1970 "S"

[BILLY BEAN]

Sounds good Kirk. Lovely car.
Sorry I won't be at CatC, hope to catch up soon.

BTW re brakes, I find the (standard) ones on my 70 S easily good enough for modern traffic. Or perhaps they just seem relatively good because I have been driving the 356 too much, and got used to drums...

Richard,
Pity you are not at CatC as I thought I might catch sight of your 356.
The S brakes are OK unless you are wishing to make a sharp drop from an interesting velocity. I think the issue is driving a BMW as a daily, which have excellent brakes, tends to linger in the mind when applying the brakes on the S. I know comparisons are not a sensible outlook but it is hard to dismiss.

[BILLY BEAN]

Retrieved the car from storage last week after putting it away in September. Started easily and apart from checking oil and a cursory wipe of the windscreen all seemed well. Even the half tank of fuel, despite its age, seemed up for an outing.
Invited by my 80 year old neighbour to Merchant Taylor's School classic car meet in aid of charity. My neighbour has an MG B built on a Heritage shell. I followed him through the least direct route to the event as you could possibly imagine. I assumed, wrongly, that he would go slowly but he kept up a good pace despite the enormous body lean of the MG on sharp bends. One concession to this octaganarian was to stop in a wooded area for a piddle amid much apologies. Being a mere 75 year old I am not yet afflicted by the need for regular precipitation . We did stop again, when almost at the venue, this time for his wife although she used the facilities of a pub but commented that the wood may have been a cleaner option.
Merchant Taylor's grounds are huge and it has wonderful facilities. Very impressive especially as, by comparison, I went to a "comprehensive" in the armpit of the West Midlands which was so well thought of it got closed down a few years after I escaped. There was a very mixed bag of classics, 1930's Bentley Red Label, Healey 100, MG Migets ( is that now non PC?), immaculate Jensen FF, Triumph TR5, Jaguar XK 120 OTS etc and two very early Lotus 7 ( 1954 and 1959) that Andy would have liked. Around 35 cars in all. Some of the cars belonged to 'Old Boys' of the school whilst others were invitees like myself. Plenty of talk and convivial company. Lunch was good in the Old Boys club house.
For the first time I can recall, although it may have been recently as my memory is fading, I did not enjoy driving the car to the event. It was raining intermittently, I was on pot hole alert and we seemed to be traversing roundabouts every few miles. I remember the A41 from my youth from Bicester to Waddesdon where I could wind my HB Series Blydenstein tuned car up to 105mph. No chance of that anymore with new roundabouts appearing like flies on your windscreen on a fine day. Whilst driving I was harbouring thoughts of maybe selling the car. The return journey was in fine sunny weather and the dark clouds of getting rid of the car dissipated somewhat.
Today took the car around some of my favourite roads in the Cotswolds. Busier than I had anticipated but not too bad. What was surprising was the state of the road surface. What had been good roads I now had to watch out for the frequent pot holes. Some seeming big enough and deep enough to form small swimming pools when it rains. No rain today and 75 miles without a hiccup from the car apart from the right hand front indicator not functioning. Anyway enjoyed the drive and put silly thoughts ( SWMBO would have said "Sensible thoughts" she does not like my "old heaps") of selling the car behind me.
I have had the front right indicator problem before on an intermittent basis. Autofarm put it down to a poor earth and seem to have resolved the problem. Thinking that this time is was a failed bulb, I managed to find a screwdriver from the shed ( laughingly called a summer house by the guy we purchased the house from) and removed the front right hand lens. Extracted the bulb and inspected the filament. Nope bulb seemed fine so put it back in its home. Mmmm! Felt like a turd in a p155 pot, as my dad used to say. For the absence of doubt this means a poor fit. OK I did expect some lateral movement but it also moved in and out of its housing. Removed bulb and peered into the depths. The contact was obviously looking a little crushed. Jesus I had to find a smaller electrical screw driver to prise the contact up into its seemingly correct position. Bulb back in and wunderbar we have light! Given that many years ago I gave away all my tools and vowed never to try to fix cars again this was something of a first. I think I need to put this in context. Many years ago I could not afford to take cars to a garage for repairs so did everything myself: usually on the roadside as no driveway and often in the rain and cold. Skinned knuckles were pretty regular. I did move on to classic car restoration ( using the term loosely) before even that faded into me paying others to do the work. I always said one day when I earn enough for others to work on cars I will get rid of my tools. And so I kept my promise.
I digress which is what happens when you get old-ish. As mentioned elsewhere I do not clean cars. No two bucket method ( whatever that is), snow foam, special cloths, polish and all the other paraphenalia, some people seem to get a hard-on about, for me. However, the windscreen was plastered with little victims and my usual dirty rag and screen cleaner did not cut it. SWMBO was not in residence so nicked the household floor bucket, washing up liquid and a J cloth all aided by some hot water. Windscreen immaculate after my effort. Well cleaner than it was. Then fate reared its miserable head. The wheels looked very dirty. Set to with said cleaning materials and cleaned the Fuchs. I justified this fall from moral rectitude as I am attending the Bicester Scramble tomorrow and the wheels did need to look a little better. Is this the slippy slope to two buckets and snow foam?
No chance.

