Unusual jobs.

Our work this week has been very varied, amongst our other work we have had two very different cars in this week, an Alvis TD with no oil pressure showing on the oil gauge which meant making sure that there was oil pressure from the main gallery then checking out the oil feed to the gauge. The outcome of this was that it appears that the flexible hose is closing up at certain times. We are awaiting a new hose and hopefully that will solve the problem so watch this space.
The other car was a TVR Griffith 500 that was difficult to start when it was hot. We carried out the usual checks and nothing obvious showed up. So we made several enquiries about the best way to resolve this problem, and it transpires that a company makes an update called "Hot Start" which has been designed for this particular car it is now on order so again watch this space.
It looks as if next week will not be quite so diverse on the work side.
We will be back to the servicing and M.O.Ts.

Silverstone Classic Weekend

Wow, hasn't Silverstone changed !

We went to the Silverstone Classic last Saturday in two of our frogeyes and had a cracking time.

The circuit has improved on so many levels since last year: Better entry arrangements, new pit facilities taking shape, more grandstands, the Wellington Straight back as part of the new Grand Prix cicuit, to name just a few.

It was great to catch up with some fellow Midget & Sprite Club members, including Gary Lazarus the editor of the club magazine 'Mascot'.

A real shame there were no 1958 frogeyes there (based on windscreen type) - we'll have to do something about that in a year or two!

Lots of classic racers giving their all on the track, what more could you want ??????

Morris Minor 42 years on

I have just read an article about a Morris Minor originally purchased in July 1968 that was taken back to the same garage to be sold. The minor named "Morris" had been in the same family and passed from father to son. The car originally cost £681, 17 shillings and 3 pence and there was a reduction of £50 for a part-exchange for an Austin A35. They paid an extra £8 to have seatbelts fitted as they were optional at the time and the car came with a fuel ration book.

We have a Morris Minor for sale at the moment which has had some substantial mnechanical work undertaken which includes:
- Complete rebuilding of the braking system
- New fuel pump
- new n/s rear spring
- welding to the sills,floor pan and n/s rear spring mounting
- refurbishment of his wheels as part of fitting 3 brand new tyres
- replacement secondhand front seats (the back seat was good anyway)
- replacement battery.

If you are interested give us a call or drop us an email. Visit our website at www.radlettclassiccars.co.uk

Will today’s cars still be around in 40 years time?

Whilst talking to one of our customers yesterday, we came round to the topic of whether today’s cars will still be on the road in 40 years time.

We didn’t reach any conclusions, but it does seem to be less likely than it’s ever been. Cars 40 years old now are relatively straight forward mechanically and electrically – we can certainly fix them! The biggest challenge is corrosion – they generally weren’t undersealed from new and rust prevention didn’t go much further than checking they’d been painted. All but the very worst are usually repairable, albeit after some time consuming welding.

Today’s cars are very different, effective anti-rust coatings and more durable paint means lots will survive without structural problems. Mechanically they’re more complex eg abs brakes, but can be repaired. It’s the electrical and electronic side of things which I think could be a nightmare. When electronic control units fail, will anyone be able to repair them???? And there’s usually more than one………..

All in all I think that by 2050 we could find ourselves with just some non-running museum pieces from 2010. I very much hope I’m proved wrong.

On the plus side, I think cars from the 50s and 60s will be in greater demand (as well as having increased in value).

What do you think?

That holiday feeling

I have read an article today that says it takes just two days after you return from holiday for that nice relaxed feeling to disappear and for your stress levels to return to those previously experienced. I have a remedy for this, I like nothing better than a little jaunt out in my frogeye sprite to lift my mood. Driving along the country lanes around Radlett with the wind in my hair always manages to raise a smile and relax me. At this time of year I am enjoying running around in my little classics. I already have a list of things that I can tinker with over the long winter months but this just increases the sheer joy of some good weather and going out in my frogeye. I am sure that there are lots of other classic drivers out there driving around in this good weather feeling the benefit of the sunshine.

Another Day, Another Classic

Today we have a Triumph Herald in the workshop that has not been used for a while. As a result of sitting in the garage, the customer knew the clutch was seized becuase the peddle wouldn't go down. The customer got the RAC out to free it off but when we went to collect it to take it to the workshop, we found that the brakes were seized as well. Managed to get the brakes released and working again to make the short journey to the workshop. This Herald hasn't been used for a while so will need some work to be able to get it through an MOT. Hope to be able to look it over in the next day or so and talk the customer through what needs to be done. It's lovely to see people able to use their classic cars.

Another day brightened up for people!

It always surprises me how few classic cars are actually out on the road. It was brought home when we took an MG TC and a frogeye sprite for their MoTs today. We usually get people doing a double take with just the one, two together almost had people walking into lamp posts etc before lots of waving and smiling.

Arrival at the MoT station almost caused work to completely stop at the adjoining units - our cars were far more interesting than the Mercs, Porsches and BMWs they were working on!

What more could you ask for sunshine, classic cars and smiling faces!

Tea - Mechanics must be healthy

I read an article today which said that drinking six cups of tea a day reduced the risk of heart disease by a third. Tea is the cup of choice for us at Radlett Classic Cars as well as most other mechanics and tea breaks are frequent in garages. Although I think this is generally because the tea goes cold before you actually get a chance to drink it. The caveat in the survey was that it was undertaken in Holland and they don't have much milk with their tea, therefore there is some discussion as to whether the British tea will reduce the heart disease risk or not. In the meantime I will continue to have my cups of tea with the occasional chocolate digestive......just in case there is some benefit!

Alternator trouble

Tried to do the alternator on the Jaguar today, what a pain, took ages to get it off. To make matters worse, when I took the alternator to get an exchange unit, they told me there had been a problem with the alternators on these jags and they had been modified to resolve the problem! They didn't have an exchange unit which had been modified but are trying to get one. Luckily the customer isn't in a hurry.

Car designers - why make it so difficult?

This week has seen a variety of work, Morris 1000 engine blown piston, Nissan Bluebird starter and Jaguar Sovereign V12 shock absorber and alternator.

The Jag was the hardest, we had to replace a rear shock absorber, the lower mount was fine but to get the upper bolt was a nightmare. I am sure the people that design these things set out to make them as difficult as they can. However we eventually managed to get the top mounting bolt out and removed the shocker assembly. We then stripped out the spring with the indispensable spring compressors and changed over the new shock absorber. Then the difficult bit putting it back on the car, the top bolt was just as difficult to put back as it was to take out! Having got the top mounting located we had to tackle the bottom one. This wasn't too bad once we got the lower pivot bolt in place.

If you are wondering why only one shock absorber was replaced when normally we would always replace them in pairs, after discussions with the client it was felt that as the Jag has 4 shocks on the back and this was the only one that had just started to leak it was decided to just replace this one.

Ah well roll on tomorrow.