on the fleet. It's the only one left still running on solid tyres that ever gets used, and last year we had a batch made up for for the first time since the '20s, so hopefully a few others will convert back to solids soon.

What are they like? In a word, horrible. My friend Gerry wrote a great article about Trojaning, I always quote his line "the first thing that happens when you turn the steering wheel is nothing", which just about sums it up

[Alexg]

I haven't been to any of the events you've talked of here, bar FOS, and it seems I'm missing out. I guess I should look past the obvious in the events calendar.

[Spottedlaurel]

I guess I should look past the obvious in the events calendar.

 

Indeed, a lesson for us all here. Look at what we're missing out on...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Whats a 'no billet' rule?

[barrett]

Whats a 'no billet' rule?

As in, no cast alloy billet so beloved of modern custom car builders. It looks shit

[seth]

I should probably point out...

 

All lies.  We simply responded to this WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE poster we saw pinned to a tree locally.

 

 

That Minor kustom is exceptionally cool.

[wuvvum]

 

That Minor kustom is exceptionally cool.

You know what, until you said that I hadn't even realised it was a Minor.

[Jon]

That 'no billet' rule is music to my ears and should be steadfastly enforced in NZ, for the greater good.

 

Nice to see the re-introduction of an old AS favourite meme there seth!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

lets see an example of ill-judged billet usage!!!

[Justin Case]

lets see an example of ill-judged billet usage!!!

Watching one of the endless repeats of American Hot Rod on Quest should satisfy your curiosity.

[barrett]

lets see an example of ill-judged billet usage!!!

Quick Google search reveals some choice examples. Here's two for the price of one

[Jon]

I don't want to fill Barret's fantastic thread with drudgery but it's basically the practise of getting nice old cars and fitting expensive, modern oversized wheels to it, like Boyd Coddington did c.2002. 

 

 

Shit wheels, if you will.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

got it, cheers!!!!!

[Honey Badger]

Quality thread, though like Pillock it took me ages to read due to the amount of googling i had to do as i haven't heard of 98.56% of the cars contained within.

 

That Panhard is the best looking car i have seen in a long time, please keep the thread updated.

[rml2345]

You know what, until you said that I hadn't even realised it was a Minor.

 

It took me a few minutes to realise too, as it manages to look both exactly like a Minor and nothing like one. 

Ace thread BTW, that Lagonda V12 is the stuff of dreams.

[garethj]

I've got no idea what this is but it's the kind of effortless cool that I deeply admire but know I couldn't create.

 

Top thread, glad you're enjoying the job which was practically made for you.

[406V6]

Just realised why this is such an amazing thread - just like one of Nigel Bickles - you're not just talking about unusual cars, you own and drive something that I don't recognise and have never come across before. It's a proper education. Top drawer stuff.

[Angrydicky]

Fantastic stuff Scott, thanks for posting! I don't need to tell you how jealous I am of your job, also I'm really pleased I sold the A90 to the mag, as it seems to be getting the use it needs! Can't remember what the source of the fuel leak was, I did look under it - was it a union? I do have a rebuild kit I bought for it when I was rebuilding the fuel pump but I actually ended up using a NOS pump which had a different inlet and outlet on it so I simply made one good one out of two.

 

I really enjoyed my ride in the Trojan when I was over in Sussex. It certainly went much better once the handbrake was released! Actually, solid tyres and ancient suspension considered, it didn't ride as badly as I was expecting. A fantastic smokescreen was produced wherever it went due to the 2-stroke, and the patina on it is seriously amazing. In fact I was really privileged to be shown around the magazine's fleet, a really impressive collection and it's great that apart from a few relics in the corner, like the Franklin (which is seriously amazing in itself) everything is roadworthy.

 

That Bentley, I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear the new owner intends to keep it original and oily rag. I read about it when it was first discovered and what an incredible find, a lovely history too. It just goes to show that times are changing, if it had been discovered 30 years ago it would probably have been restored, but people seem to appreciate patina more these days, even on high end cars, so that's great to see.

[dollywobbler]

Gr12. Would read again. 

[cms206]

Gr12. Would read again. 

 

 

This. Quality content - top read Scott!

[Coprolalia]

Love this thread.

 

I've been to the Hayride in the past, and it's an eye opener, all Rockabilly and 50s Americana with none of the old car bores. Just oily rags, greasy food, daisy dukes and beards.

Whereabouts are you in Sussex? My dad's mates, a pair of brothers with a penchant for 30s American tin, are based near Pulborough but do the Pendine Sands and Hayride every year. If you wanted to do some timed runs at Pendine they've probably got a couple of 30s Fords spare. No shiny cars with them though, just rust, live axles and periods tuning parts (Offenhauser flatheads etc).

[scruff]

More splendidity!! 

The Trojan looks class. Are they the new tyres on it in your photo? Who did you get to do them - assume they are vulcanised onto bands and then pressed onto the rim? Soz for the questions, have a bit to do with stuff on solid tyres.

[dollywobbler]

I simply have to do Pendine next year. I've got a friend with a hot rod who keeps pointing out my foolishness for having never been. 

[barrett]

More splendidity!! 

The Trojan looks class. Are they the new tyres on it in your photo? Who did you get to do them - assume they are vulcanised onto bands and then pressed onto the rim? Soz for the questions, have a bit to do with stuff on solid tyres.

Well, as you asked...

 

The new tyres (yes, those are them in the photo) were made by a firm called Reliant Rubber Engineers in Batley. We sent them an old tyre and from that, and the specs as they were when new, they machined a two-piece mold from aluminum. The rubber is poured in to the mold and then it is pressed in an enormous industrial press...

 

Then removed and some hooks screwed in to the top half

 

The two halves are separated...

 

And a finished tyre is revealed. All the flash is trimmed off by hand, and the result is a solid, one-piece tyre that should theoretically be good for around 100,000 miles before any real signs of wear

 

The mold itself is a really nice thing

 

These guys were mega helpful, they do a lot of work on traction engine wheels and tyres and have been around for donkey's years. I think they relished the prospect of doing something 'unusual' and were really enthusiastic about the whole thing. Their works is full of ancient machinery that is only used occasionally for very specific jobs, but they make their money doing rubber rollers for printing presses and small rubber odds-and-sods so can afford to keep all the old stuff up and running. It's a really interesting place, I took hundreds of pics when I was up there

 

The wheels themselves are two-piece rims bolted together with 26 bolts or something. The tyres have a lip molded in, and this lip fits between the two halves of the rim. Bolting them together clamps the tyre so firmly that it will never slip or come loose (except after 80 years of use or whatever, our old ones were hanging off by the end), a really clever design solution. Trojans look and ride much better on solids, and we sold a few sets to other owners to subsidise the cost of having the mold made, so hopefully there will be a few more cars back on solids in the next couple of years.

[carlo]

Isn't this the basic technology behind current 'run flats' though?  Doesn't seem to do the ride any favours on moderns.

[barrett]

Possibly, but modern cars don't have WONDERSPRINGS* like a Trojan

 

*that's actually what they're called

[scruff]

Fantastic. I thought it would be reliant. They did our 1920s Carrimore trailer, top job, wish I had gone up there now. I am scared of kerbs now though!

[scaryoldcortina]

Nice to see the tyre making pictures. I remember talking to you about it outside the place in Batley. I was passing on a french autocycle that had been bought on ebay from less than a mile from my house, so I put it in the back of the Rover 400 and drove it to yorkshire the same day you were dealing with the tyres.

 

 

Also, I remember while we were discussing how bleak west yorks is, a random set of airhorns played the godfather theme in the distance.