Canley Classics News Blog

World Cup Rally 40 celebrations, Car Number 1 progress.

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:07:00 +0000

Car Number 1 at or near the start of the World Cup Rally 1970
Picture courtesy Ted Taylor

Jacking point detail, and corrosion evident on aluminium doorskin.

Front wing vent, and spotlight mounting detail.

It's been a while since any major work was carried out to our World Cup PI. I spent a couple of weeks just prior to the Christmas holidays before last on major surgery to the bodywork. Those of you who have seen the car know what's involved in putting the roof right!
All the recent hoo ha surrounding the anniversary of the rally has inspired me to pull the dust sheet off and think about starting again. Not that I need inspiration, owning a genuine World Cup PI was always one of my greatest ambitions. However one still has to make a living and private projects play second fiddle to paying the bills!
I'll try and keep you up to date of progress when, and if, I start swinging the welding torch again!

The solution to Toyota sticking throttle syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:33:00 +0000

Drive an Atlas instead.
If for any reason an Atlas throttle were to stick fully open it could take anything up to half an hour before the driver noticed, thus giving plenty of time to take avoiding action.

Cadburys Creme Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:13:00 +0000

Have you noticed how small Cadburys Creme Eggs have gotten since Kraft took over.

Bloody American's.

No, No, No, Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:08:00 +0000

Doctor can you please help? I have this problem you see. Well more of an affliction really. You see I just can't stop myself containing a completely unnatural urge to acquire Standard Atlas's (Atlasi?). My friends think I'm mad, am I mad doctor?

The latest addition to the fleet, thanks Mick (I think!).

Spitfire/GT6 DVD

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:35:00 +0000

It's been a while since I have been on here! The main reason I haven't posted is that we have been putting all our efforts into our new website, due soon!

However although I don't usually use this Blog as a (blatant!) selling tool I thought you might want to know about the latest DVD from John Clancy. Called 'CODE NAME BOMB' it's John's best ever yet attempt at tracing the history of a particular Triumph model (TR7 & Stag previously, and available from us).

Includes competition footage, and a ride in a factory rally car! Packed with archive material, interviews with ex-factory personnel.

John visited lots of shows during the course of filming, and as a consequence you may spot your own car in amongst the hundreds of Spitfires, and GT6's shown.

Codename: Bomb (part no. DVD1) £19.75

Total running time: 80 minutes (main feature + 85 mins of extras on disc 2)
Screen ratio: 16x9 widescreen PAL
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Region: 0

Order Online Now!

Codename: Stag (part no. DVD2) £19.75

Total running time: 85 minutes (main feature + 80 mins of extras on disc 2)
Screen ratio: 16x9 widescreen PAL
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Region: 0

Order Online Now!

Codename: Bullet (part no. DVD3) £14.75

Total running time: 90 minutes
Screen ratio: 1.85:1 widescreen PAL
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Region: 0

Order Online Now!

Closed tomorrow 11/2/09

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:51:00 +0000

Thanks to our electricity supplier (again!) we will be closed tomorrow 11 February 2009. As we have been notified of an interruption in supply lasting from 08.30 in the morning until 1600 in the afternoon there seems little point in opening.
On-line orders will be processed as normal, but may be dispatched a little later than normal.

New Year Lots of New Product!

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:41:00 +0000

You may be forgiven for thinking that we have been a little quite on the new product development/introduction front of late. Nothing could be further from the truth, and since employing a graduate of motorsport engineering and design (and a Triumph enthusiast to boot) things moved up a gear last year. Due to website glitches soon to be sorted we have been a little slow in keeping you informed of progress, hopefully we will be a little bit more forthcoming this year.
Having CAD facilities in house has been a revelation. Not having to rely on outside agencies means that we can now design, modify, and prototype in our timescale, not someone else's. When I say we by the way I put less emphasis on myself, I just come up with some of the ideas, someone else translates them into potential product using the magic box in the corner of the office. The trouble now is reigning in our ambitions. Having someone here who is as mad keen as me with as many if not more ideas could get expensive.
As a result of the above we have started looking at other models in the Triumph range, watch out for new bits for the 2000/2.5 range, and the 6 cylinder TR's this year.
We haven't forgotten our roots either and a major new panel launch is imminent for the Vitesse (yes that one!). This could possibly be the swan song for new panel introduction for the small chassis Triumph's as panelwork sales have taken a nose dive over recent years. Spitfire panelwork sales in particular are worryingly low, and I think we may look back at this time in the near future and regard it as a hiatus in availability. If things continue as they have been for the last couple of years or so I can see us losing some panels for ever.
Anyway lets not end on a low note I for one am encouraged by the new blood, and new ideas around at the moment it's keeping us old so and so's on our toe's. Who'd have thought that this long after Triumph disappeared we would still be using the latest technology to turn dream into reality?

