Classic cars meet the internet

Like most folks with a classic car I cannot wait for spring to arrive so that I can be out on the road again.  In the meantime I have joined various facebook groups aimed at folks who like older cars.  Some have tens of thousands of members.  Most of those who post are men, with a small smattering of women.  And generally if you are not interested in older cars the content will be a bit dull.  However if you are like me you might enjoy the pictures of people's pride and joy, along with descriptions of the work they have undertaken or queries that they raise with others in the group.  On the whole folks are polite, generally supportive and helpful in the main.

However there is a fascinating set of folks involved with these groups who are best could be described as rude and ignorant.  99% of the comments and interactions are positive but this minority turn any discussion about old cars into a rant about the result of the EU referendum (both sides of the argument) or will trash someones pride and joy, because they don't like the wheels or the colour.  This sometimes provokes the poor chap on the wrong end of the comments to say that they are leaving the group and these same individuals then heap more angst on their head heads as they leave.  I cannot work out why this happens, the admin for the groups sometimes throw those involved out, but they are some replaced by others with the same approach.  So this is a plea to those who are tempted to slag off other peoples classic cars - next time you see a picture of a car you don't like, which is the wrong colour or with the wrong wheels, just scroll down, don't tell the world that you think that his car stinks.

Here is a picture of my Daimler, on non-original wire wheels, soon to be fitted with a non-original wooden steering wheel.  It is far from perfect, but I love it.

Reflections from another decent run in the Daimler

So the car got to Suffolk in one piece, the journey took about 4 hours, which is slightly longer than I do it in a modern car.  I then poddled about in Suffolk for a few days before the 4 hour trip back home.  Before I set off I treated it to some of that higher octane petrol, it seemed to go a little better, but I am not sure if that is reality or my imagination.

The first hour was dreadful, pouring rain, poor visability and lots of relatively slow traffic.  Once the roads dried about a bit I had the opportunity to enjoy the car. 

The good bits - the car never missed a beat, the view over the bonnet is lovely and the waves from folks going the other way always makes me smile.  Somewhere near Boston, on a country road in the middle of nowhere I exchanged waves with the driver of a very smart, grey, Mark 2 Jag. 

The bits that need some attention or thinking about - the back end clonks and groans.  I am not sure if it is bushes, axle, propshaft or diff or something else.  The other thing that I don't understand is that the ignition light would come on every now and again, sometimes for 20 seconds or so, occasionally for a couple of minutes, but oddly the ammeter was showing that it was still charging - any ideas?

Once it became dark it was strange not to have the dashboard lit up like a christmas tree as per our modern cars.  I know I could have switched the panel lights on, but they are not terribly bright and I soon got used to not having any light in the car.

I pushed the car a little harder coming back, mainly due to increased confidence that it was probably not about to break down.  Part of the run back is a lovely sweeping A road between Horncastle and Caistor - the car and I loved this part of the journey.

Overall a great run back and it has increased my confidence in the car.  I had a similar reaction to another old car which I took to Cardiff once, after that I would take it anywhere.

All in all not back for a 48 year old car

First decent run + more pics from Chantilly

I have had the Daimler about 2 years now.  Since fitting electronic ignition I am more confident that the car will start, and keep going in the damp (the leads were cracked and caused a misfire at times).  However I have not driven it more than about 30 miles at a time.  We have taken it to pubs, the local tip, Tesco, haircut but no real test.

Last weekend we took it to Newark, about 1.5 hours each way, and the car behaved fine both ways, getting a little warm in traffic, but no particular dramas.  So I decided on Sunday to take it to Suffolk for a few days, a trip that took about 4 hours.  It was an intersting test.  The car is quite low geared so anything about 55/60 gets quite noisy.  The other thing that you notice on a longer run is the heat from the engine starting to seep into the cabin.  And the back of the car groans and clunks over bumps.  I suspect some of the bushes are shot, or there may be a problem with the axle. Now all I have to do is drive it 4 hours back in a few days.  Below is a pic of the car in Suffolk and some more pics from Chantilly

Chantilly Classic Car Show & a leaky gearbox

It is a little while since my last post.  I have spent the summer out in the Daimler most weekends.  With all old cars, as soon as you sort one job the next one on the list becomes more pressing.  The electronic ignition seems to be a great success, however I now having a nice leak from the automatic gearbox - red fluid on the garage floor, although I cannot find where it is leaking from.  And I have been to a couple of great classic car shows.  I have just come back from chantilly arts and elegance which is actually a classic car show held at a beautiful chateau in northern France.  There are a few pictures of a number of cars - some were absolutely beautiful.

Sunday and tyre pressures

Finally there is more warm, dry weather so any excuse to get the Daimler out.  This weekend it was a trip to the tip, a trip to the egg man, a trip to Tesco and to a local cafe, where I felt obliged to park next to the Merc.

I have a question - any thoughts?  What should the tyre pressures be on this Daimler?  I have a handbook but the figures in there relate to the original crossply tyres.

Now summer is here, insurance and electronic ignition

At last we are having a spell of lovely dry, warm weather in the UK.  I have been able to get the Daimler out on a regular basis at the weekends. A few weekends ago managed to take it to the pub in about 10 miles away on Friday evening, dinner with friends on the Saturday evening and then to the local garden centre on the Sunday.  Brilliant fun and lots of comments from folks in the pub, although I am not sure what our friends thought of the car.

The electronic ignition is finally fitted and working.  The main difference seems to be that the car runs more smoothly and starts more easily.  Overall probably a good investment.

Recently I had to renew the insurance, the car is insured through a company called Lancaster, but I thought I would see if one of the other clasic car insurers could beat the renewal quote.  This was not a great experience - the lady I spoke to from Footman James made me feel like she couldn't be bothered and was in fact doing me a favour and the quote was about 40% more than the renewal figure I had been quoted.  I remained with Lancaster for another year.  Does anyone have any other recommendations?

 

Spring is finally here

It seems like ages since we have had some nice dry, salt free roads, but spring has finally sprung. 

A few weeks ago I tried to take the car out of the garage onto the drive, to be met with that horrid sound of a starter barely turning.  Not a problem I thought, I will pop the battery charger on and leave it a few hours.  When I went back to the car later in the afternoon still no joy.  Looking at the charger there was a warning light on that said wrongly connected, replace fuse.  So I replaced fuse in the charger, same result.  A friend advised making sure the battery wasn't connected to the car, so I tried again - bingo, it started.  Great joy and smiling.

One of the other jobs was to sort the MoT - booked and it passed - more joy.  I had asked the garage to have a look at the petrol sender unti whilst the car was on the ramp - they checked all of the connections and have concluded that it needs a new sender - the current one has only been in place for 9 months - hey ho.

Whilst on a roll I finally got round to ordering the inner tube and elastic band for the spare wheel - just need a tyre now.  And I ordered the lumimition ignition kit - excited about that going on, the car doesn't run quite right, one of the leads has started to break down.

And on drive it Sunday we went to the local market town to pick up a paper and have a drink in the pub.  The chap who wanted to buy the car last year is hinting again that he is interested.  We will see.