FoTU 2024 - Completed it, M9

[Tommyboy12]

I was chatting to these guys today at a local car and coffee meet this morning. They drove all the way from Hannover in Germany to visit FotU. Then came to a local coffee meet today before driving home tomorrow.

Seems they weren't put off by the price! Although it's getting a bit steep for me

The CX was a turbo diesel 🤤

[JakeT]

How people manage to find shiters I have no clue! 😂 I’d see a car I recognise, say to the friend I was with “I think that’s from autoshite” and then rinse and repeat.

But we had a good day, even though I took 0 pictures. I think I was 2 rows ahead of Schaefft. I think we arrived at about 09:45, and left at about 17:00, so a full day of it with a 2.5hr journey each way.

Agreed RE: Smith and Sniff, we saw them in Bristol last year and it was good, much the same as yesterday. For two, £20 each for a full day is toppy, but okay. Any more and I’d give it a miss though, which is a shame. There was a few strange types mumbling into a GoPro for their own sakes, being annoyed you’re in their way which always amuses.

I’ve also seen some debate on which car should have won, and for me the Lada Riva is right up there. Surviving being worth less than a used tissue and being exported to Russia while remaining in that condition was brilliant. Applejack Metro was lickable too.

[w00dy]

That Syncro Passat was great to see, definitely one I wanted to take home.

I think the price felt steep, but if it was a tenner less I wouldn't be complaining and it was a great day so overall I'm glad i went, mostly the ticket price gets dwarfed by fuel and food costs for me so It becomes an expensive day regardless.  Shame I managed to leave the Audi MOT until Friday and then didn't have time to sort the sticking caliper, but that's my fault.

Smith and Sniff are great presenters and much more interesting than the usual dull questions asked to Youtubers (not to diss the Youtubers, I think it's the format at fault). 

Radwood is one I'll definitely miss this year, it wasn't great last year (small-ish turnout and little to do/see otherwise) and the new location is awful.

 

 

[rob88h]

7 hours ago, hairnet said:

thats what the 40 quid was for they make you join the rac

hahahahahahahahahahahaha fuck that

(sorry ill go now)

I should add that the RAC account was with Hagerty.
(I told them I was a member and they explained to me that it didn’t matter)

Not once was I pressured to join nor was it even suggested. No paperwork or write up for the help they gave me. 
Genuine support, no ulterior motive. 

[catsinthewelder]

Feels like time for more pictures 

The swap me any car for this was quite tempting but I was in the daily driver.

The owner of this 12 was a lovely chap who's owned it about 20 years.

One for the didn't know they existed thread.

[catsinthewelder]

[catsinthewelder]

6 hours ago, JakeT said:

How people manage to find shiters I have no clue! 😂 

It's fine when you know people from the other meets but I must have walked straight past a few of you.

 

[catsinthewelder]

[Ghosty]

A chap I follow on Instagram had this to say about @Sunny Jim's C15...

[catsinthewelder]

Never seen one of these before , owner was lovely.

Passed this on the way there being dragged out of a ditch with the police in attendance so he did well to get there.

After telling people there wasn't much to see in the modern parking I was surprised to spot these on the way out.

[Schaefft]

I don't think I've seen that white E32, how much was it for sale for?

[trigger]

On 27/07/2024 at 20:54, wesacosa said:

 

 

That's quite funny, you papped me chatting to the Lada owner (blue t shirt) and leaving in the white Granada!

It was a brilliant day, as usual I'm gutted I didn't take a car as I thought my cars weren't good enough but in hindsight they would have been fine 🙄

Here's a few photos of mine

My taxi for the day

6D's hedge find 305

My favourite car of the day

And the same as my first car

[wesacosa]

7 minutes ago, trigger said:

That's quite funny, you papped me chatting to the Lada owner (blue t shirt) and leaving in the white Granada!

 

 

 

ha cool. The Lada and the Granada were two of my favourites of the show

[wesacosa]

11 minutes ago, trigger said:

That's quite funny, you papped me chatting to the Lada owner (blue t shirt) and leaving in the white Granada

 

I was chatting to the Lada owner on FB after the event as I didn't get a chance at the show. I had seen it before in this music video (pre restoration)

turns out he's Paul Heatons drummer and thats how it ended up in the video 

[catsinthewelder]

47 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

I don't think I've seen that white E32, how much was it for sale for?

I've enlarged the original image as much as I can on a phone and can't see a price.  The phone number is there but would need a larger screen to read.  Happy to email the original image if anyone needs it.