Happy Christmas and New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:34:00 +0000

Hope you all have a great holiday, and that Santa brings you and yours something nice.
I shall be forgoing the usual turkey dinner on Christmas day this year for something a little less traditional, on the beach, somewhere nice and warm. My swimming trunks are packed, and I'm even thinking of popping out for a holiday hair cut this afternoon.

Holiday Closing

Closed from this afternoon (23 Dec 08) after the carriers have collected (about 4pm ish).

Re-open Monday 5th Jan 09 at 9am.

On line orders will be downloaded as normal over the holiday period but will not be dispatched until the 5th Jan.

VAT reduction passed on to customers.

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:18:00 +0000

First off a picture from our collection that on first sight looks to be nothing out of the ordinary, that is until you do a little research. Could be a typical street scene from the 1970's, but what are those stickers on the 2000 door, could this be an entrant on an early CT RBRR? Well no actually, it's a little bit more interesting than that.
Some research in the Triumph experimental register shows OVC 311M to be one of the many Bullet/Innsbruck prototypes built by Triumph to prove the slant 4 2lt OHC engine ready for the forthcoming TR7. Chassis number X845, and engine number X1334E, it's listed as the Swiss test car, emissions transport (Swiss market), most of the other cars in the program being listed as Federal spec.
Further research with the Coventry Museum of Road Transport who hold the Coventry area registration details (donated by West Midlands Police) show that this particular car was registered on the 24.10.73. So in the knowledge that all Triumph prototypes were put straight to work to lead short but generally hard lives this picture wouldn't have been taken to long after it was registered. This is born out by the door stickers which read '50,000 mile Emission Test'.
Pinpointing exactly where the picture was taken is easy if you happen to live in Nuneaton, as I do. It's in the town centre on Queens Rd (or the Market Place, I'm never sure where one ends, and the other starts). What is really unusual for Nuneaton (because everything else has been knocked down!) is that all those shops in the background are still there although they have changed hands a few times over. Kettering & Leicester is now a branch of Waterstones book shop. The whole area is now pedestrianised, but it is still possible to get a car into a similar postion under certain conditions if you wanted to recreate the scene.
Going back to the car itself had you noticed it has no bumpers, wheel trims, and it's sitting a little high at the back? Or that there are louvers on the top of the bonnet? I happen to know one of the drivers who was tasked with putting some of those test miles and he explained more. Paul (Northall) recalled the 2000's (Innsbruck) had to have weight removed to make them similar to the forthcoming TR7 (Bullet) for the tests to have any relevance. This included the removal of much interior trim, and the substitution of door glass for perspex, etc.
Interesting times for a young Triumph enthusiast like me in the 70's in Nuneaton as several Triumph test drivers lived locally and were in the habit of cruising through the town in their top secret charges. I remember one of the cars above passing me by whilst I was on my way to the chip shop on school dinner break, the noise it made was distinctly none 6 cylinder! Not long after this I saw my first TR7 (remember this was at least a year before it was launched) as it sat waiting patiently at a school crossing as some goggle eyed kids speculated on what this thinly disguised space ship might be (the TR7 looked pretty radical to us in 1974!).

What was the point of this Blog? Oh yes, as of yesterday we have passed on the 2.5% VAT reduction to all our European customers. What a fantastically generous tax giveaway Mr Darling has given you! Now all you have to do is spend, spend, spend to get us out of this recession. We are waiting for the rush.

All overseas customers please take note!

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:07:00 +0000

''Do you think that it will go any faster with that helicopter pushing it?''

