Now THAT's why I bought it.
Discussion
Wanted to visit a buddy in hospital today and SWMBO wanted my car, she's lent hers to daughter in law and half jokingly said "I'll take your car, you can go in Tiddles". So I did.
Oh Tiddles is the family name for my Royale Sabre. Kit car = kitty = Tiddles. Get it? Oh well never mind but the name's stuck even three year old grand daughter calls it Tiddles.
So went out to the garage, took the cover off and tried to start it. Nada. Flat battery. So put it on charge and half an hour later she burst into life like a good 'un.
Wrapped up warm and with the top down started on the 20 mile drive. Wow it was brilliant. I'd sort of half forgotten that I'd had the 1.8 CVH changed for a 2.0 Zetec back in Sept 'cos I didn't use it much back end of last year and boy pushing down on the right pedal really woke me up and blew the cobwebs away.
Got a little wet on the way in to Cambridge but it was only light drizzle and nothing to get het up about. And the drive back around country lanes was exhilarating. Little bit of back-end sliding and opp lock round bends where I can see there's nothing coming, it was brilliant fun, but nothing too frightening, I'm not that good a driver.
Really great afternoon and I remember now why I bought it and why I upgraded the engine.
Stopped in traffic and an attractive woman pushing a buggy looked at the car as she walked past and said "very pretty" to which I replied "as are you". We both went on our way with big smiles on our faces.
It's gonna be a great summer.
Go on all you kit car owners, blow off the dust and have a blast. It's worth it honest.
Oh Tiddles is the family name for my Royale Sabre. Kit car = kitty = Tiddles. Get it? Oh well never mind but the name's stuck even three year old grand daughter calls it Tiddles.
So went out to the garage, took the cover off and tried to start it. Nada. Flat battery. So put it on charge and half an hour later she burst into life like a good 'un.
Wrapped up warm and with the top down started on the 20 mile drive. Wow it was brilliant. I'd sort of half forgotten that I'd had the 1.8 CVH changed for a 2.0 Zetec back in Sept 'cos I didn't use it much back end of last year and boy pushing down on the right pedal really woke me up and blew the cobwebs away.
Got a little wet on the way in to Cambridge but it was only light drizzle and nothing to get het up about. And the drive back around country lanes was exhilarating. Little bit of back-end sliding and opp lock round bends where I can see there's nothing coming, it was brilliant fun, but nothing too frightening, I'm not that good a driver.
Really great afternoon and I remember now why I bought it and why I upgraded the engine.
Stopped in traffic and an attractive woman pushing a buggy looked at the car as she walked past and said "very pretty" to which I replied "as are you". We both went on our way with big smiles on our faces.
It's gonna be a great summer.
Go on all you kit car owners, blow off the dust and have a blast. It's worth it honest.
Oh dear, lovely tale but it made me rather sad. I sold my Libra a year ago.
Here's one I wrote in March 5 year ago. Shamelessly repeated on here as encouragement to all you owners.
At the back end of last year, the stone wall alongside our drive gave way and part of it collapsed onto the drive. It’s normal with dry stone walls, since the actions of weather on the stone and the infilling will gradually break them down, and helped by the vibration from passing traffic (one day I’ll photograph those over 7.5ton lawbreakers) any dry stone wall will eventually crumble. I was wondering who to get to fix this, since I certainly don’t have the skills or the back to do it myself, and I had asked around for some recommendations for a dry stone waller. Now, if I’d spelt it as dry stonewaller, then the redoubtable Boycott would probably have done that as well as anyone; however what I needed was someone to rebuild the wall. I had moved most of the offending rubble to one side, but it was a nuisance, and the remaining wall wasn’t going to get any better.
Fortunately for me, there was a Guy in the village who had recently completed a dry stone walling course; and who was eager to get some experience so that he could add walling to his CV along with tree work and traditional hedge laying. Guy Robbins rang the door bell one morning and asked if he could give me price for fixing the wall. On examination we agreed that a fair length of wall needed rebuilding rather than just replacing the fallen stones. So we agreed a price, and I ordered some replacement walling stone from the Great Tew estate.
Now, seeing that the garage is up the drive, and the Libra is in the garage, and that shortly a couple of ton of stone would be tipped on the drive; I decided to take the car out for a blast, since it was going to be shut in the garage for a couple of weeks whilst Guy built the wall. Sort of getting a drive in before the drive was blocked, if you see what I mean.