[hairnet]

ritmo oof

the 850 van and friend oof

 

[catsinthewelder]

Pretty sure the amazing pair of blue Fiat vans belong to @Vin.

[wuvvum]

That Mk1 Civic looks totally wrong on black and silver plates.

[MondeoBlues]

I love how FotU always looks like a visual representation of the inside of my head.

[MondeoBlues]

Minus the naked women, of course.

[juular]

Our FOTU. A 48 hour real life story of anxiety, camaraderie and British Leyland reliability.

For a few years @captain_70s @MrsJuular and @blackboilersuit had planned to get all three Scotoshite Triumphs to FOTU together, but something always happened, and inevitably one of the cars broke before or on the way.

It all started so well this time. @blackboilersuit was already there, and we had every confidence.

Midweek we had been driving the Toledo around trying to iron out all the problems, but it just ran and ran without issue. We took it to a midweek meet. It was going like clockwork.

It had been polished up and looking lovely.

Ready to set off in convoy with @captain_70son Friday morning. We had dinner booked at half 7 in Bourne with a group of fellow shiters and it was going to be a great day.

M74. Happy memories, seems a long time ago.

Southwaite services and no problems. A slight rise in temperature but we just loosened the fill cap to try and bleed any air pockets out of the system.

Then suddenly, it all went a bit horribly wrong at the side of the A66

The Toledo just rolled to a stop. There was no fuel in the float bowl and it didn't look like the filter was filling up when cranking. 

Eventually the Toledo battery was on its last legs and this was a good time to find out that we didn't have jump leads.

We suspected the fuel pump, and at this point we thought that was the end.

I had my phone in my hand ready to dial recovery. We'd just have to forfeit the FOTU entry and two nights hotels.

At this point ,incredibly, @captain_70s walked up to our window with a spare pump.  Speechless.

Meanwhile the Dolomite which had been idling away to provide hazard light duty began overheating.

Pump was swapped. Fuel was stolen from the Dolomite to fill up the Toledo float bowl so we wouldn't have to keep cranking, and thankfully we began to see fuel coming up the line with the engine running. Success.

Onwards! 

But not for long. About 5 miles from Scotch corner the Toledo cut out again.

This time it had fuel in the float bowl, so we suspected shit in the carb.

There was shit in the carb.

That was jammed inside the jet. Looked like a bit of silicone sealant, which we think might have somehow found it's way into the second fuel pump while in storage.

Dinner in Bourne was looking unlikely at this point.

Onwards again, and Scotch corner achieved, very late at this point.

From then, things were largely uneventful until we stopped for fuel somewhere near Wetherby.

We fuelled up then parked to check coolant and oil.

I went to loosen the coolant cap on the Toledo slightly, but this time after a couple of turns it shot into the air and I got absolutely soaked in rusty boiling coolant. Dripping like a wet dog, I had to go and give myself a bath in the petrol station sink.

Then we checked the oil. Nothing on the dipstick! Shit. At this point there was nothing we could do but refill it and carry on, checking the level.

Things seemed good until we got to around Ferrybridge and this time it was the Dolomite's turn. @captain_70s reported hearing pinging from the engine, so we backed off to around 50mph and pulled over into a park in Pontefract.

Much fettling was done with ignition timing and enriching the mix, but it only improved slightly.

We stopped again an hour further down the road as the pinging got worse, but this time we suspected the noise was actually the timing chain losing tension and rattling around. It may also have been causing pinging if loose as it would affect the valve and ignition timing.

Pushing on, we got one street further and the Toledo died again!

This time we suspected vapour lock, so we filled the float bowl again and ran it with a fuel line off. Fine. On we go.

Steph from idriveaclassic passed us in a Proton and got a cracking photo of the Toledo.

And we got so close. Around 10 miles from Bourne the Toledo started to overheat quite dramatically. I was lucky to roll into a layby at the side of the A1 just as the coolant began to boil.  Breaking down at night on the A1 with no hard shoulder is one of my biggest fears.

We had to leave the Toledo to cool down for around an hour before we could do anything. Thankfully we were close to the rest of the Scotoshite contingent who were at this point formulating plans for support and rescue.

Eventually we got the coolant cap off the Toledo, removed the thermostat completely and filled with water. This allowed us to limp to a truck stop 3 miles away where @davidfowler2000 brought us pakora and chips and @blackboilersuit came along in his Toledo to assist and convoy with us.