If you live outside the UK and you own a Triumph it's a very good time for you to be buying your spares from British specialists. Against certain currencies (especially the US Dollar, and the Euro) Sterling has recently crashed. It's never been such a good time for you to import parts and take advantage of our weak currency! As exporters we are going through a mini boom, with consignments going all over the World to those of you who are already taking advantage. Don't get left out, get yourself onto one of those currency convertor websites and check out just how cheap we are at the moment against your local specialist. Even taking into account post and packing you might find savings of more than 20% depending on where in the World you live. That's to good to miss, so don't leave it to long before checking it out, you never know Sterling might start to recover next week!

A proper recession is when interest rates hit 13%

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:38:00 +0000

First off a picture of one of our daughters Heralds. I thought I would exercise it this week as its not getting enough use whilst her 13/60 is sat on the drive at home in its place. The one above is a genuine case of all show, and no go. It's still fitted with it's 948 engine, a brand new unit fitted by John Kipping just before he took it off the road. With the up-rated alternator working at it's best to supply enough juice to power the amps, and the bass tube in the boot in the poor thing is struggling. It sounds like it's doing 100mph when you thrash (!) it, but only because of the Range Rover Sport tailpipes I incorporated into it's exhaust system. Still it looks great in it's two tone 'flip' paint job, which I might add cost me the best part of £2K, and that at special mates rates.
Two blogs ago I wittered on about the credit crunch and it's thus far negligible affect on the classics car parts game. We have been in business long enough to have weathered the last recession in the mid to late eighties, now that was a proper recession! Those of us with mortgages at the time lost countless nights sleep worrying how we were going to make our next payment when rates peaked at 13%, and of course some didn't manage. We bought our second house in the teeth of the storm direct from a bank as a it had been repossed from some poor unfortunate. Prior to buying this we viewed countless auction catalogues listing thousands of properties that had been similarly snatched back. It was a similar story in industry, remember the 3 million unemployed? I had mates at the time in business who lost everything and had to start all over again.
Sorry but this piddly little economic glitch isn't cutting the mustard in comparison to that. So far we have been made to feel sorry for some ill-advised, poorly managed, or incompetent suits in the city who have been given their marching orders. There are always going to be some genuine innocents caught up in this downturn. By and large the those that are bleating the loudest however have over extended themselves on credit, or blindly used 'equity' in their property to borrow money based on a media inspired property boom.
How quickly we forget.
Meanwhile those old stagers in business that went through the last 'big one' appear to be doing very well thank you. I did the usual tour of suppliers, and engineering shops in Coventry, and Nuneaton yesterday and without exception the places we trade with that were about 20 odd years ago are as busy as ever.
Once bitten twice shy.
DJ cliche.

What a strange tax system we have

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:56:00 +0000

I drove one of the above the other night, or at least it was something similar. What I actually drove was a pre production prototype of the new XK with the brand spanking new V8, and one or two design up-dates. What an awesome machine, in the true sense of the word. I have driven nearly every model of Jaguar over the past 20 years courtesy of some really good mates who have trusted me not to break them! That drive to collect the curry on Sunday night was a revelation.

A couple of weeks ago I drove a 100 miles from new XJR with the old V8, I thought that was awesome. Sat at a set of traffic lights on the A5 on the way back from a meal out with friends my mate nudged me and mouthed the words nail it (or something similar). The women were happily chewing the fat in the back and were oblivious to the forthcoming storm! Shall we just say that the short sprint between lights and roundabout easily got me up to a speed way in excess of anything I have ever managed on the public highway, and that was 4 up in a 2 ton luxury saloon. Don't superchargers make a glorious noise (or at least they do on Jaguars).

Having been seriously impressed with the old (old model, the car was only a week old!) blower equipped V8 XJR, I was shocked to find out that the XK prototype I drove on Sunday was normally aspirated, and an easy 500bhp! What will the blower version be when that comes out? One thing for certain is that it's going to make the current Astons look pretty sick bearing in mind the extra cash you would have to stump up for them

Jaguars just get better and better. I feel semi qualified to pass judgement on Coventry's (now Birmingham's) other marque having been around the cars, and the engineers since I can remember. Going back 20 odd years I even owned a couple. Don't be shocked, there is actually a law on the statute books that says all car enthusiasts should at some time or other smoke around in an old Jag, so I was just doing my bit. Back then I always wanted to like Jags but always ended up being hugely disappointed. You name it and I have tried it, E type's, MKII's, XJ6's, XJS, and I always went back to driving a Triumph! The biggest disappointment was the E Type. A mates Dad sometimes collected us from school in a 2+2, how cool is that. When I actually got to drive them some years later my rose tinted spectacles got thrown on the floor and stomped on. One could nearly always forgive the terrible build quality, rampant unreliability, and terminal accelerated rot all Jags suffered from back then for the looks, and the pose factor. Its only recently that Jags have come right, and that's thanks in no short measure to Fords input. Lets hope that the change of hands, and these current economic hardships don't spoil the excellent work being done at Jaguar these days.

