Put your pedal to the the metal

... as long as you're wearing nicely shined Oxfords and turn-ups on your tweed trousers!

International fame!

I was deeply chuffed to find that this humble little blog was picked by Matt Wright, the editor of UK magazine Practical Classics, as his 'site of the day' (see the 6 September entry here). Not that I'd necessarily call 5000 carefree miles of motoring in eight months 'one man's battle' ... but you know journos and hyperbole!

Her Laydship was also pleased, but she has been expressing some concern lately about the state of her undercarriage: a nasty 'clonk' is heard/felt in the front when one is forced to hit a large bump, pothole or tram track; and she's developed a tendency to pull to the right under brakes.

The Pater Familias suspects it could be 'merely' a lower balljoint, but having poked my head underneath and seen the state of some of the many bushes and other rubbery bits that cushion the various bits of the front suspension and steering, I think a more thorough going-over may be in order. And given the 'bouncy-bouncy' way she responds to a sharp prod to any side, some new shock absorbers might also be on the list. I looked up the price of four Konis* - then I lay down for a while in a darkened room!

While she hasn't yet lived up to the 'Moneypitt' moniker, the day may soon be upon us ...

*that would be more than A$800.

All brand new

There, that's better. Safe, flexible fuel lines that won't split suddenly and pump petrol all over the engine; and a t-piece that won't burst. (I probably should have done this before driving 1000 miles last week!)

I did have a bit of a 'moment' putting it all back together, though. After carefully tightening everything up and reconnecting all the throttle and choke linkages (or so I thought), topping up the radiator to replace the coolant that came out when I undid the t-piece, and turning the ignition on to pump fresh fuel through the filter and into the carbs (and checking that it wasn't leaking anywhere), I hit the starter ... and vroom! She was 'idling' at about 2000rpm!

After scratching my head for a bit, I worked out that I'd connected one of the short throttle linkages the wrong way around and it was holding the throttle open on one carb. After putting it back to rights and giving the slow running screw the tiniest tweak, all was serene.

But just to test, I went for a quick spin around Royal Park, including (I must admit) a few fish-tails in the gravel carpark at the rear of the Zoo ... don't tell anyone! Definitely plenty of power getting to the back wheels ;)

Why fresh rubbery bits were required

The old t-piece was in a pretty poor state - I'm grateful that it held out this long. The fuel line was sound enough, but very hard, so I think it was a good idea to replace it.

Some important rubbery bits refreshed

I've just spent a quite useful few hours out in the garage doing a few jobs that I probably should have done months ago - namely replacing Zara's old (original?) hard plastic fuel hose with new rubber ones; and finally replacing the other t-piece.

To get to the t-piece I had to take off one carburettor. I'd been warned that this is a hideously fiddly job (which is why I didn't do it when I replaced the other cooling hoses), but actually I found it a doddle. No knuckles grazed, no bolts lost down into the darkest recesses of the engine bay ...

The carb was rather grotty, but a quick spray with some carb cleaner had it looking much shiner. (Actually, the engine bay isn't going to win me any concours awards - but Zara is a car in frequent use, not a show pony, so as long as everything works and nothing leaks, I'm not that fussed about how shiny it is.)

I told you she was famous

How many cars have a street named after them? When I found out there was a Dame Zara Street in a new suburban development on Canberra's outskirts, we just had to call in on our way home!

Aside from a minor overheating incident on the way up that wasn't repeated (the needle of the temperature gauge stayed in the lower third all the way home), Dame Zara behaved impeccably on the 1000-mile round trip.

Passing a digital speed-checker on the freeway just out of Melbourne, I discovered that 76mp/h on the speedo is really 'only' 108km/h. As the speed limit on the freeways is 110km/h, an indicated 80mp/h became our maximum speed (when safe and appropriate, of course). Zara had absolutely no trouble keeping up with the modern traffic, and we did our fair share of overtaking slowpokes, even pulling up hills at 4000 rpm-plus in order to pass trucks.

What's even more impressive is that our fuel consumption for the trip averaged out at about 23.5 mpg!

An 'ambitious restoration project'

Another thing we did in Canberra was to call in to see dad's friend Jim, who has had a Daimler SP250 'Dart' sportscar lurking in his garden for some years (that's Jim with the all-white beard - mine's only a third grey!).