On the road to the hotel our headlights stopped working, so I had to hold the full beam stalk the whole way back. Naturally, this is when a deer jumped out into the road and I had to perform an emergency stop, knowing well that the older Toledo behind had unservoed drum brakes.

Bag of fucking nerves. Both of us.

Eventually we all made it to our beds that night, a journey that took us thirteen hours to cover 332 miles, or an average speed of 25 miles an hour.

@mat_the_cat handed me a beer and @blackboilersuit gave me a hug. @MrsJuular and I had a little cry.

Day 2

A lovely morning was spent with @Sunny Jim, @mat_the_cat, @Puglet and @blackboilersuit

Then off to the show! Only 20 more miles to go.

We stopped to gather up the remaining convoy from a different hotel.

One mile from the FOTU gate, the Toledo broke down again with fuel starvation. This time I just planted my foot to the floor and cranked it, and it eventually spluttered back to life. We WERE going to make it.

And we did.

But that was it for the Toledo.

As we rolled up the driveway to the castle, it started to overheat terminally. As I rolled into our parking space on the grass, it was boiling and spitting out white smoke. Head gasket had finally given up. It would go no further.

But all three made it.

I don't really have any pictures of FOTU, I was too fried by that point. We took a somewhat apathetic wander round and had some noodles. But it was nice just to gather with friends round the cars and chill out for a while.

The story is not over.

At 1pm I made the decision to call in the big bus. But as you may know Grimsthorpe is a dead zone of no signal and it took me until after 2pm just to get online, find the number and ring them. I was on the phone for 40 minutes having a broken conversation with the operator who in credit was amazing and kept calling me back and piecing together our location.

Recovery was booked for 5pm. That was totally fine.

Then it got pushed back to 7pm. I started to get nervous as the field slowly emptied and the kick out time approached.

At 7:20 we were the last cars in the field.

Then it arrived at last.

Relieved, we made the decision to get a lift home and not travel with the car as it was going to involve a number of relays, and we were absolutely done.

The heroic @blackboilersuit rescued us up the road in his Toledo. Crisps were opened. Relax.

And then I got a phone call.

The recovery truck had broken down! He was offloading the car at the castle grounds.

FUUUUUUUUUUU!

At this point none of us were giving a shit. We told him to dump the car at the north gate before closing and pass the location on to the next truck. He agreed.

We relaxed. The journey up the road in this Toledo at 55mph on an empty road was absolutely serene, the conversation was great and the miles just flew by.

Then at midnight I got another call. The second truck had just arrived, the castle gates were shut and there was no sign of the car whatsoever.

Internal screaming.

The driver said he'd call back. He drove round the entire perimeter of the castle ground and checked all the gates. No Toledo! He eventually buzzed the intercom and got through to the supervisor, who then allowed him in. The car was finally found in the estates office, loaded up, and was enroute.

I think @MrsJuulars car now has the honour of not only being the last car out, but probably the only one to be present at FOTU on the Sunday..

We finally got home at 2am.

We are so lucky have such good friends from this forum. We're absolutely humbled by the support we've had over the weekend. I really mean it when I say @blackboilersuit, @captain_70s, @davidfowler2000, @Sunny Jim, @mat_the_cat, @Puglet, you are all legendary.

Have an 11pm Friday truck stop photo.

Scotoshite greatest hits:

 

Epilogue.

The recovery driver got stopped by the DVSA on the Sunday as they believed the Toledo to be stolen. Apparently the car and truck were gone over in detail and was held for over an hour.

The Toledo finally made it home at 1pm on the Sunday. 

When it arrived we noticed it had been damaged. At first we thought it had been mishandled, but looking back at photos taken before it went on the first truck, the damage was there. It looks very much like a mobility scooter has been driven down the side of it as there's a number of dents in a line, and both hubcaps are dented at the same place.

I guess that's a hazard when FOTU organisers decided they'd squeeze another few cars in on each row. But there's nothing we can do about it now.

[wesacosa]

jeez that's some adventure.  Sorry to read about the bad bits but if it was going to break down at least it made it to the show 

[mat_the_cat]

I really can't decide which reaction, as all and none seem appropriate! The way you've written it up made me laugh, but the whole situation is frustrating and confusing. Really glad you made it down, and equally glad you made it back in one piece, at least physically if mentally broken!

[bramz7]

Managed to go to this with a bit more photography mojo this year, after last year where I wasn't really feeling it due to various things personally.