So whats that got to do with the title of this blog I hear you ask? Well this time of year any business worth its salt is sitting on a pile of money in the bank waiting to pay its tax bill to Gordon in January. Every year your accountant tells you you shouldn't be paying Gordon that much and to go off and buy something expensive that is likely to depreciate like a lead balloon. To be honest there aren't that many Triumphs around left to buy at 50K +, and besides we have run out of room for anymore, but a new Jag? It'll probably never happen, but I'm sorely tempted specially with all the deals around at the moment. Maybe I'll wait for that new V8 blower equiped XK to come out next year, now that would be nice!

Credit Crunch My Arze!

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:38:00 +0000

I thought I would put up a picture of my lovely Atlas at Lands End on the RBRR before I go into the subject of today's Blog title. I know we failed to complete the event but I'm still very much loving my Standard commercial. Everybody thinks I'm mad, 50 odd Triumphs to choose from, and some of the finest ones in existence to boot and I mostly pick the Atlas to go home in, I suppose it's because it never fails to raise a smile.

So how is the credit crunch affecting the classic car parts market? Is it all doom and gloom, or is it passing us by? If you believe the movers and shakers in the game who I speak to regularly then its the latter and the trade is unaffected. However as one of the largest suppliers into the trade said to me yesterday no-one ever admits to being quiet in this trade. They all have a permanent fixed grin when they are telling anyone who will listen how well they are doing. So who to believe. From our own experience it seems to me that things are ticking along as they did at the same last year (and the year before, etc). Which is good because we seem to be doing better later into the season than in years past. I remember in the old days John Kipping getting very squeaky on the run up to Christmas, and things getting very tight money wise. That simply doesn't happen any more, indeed we allowed ourselves the luxury of closing down for a week recently and going off on holiday. Margins might be smaller these days against those traders like John who retailed in the 80's, and 90's but we are all operating far more efficiently these days thanks to the Internet, and computers. When we took over in 1999-2000 we inherited around 10 members of staff. Last year we operated at a similar turnover in real terms (allowing for inflation) than that last year under John, but most importantly with only 3 members of staff. Its the wages bill that cripples business when things are difficult, that's why you see so many companies shedding staff at the moment.

You may not realise but a large proportion of our trade is wholesale, and this trade into the trade is growing. We have done several very large orders to foreign traders this week helped no doubt by the weak Sterling, thank you Mr Brown! If this keeps up we might break Novembers sales records, and that during a financial meltdown. Having lots of stock on the shelf certainly helps, but I'm under no illusion that it's the falling pound that makes our parts most attractive to the American traders in particular. Talking of stock the one major upside of a financial slowdown is that when we place an order with a manufacturer these days the parts invariably arrive on our doorstep within a matter of days. Go back a year or so and the same manufacturers might take weeks, or months to supply the same product. As a consequence we are basking in the highest real stock levels in our history, and by quite a margin (including John Kippings time).

It pays not to be complacent though things might get worse, but for the time being this 'credit crunch' is bypassing Fillongley!