So in mid October Guy started to disassemble the wall. In order to see just what he had to work with, he laid all the stones out in the drive arranged so that as he rebuilt, he would be able to pick the right size stone without having to keep turning them all over to see what he had. Guy is a very neat worker. The inside of the wall should be small stones, but poor building probably some 50 years ago, and the actions of the weather, meant that the inside of this wall was mostly topsoil(!) and gravel rubbish. Rebuilding the wall did take longer than expected, so it was longer than I anticipated before I was able to get my Libra out of the garage again.
However, it didn’t take 4 months! Yesterday was the first time I took my car out of the garage since October. I can’t explain what kept me away from driving for pleasure; maybe working in Milton Keynes destroyed the fun gene for a few months, maybe acting as taxi driver for the family over Christmas, maybe…Oh anyway I can’t think of an excuse, I just didn’t get the car out from mid October until yesterday!
I’d kept the car hooked up to a battery conditioner, so after clearing away all the junk that somehow had been placed in the way, can’t think how that happened, I pushed the car out of the garage, checked the oil and water and fired it up. Actually, I’d forgotten how good it sounds. I let it idle for a few minutes, whilst I checked the tyre pressures – very low, must be the cold temps since I last checked them, did a visual check on all the fixings, checked the thermostat operation, bolted down the covers, wiped off months of garage dust, and cleaned the screen. Where does all that muck come from when all it does is sit in the garage?
I squeezed myself in, tested the pedal pressures, and scrambled behind me for the seat belt. I’d forgotten most of the sensations; the offset pedals, the fall away of the bonnet, the stretch to find the seat belt etc. I did remember to give a quick twist to the roof knobs, then I had to undo the belt to stretch across the wind the other side window down to adjust the mirror which had got knocked out of alignment. Well it would have after four months of being in the way, in the garage, wouldn’t it?
I let the car roll down the drive, and braked at the end. No, harder than that. The combination of a good coating of surface rust and the GTM brake pedal effort caught me out first time. I adjusted the seat again, checked it was all clear and eased out on to the B4031. I was expecting the tapping of the suspension joints, I was surprised by the steering writhing in my hands. My Libra has a just acceptable amount of bump steer, and the wheel tends to ‘squirm’ a bit as the wheels patter up and down. What I had forgotten however, was the immediacy of the steering, how if you steer from the shoulders, you will veer all over the road until you relax and just think it back on course.
We pottered down the road watching temp and pressure, listening for any strange sounds. After a couple of miles, I was back in the groove, letting the car do the work, enjoying the sounds and feeling of the suspension working over the less than perfect Oxfordshire roads. After ten miles the car was flying, there is a particular sort of BLAAAAAH the inlet makes over 6000 rpm; if you press hard enough on the brakes, you can make the front tyres yelp without locking. Not many cars have the brake feel to allow that, and the initial understeer into corners can be negated by a judicious lift of the throttle and re-application of power as the rear end becomes unsettled.
Great fun, I drove to Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Banbury just for fun. I’d forgotten what driving for fun was all about, and why I built the car; but I’ve remembered now, and it looks like another cold sunny day today. So I’m going to do it again. Get out and enjoy your car, because it’s worth it.
Here's one I wrote in March 5 year ago. Shamelessly repeated on here as encouragement to all you owners.
At the back end of last year, the stone wall alongside our drive gave way and part of it collapsed onto the drive. It’s normal with dry stone walls, since the actions of weather on the stone and the infilling will gradually break them down, and helped by the vibration from passing traffic (one day I’ll photograph those over 7.5ton lawbreakers) any dry stone wall will eventually crumble. I was wondering who to get to fix this, since I certainly don’t have the skills or the back to do it myself, and I had asked around for some recommendations for a dry stone waller. Now, if I’d spelt it as dry stonewaller, then the redoubtable Boycott would probably have done that as well as anyone; however what I needed was someone to rebuild the wall. I had moved most of the offending rubble to one side, but it was a nuisance, and the remaining wall wasn’t going to get any better.
Fortunately for me, there was a Guy in the village who had recently completed a dry stone walling course; and who was eager to get some experience so that he could add walling to his CV along with tree work and traditional hedge laying. Guy Robbins rang the door bell one morning and asked if he could give me price for fixing the wall. On examination we agreed that a fair length of wall needed rebuilding rather than just replacing the fallen stones. So we agreed a price, and I ordered some replacement walling stone from the Great Tew estate.