 

My ride in was a good friends Stellar, which almost disgraced itself (albeit not the cars fault) with a tyre failure on the M3, it turns out the fitters who had put his fresh set on had overinflated all of them. We then had to find a nearby tyre place, at 7am on a Saturday! A small indie (which was very busy when they opened) fitted the old (like old,old) spare, there was no other option at this point. It looked ok, ok enough to give it a go, and happily, no issues at all the rest of the trip. Anyway, here are some choice photos. 

 

I ended up missing lots of things I should have taken photos of, but was either too busy chatting or just forgetting to go back for another look. 

I like the fact someone brought a Laguna 2 to the show. And a MK2 Corsa. Yes, both still easy to see out and about but still appealing in their own way. Quite pleased there was nothing too tempting for sale to buy, other than an L reg Laguna, thankfully it was an auto so I quickly decided against. 

 

 

[wesacosa]

3 minutes ago, bramz7 said:

 

I like the fact someone brought a Laguna 2 to the show. And a MK2 Corsa. Yes, both still easy to see out and about but still appealing in their own way. Quite pleased there was nothing too tempting for sale to buy, other than an L reg Laguna, thankfully it was an auto so I quickly decided against. 

 

 

That red mk1 Laguna did look great value for money , although the auto was a bit of a spoiler

[IronStar]

54 minutes ago, juular said:

Our FOTU. A 48 hour real life story of anxiety, camaraderie and British Leyland reliability.

For a few years @captain_70s @MrsJuular and @blackboilersuit had planned to get all three Scotoshite Triumphs to FOTU together, but something always happened, and inevitably one of the cars broke before or on the way.

It all started so well this time. @blackboilersuit was already there, and we had every confidence.

Midweek we had been driving the Toledo around trying to iron out all the problems, but it just ran and ran without issue. We took it to a midweek meet. It was going like clockwork.

It had been polished up and looking lovely.

Ready to set off in convoy with @captain_70son Friday morning. We had dinner booked at half 7 in Bourne with a group of fellow shiters and it was going to be a great day.

M74. Happy memories, seems a long time ago.

Southwaite services and no problems. A slight rise in temperature but we just loosened the fill cap to try and bleed any air pockets out of the system.

Then suddenly, it all went a bit horribly wrong at the side of the A66

The Toledo just rolled to a stop. There was no fuel in the float bowl and it didn't look like the filter was filling up when cranking. 

Eventually the Toledo battery was on its last legs and this was a good time to find out that we didn't have jump leads.

We suspected the fuel pump, and at this point we thought that was the end.

I had my phone in my hand ready to dial recovery. We'd just have to forfeit the FOTU entry and two nights hotels.

At this point ,incredibly, @captain_70s walked up to our window with a spare pump.  Speechless.

Meanwhile the Dolomite which had been idling away to provide hazard light duty began overheating.

Pump was swapped. Fuel was stolen from the Dolomite to fill up the Toledo float bowl so we wouldn't have to keep cranking, and thankfully we began to see fuel coming up the line with the engine running. Success.

Onwards! 

But not for long. About 5 miles from Scotch corner the Toledo cut out again.

This time it had fuel in the float bowl, so we suspected shit in the carb.

There was shit in the carb.

That was jammed inside the jet. Looked like a bit of silicone sealant, which we think might have somehow found it's way into the second fuel pump while in storage.

Dinner in Bourne was looking unlikely at this point.

Onwards again, and Scotch corner achieved, very late at this point.

From then, things were largely uneventful until we stopped for fuel somewhere near Wetherby.

We fuelled up then parked to check coolant and oil.

I went to loosen the coolant cap on the Toledo slightly, but this time after a couple of turns it shot into the air and I got absolutely soaked in rusty boiling coolant. Dripping like a wet dog, I had to go and give myself a bath in the petrol station sink.

Then we checked the oil. Nothing on the dipstick! Shit. At this point there was nothing we could do but refill it and carry on, checking the level.

Things seemed good until we got to around Ferrybridge and this time it was the Dolomite's turn. @captain_70s reported hearing pinging from the engine, so we backed off to around 50mph and pulled over into a park in Pontefract.

Much fettling was done with ignition timing and enriching the mix, but it only improved slightly.

We stopped again an hour further down the road as the pinging got worse, but this time we suspected the noise was actually the timing chain losing tension and rattling around. It may also have been causing pinging if loose as it would affect the valve and ignition timing.

Pushing on, we got one street further and the Toledo died again!

This time we suspected vapour lock, so we filled the float bowl again and ran it with a fuel line off. Fine. On we go.

Steph from idriveaclassic passed us in a Proton and got a cracking photo of the Toledo.

