Mizz Kathy atop a misty mountain in the Dandenongs with Dame Zara. Visible in the background, another Daimler or two, some Bristols and Alvii ...

What's the collective noun for Alvises? A 'brace'? Is the plural 'Alvii'? So is this a photo of a brace of Alvii?

A nice pair of Bristols envelop a hapless Daimler Conquest on the Ainsworth Winery B.A.L.D run - that's Bristol, Alvis, Lanchester and Daimler. But as there were no Lanchesters and a ring-in Riley, was it perhaps a RIBALD day out?

Dame Zara (to the left) joined some of her Daimler cousins for a day's jaunt through the Dandenongs and over to Seville on the edge of the Yarra Valley on a visit to the Ainsworth winery.

a grand day out

You'll see above a few photos from Dame Zara's first grand day out, a combined run with the Daimler/Lanchester club and the Alvis and Bristol clubs - dubbed by a wag the 'B.A.L.D' gathering.

Zara aquitted herself in fine style, powering up steep Dandenong mountain roads and sweeping through many a curve on the way down the far side to Seville.

The missing/hesitation we'd noticed at 60 mp/h on the day we'd picked her up seemed to be gone - we put it down to old fuel in the tank - but it reappeared on the way home. I think a trip to a sympathetic mechanic is on order, to check on the mysterious one-point distributor, the coolant-losing radiator and a few other little things.

Initial tidying (one could hardly call it 'restoration') proceeds apace. After a very thorough clean and polish last weekend and my earlier replacement of the rear bumper rubber, this afternoon's little task was to replace the perished rubber around the scuttle vent. A fiddly little job, and one that was causing some consternation until bad light stopped play. If I can't find that pesky little nut that dropped somewhere down the vent, I shall have to buy another ...

Another grand adventure was the trip to Miss Colleen's wedding yesterday in a *huge* rain storm. We did indeed confirm that the back window leaks. And that the rear window demister is - if not actually broken - thoroughly pathetic. As are the wipers. Oh, and the fan for the heater/demister? I thought it didn't work at all, then the other day I switched it on 'high' and it worked a treat - for about half an hour when it began making an awful graunching noise.

Anyways, the upshot is we made it through the flood, only somewhat damp and steaming, having seen our way via little circles made in the condensation of the windscreen with tissues. 'Twas a lovely wedding ...

The Yarra even looks vaguely blue! It must be a trick of the light.

That grinning idiot would be the author of these pithy missives. And the gorgeous vehicle is, of course, Dame Zara herself. The setting is the picturesquely grotty Port Melbourne foreshore!

Well, I have found my Dame Zara. She's a burgundy 250, tan interior, made in mid- to late 1968 and first registered in Australia two days after the day of my birth in July 1969. She's still got her original number plates and has always been fully registered; was repainted about 10 years ago; and had a full engine rebuild some 5 years ago.

I'll take delivery this Sunday. Expect photos galore!