Goodwood Revival 2010

Well I've finally managed to get to the Goodwood Revival, a must for all classic-car petrolheads!  I managed to get a day-pass from the Mrs to go, but I can only make Friday the practice day.  Still that will be enough and a chance to see a few C-types....

Sorry C-types.....

And possibly the next car for my collection a Ferrari !!....

I think I'll need a larger garage first....and a bit of luck on the gee-gees...maybe Glorious Goodwood!

Thanks to AW for the photos

Double Garage

Well today I went from a single garage like this...

To one like this....

Which means that now PAM and Oillie can be accomodated together....under one roof.  This is the first time I've managed to get them both undercover at the sametime.  I'm over-the-moon!!!

Clearly this only really works because PAM, bless her heart, is a MIDGET....

Car Status: Update

Every-so-often I plan to give an update on the current state of Oillie and PAM: whether they have an MOT, are designated SCORN, or generally off the road because they are behaving badly.

The current status is AMBER:

Oillie is at last behaving himself and is ON-THE-ROAD, albeit with numerous things which need addressing, but more of that later.  Currently providing an enjoyable 20 mile commute which involves a great road in the UK which I will describe soon.

PAM is in the garage.  Something's not right and I fear-the-worst, which in the scheme of things probably isn't particularly bad, but probably means she will be off-road until the engine is out and something involving the "ring-gear" is sorted (but yet to be determined (YTBD)).  More of this once I have consulted the oracle.

Planned work:

The BIG plan is to enlarge the garage with the use of a sledge-hammer (!), to improve the general ambient car-storage-conditions, so they are less "aquatic" and more "lithospheric".  I'm hoping to do this at the weekend and then OILLIE, who hates getting out of bed in the morning, will wake-up in a damp garage rather than the wet drive....

Photos to follow....

Oillie in Sedan...things didn't go to plan!

So what happened?

Well the day before leaving Sedan in Northern France the windscreen wipers stopped working and I couldn't find the "cause".  The next day dawned dark and overcast and to cut a long story short I had to drive all the way to Le Havre with my hand outside using a squeegie to clear the windscreen...not nice driving!

We also had a slow puncture, which wasn't so much of a problem as we had an electric pump, but the helpful French kept tooting to tell me I had a problem.  Still we made it back to Kent with no further problem.

The next day on the way back to Guildford, on the steep section of the Detling road the back tyre was completely down and no amount of pumping would bring it back to life.  Unfortunately I couldn't seem to get the bottle-jack to work.  I found some old bricks but I still couldn't get it high enough off the ground.  Then I heard the burble of a classic pull up and this guy in a Bentley special popped his head under the car and offered to help.  He pointed out the the top of a bottle jack unscrews! How embarrassing! Without his help I'd have been there much longer but he left and I was soon underway again.

Strangely I was looking at Tickford Lagonda car sites and came across the following video from a French TV station (see Link
http://download.liveweb.arte.tv/o21/videoweb/flash/le-blogueur/player.swf?videoId=1961&admin=false&mode=prod&embed=true&autoPlay=false  The Lagonda part is at 2:25, but the guy at the beginning is the same bloke who stopped for me!  So thanks go to Wallace Crawford for stopping to help.

PAM on holiday in France. Trip down to La Rochelle...on the way.

Terms of Reference

Boring as this may seem, it's always nice to know what you're getting!

This Blog will relate the practicalities and ups-and-downs of what it's like to run two 40 year old MGs.

Oillie is an Old English White MGB GT, dating from 1967, and PAM is a Speedwell Blue MG Midget, dating from 1969.  I've owned Oillie for 3 long years(!) and PAM since 1983 (my first car).  They are both wonderful in their own way and I have many lasting memories of them both, often resulting from time spent at the side of some road or other!

To be continued.........!