And we got so close. Around 10 miles from Bourne the Toledo started to overheat quite dramatically. I was lucky to roll into a layby at the side of the A1 just as the coolant began to boil.  Breaking down at night on the A1 with no hard shoulder is one of my biggest fears.

We had to leave the Toledo to cool down for around an hour before we could do anything. Thankfully we were close to the rest of the Scotoshite contingent who were at this point formulating plans for support and rescue.

Eventually we got the coolant cap off the Toledo, removed the thermostat completely and filled with water. This allowed us to limp to a truck stop 3 miles away where @davidfowler2000 brought us pakora and chips and @blackboilersuit came along in his Toledo to assist and convoy with us.

On the road to the hotel our headlights stopped working, so I had to hold the full beam stalk the whole way back. Naturally, this is when a deer jumped out into the road and I had to perform an emergency stop, knowing well that the older Toledo behind had unservoed drum brakes.

Bag of fucking nerves. Both of us.

Eventually we all made it to our beds that night, a journey that took us thirteen hours to cover 332 miles, or an average speed of 25 miles an hour.

@mat_the_cat handed me a beer and @blackboilersuit gave me a hug. @MrsJuular and I had a little cry.

Day 2

A lovely morning was spent with @Sunny Jim, @mat_the_cat, @Puglet and @blackboilersuit

Then off to the show! Only 20 more miles to go.

We stopped to gather up the remaining convoy from a different hotel.

One mile from the FOTU gate, the Toledo broke down again with fuel starvation. This time I just planted my foot to the floor and cranked it, and it eventually spluttered back to life. We WERE going to make it.

And we did.

But that was it for the Toledo.

As we rolled up the driveway to the castle, it started to overheat terminally. As I rolled into our parking space on the grass, it was boiling and spitting out white smoke. Head gasket had finally given up. It would go no further.

But all three made it.

I don't really have any pictures of FOTU, I was too fried by that point. We took a somewhat apathetic wander round and had some noodles. But it was nice just to gather with friends round the cars and chill out for a while.

The story is not over.

At 1pm I made the decision to call in the big bus. But as you may know Grimsthorpe is a dead zone of no signal and it took me until after 2pm just to get online, find the number and ring them. I was on the phone for 40 minutes having a broken conversation with the operator who in credit was amazing and kept calling me back and piecing together our location.

Recovery was booked for 5pm. That was totally fine.

Then it got pushed back to 7pm. I started to get nervous as the field slowly emptied and the kick out time approached.

At 7:20 we were the last cars in the field.

Then it arrived at last.

Relieved, we made the decision to get a lift home and not travel with the car as it was going to involve a number of relays, and we were absolutely done.

The heroic @blackboilersuit rescued us up the road in his Toledo. Crisps were opened. Relax.

And then I got a phone call.

The recovery truck had broken down! He was offloading the car at the castle grounds.

FUUUUUUUUUUU!

At this point none of us were giving a shit. We told him to dump the car at the north gate before closing and pass the location on to the next truck. He agreed.

We relaxed. The journey up the road in this Toledo at 55mph on an empty road was absolutely serene, the conversation was great and the miles just flew by.

Then at midnight I got another call. The second truck had just arrived, the castle gates were shut and there was no sign of the car whatsoever.

Internal screaming.

The driver said he'd call back. He drove round the entire perimeter of the castle ground and checked all the gates. No Toledo! He eventually buzzed the intercom and got through to the supervisor, who then allowed him in. The car was finally found in the estates office, loaded up, and was enroute.

I think @MrsJuulars car now has the honour of not only being the last car out, but probably the only one to be present at FOTU on the Sunday..

We finally got home at 2am.

We are so lucky have such good friends from this forum. We're absolutely humbled by the support we've had over the weekend. I really mean it when I say @blackboilersuit, @captain_70s, @davidfowler2000, @Sunny Jim, @mat_the_cat, @Puglet, you are all legendary.

Have an 11pm Friday truck stop photo.

Scotoshite greatest hits:

 

Epilogue.

The recovery driver got stopped by the DVSA on the Sunday as they believed the Toledo to be stolen. Apparently the car and truck were gone over in detail and was held for over an hour.

The Toledo finally made it home at 1pm on the Sunday. 

When it arrived we noticed it had been damaged. At first we thought it had been mishandled, but looking back at photos taken before it went on the first truck, the damage was there. It looks very much like a mobility scooter has been driven down the side of it as there's a number of dents in a line, and both hubcaps are dented at the same place.

