Deon and Spot were coming for the Luton Festival of Transport this weekend and as the new manager at the Compasses wanted a fiver each for us to camp this year, we decided to forego the pleasure and instead, stay at my house Saturday, do a bit of work in the garage, then go out for a curry and a beer. Their loss on the beer and food front. On Friday Deon said he couldn’t make it this weekend so it was just me and Spot again. He arrived at lunchtime with his usual ‘gifts’. No rubbish this time, some welder shrouds and stickers. (The stickers are for Norwegian Terry).
After some lunch and a chat we go up the garage. We spoke with Tony, my neighbor, for a while and Gregor Marshall also turned up and stayed for about an hour I think. Again Spot and Gregor started speaking ‘funny’, type 5’s, type 9’s and roll pins and things. I did my usual smiling and nodding, which I know always impresses. Anyway we arrange to meet Gregor in a lay-by near his house on Sunday morning at ten and go in convoy. So that'll be four of us, me Spot Gregor and Stuart. Stuart has a Lotus Elise and has never been to a show before so I got him a ticket for this one.
Spot then set’s about DHR’s carb. He wanted to try slightly smaller jets in her. As usual I’d lost the bit of paper with all the current jet sizes on. We strip the carb down and the two other Weber’s I have and sort out the jets he thinks I should use. We also discover that the squirter jet, (don’t know what it’s really called), is just dribbling petrol instead of squirting it out. This, we think, is why DHR is always hard to start in the mornings. (I use to have to pour a bit of petrol down the carb to get her to start). After setting the timing and mixture we then take her for a drive and to me she seems much better. Spot thinks she’s still running like crap, but what does he know! While we’re out I mention the slight grinding noise from the rear brakes which only appeared after I had tightened the handbrake up. Oh what fun he was to have at my expense with this one!
After slackening the handbrake cable again and removing the wheels he notices straight away that I’d put the springs on wrong. Now I of course disagree, only to be proved wrong by the Haynes manual. (It must have been a misprint). Then he says my cylinders have sieved. How could they have sieved, they were all new. It turned out that he meant there was no movement in them; they weren’t sliding on the back plate. I said “of course they weren’t sliding; I’d bent the cylinder holding plates to make sure they didn’t”! (He has a list of mistakes people make while doing their cars and at Billing they give out the ‘chod’ award. I think this year I am the front runner). Evidently the cylinders are supposed to slide on the back plate because it’s a single cylinder design! What a stupid design. Why didn't the designers think that people will never read the manual and make them differently. This sort of thing makes me look silly!!!! They are connected to a solid brake pipe, why make them move? Well he freed them off, showed me how he adjusts the brakes and we then tighten the handbrake again. The noise has gone…the brakes are better than they’ve ever been and the handbrake works brilliantly.
We called it a day and then went for a curry and beer. After some beer and two bottles of nice red, we noticed it was half past two in the morning and we were talking crap to each other.
Sunday morning and Stuart arrived on time in his Lotus at half nine. Stuart has never been to a show before so I said this would be a good one to start with because of the variety he can see. Impressed at seeing Spot and I in our shorts he changed into his before we left. I’d left DHR outside last night and given the garage to Spot’s convertible GT. Just my luck, it rained! After soaking some rainwater from the boot we set off in glorious sunshine to meet Gregor in his new 2.9 Cosworth powered Firenza, in a lay-by on the outskirts of Hemel. He was there waiting for us and we all got out and had a look before setting off for the show. Going under the tunnel of the M1, as all small boys do, we dropped down a gear, with the windows down and revved the nuts off the cars to hear the sound. School boyish, but it has to be done. I was leading the way with Gregor behind me, as I came off the M1 on to a small bit of duel-carriageway I put my foot down in DHR. Gregor went passed me as if I was standing still. That's some engine!
We pull up to the Drivers Club stand and set about chatting to everyone we see. A good turn out again.
Spot, Stuart and I hit the auto-jumble. Now Stuart has never been to an auto-jumble before and spent most of the time chuckling to himself as Spot and I found an interesting part in a box, or went on about what a part was. He actually said that he ‘gets’ car shows but doesn’t see the excitement of looking at; “old rusty crap in broken boxes”! You wait till he buys a classic and he will, then he’ll change his tune.
Tony had is scrambling bike/scooter there this time on the back of his HB and it now goes. He’s restored this thing from a complete rusting wreck and very nice it looks too. Sorry Tony but I didn’t think to take a picture. He took it over to the bike section and spent plenty of time there talking to old friends from his scrambling days. Two interests covered at one show…not bad.
Spot and Stuart left about three thirty I think and Gregor and I left about quarter to five. The sun shone all day and Alex said I had panda eyes again when I got home.