It's a very early, A-spec car (maybe even a 1959) originally delivered to the US in left-hand-drive. Jim has done quite a bit of work on the chassis, engine and suspension; and the car seems complete (even has a spare engine and bonnet and an original hard-top); but it's still a long way from getting back on the road.

Jim's not too worried, though: he has an XJ6 and XJS Jag in the driveway and a bright red Mini under restoration to keep him busy ...

The ol' home town

We went up to Canberra to visit my parents and sister, and to belatedly celebrate my mum's 60th birthday.

On Sunday we went to Gundaroo, a village about half an hour out of town, for lunch and dad drove his recently acquired 1966 Jaguar S-type. It's a 3.8 litre manual/overdrive and after teasing us on the outskirts of Canberra by cruising along at 90km/h, he gave us a very convincing demonstration of its quite awesome acceleration by shifting down to third on his way out of one of the many roundabouts and flooring it ... we caught up eventually!

It's a very solid-looking car: completely restored interior in red leather with new carpets and polished wood; engine probably reconditioned; and decent paintwork and body. Being a very canny bargainer, dad bought it for, oh, not much more than the cost of the retrim and engine work, so he got the rest of the car 'free'!

To the Manor Born

Dame Zara has just taken us on a 1000-mile round trip to Canberra and back. On the way we stopped off at Rutherglen in northern Victoria, (yet another) renowned wine region.

The faux-Scots castle at All Saints winery (built by some homesick Scotsmen who used to work for Queen Victoria in one of her little hooses in Scotland) seemed like an appropriate background for a pic.

The lemon-drop Dart, the Beast and a Kathy amid the Dames

 
 
  

The Little River Band

Some of the DLCV gang atop a hill in the scenic You Yangs on our way to Little River

 
 
 
  

Climb every mountain

This month's DLCV run was to Little River and the You Yangs, south of Melbourne down somewhere between Geelong and Bacchus Marsh. We shan't mention 70s soft-rock legends the Little River Band, but we will mention that Marilyn attended in her early SP250, a car I've heard of for the last few months but never before seen in its striking yellow fibreglass self. We followed 'DART 60' for quite a way, and she sounded grand!

Our host for the run was Trevor, whose intriguing beast is a sort of reverse Special Sports - I think it began its life as a sedate DB18 saloon, but in a mysterious transformation in Trev's shed it became The Beast - with a handmade aluminium sports body, a wicker picnic basket for the boot and a stonking 4.2 litre Jaguar XJ engine with triple 2" SU carbs under the bonnet.

Oh, hang on 'Help was on its way' when the Lanchester of newly elected club prez Tony Dixon failed to proceed on top of a hill at the You Yangs - had to fit a Little River Band reference in there somewhere. Everyone stopped and peered under the bonnet while he churned and churned and eventually we just all got out of the way and let him coast down the hill for a hill-start.

(Speaking of high office, one is slightly humbled to admit that one has been elected to the committee of the DLCV as some sort of Minister without Portfolio ... that's what happens if you turn up to two AGMs in a row!)

We enjoyed a surprisingly good lunch at Trev's local - a sure contender for Ugliest Pub in Victoria (from the outside) - and Mizz Kathy took the big 17" wheel for the ride back up the freeway and home again (and, no, one didn't imbibe more than a single light beverage at lunch - Kathy is a certified Daimler Dame and is more than happy to be in charge).

Pictures will follow when the InterWebThingy is being more cooperative!

Seventeen monkeys, six Daimlers

The DLCV holds an annual winter weekend run for V8s, known as the Brass Monkey. We joined our fellow 'monkeys' at early o'clock on Saturday in suburban Melbourne and headed through the Yarra Valley and over the Black Spur toward Beechworth: a historic town famous for its associations with the gold rush in the 1850s, bushrangers a few years later (Ned Kelly was tried there in the courthouse) and as the site of an imposing Victorian asylum. Nowadays Beechworth is the home of award-winning 'snot blocks' (vanilla slices) from its bakery.
Five V8 saloons and one SP250 Dart sportscar came on the run - two Daimlers 'failed to proceed' and their owners were reduced to driving modern cars.
A fair bit of eating and drinking took place over the weekend. Actually, I suspect the route was actually plotted with the food stops in mind - the scenery and fantastic driving roads were just a bonus!