I guess that's a hazard when FOTU organisers decided they'd squeeze another few cars in on each row. But there's nothing we can do about it now.

 

What a ride! I’m really sorry that they couldn’t behave properly, and equally sorry to read that someone scratched the Toledo - one would think that visitors at a car show would be careful and sympathetic towards cars but, alas. Amazing camaraderie from everyone involved, and perseverance to get it to the finish. Great storytelling as well!

I hope that whatever went wrong isn’t terminal, and it gets back on the road, rebuilt and more reliable soon.

[JakeT]

2 hours ago, juular said:

Our FOTU. A 48 hour real life story of anxiety, camaraderie and British Leyland reliability.

For a few years @captain_70s @MrsJuular and @blackboilersuit had planned to get all three Scotoshite Triumphs to FOTU together, but something always happened, and inevitably one of the cars broke before or on the way.

It all started so well this time. @blackboilersuit was already there, and we had every confidence.

Midweek we had been driving the Toledo around trying to iron out all the problems, but it just ran and ran without issue. We took it to a midweek meet. It was going like clockwork.

It had been polished up and looking lovely.

Ready to set off in convoy with @captain_70son Friday morning. We had dinner booked at half 7 in Bourne with a group of fellow shiters and it was going to be a great day.

M74. Happy memories, seems a long time ago.

Southwaite services and no problems. A slight rise in temperature but we just loosened the fill cap to try and bleed any air pockets out of the system.

Then suddenly, it all went a bit horribly wrong at the side of the A66

The Toledo just rolled to a stop. There was no fuel in the float bowl and it didn't look like the filter was filling up when cranking. 

Eventually the Toledo battery was on its last legs and this was a good time to find out that we didn't have jump leads.

We suspected the fuel pump, and at this point we thought that was the end.

I had my phone in my hand ready to dial recovery. We'd just have to forfeit the FOTU entry and two nights hotels.

At this point ,incredibly, @captain_70s walked up to our window with a spare pump.  Speechless.

Meanwhile the Dolomite which had been idling away to provide hazard light duty began overheating.

Pump was swapped. Fuel was stolen from the Dolomite to fill up the Toledo float bowl so we wouldn't have to keep cranking, and thankfully we began to see fuel coming up the line with the engine running. Success.

Onwards! 

But not for long. About 5 miles from Scotch corner the Toledo cut out again.

This time it had fuel in the float bowl, so we suspected shit in the carb.

There was shit in the carb.

That was jammed inside the jet. Looked like a bit of silicone sealant, which we think might have somehow found it's way into the second fuel pump while in storage.

Dinner in Bourne was looking unlikely at this point.

Onwards again, and Scotch corner achieved, very late at this point.

From then, things were largely uneventful until we stopped for fuel somewhere near Wetherby.

We fuelled up then parked to check coolant and oil.

I went to loosen the coolant cap on the Toledo slightly, but this time after a couple of turns it shot into the air and I got absolutely soaked in rusty boiling coolant. Dripping like a wet dog, I had to go and give myself a bath in the petrol station sink.

Then we checked the oil. Nothing on the dipstick! Shit. At this point there was nothing we could do but refill it and carry on, checking the level.

Things seemed good until we got to around Ferrybridge and this time it was the Dolomite's turn. @captain_70s reported hearing pinging from the engine, so we backed off to around 50mph and pulled over into a park in Pontefract.

Much fettling was done with ignition timing and enriching the mix, but it only improved slightly.

We stopped again an hour further down the road as the pinging got worse, but this time we suspected the noise was actually the timing chain losing tension and rattling around. It may also have been causing pinging if loose as it would affect the valve and ignition timing.

Pushing on, we got one street further and the Toledo died again!

This time we suspected vapour lock, so we filled the float bowl again and ran it with a fuel line off. Fine. On we go.

Steph from idriveaclassic passed us in a Proton and got a cracking photo of the Toledo.

And we got so close. Around 10 miles from Bourne the Toledo started to overheat quite dramatically. I was lucky to roll into a layby at the side of the A1 just as the coolant began to boil.  Breaking down at night on the A1 with no hard shoulder is one of my biggest fears.

We had to leave the Toledo to cool down for around an hour before we could do anything. Thankfully we were close to the rest of the Scotoshite contingent who were at this point formulating plans for support and rescue.

Eventually we got the coolant cap off the Toledo, removed the thermostat completely and filled with water. This allowed us to limp to a truck stop 3 miles away where @davidfowler2000 brought us pakora and chips and @blackboilersuit came along in his Toledo to assist and convoy with us.

