DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

inaglasshouse wrote: ↑Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:23 pm 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.

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.

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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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Lightweight_911 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 5:30 pm .

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.

Yes, do enjoy your updates

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

Thanks for the update.

Thank you very much for the encouragement guys.

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

anglophone1 wrote: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.

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anglophone1 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 23, 2023 9:56 pm 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.

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

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