Now, seeing that the garage is up the drive, and the Libra is in the garage, and that shortly a couple of ton of stone would be tipped on the drive; I decided to take the car out for a blast, since it was going to be shut in the garage for a couple of weeks whilst Guy built the wall. Sort of getting a drive in before the drive was blocked, if you see what I mean.
So in mid October Guy started to disassemble the wall. In order to see just what he had to work with, he laid all the stones out in the drive arranged so that as he rebuilt, he would be able to pick the right size stone without having to keep turning them all over to see what he had. Guy is a very neat worker. The inside of the wall should be small stones, but poor building probably some 50 years ago, and the actions of the weather, meant that the inside of this wall was mostly topsoil(!) and gravel rubbish. Rebuilding the wall did take longer than expected, so it was longer than I anticipated before I was able to get my Libra out of the garage again.
However, it didn’t take 4 months! Yesterday was the first time I took my car out of the garage since October. I can’t explain what kept me away from driving for pleasure; maybe working in Milton Keynes destroyed the fun gene for a few months, maybe acting as taxi driver for the family over Christmas, maybe…Oh anyway I can’t think of an excuse, I just didn’t get the car out from mid October until yesterday!
I’d kept the car hooked up to a battery conditioner, so after clearing away all the junk that somehow had been placed in the way, can’t think how that happened, I pushed the car out of the garage, checked the oil and water and fired it up. Actually, I’d forgotten how good it sounds. I let it idle for a few minutes, whilst I checked the tyre pressures – very low, must be the cold temps since I last checked them, did a visual check on all the fixings, checked the thermostat operation, bolted down the covers, wiped off months of garage dust, and cleaned the screen. Where does all that muck come from when all it does is sit in the garage?
I squeezed myself in, tested the pedal pressures, and scrambled behind me for the seat belt. I’d forgotten most of the sensations; the offset pedals, the fall away of the bonnet, the stretch to find the seat belt etc. I did remember to give a quick twist to the roof knobs, then I had to undo the belt to stretch across the wind the other side window down to adjust the mirror which had got knocked out of alignment. Well it would have after four months of being in the way, in the garage, wouldn’t it?
I let the car roll down the drive, and braked at the end. No, harder than that. The combination of a good coating of surface rust and the GTM brake pedal effort caught me out first time. I adjusted the seat again, checked it was all clear and eased out on to the B4031. I was expecting the tapping of the suspension joints, I was surprised by the steering writhing in my hands. My Libra has a just acceptable amount of bump steer, and the wheel tends to ‘squirm’ a bit as the wheels patter up and down. What I had forgotten however, was the immediacy of the steering, how if you steer from the shoulders, you will veer all over the road until you relax and just think it back on course.
We pottered down the road watching temp and pressure, listening for any strange sounds. After a couple of miles, I was back in the groove, letting the car do the work, enjoying the sounds and feeling of the suspension working over the less than perfect Oxfordshire roads. After ten miles the car was flying, there is a particular sort of BLAAAAAH the inlet makes over 6000 rpm; if you press hard enough on the brakes, you can make the front tyres yelp without locking. Not many cars have the brake feel to allow that, and the initial understeer into corners can be negated by a judicious lift of the throttle and re-application of power as the rear end becomes unsettled.
Great fun, I drove to Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Banbury just for fun. I’d forgotten what driving for fun was all about, and why I built the car; but I’ve remembered now, and it looks like another cold sunny day today. So I’m going to do it again. Get out and enjoy your car, because it’s worth it.
Great post Colin, it's all about fun.
Like Yazza I can't wait for some decently-dry-enough roads ( and my new uprated driveshafts, having sheared one at the end of last year!)
Anyway I wrote this in my garage blog last year; & still feel just as excited by the prospect of the first decent drive this year..:
'Get in, disengage the battery isolator with big red key. Flip-up the mollyguard and power-up the electrics; the fuel pump whines as pressure builds. Wait for it to stop, hit Big Red Button, starter spins and with a pop it catches and settles into a hopscotching, burbling idle at about 2000rpm - loud, but not awful; surprisingly bassy for 998cc. Climb in, strap in, forgot steering wheel, unstrap, clamber out, get wheel, repeat.