On the road to the hotel our headlights stopped working, so I had to hold the full beam stalk the whole way back. Naturally, this is when a deer jumped out into the road and I had to perform an emergency stop, knowing well that the older Toledo behind had unservoed drum brakes.

Bag of fucking nerves. Both of us.

Eventually we all made it to our beds that night, a journey that took us thirteen hours to cover 332 miles, or an average speed of 25 miles an hour.

@mat_the_cat handed me a beer and @blackboilersuit gave me a hug. @MrsJuular and I had a little cry.

Day 2

A lovely morning was spent with @Sunny Jim, @mat_the_cat, @Puglet and @blackboilersuit

Then off to the show! Only 20 more miles to go.

We stopped to gather up the remaining convoy from a different hotel.

One mile from the FOTU gate, the Toledo broke down again with fuel starvation. This time I just planted my foot to the floor and cranked it, and it eventually spluttered back to life. We WERE going to make it.

And we did.

But that was it for the Toledo.

As we rolled up the driveway to the castle, it started to overheat terminally. As I rolled into our parking space on the grass, it was boiling and spitting out white smoke. Head gasket had finally given up. It would go no further.

But all three made it.

I don't really have any pictures of FOTU, I was too fried by that point. We took a somewhat apathetic wander round and had some noodles. But it was nice just to gather with friends round the cars and chill out for a while.

The story is not over.

At 1pm I made the decision to call in the big bus. But as you may know Grimsthorpe is a dead zone of no signal and it took me until after 2pm just to get online, find the number and ring them. I was on the phone for 40 minutes having a broken conversation with the operator who in credit was amazing and kept calling me back and piecing together our location.

Recovery was booked for 5pm. That was totally fine.

Then it got pushed back to 7pm. I started to get nervous as the field slowly emptied and the kick out time approached.

At 7:20 we were the last cars in the field.

Then it arrived at last.

Relieved, we made the decision to get a lift home and not travel with the car as it was going to involve a number of relays, and we were absolutely done.

The heroic @blackboilersuit rescued us up the road in his Toledo. Crisps were opened. Relax.

And then I got a phone call.

The recovery truck had broken down! He was offloading the car at the castle grounds.

FUUUUUUUUUUU!

At this point none of us were giving a shit. We told him to dump the car at the north gate before closing and pass the location on to the next truck. He agreed.

We relaxed. The journey up the road in this Toledo at 55mph on an empty road was absolutely serene, the conversation was great and the miles just flew by.

Then at midnight I got another call. The second truck had just arrived, the castle gates were shut and there was no sign of the car whatsoever.

Internal screaming.

The driver said he'd call back. He drove round the entire perimeter of the castle ground and checked all the gates. No Toledo! He eventually buzzed the intercom and got through to the supervisor, who then allowed him in. The car was finally found in the estates office, loaded up, and was enroute.

I think @MrsJuulars car now has the honour of not only being the last car out, but probably the only one to be present at FOTU on the Sunday..

We finally got home at 2am.

We are so lucky have such good friends from this forum. We're absolutely humbled by the support we've had over the weekend. I really mean it when I say @blackboilersuit, @captain_70s, @davidfowler2000, @Sunny Jim, @mat_the_cat, @Puglet, you are all legendary.

Have an 11pm Friday truck stop photo.

Scotoshite greatest hits:

 

Epilogue.

The recovery driver got stopped by the DVSA on the Sunday as they believed the Toledo to be stolen. Apparently the car and truck were gone over in detail and was held for over an hour.

The Toledo finally made it home at 1pm on the Sunday. 

When it arrived we noticed it had been damaged. At first we thought it had been mishandled, but looking back at photos taken before it went on the first truck, the damage was there. It looks very much like a mobility scooter has been driven down the side of it as there's a number of dents in a line, and both hubcaps are dented at the same place.

I guess that's a hazard when FOTU organisers decided they'd squeeze another few cars in on each row. But there's nothing we can do about it now.

Strewth. Bloody well done to all involved there. What a 48 hours! Camaraderie indeed, and all should feel very proud. I did notice the group of Triumphs with some slightly jaded folk sat behind them, it all makes sense as to why now. Don’t feel too bad about the breakdowns though, it looks that the Toledo had a good talking to recovery truck number one, and the DVSA just to make things more awkward.

[R Lutz]

On 24/07/2024 at 19:11, fatharris said:

Chris 'Pudding Shagger' Pollitt was the founder of Not2Grand until it was forced to close by Companies House.