It's been a while since this last happened

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:20:00 +0000

RBRR Drivers Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:12:00 +0000

We had the pleasure of hosting the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run (Northern) drivers meeting again last night. Tim Bancroft and Jason Chinn (part of the organisational team) pitched up early to help me prep the old museum buildings ready for the evenings entertainment. Cars were moved out to reveal tell tail oil stains on the floor that Tim immediately declared a health and safety risk! Suitably armed with a mop and bucket and some neat traffic film remover (steam cleaner heavy duty detergent) he set about making the floor spick and span. Meanwhile yours truly trawled the place for chairs, and only having found 20 odd decent comfy ones I resorted to steam cleaning off the green stuff growing on the white plastic garden variety I collected from outside. Having done a half passable attempt at cleaning the floor Tim hung the CT and RNLI banners, whilst Jason supervised, and talked about pies (that boy has a one track mind).
The meeting was set to start at 20.30 sharp. Tim was starting to panic half an hour or so before the kick off when only half a dozen crews had turned up. Representatives of 60 odd crews had turned up Monday night for the southern meeting leaving Tim to expect 40 odd tonight. Then they came! Piling into the car park came a steady stream of Triumph's (well done guys) until we were well and truly packed out. We have never had so many people on the premises at one time, it looked like Tim would be talking to a capacity crowd.
What a phenomena the RBRR has become, the buzz surrounding it has to be experienced first hand to appreciate the madness of those who wish to spend 48 hours circumnavigating the UK. Serial RBRR's (and I include myself here as this is my eighth RBRR) would probably find it difficult to explain/justify why we keep coming back time after time to what might seem to others as organised torture. All I can say is to really understand it you have to participate, and until you do you aint never going to understand the highs (and lows) of the best driving event bar none.
Now for the staticions. Over 80 cups of tea and coffee were drunk last night (the water boiler has a meter on it) and it could have been more but it ran out. That's never happened before, but if someone had pointed it out to me I could have soon filled it up again! Over 400 biscuits were scoffed (rich tea, bourbons, and so on, you get the picture) with a handful of damp ones left over for me to have for my breakfast this morning.
Roll on RBRR I'll see all you mentalists, as Mr Bancroft calls us, a week on Friday at the Plough.

Big Brake Kit Correction / Atlas panel work

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:06:00 +0000

First off apologies over the picture used for the Atlas big brake kit in my last Blog. The more observant amongst you have noticed that the front suspension looked nothing like that of an Atlas. The hub was more Caterham than Triumph 2000 (modified to fit the Atlas). The disc was of larger diameter, and vented. The caliper looked nothing like an iron Girling type 16, in fact it looked more like an alloy 4 piston type! The picture was in fact taken when we converted Joe's Spitfire 1500 a couple of months ago to test out a new kit on the RBRR. That'll teach me to make ambiguos picture descriptions and not open them up for a look see before up-loading them to blog.

Anyway back to today's picture (carefully checked!), it shows the Atlas resplendent with it's now filled in holes as collected from Wes the master tinny. Actually the picture was taken yesterday outside Dave's paint shop a good 20 miles away from Wes's place. That meant a good blast down the A5 to get over to Dave's place with the wife riding shot gun in the Chicane. As yet I haven't had time to fix the speedo so I was blissfully unaware of our speed. Imagine my surprise when Clare informed me that we had maintained 55 mph for a good 5 miles on the A5, that's 3mph faster than an Atlas's top speed when they were new. Looks like that diff ratio change has paid dividends. Dave reckons he will have the van back to me by the end of the week in its fresh coat of powder blue paint (original colour). I have known people loose cars for months if not years in paint shops and we are now less than 2 weeks before the start of the RBRR, I must be mad!

Big brake kit

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:35:00 +0000

Probably wouldn't make a lot of money out of retailing a big brake kit for the Atlas seeing as there are only about half a dozen still on the road!

Converting our Atlas to front discs turned out to be one of those jobs I wish I hadn't started. Initially I decided to do it based on all the horror stories I had heard from Atlas drivers of old about the drum brakes on the front. Then having looked at the state of the original stuff on our van and realising it needed everything replacing I thought about swapping to discs instead. So what bits to use? Atlas have 2000/2.5 wheel stud spacing so using Herald/Spitfire/Vitesse/GT6 hubs was out of the question. Using 2000 hubs meant a lot of lathe work in order to fit Vitesse discs, and Type 16 Girling calipers. Unfortunately having bolted it all together and feeling very pleased with myself I was a little dis-chuffed to find that the road wheels were fowling the calipers. The Atlas wheels look like early MKI 2000 jobbies, so into the stores for a late MKII 2000 rim and bobs yer uncle problem solved.

The back brakes are pure Vitesse/GT6 so no problem's there. After a precautionary master cylinder rebuild and road test it was nearly time for the MOT.

6.66 sign of the devil?