Temp gauge coming up now, oil pressure good, idle rolls down to about 1500, ready to go. Depress the clutch pedal (light!) and check gear indicator - squeeze left paddle and 1st engages with a clonk you feel - it lurches against the chocks. Brake off, blip throttle, slip clutch in, stall. Restart, try 4K revs and cackling we pull away amid a whine of straightcut dog gears. It's choppy rough and decidely mechanical. Starts rolling smoothly up to 30 mph, so squeeze the tiny throttle pedal and and start screaming....'
Can.not.wait...
Like Yazza I can't wait for some decently-dry-enough roads ( and my new uprated driveshafts, having sheared one at the end of last year!)
Anyway I wrote this in my garage blog last year; & still feel just as excited by the prospect of the first decent drive this year..:
'Get in, disengage the battery isolator with big red key. Flip-up the mollyguard and power-up the electrics; the fuel pump whines as pressure builds. Wait for it to stop, hit Big Red Button, starter spins and with a pop it catches and settles into a hopscotching, burbling idle at about 2000rpm - loud, but not awful; surprisingly bassy for 998cc. Climb in, strap in, forgot steering wheel, unstrap, clamber out, get wheel, repeat.
Temp gauge coming up now, oil pressure good, idle rolls down to about 1500, ready to go. Depress the clutch pedal (light!) and check gear indicator - squeeze left paddle and 1st engages with a clonk you feel - it lurches against the chocks. Brake off, blip throttle, slip clutch in, stall. Restart, try 4K revs and cackling we pull away amid a whine of straightcut dog gears. It's choppy rough and decidely mechanical. Starts rolling smoothly up to 30 mph, so squeeze the tiny throttle pedal and and start screaming....'
Can.not.wait...
Paul Drawmer said:
Oh dear, lovely tale but it made me rather sad. I sold my Libra a year ago.
Here's one I wrote in March 5 year ago. Shamelessly repeated on here as encouragement to all you owners.
At the back end of last year, the stone wall alongside our drive gave way and part of it collapsed onto the drive. It’s normal with dry stone walls, since the actions of weather on the stone and the infilling will gradually break them down, and helped by the vibration from passing traffic (one day I’ll photograph those over 7.5ton lawbreakers) any dry stone wall will eventually crumble. I was wondering who to get to fix this, since I certainly don’t have the skills or the back to do it myself, and I had asked around for some recommendations for a dry stone waller. Now, if I’d spelt it as dry stonewaller, then the redoubtable Boycott would probably have done that as well as anyone; however what I needed was someone to rebuild the wall. I had moved most of the offending rubble to one side, but it was a nuisance, and the remaining wall wasn’t going to get any better.
Fortunately for me, there was a Guy in the village who had recently completed a dry stone walling course; and who was eager to get some experience so that he could add walling to his CV along with tree work and traditional hedge laying. Guy Robbins rang the door bell one morning and asked if he could give me price for fixing the wall. On examination we agreed that a fair length of wall needed rebuilding rather than just replacing the fallen stones. So we agreed a price, and I ordered some replacement walling stone from the Great Tew estate.
Now, seeing that the garage is up the drive, and the Libra is in the garage, and that shortly a couple of ton of stone would be tipped on the drive; I decided to take the car out for a blast, since it was going to be shut in the garage for a couple of weeks whilst Guy built the wall. Sort of getting a drive in before the drive was blocked, if you see what I mean.
So in mid October Guy started to disassemble the wall. In order to see just what he had to work with, he laid all the stones out in the drive arranged so that as he rebuilt, he would be able to pick the right size stone without having to keep turning them all over to see what he had. Guy is a very neat worker. The inside of the wall should be small stones, but poor building probably some 50 years ago, and the actions of the weather, meant that the inside of this wall was mostly topsoil(!) and gravel rubbish. Rebuilding the wall did take longer than expected, so it was longer than I anticipated before I was able to get my Libra out of the garage again.
However, it didn’t take 4 months! Yesterday was the first time I took my car out of the garage since October. I can’t explain what kept me away from driving for pleasure; maybe working in Milton Keynes destroyed the fun gene for a few months, maybe acting as taxi driver for the family over Christmas, maybe…Oh anyway I can’t think of an excuse, I just didn’t get the car out from mid October until yesterday!
