Brits on the Beach

Every year there is a gathering of English cars in a small town called Ladysmith about an hour easy drive north of  Victoria our home town. This is the first year I have attended it in an English car and participant.

We were there about 10:00 AM and certainly weren't the first ones there. A rough count of 250 to 300 cars of  all sizes shapes and ages, here were many pre-50's cars to a couple of year old Aston Marin DB9, one of the cars was a 30's Bentley marvelous car, it was great to have it blow past us on the highway on our way home. There was a sweet black Jag XK140, lots of Morgans,Mini's,Land Rovers, MGs of all kinds, and Rolls Royce's to name a few. One of the rarest that was there was a BSA car from the 40s I think.

And on it goes

I received samples from Jonathon Skinner (John Skinner (Manufacturing) Ltd http://www.john-skinner.co.uk) today and I have now got a match for the upholstery. I will  be going with the original dark green wool carpet and original grained stone covering with dark green piping these are all as close to the original as I can find. I think this will  set every thing off perfectly.



















I have had a couple of small problems and unfinished details to do as well. I couldn't get the wipers working at all so I got the motor out and found a jammed gear, that is now running well with no problems. I also needed parts for the crankcase ventilation pipe and new wiper arms with wiper blades, so I contacted Bob Yule at AutoFarm Ltd. (www.AutoFarm.net) for those parts as well as parts to refurbish the side curtains.  A few days later they arrived and now there are more things stroked off the punch list, which is getting shorter each week.

I still have several major things to complete (upholstery the biggest) but those will have to wait as the weather is good enough for another drive, and the road is calling.

The joys of old cars

I haven't added any thing t the blog because I have been out enjoying the car. I have put about 1000 miles on it since I got it on the road, and have enjoyed it immensely, none of the trips have been too long but just being out in it is enough.

I would say though that the shortest trip was the most heralding, I had just gone up to the bank and as I pulled out of the parking lot to come home when the prince of darkness struck. I got to the middle of the road and it died, no life at all, so I was able to push it to the side of the road. I did some trouble shooting and found there was no spark at the plugs. I was standing with the bonnet up and a familiar face stopped and asked if I needed help, it turned out to be a fellow member of the OECC (Old English Car Club) Wayne. By this time I had decided the problem was the coil as it was the one ignition piece I didn't replace. Wayne said he had one for a Rapier of the same vintage just a block or two down the road, he went off to get it. Well it wasn't that so a call to my local tow truck I got it home, and tinkered for an hour or so to find out that it was the new rotor that had failed, couldn't tell by looking at it but I guess it was shorting the spark to ground. A new $5 rotor from the local auto store fixed that, and started my spares box that now lives in the boot.

Our first club function with the OECC

Laura telling a viewer all about it

Even though it is not finished (interior mainly) I took it to the local restoration show at Heritage Acres this last weekend. There were many club members that saw it for the first time. All were happy to see it, and said I did a good job of restoring it, a nice vote of confidence to my efforts. The most asked question other than what year  is it (57) was "is that the original colour?" to which the answer is yes not common but original.

I enjoyed getting out in the nice weather with it and showing it off. It seems that every where I go in it someone comes and wants to see it and compliment me on restoring it as so many end up as rubbish at the dump.  Beside us was a Sunbeam Tiger (the red one) and a Daimler 250 just visible (the white one) both restored to original, and absolutely stunning. On the other side were three Morris 1000's a woody wagon, a coupe, and a drop top (convertible) also all were in wonderful condition.

The next  outing will be the Father's day gathering at Beacon Hill Park there is usually 250+ English cars
in attendance. I am also thinking of going to Van Deusen Gardens in May in Vancouver not sure about that one.

It drives Igor It drives!!

Today was the first day that the car was insured. I just had to go the Sidney and let Jason and Shawn at Jetstream Custom Auto see it first. I think they were impressed that it was in a drivable in such a short time and that it ran and looked super. I then went to my oldest brothers place (on the way home) and showed him that it was on the road. In the sun and on the side of the road it really did look nice.

The main  three things that are left are the front grill I have to assemble the bits for it and rivet every thing together, I am still waiting for the right rivets. The next thing is the carpet, I have to order the kit from England and install it, it is just the cost at this point holding this back. The third thing is the rest of the trim panels, and again this won't be done until next winter because of the costs involved, just a matter of time.

Even though it is not complete it is drivable and I still can't get the grin off my face. I will try to enjoy it the way it is, I think that is fair to it and to me. I will be up loading pictures as I get them from the different places Laura and I go for the fun of it. The first is this weekend, I am expecting to take it to the Old English Car Club swap meet, assuming the weather cooperates hope it does.

More finishing work

I was supposed to be at a dog race this weekend but I  got sooooo  tired I came home and slept for 12 hours. I then was a little sluggish getting going but managed a couple of cups of tea before I started working on the car.

I started on the headlights and got the retainer clip installed and the buckets permanently installed, I then had to clean up the chrome pieces and get the pigtails installed for the lights them self. I had to be very careful as these are the original LUCUS lights and I realy want to use them

Door Piller
The next was the door catches. I have powder coated the backer and spacing plates and installed them with the piping for the door shut panels. The passenger door went together very easy but the drivers door is a brute and is not co-operating. The shut plates are the original ones and have been cleaned up and refinished.  I think they look good as the original finish and shapes are not available any more. 

More puttering

Over the last couple of weeks I have been puttering on the car. I have done several small jobs on it, and realized that they have made a significant difference to the look of the project. Here are some up to date pictures