The Goodwood Revival 2009.

My first visit to the Goodwood Revival Meeting and what a spectacle! About 90% of the capacity crowd were in costumes from 1940’s to 1960’s. Dressed in polite clothing, people were most polite! So many interesting cars one became rather dismissive of anything not mouth watering. My favourites in the car park were the two Messerschmitt’s and the Bedford Camper Van. I could go on and on. A great day thanks to a free tickets from my pal Rod, the Photoshop Guru.

My other car's an old 4x4 too.

Always a thrill to get an MOT certificate. Dug out of it’s resting place of six months in my lock up, persuaded to start, tyres pumped up and £1.15 lavished on a new exhaust gasket, fitted after dinner one night. A pleasant trundle up to a remote garage in Derbyshire where the owner races classic bikes. A thorough test of the few things on an old Land Rover that apply in such tests and Bob’s your uncle! He even commented how good it was to drive. A new ‘Tax Exempt’ disk in the windscreen and away we go for another year. The bike in the picture is a stripped down CB 350. Very successful apparently.

Ashby Folville Sept 09.

An early departure from the City saw me parked, in the Jeep, on the hallowed turf of Ashby Folville Cricket Club at 5.45. 10 minutes later the field was full and others had to park in the field opposite. The usual eclectic mix of bikes and cars, but a delightful Messerschmitt took my fancy behind the pub. I had one of these in 1969 and made the colossal mistake of selling it, running and with an MOT, for fifteen quid! This one would be worth about £9,000 now. Mine, as any expert will see, was the earlier KR 175. That's a 16 year old me with eye wide shut snapped by my Dad on a new Polaroid camera. The big Yank Tank was built of steel that, even without paint, was so thick it will never rust. A group of us stayed until about 9.00 pm, by which time it was dark and a bit chilly. A brisk dash south on the B6047 was most rewarding. No screen, eyes streaming teeth full of flies from grinning too much, then overtaken by The Thunderbug which disappeared very quickly leaving nothing more than a whiff of Casrol ‘R’ diminishing roar of big V twin. Good fun!

On any Sunday.

The annual VSCC meeting at Mallory Park and a chance to see Edwardian racing cars, racing. Fantastic! I am always impressed by how these leviathans are kept in competitive running order. The 1907 Grand Prix Delage was quick by any standards topping the ton on the Stebbe Straight and lapping in 1 minute 12 seconds. The pits displayed a good selection of quality corduroy trousers too, as old chaps fettled old engines on a sunny August afternoon. The low mileage Renault 4 was for sale. We thought £3500 was a tad optimistic, but it was lovely. ‘Mick’ on 07711 218917 if you’re interested. I resisted, which felt odd.

Algarve classics.

Two rather quaint ‘i-spy’s’ whilst in The Algarve last week. In the late 60’s and early 70’s the Honda N360 and later N600 (This model) were the Japanese giant’s first attempt at a mass produced car and were in manufactured until 1972 along with the far sportier S600/800. This was a gem and appeared un-restored and in everyday use, though ‘enthusiast’ owned according to various badges in the screen. The climate would have helped maintain it, but a secret squeeze of its wheel arches revealed the use of quite thick steel (Engineers technical term). Some panels were plastic to save weight. Autocar’s test back in 1968 recorded a top speed of 77 mph, yet only 36 mpg. They were £589 on the road - £28 more than the Mini. That would have been a good week’s wages for a professional back then. The chap with the moped pitched up each day to flog his stuff, then pottered home again. Lovely little two stroke engine and beautiful sculptured cowling. It had the look of a one owner from new machine and I wanted it.

A brace of Deaux Chevaux.

Fumbling around in the fields and farms that lurk slightly to the southeast of the Millau suspension bridge last week, I was trying to find the perfect spot for a photograph of Norman Foster’s masterpiece, when I stumbled across two of Andre Citroen’s masterpieces from five decades ago. Hard to believe that such barn finds still exist, but there before me on 27th July 2009 were an early 1950’s 2CV and a late 50’s - early 60’s example, ripe and ready to be discovered by some maniac who likes these things. I’ve owned two. Both endless trouble so you can keep ‘em for me. No. I didn’t ask the farmer if they were up for grabs. He never showed his visage, and no, I didn’t poke about underneath to see just how rotten they were. Google maps is lagging behind a bit as they don’t show the completed bridge, but I have marked with a bold 20 point arrow exactly where the barn is in the village of Issis. Good luck you brave enthusiasts. May the best man win!

What a waste.

The Jeep sits here under a fifteen quid Tesco gazebo and all it seems to do is rain. I drove it from Kibworth to Leicester last Friday and got soaked. The gazebo does a valiant job, but the sides of the top buckle with the weight of the water, so there is a permanent puddle in both foot wells. The canvas seats seem to do a marvellous job of deflecting the water and are not, by a miracle, soaked through. Mid July and I should be taking it for a spin in the country. Possibly picking up a few chums and partaking of a pint. Bloody English weather! Forecast is the same all week. Think I’ll go for a pint anyway. Timothy Taylor's beckons.