I’d kept the car hooked up to a battery conditioner, so after clearing away all the junk that somehow had been placed in the way, can’t think how that happened, I pushed the car out of the garage, checked the oil and water and fired it up. Actually, I’d forgotten how good it sounds. I let it idle for a few minutes, whilst I checked the tyre pressures – very low, must be the cold temps since I last checked them, did a visual check on all the fixings, checked the thermostat operation, bolted down the covers, wiped off months of garage dust, and cleaned the screen. Where does all that muck come from when all it does is sit in the garage?
I squeezed myself in, tested the pedal pressures, and scrambled behind me for the seat belt. I’d forgotten most of the sensations; the offset pedals, the fall away of the bonnet, the stretch to find the seat belt etc. I did remember to give a quick twist to the roof knobs, then I had to undo the belt to stretch across the wind the other side window down to adjust the mirror which had got knocked out of alignment. Well it would have after four months of being in the way, in the garage, wouldn’t it?
I let the car roll down the drive, and braked at the end. No, harder than that. The combination of a good coating of surface rust and the GTM brake pedal effort caught me out first time. I adjusted the seat again, checked it was all clear and eased out on to the B4031. I was expecting the tapping of the suspension joints, I was surprised by the steering writhing in my hands. My Libra has a just acceptable amount of bump steer, and the wheel tends to ‘squirm’ a bit as the wheels patter up and down. What I had forgotten however, was the immediacy of the steering, how if you steer from the shoulders, you will veer all over the road until you relax and just think it back on course.
We pottered down the road watching temp and pressure, listening for any strange sounds. After a couple of miles, I was back in the groove, letting the car do the work, enjoying the sounds and feeling of the suspension working over the less than perfect Oxfordshire roads. After ten miles the car was flying, there is a particular sort of BLAAAAAH the inlet makes over 6000 rpm; if you press hard enough on the brakes, you can make the front tyres yelp without locking. Not many cars have the brake feel to allow that, and the initial understeer into corners can be negated by a judicious lift of the throttle and re-application of power as the rear end becomes unsettled.
Great fun, I drove to Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Banbury just for fun. I’d forgotten what driving for fun was all about, and why I built the car; but I’ve remembered now, and it looks like another cold sunny day today. So I’m going to do it again. Get out and enjoy your car, because it’s worth it.
Here's one I wrote in March 5 year ago. Shamelessly repeated on here as encouragement to all you owners.
At the back end of last year, the stone wall alongside our drive gave way and part of it collapsed onto the drive. It’s normal with dry stone walls, since the actions of weather on the stone and the infilling will gradually break them down, and helped by the vibration from passing traffic (one day I’ll photograph those over 7.5ton lawbreakers) any dry stone wall will eventually crumble. I was wondering who to get to fix this, since I certainly don’t have the skills or the back to do it myself, and I had asked around for some recommendations for a dry stone waller. Now, if I’d spelt it as dry stonewaller, then the redoubtable Boycott would probably have done that as well as anyone; however what I needed was someone to rebuild the wall. I had moved most of the offending rubble to one side, but it was a nuisance, and the remaining wall wasn’t going to get any better.
Fortunately for me, there was a Guy in the village who had recently completed a dry stone walling course; and who was eager to get some experience so that he could add walling to his CV along with tree work and traditional hedge laying. Guy Robbins rang the door bell one morning and asked if he could give me price for fixing the wall. On examination we agreed that a fair length of wall needed rebuilding rather than just replacing the fallen stones. So we agreed a price, and I ordered some replacement walling stone from the Great Tew estate.
Now, seeing that the garage is up the drive, and the Libra is in the garage, and that shortly a couple of ton of stone would be tipped on the drive; I decided to take the car out for a blast, since it was going to be shut in the garage for a couple of weeks whilst Guy built the wall. Sort of getting a drive in before the drive was blocked, if you see what I mean.
So in mid October Guy started to disassemble the wall. In order to see just what he had to work with, he laid all the stones out in the drive arranged so that as he rebuilt, he would be able to pick the right size stone without having to keep turning them all over to see what he had. Guy is a very neat worker. The inside of the wall should be small stones, but poor building probably some 50 years ago, and the actions of the weather, meant that the inside of this wall was mostly topsoil(!) and gravel rubbish. Rebuilding the wall did take longer than expected, so it was longer than I anticipated before I was able to get my Libra out of the garage again.
