Daimler goes to the pub

The dry, warm weather has arrived.  It now makes it much easier to justify taking the Daimler out at every opportunity.  So the car gets to go to Tesco's, pick up the paper on Sunday and more recently whenever we go to the pub.  Now it has been recently very hot, one of the shortcomings of older cars is shown up - no air conditioning.  But overall it is great to get out in the car, lots of waves and smiles from drivers going the other way.

The best little classic do?

I went to a little classic car gathering at Friston in Suffolk.  It is held on a village green by a local pub, admission is by donation to a local charity and it feels great.  It is held on a Thursday evening.  This is the second year I have been, the sun always shines and the whole event feels really relaxed.  The cars are all mixed up.  There is no judging - some are worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and will be parked next to a Truimph Herald worth rather less.  Everyone smiles and all of the owners chatter away.  The range of cars is amazing, all of the standard Jaguars, Truimphs, Austins, Morris's as well as some cars fron the US sitting next to Astons and a number of old Bentleys and some lovely Alivis's.

Here are a few pics.  However there was no Daimler to have a look at.

Enjoying the Daimler and insurance

Now the wire wheels are on the car there remain many little jobs to do plus I want to sort electronic ignition.  There are 2 reasons, it needs a new distributer cap and leads - it tracks and as a result when it is a bit damp it misfires a bit and secondly I want to do away with points. 

That said every opportunity I get I use it to go somewhere. 

Just had some interesting dealings with Adrian Flux insurance. They do a lot of classic car insurance as well as home insurance etc.  Tried to reinsure one of the houses we rent out, they were terrible, expensive and very unhelpful, so I will not be bothering them with car insurance business either.

Very happy now

At last the wire wheels are on.  And I cannot help smile everytime I see the car in the garage. This bank holiday weekend I have used the car at every opportunity, so it went to Tesco's, the local tip, we went for dinner in it one evening and to pick up the Sunday papers.  All a little childish for someone my age - but I am enjoying it.

Next job - electronic ignition, distributer cap and leads as it is tracking and hence not always as smooth as it should be.

So I now have a set of wheels, tyres, hub caps and hubs - would anyone be interested in buying them?

See below for the before and after pictures

Half way there

The front wheels have been changed to wires.  The rear ones require a hydraulic press so hopefully will be done next week.

Looks better with the wires.  Will anyone be interested in the wheels, or hub caps?

Classic car insurance

It is that time of the year when I have to insure the Daimler.  It is currently insured with Lancaster Insurance.  They seem ok, but the cost has gone up significantly, although nothing has changed.  The car is a Daimler 250 v8, I am in my mid 50's, without any points, accidents or claims.  The renewal is £120, which is still cheap compared to what I pay for my normal car.  Any thoughts on the cost or on any alternative insurers who you can recommend?

Drive it day

On Sunday it was national drive it day in the UK.  The idea is that if you have a classic car of any sort that you take it out on that day.

We went to pick up the dog from the kennel on Sunday morning - which was sunny and dry.  So off we went.  We must have passed about 30 classic cars going the other way on some kind of organised run.