Satan's barge - 1983 Ferrari 400i

[bolidemichael]

Rumdoodle said:

I went for the sausage roll, which was a feast.

Car ran faultlessly. Now, weather permitting, I'll give it a clean and see how it's holding up. I'm heading to Brooklands for the New Year's Day event. Never been there before, so it'll be a novel way to start the year.

Do you mean the New Year's Eve event?

[Rumdoodle]

bolidemichael said:

Rumdoodle said:

I went for the sausage roll, which was a feast.

Car ran faultlessly. Now, weather permitting, I'll give it a clean and see how it's holding up. I'm heading to Brooklands for the New Year's Day event. Never been there before, so it'll be a novel way to start the year.

Do you mean the New Year's Eve event?

Dunno. The one with all the old cars. I've just come from a different time zone (photo of smug looking camel as evidence)

so I might be a few hours out of whack. On the other hand, someone recently invited me to the Stony Stratford classic meet on Boxing Day, which I had to tactfully remind them was on New Year's Day, so I am starting to think there is some kind of collective effort to persuade me that all of these events are not happening on New Year's Day. But, I tell you, I'm onto you. I know what you're up to.

[Concerned of Cheshire]

Terrific thread. We had a 1974 365 GT4 2+2 back in the early 80's, the car was a Jersey import and registered here as DYF 51 V. It was well used doing regular 400 mile round trips hence forever needing tuning with six side draught Webers and twin distributors still using contact breakers.
I have fond memories of the car, starting in hot weather was always an occasion with some firing delay as the float chambers filled due to evaportaion before the columbo burst in to life..... glorious !
The car is SORN somewhere or other nowadays, would love to know where.....

[Bonefish Blues]

If Columbo's on the case I'm sure you'll track it down

[Rumdoodle]

Concerned of Cheshire said:

Terrific thread. We had a 1974 365 GT4 2+2 back in the early 80's, the car was a Jersey import and registered here as DYF 51 V. It was well used doing regular 400 mile round trips hence forever needing tuning with six side draught Webers and twin distributors still using contact breakers.
I have fond memories of the car, starting in hot weather was always an occasion with some firing delay as the float chambers filled due to evaportaion before the columbo burst in to life..... glorious !
The car is SORN somewhere or other nowadays, would love to know where.....

Nice. Must have been quite something! Any photos?

I don't think I would have bothered doing an overnight trip to Scotland in any other car. Would have taken a flight instead. But, any opportunity to do a long journey in this...Just superb levels of performance and refinement.

[Mr Tidy]

Rumdoodle said:

Dunno. The one with all the old cars. I've just come from a different time zone (photo of smug looking camel as evidence)

I don't bother going to Brooklands on New Years Day as they are charging over £20 entry.

I got to The Phoenix, Hartley Wintney just up the A30 where it is free to almost block the road!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud7u1AU_b30

[bolidemichael]

Rumdoodle said:

bolidemichael said:

Rumdoodle said:

I went for the sausage roll, which was a feast.

Car ran faultlessly. Now, weather permitting, I'll give it a clean and see how it's holding up. I'm heading to Brooklands for the New Year's Day event. Never been there before, so it'll be a novel way to start the year.

Do you mean the New Year's Eve event?

Dunno. The one with all the old cars. I've just come from a different time zone (photo of smug looking camel as evidence)

so I might be a few hours out of whack. On the other hand, someone recently invited me to the Stony Stratford classic meet on Boxing Day, which I had to tactfully remind them was on New Year's Day, so I am starting to think there is some kind of collective effort to persuade me that all of these events are not happening on New Year's Day. But, I tell you, I'm onto you. I know what you're up to.

My apologies, I misread as Goodwood

[carinaman]

Rumdoodle said:

Nice. Must have been quite something! Any photos?

I don't think I would have bothered doing an overnight trip to Scotland in any other car. Would have taken a flight instead. But, any opportunity to do a long journey in this...Just superb levels of performance and refinement.

The photos of the Ferrari around modern cars make it look small but it looks bigger beside that W201.

[Billy_Whizzzz]

Probably a boring question - have read of much mechanical fettling but as an old Italian car that you’ll use in winter are you planning to protect metalwork, silks, arches plus brackets and componentry that all likes to self destruct even in cars 1/4 of the age!?