However, it didn’t take 4 months! Yesterday was the first time I took my car out of the garage since October. I can’t explain what kept me away from driving for pleasure; maybe working in Milton Keynes destroyed the fun gene for a few months, maybe acting as taxi driver for the family over Christmas, maybe…Oh anyway I can’t think of an excuse, I just didn’t get the car out from mid October until yesterday!
I’d kept the car hooked up to a battery conditioner, so after clearing away all the junk that somehow had been placed in the way, can’t think how that happened, I pushed the car out of the garage, checked the oil and water and fired it up. Actually, I’d forgotten how good it sounds. I let it idle for a few minutes, whilst I checked the tyre pressures – very low, must be the cold temps since I last checked them, did a visual check on all the fixings, checked the thermostat operation, bolted down the covers, wiped off months of garage dust, and cleaned the screen. Where does all that muck come from when all it does is sit in the garage?
I squeezed myself in, tested the pedal pressures, and scrambled behind me for the seat belt. I’d forgotten most of the sensations; the offset pedals, the fall away of the bonnet, the stretch to find the seat belt etc. I did remember to give a quick twist to the roof knobs, then I had to undo the belt to stretch across the wind the other side window down to adjust the mirror which had got knocked out of alignment. Well it would have after four months of being in the way, in the garage, wouldn’t it?
I let the car roll down the drive, and braked at the end. No, harder than that. The combination of a good coating of surface rust and the GTM brake pedal effort caught me out first time. I adjusted the seat again, checked it was all clear and eased out on to the B4031. I was expecting the tapping of the suspension joints, I was surprised by the steering writhing in my hands. My Libra has a just acceptable amount of bump steer, and the wheel tends to ‘squirm’ a bit as the wheels patter up and down. What I had forgotten however, was the immediacy of the steering, how if you steer from the shoulders, you will veer all over the road until you relax and just think it back on course.
We pottered down the road watching temp and pressure, listening for any strange sounds. After a couple of miles, I was back in the groove, letting the car do the work, enjoying the sounds and feeling of the suspension working over the less than perfect Oxfordshire roads. After ten miles the car was flying, there is a particular sort of BLAAAAAH the inlet makes over 6000 rpm; if you press hard enough on the brakes, you can make the front tyres yelp without locking. Not many cars have the brake feel to allow that, and the initial understeer into corners can be negated by a judicious lift of the throttle and re-application of power as the rear end becomes unsettled.
Great fun, I drove to Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Banbury just for fun. I’d forgotten what driving for fun was all about, and why I built the car; but I’ve remembered now, and it looks like another cold sunny day today. So I’m going to do it again. Get out and enjoy your car, because it’s worth it.
......did he make a good job of the dry stone wall?
stevetvrs said:
Paul Drawmer said:
Oh dear, lovely tale but it made me rather sad. I sold my Libra a year ago.
Here's one I wrote in March 5 year ago. Shamelessly repeated on here as encouragement to all you owners.
At the back end of last year, the stone wall alongside our drive gave way and part of it collapsed onto the drive. It’s normal with dry stone walls, since the actions of weather on the stone and the infilling will gradually break them down, and helped by the vibration from passing traffic (one day I’ll photograph those over 7.5ton lawbreakers) any dry stone wall will eventually crumble. I was wondering who to get to fix this, since I certainly don’t have the skills or the back to do it myself, and I had asked around for some recommendations for a dry stone waller. Now, if I’d spelt it as dry stonewaller, then the redoubtable Boycott would probably have done that as well as anyone; however what I needed was someone to rebuild the wall. I had moved most of the offending rubble to one side, but it was a nuisance, and the remaining wall wasn’t going to get any better.
Fortunately for me, there was a Guy in the village who had recently completed a dry stone walling course; and who was eager to get some experience so that he could add walling to his CV along with tree work and traditional hedge laying. Guy Robbins rang the door bell one morning and asked if he could give me price for fixing the wall. On examination we agreed that a fair length of wall needed rebuilding rather than just replacing the fallen stones. So we agreed a price, and I ordered some replacement walling stone from the Great Tew estate.
Now, seeing that the garage is up the drive, and the Libra is in the garage, and that shortly a couple of ton of stone would be tipped on the drive; I decided to take the car out for a blast, since it was going to be shut in the garage for a couple of weeks whilst Guy built the wall. Sort of getting a drive in before the drive was blocked, if you see what I mean.