Here we are in the Tatong pub at lunchtime on the Sunday. I'm looking very pleased with my lamb shanks; Ian is chewing his enormous burger manfully!

Pub dining rooms featured heavily: the Mansfield Hotel for Saturday lunch and Saturday dinner at the Hibernian in Beechworth. Kathy was foolish enough to take on Jack in numerous post-prandial Sambuccas at the Hibernian, so she was feeling a mite delicate on Sunday.

More Brass Monkey shenannigans

Don and Norma's remarkably original Sable V8-250 has always belonged to their family and still has under 50,000 miles on the clock. Kathy dubbed it 'the chocolate drop.'
Jack and Phyllis' Gunmetal Grey 2.5 Litre, with a grey interior. Complete with two fuel pumps - more on that later ...
Michael and Pat's glossy black V8-250 with red interior and wire wheels. With a stainless steel exhaust and rebuilt engine (twice!) it sounds as good as it goes (except when not ... see below ...)

Next to it, Ian and Joyce's SP250, in British Racing Green with tan interior.
Oops. Yours truly was honoured to swap keys with Michael and get into his pride and joy 'Phil' for a drive. Michael's car is noticably more lively than Dame Zara, with better acceleration and tighter handling. I was really enjoying the comparison. Sadly, the SU fuel pump had other ideas - after I conked out pulling up a hill, the Chaps managed to get the pump going again, but it kept cutting out, so a roadside heart transplant was in order.

A bunch of Brass Monkeys go to Beechworth - no bananas to be found

The monkeys, from left: Michelle and John (who bought along their young son Kai, or 'tadpole' as he became known); Kathy; Brian and Vera; Pat I, Norma, Don, Clyde, Pat II, Jack, Phyllis, Ian, Joyce and Michael. Your humble correspondent was manning the camera.
Clyde and Pat's Old English White V8-250, with a tan interior.
Dame Zara, of course, who aquitted herself very well. Tony's minstrations did her the world of good. I think we can state with confidence that the Hesitation Waltz has been cured. She pulled hard at all revs, on the flat or up hills, and on one clear, straight stretch with no other cars in sight for miles I floored it and watched as the tacho rose to well over 4000rpm and the speed to, well, quite fast indeed! (I believe that my car is set up to do 17.7mph per 1000rpm. At 4200rpm, I'd expect to be doing 74mph; at 4500rpm a hair under 80 ...)

Look ma, I can sing!

The CD player and its power pack sitting in the parcel shelf. As you can see, I performed some over-enthusiastic dismantling in order to get the cassette player out! In my defense, I did need to unscrew the whole radio/heater console in order to put some padded, double-sided tape along the edge - it was making the most annoying squeak ... Some hours later, it was all back to rights and the CD player even works without skipping - most of the time. 

Power up

It might not look all that elegant, but this is the 12-volt power adaptor that can power the portable CD player. The cigarette lighter socket is both switched (via the ignition) and fused, so it's safe and can't accidentally be left on to flatten the battery. If it becomes a permanent fixture, I'll hide it behind the dash somewhere and just run the power lead into the parcel shelf. 

How to nobble a cassette deck

In my attempts to deliberately 'ruin' Zara's not particularly good 70s Eurovox cassette deck, I snipped this drive belt, then cut the power to the motor and eventually stuffed a bit of folded-up Gaffa tape in an essential crevice! The result: one reasonably good-sounding line amplifier into which one can plug a portable CD player, iPod, etc. I still haven't managed to work out how to disable the auto-reverse switch, so it clicks a bit, but it'll do for now.

I'll eat those modern pods for breakfast!

  

Dame Zara meets Tony and Ennio the Diagnostic Technicians

Dame Zara went this morning to meet Tony & Ennio the Diagnostic Technicians at Kingsway Autocare. Tony used to own a 2.5 Litre V8, so he knows what's what with dual points, dual carburettors and all the other interactive complications to be found under the bonnet. He set up my fresh points, checked the timing and that the carbs are balanced, etc. $50 well spent.