[Rumdoodle]

Mr Tidy said:

Rumdoodle said:

Dunno. The one with all the old cars. I've just come from a different time zone (photo of smug looking camel as evidence)

I don't bother going to Brooklands on New Years Day as they are charging over £20 entry.

I got to The Phoenix, Hartley Wintney just up the A30 where it is free to almost block the road!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud7u1AU_b30

Good tip, thanks. I've always wanted to visit the Brooklands museum, so that was partly the thinking on this occasion.

[Rumdoodle]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

Probably a boring question - have read of much mechanical fettling but as an old Italian car that you’ll use in winter are you planning to protect metalwork, silks, arches plus brackets and componentry that all likes to self destruct even in cars 1/4 of the age!?

I only need a car for a couple of weeks in the winter. I ran my '83 Mercedes for similar annual mileage and in every season. That held up fine until I used it pretty much daily throughout one winter, which significantly accelerated the deterioration of the outer wheelarches and other usual vulnerable areas. All of which are easily sorted, of course.

If I needed regular wheels during winter, I'd get something else because the conditions are so generally grim and I don't want driving this to become a chore. It saw a couple of salty roads last winter but had a thorough undercarriage jet wash afterwards. The rest of the time, it is tucked up in the warm and dry so I'm confident it can withstand a few wet weeks every year. I find the best way to avoid worrying about this sort of thing is to build up a bodywork fund and be prepared to throw everything at it every few years.

Actually, it's just sustained some weather-related damage unexpectedly. In the strong winds yesterday, the driver's door was caught in a gust and went a bit further round than intended, which snapped the check strap. Lucky it was such minimal damage.

I was passing Silverstone today and popped in for a quick chat with the workshop there. Door repairs have now been added to the job list for next year, which also includes a good post-winter undercarriage clean up.

[carinaman]

Sorry to learn of the door strap mishap.

[Rumdoodle]

Dirty car

after last night's gale. I figured that Ferraris used to be built to win events like the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, so mine could make it through a few muddy days in Surrey. It'll have earned some pampering after this, though. A thorough service, tune up and clean once it's tucked away in the warm next month.

It's been a great year for this lovely old thing. Off to Brooklands tomorrow morning!

[Rumdoodle]

Dawn broke over Surrey.

Much as it does everywhere else, I suppose.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. So, I prepared travel essentials for the arduous 20 mile trip ahead, with versatile, high value items that, in an emergency, I could eat, trade or play with


And Brooklands was splendid. Very well organised. Brilliantly marshalled, nice atmosphere, friendly crowd, and what a wonderful site to fill with classic cars. It was really something to see for the first time the banking I knew so well from photographs in books.

There were yellow British cars. One of the best colours for an E-type

not a bad colour for an Interceptor, but I think orange was an option back then, which would be more my thing

and a bold choice for a Bristol

More Bristols than you could shake a stick at, including TWO(!) Brigands, out of a total production run of probably two. These are the turbocharged coupes, which were one of the fastest cars of their day. I drove a Beaufighter a while ago, which is the turbocharged ragtop contemporary of the Brigand, and it was great fun. I also tried a Britannia, which is the slightly more common, normally aspirated version of the Brigand. But, the Bristol Brigand - what a name, what a car, what a number plate!

Had a quick chat with the couple who arrived in this, and they said there was a silver one around somewhere

And this mint 603, the Britannia's precursor

[Rumdoodle]

A horde of Scimitars.



A couple of lovely Astons


Peak British wedge

[carinaman]

Thanks for the photos. I am not sure about the Bristols. Interesting but....

I almost went looking for yellow cars on Autotrader.

[Rumdoodle]

Prestigious and rare Euro metal, such as this gorgeous Borgward Isabella.


Hewn from gilt and chocolate



Some early 928s

A superb Lancia

Sporty LHD Visa, which looked new

And from more exotic places, a V12 Century

the future, back then

er,

Rollers and planes. There must be some kind of connection here

[Rumdoodle]

carinaman said:

Thanks for the photos. I am not sure about the Bristols. Interesting but....

I almost went looking for yellow cars on Autotrader.

That yellow Bristol was for sale while ago. It's a wonderfully slinky piece of design, but I have to say it is better suited to more subtle colours.

[Rumdoodle]

A poignant reminder of how a one proud British brand became a third rate, tarted up, outdated joke. But, enough about British Airways, look at that Vanden Plas!

[Rumdoodle]

It made a nice change from Bicester, and was well worth the trip