So in mid October Guy started to disassemble the wall. In order to see just what he had to work with, he laid all the stones out in the drive arranged so that as he rebuilt, he would be able to pick the right size stone without having to keep turning them all over to see what he had. Guy is a very neat worker. The inside of the wall should be small stones, but poor building probably some 50 years ago, and the actions of the weather, meant that the inside of this wall was mostly topsoil(!) and gravel rubbish. Rebuilding the wall did take longer than expected, so it was longer than I anticipated before I was able to get my Libra out of the garage again.
However, it didn’t take 4 months! Yesterday was the first time I took my car out of the garage since October. I can’t explain what kept me away from driving for pleasure; maybe working in Milton Keynes destroyed the fun gene for a few months, maybe acting as taxi driver for the family over Christmas, maybe…Oh anyway I can’t think of an excuse, I just didn’t get the car out from mid October until yesterday!
I’d kept the car hooked up to a battery conditioner, so after clearing away all the junk that somehow had been placed in the way, can’t think how that happened, I pushed the car out of the garage, checked the oil and water and fired it up. Actually, I’d forgotten how good it sounds. I let it idle for a few minutes, whilst I checked the tyre pressures – very low, must be the cold temps since I last checked them, did a visual check on all the fixings, checked the thermostat operation, bolted down the covers, wiped off months of garage dust, and cleaned the screen. Where does all that muck come from when all it does is sit in the garage?
I squeezed myself in, tested the pedal pressures, and scrambled behind me for the seat belt. I’d forgotten most of the sensations; the offset pedals, the fall away of the bonnet, the stretch to find the seat belt etc. I did remember to give a quick twist to the roof knobs, then I had to undo the belt to stretch across the wind the other side window down to adjust the mirror which had got knocked out of alignment. Well it would have after four months of being in the way, in the garage, wouldn’t it?
I let the car roll down the drive, and braked at the end. No, harder than that. The combination of a good coating of surface rust and the GTM brake pedal effort caught me out first time. I adjusted the seat again, checked it was all clear and eased out on to the B4031. I was expecting the tapping of the suspension joints, I was surprised by the steering writhing in my hands. My Libra has a just acceptable amount of bump steer, and the wheel tends to ‘squirm’ a bit as the wheels patter up and down. What I had forgotten however, was the immediacy of the steering, how if you steer from the shoulders, you will veer all over the road until you relax and just think it back on course.
We pottered down the road watching temp and pressure, listening for any strange sounds. After a couple of miles, I was back in the groove, letting the car do the work, enjoying the sounds and feeling of the suspension working over the less than perfect Oxfordshire roads. After ten miles the car was flying, there is a particular sort of BLAAAAAH the inlet makes over 6000 rpm; if you press hard enough on the brakes, you can make the front tyres yelp without locking. Not many cars have the brake feel to allow that, and the initial understeer into corners can be negated by a judicious lift of the throttle and re-application of power as the rear end becomes unsettled.
Great fun, I drove to Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Banbury just for fun. I’d forgotten what driving for fun was all about, and why I built the car; but I’ve remembered now, and it looks like another cold sunny day today. So I’m going to do it again. Get out and enjoy your car, because it’s worth it.
Here's one I wrote in March 5 year ago. Shamelessly repeated on here as encouragement to all you owners.
At the back end of last year, the stone wall alongside our drive gave way and part of it collapsed onto the drive. It’s normal with dry stone walls, since the actions of weather on the stone and the infilling will gradually break them down, and helped by the vibration from passing traffic (one day I’ll photograph those over 7.5ton lawbreakers) any dry stone wall will eventually crumble. I was wondering who to get to fix this, since I certainly don’t have the skills or the back to do it myself, and I had asked around for some recommendations for a dry stone waller. Now, if I’d spelt it as dry stonewaller, then the redoubtable Boycott would probably have done that as well as anyone; however what I needed was someone to rebuild the wall. I had moved most of the offending rubble to one side, but it was a nuisance, and the remaining wall wasn’t going to get any better.
Fortunately for me, there was a Guy in the village who had recently completed a dry stone walling course; and who was eager to get some experience so that he could add walling to his CV along with tree work and traditional hedge laying. Guy Robbins rang the door bell one morning and asked if he could give me price for fixing the wall. On examination we agreed that a fair length of wall needed rebuilding rather than just replacing the fallen stones. So we agreed a price, and I ordered some replacement walling stone from the Great Tew estate.