[Lightweight_911]

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Another amusing write-up Kirk - always find myself sporting a silly grin whenever I read your reports ...

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[BILLY BEAN]

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Another amusing write-up Kirk - always find myself sporting a silly grin whenever I read your reports ...

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Thank you very much Andy. Makes my efforts worthwhile when someone appreciates them.

[hot66]

Yes, do enjoy your updates

[jtparr]

Wot he said…….dont sell the car Kirk…you need it so we can keep enjoying the write ups….
Best
J

[sladey]

Thanks for the update.

[BILLY BEAN]

Thank you very much for the encouragement guys.

[anglophone1]

Nothing like some of Kirk's waffle to brighten up your day!!
Kirk, I have a day to kill after Spitfire Scramble rally next Monday with Tango 914 in the Cotswolds before getting plane home from BHX - anything happening??
C

[RobFrost]

Nothing like some of Kirk's waffle to brighten up your day!!
Kirk, I have a day to kill after Spitfire Scramble rally next Monday with Tango 914 in the Cotswolds before getting plane home from BHX - anything happening??
C

Please let us know if any Midlands drives arranged. A few of us near Lichfield were talking about heading out some time, possibly towards Wales.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

[BILLY BEAN]

Nothing like some of Kirk's waffle to brighten up your day!!
Kirk, I have a day to kill after Spitfire Scramble rally next Monday with Tango 914 in the Cotswolds before getting plane home from BHX - anything happening??
C

I will be packing that day as we are shortly to move.

[911GP]

Hi Kirk,
Thanks for the amusing update. I know Merchant Taylors well since my son has cricket classes there and will be joining the school in a couple of years. I have seen their classic car meet-up in a previous year. There was lots of variety and I remember seeing a nice E-type which was notable since the chap I bought my 911 from went on to buy one. If you ever decide to make the journey again, let me know and you are welcome to pop by for a coffee.
Kind regards
Gitesh

[BILLY BEAN]

Gitesh, thanks for the reply. I will certainly take up your offer should I be invited again to MTCCC.

[BILLY BEAN]

At Last
The car has been in storage since early September 2021 when we moved to a smaller house with only a single garage. The single garage however, being used for furniture and general detritus; you know really useful stuff you are hanging onto which rarely gets used. Once building work started on the house the garage became the builder's store and later on their "tea room". The car did get out of storage a couple of times and the last time was in 2023.
Although the builders have been gone some months it has taken time to actually get the garage, now a two place tandem, cleared sufficiently to take cars. The ST returned a few weeks ago and today the S returned home. Picked up this afternoon in the rain. Surprise it hardly ever rains? The car had been started this morning to retrieve it from storage. So starting the car this afternoon was without issue. First turn of the key. I did savour the familiar smells in the cockpit but then realised I had just farted. The excitement of an old person sometimes elicits the breaking of wind and I was excited to be collecting the vehicle. It was getting dark so switched on the lights although it was hard to tell the difference between lights on or off. Checked that I had my spectacles on. Yep. Perhaps my eyesight has got worse recently. Certainly but I could hardly see the instrument guages. There was a little tell tale light flashing off and on but initially had no idea what it was. Delve into the cognitive depths and realised it was the low fuel light. Ah bugger. Thank you Autofarm. Only three or so miles to the nearest petrol but it is Esso E5. Nervously and slowly make my way on the most direct route to fuel. And there is that smell again. This time it was not excitement. Would I make it or run out of petrol. A tense few minutes as the engine spluttered a little whilst waiting at a busy roundabout. Gingerly past a lane restriction and a police car guarding a Mercedes with collapse left side rear suspension. Got a long stare from one of the officers who was obviously in awe of the candle power of my headlights. They are ON officer! Then three sets of traffic lights all of course on red. Made it! I had forgotten how good the windscreen wipers are and also forgot the dogleg box can be a bit truculant until warmed up. Steering was very light and then I saw a note on the pasenger side which said " Tires at storage pressures". Fueled up and then the 12 mile journey home. The H1 headlights are really crap and are obviously in competition for being useless with the instrument lights. Fortunately, all the roads I am taking are very familiar. Safely home. Just as I finished installing the S with the ST behind it when SWMBO turns up with a disparaging "I see your babies are all tucked in." Followed by "That yellow one does stink. It really has a dirty exhaust".And so with both cars home I can look forward to some driving time. Maybe not this year but next. Uncharacteristically feeling happy. I will be happier when the back garden, which looked like the Somme after building work was completed, is finally sorted and planted out. Then I will have the time to indulge in 911s. Hopefully. I do need to get out more in every sense of that particular phrase.

Sent from my SM-S921B using Tapatalk

[Lightweight_911]

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Always good to read your updates Kirk - & the 'old man' humour adds to the enjoyment ...

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