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:59:00 +0000

Well I hope not but as it turns out 6.66:1 is the diff ratio of Standard Atlas's from new. As we are hoping to do the 2,000 miles of Club Triumphs RBRR in a few weeks I thought it might be time to investigate a ratio change. When new an Atlas was flat out a 52mph but having spoken to Dave Gleed when he was in our shop he recalled the Triumph Service Division (who Dave worked for) fitting overdrives to their fleet of Atlas's (Atlasy?). Dave said that it added another few mph to the top end on the straight and level, but that any sort of gradient was another matter. As far as I could see the only easy overdrive box to fit would be a Standard 10 type but having sold all our remaining core units to Tony L Dean some years ago that option was going to prove difficult in the short time we have before the RBRR. So out with the diff and a strip down was on the cards. I already knew from the parts books that a lot of the guts were 2000/2.5/TR and so it proved to be. In went a nice 2000 4.11:1 CW&P set I had on the shelf and the diff is back in the Atlas.

Need a reliable motor for the RBRR?

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:07:00 +0000

How about this...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Triumph-Herald-Limousine-Stretch_W0QQitemZ320293124168QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320293124168&_trkparms=72%3A985%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Bank Holiday closing times.

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:16:00 +0000

We shall be closed for business from 5pm this Friday 22 August 08, and re-opening at 9am on Tuesday 26 August 08. On-line orders will be processed as normal over this period but will not be dispatched until the Tuesday.
We hope that the weather holds out over the Bank Holiday and that you enjoy doing whatever you have planned.

?

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:51:00 +0000

Silverstone Classic/ Closed on Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:14:00 +0000

Shop closed this Saturday 26 July 08.

Just a bit of advanced notice that due to our involvement with next weekends Silverstone Classic our shop will be closed this Saturday.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

4WD Dolomite anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:52:00 +0000

We are having a bit of a clear out here at Canleys to make space for faster moving product. One product that has not been particularly fast moving has been our pile of new Pony 4WD gearbox's complete with transfer housing's. As you are probably aware it is perfectly feasible to use on of these to make a 4WD Dolomite, indeed we have sold several over the years to customers with that intention. We built a lash-up rolling test bed ourselves some years ago but the donor car was to rusty to put on the road so it got squashed. Having kept a couple for our museum, and offered to donate to other museums there are still a few left over. If you want one for whatever reason then please contact us within the next 24 hours because after that they are being weighed in. All we are asking is approx scrap value, say £40 (they are heavy!). Please copy this over to any other appropriate web groups who may find this of use.

I wrote this yesterday so it's no longer 24 hours I'm affraid before they go to China! Should be all gone later this afternoon. Give us a ring sharpish if you want one, it's probably to late to e-mail.

Roy Fidler / Bill Bradley re-united!

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:13:00 +0000

It's been more than 40 years since these two gentlemen last shared a drive in a works Triumph well I did my little bit towards getting them together again at last weekends superb Chatsworth Rally Show. Having collared Roy in the VIP enclosure I managed to introduce him to Bill, and point him in the direction of the Secretariat's tent where he was suitably kitted out in some borrowed racing overalls, and a helmet. Only a matter of minutes later Roy, and Bill were sitting in the queue waiting to go out on to the closed stage. Roy told me later it's the first time he has driven FHP (his 1966 RAC Championship winning car) since his factory days. Sitting in the same queue directly behind Roy, and Bill was yours truelly in Bill's Spitfire ADU 5B. We managed two stages on the Saturday before it was given over to some serious modern machinery.

Roy was only about on the Saturday so Bill drove FHP on Sunday. I managed to embarrass myself by launching 5B on the yump after the water splash, and as a result a little visit to the scenery ensued. As I was only a few feet away from the finish line and away from the main crowd line I thought I had got away with it. It was only after I had driven back to the team parking areas did the wife inform me that it had been broadcast on the massive screen set up in front of the crowd! Apparently Graham Robson also commentated that it should make the final cut for the Sky 1 programme being filmed over the weekend. Is this an end to my fledgling rallying career?

Closed tomorrow afternoon and Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (David Pearson) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 06:32:00 +0000

Sorry for the short notice but due to our participation in an event 'up North' we will be closing at noon tomorrow (6 June) through Saturday re-opening Monday as usual. On-line orders will be processed as normal.