Now, seeing that the garage is up the drive, and the Libra is in the garage, and that shortly a couple of ton of stone would be tipped on the drive; I decided to take the car out for a blast, since it was going to be shut in the garage for a couple of weeks whilst Guy built the wall. Sort of getting a drive in before the drive was blocked, if you see what I mean.
So in mid October Guy started to disassemble the wall. In order to see just what he had to work with, he laid all the stones out in the drive arranged so that as he rebuilt, he would be able to pick the right size stone without having to keep turning them all over to see what he had. Guy is a very neat worker. The inside of the wall should be small stones, but poor building probably some 50 years ago, and the actions of the weather, meant that the inside of this wall was mostly topsoil(!) and gravel rubbish. Rebuilding the wall did take longer than expected, so it was longer than I anticipated before I was able to get my Libra out of the garage again.
However, it didn’t take 4 months! Yesterday was the first time I took my car out of the garage since October. I can’t explain what kept me away from driving for pleasure; maybe working in Milton Keynes destroyed the fun gene for a few months, maybe acting as taxi driver for the family over Christmas, maybe…Oh anyway I can’t think of an excuse, I just didn’t get the car out from mid October until yesterday!
I’d kept the car hooked up to a battery conditioner, so after clearing away all the junk that somehow had been placed in the way, can’t think how that happened, I pushed the car out of the garage, checked the oil and water and fired it up. Actually, I’d forgotten how good it sounds. I let it idle for a few minutes, whilst I checked the tyre pressures – very low, must be the cold temps since I last checked them, did a visual check on all the fixings, checked the thermostat operation, bolted down the covers, wiped off months of garage dust, and cleaned the screen. Where does all that muck come from when all it does is sit in the garage?
I squeezed myself in, tested the pedal pressures, and scrambled behind me for the seat belt. I’d forgotten most of the sensations; the offset pedals, the fall away of the bonnet, the stretch to find the seat belt etc. I did remember to give a quick twist to the roof knobs, then I had to undo the belt to stretch across the wind the other side window down to adjust the mirror which had got knocked out of alignment. Well it would have after four months of being in the way, in the garage, wouldn’t it?
I let the car roll down the drive, and braked at the end. No, harder than that. The combination of a good coating of surface rust and the GTM brake pedal effort caught me out first time. I adjusted the seat again, checked it was all clear and eased out on to the B4031. I was expecting the tapping of the suspension joints, I was surprised by the steering writhing in my hands. My Libra has a just acceptable amount of bump steer, and the wheel tends to ‘squirm’ a bit as the wheels patter up and down. What I had forgotten however, was the immediacy of the steering, how if you steer from the shoulders, you will veer all over the road until you relax and just think it back on course.
We pottered down the road watching temp and pressure, listening for any strange sounds. After a couple of miles, I was back in the groove, letting the car do the work, enjoying the sounds and feeling of the suspension working over the less than perfect Oxfordshire roads. After ten miles the car was flying, there is a particular sort of BLAAAAAH the inlet makes over 6000 rpm; if you press hard enough on the brakes, you can make the front tyres yelp without locking. Not many cars have the brake feel to allow that, and the initial understeer into corners can be negated by a judicious lift of the throttle and re-application of power as the rear end becomes unsettled.
Great fun, I drove to Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Banbury just for fun. I’d forgotten what driving for fun was all about, and why I built the car; but I’ve remembered now, and it looks like another cold sunny day today. So I’m going to do it again. Get out and enjoy your car, because it’s worth it.
......did he make a good job of the dry stone wall?
My little seven-alike had been sitting in the garage for months due to the lousy weather, but it was dry and windy for a couple of days, so yesterday (Sunday) I thought I'd check the car out then take it for a drive around the local roads, just to make sure that all was well. Told my wife I'd only be gone for 10 or 15 minutes...
An hour or so later I returned from a blast along my favourite route... about 30+ miles...
Took 30 minutes for my fingers to thaw, and I really wish I'd put earplugs in (or worn ear defenders)!
Great fun though.
An hour or so later I returned from a blast along my favourite route... about 30+ miles...
Took 30 minutes for my fingers to thaw, and I really wish I'd put earplugs in (or worn ear defenders)!
Great fun though.
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