Did he turn up to entertain the masses or did he not get further than adding contents to custard? And how much trifle does £17.5k tax free get you?

[captain_70s]

My show report largely follows @juular's above post.

I've spent more time under the Dolly's bonnet at the side of the road than driving it so roadside repairs didn't phase me and I had a not insignificant spares stock in the boot. The Toledo was suffering badly from vapour lock, due to standstill traffic on the A66. In fact, had the traffic been less shit all crisis may have been averted. Regardless, we pushed through.

As said the Dolly performed fine sitting at 65-70mph, despite a knackered radiator, until around Pontefract where I started hearing a pinging sound under load after refuelling. Retarding the timing had little effect, other than destroying performance, about 4 flats of richening the carb still showed very pale plugs.

There was also a metallic rattle from the front of the engine when suddenly increasing rpm and a distinct "rattly chain" sound when dropping. Bollocks.

There was also evidence of a coolant leak from around the water pump.

This marked the end of an optimistic trip and the beginnings of a endurance test.

I'd pull over to fiddle with ignition timing to try and maintain 60mph on the motorway, during this the Tolly would vapour lock. The battery was too weak to risk ages of cranking fuel up to the carb so I'd take the fuel hose from the Dolly and feed my fuel into a bottle while running the car on the float bowl.  We could use this to fill the Tolly's float bowl so it could start and pump it's own fuel up from the tank.

@Idriveaclassic at least got an "action" shot passing us enroute to the show!

Resigned to missing our booked table for dinner we plodded South at 55mph until the walkie talkie crackled "we're running really hot, think we'll have to stop".

The A1, in the pitch black. Luckily the Tolly had made it to a layby, unfortunately it completely boiled over in the process.

It seems the new thermostat stuck closed. It took an hour for it to cool enough to be topped off and limped to a truck stop where @davidfowler2000 and @blackboilersuit came to assist.

At this point we split, with David leading us to our hotel in the 205 and Juular and BBS going to theirs.

I slept very well.

The following day was show day. We turned up late, after 10, because everybody was knackered. The Toledo barely ran and was smoking by the time we arrived, suggesting the overheating had cooked the head gasket.

I actually had a head gasket set in the boot, but the idea of swapping it with an audience of helpful* bystanders to be left with a car that still vapour locked and sometimes lost all headlights put us off.

The show was good. All my photos are stuck on a camera memory card so you'll have to wait for them.

Obviously the Toledo's recovery was a farce so we didn't leave until 7:30. We convoyed north with @blackboilersuit as far as Harrogate where Girlfriend_70s and I were staying.

With the Dolly being increasingly disinterested in holding any reasonable speed without pinging I was mildly concerned but confident we could limp home.

The following day we drove to Beamish, steadily plodding along at 57mph with the lorries and had a good time at the museum.

Drove to our hotel and noticed a trail of drips from leading to our parking space ...

Ah. Coolant pissing out the weep hole in the base of the water pump, so presumably the shaft seal has gone on this new pump with under 1,500 miles on it. Naturally.

We'd intended to drive straight home on Monday morning but Beamish was so big we elected to go back and have the car recovered home from there.

I totally lost track of time and didn't ring it in till nearly 3pm. Van arrived at 4pm and the patrol guy agreed it couldn't be bodged for such a long trip.

Unfortunately the low loaders were all engaged and towing a Dolly any real distance can bugger the gearbox due to insufficient lubrication. The next driver would clock on at 8pm...

We moved the car out of the Beamish car park, which is locked at 6pm, to another one around the corner for some local woodland walks. Luckily we were 300yrds from a pub and said walks, and it was a nice day.

I'm currently typing this on my phone in the recovery truck. The driver hopes he's got enough drive time to get us home in one shot.

The important thing is that @MrsJuular, @blackboilersuit and I got all the Triumphs to FOTU and parked them together, which means we never have to fucking do it again...

Sadly it seems our issues were almost universally caused by shit replacement parts, for which there are no "good" manufacturers.

[SiC]

I was looking through all this thread and thinking "I'm such a lightweight wuss for not going up in my Spitfire (1500) and if those old SC engined Triumphs can make it, why can't mine?". Then I read your accounts and the anexity part of my brain was quite relieved I didn't attempt it 🤣

 

...did the Triumph contingent fancy enter together for the Club Triumph RBRR 2025? At least having the same engine and in convoy allow enough parts/engine oil to be stored between everyone to fix anything 🙃