One for Mr. Chase!
Discussion
What a spectacular coincidence.
Graham (he of Hillman Hunter fag packet fame
) popped round yesterday in his 'new' 390SE, and a short while later Ste C with his blinging 
US-spec 280 arrived.
We ended up heading over to Graham's country pad, where he proceeded to show us the wheels that he got from Jim for his Tasmin.
They're only the bloody wheels off MY old car!!
[Storyteller mode]
Way back in the mists of time, when I had my Tasmin, one of our clients was Alloy Wheels International's plant at Cardiff. Twice a year we would have two engineers there for three or four days, overhauling their real-time x-ray machines that inspected all the wheels as they came out of the casting dies.
Before one visit, I cheekily rang up and asked if they could do a refurb on my weels if I brought them along. The production manager said yes, so I had the tyres removed and headed for Caerdydd (enough Ds, chaps?
).
Now the freshly cast wheels were degreased and sandblasted to give them a key for the paint, and the mchine that did this was a carousel unit with powerful jets that didn't stop. So in between blasting the wheels, they blasted the steel side of the unit and had actually worn several patches away, so when we got there it was out of commission.
They decided to send my wheels out to a small firm that was handling all the wheels for them during the downtime, but of course mine were rather badly pitted and the fine sandblast wouldn't clean them up. I guess the teaboy was involved somewhere, 'cos when the wheels reappeared two days later they looked like they'd been blasted with something normally reserved for the bottom of the QE2. They weren't pitted, they were cratered
Undeterred, the guys decided that several passes through the paint line would have them sorted, so we watched as several Rolls-Royce wheels went down the line, followed by a TVR wheel, then some Rover wheels, then a TVR wheel... two coats of primer (and curing in the oven) and three coats of metallic silver later, they still looked like the dark side of the moon. Oh well, can't do anything about it now.
I had the tyres refitted and put the wheels back on the car.
Originally, the Telcast wheels had the spokes and the trim groove filled in in black. I did the spokes with a paintbrush, but felt I wouldn't get the groove tidy enough.
'No problem', says a mate, 'I'm a dab hand at that sort of thing'.
Oh no he wasn't, but by the time I got back he'd ruined the job - rather than using black, we'd used the same fire engine red that the car was painted. Shortly after, I had the car resprayed Ferrari Rosso Pearl, so the effect was wasted anyway
Finally, one of the wheel centres was missing, so I cut a piece of alloy sheet to suit and worked out a way to get the TVR logo on, using T-shirt printing film! It took four attempts, but it worked and Graham confirms that one of the centres has a slightly suspect logo, so these are DEFINITELY my old wheels.
[/Jackanory]
So, Jim, I'm curious as to how you ended up with them, since I sold the car to a guy from Hampshire...
I've noticed that one of the Tasmin Challenge FHCs is** an uncannily similar colour to Rosso Pearl, so I wonder...
Ian
EDIT: ** Maybe that should read WAS... been trying to find some piccies but can't see it anywhere in the 2004 season races. Maybe it's been painted again...
>> Edited by wedg1e on Monday 30th May 22:58
Graham (he of Hillman Hunter fag packet fame
) popped round yesterday in his 'new' 390SE, and a short while later Ste C with his blinging US-spec 280 arrived. We ended up heading over to Graham's country pad, where he proceeded to show us the wheels that he got from Jim for his Tasmin.
They're only the bloody wheels off MY old car!! [Storyteller mode]
Way back in the mists of time, when I had my Tasmin, one of our clients was Alloy Wheels International's plant at Cardiff. Twice a year we would have two engineers there for three or four days, overhauling their real-time x-ray machines that inspected all the wheels as they came out of the casting dies.
Before one visit, I cheekily rang up and asked if they could do a refurb on my weels if I brought them along. The production manager said yes, so I had the tyres removed and headed for Caerdydd (enough Ds, chaps?
). Now the freshly cast wheels were degreased and sandblasted to give them a key for the paint, and the mchine that did this was a carousel unit with powerful jets that didn't stop. So in between blasting the wheels, they blasted the steel side of the unit and had actually worn several patches away, so when we got there it was out of commission.
They decided to send my wheels out to a small firm that was handling all the wheels for them during the downtime, but of course mine were rather badly pitted and the fine sandblast wouldn't clean them up. I guess the teaboy was involved somewhere, 'cos when the wheels reappeared two days later they looked like they'd been blasted with something normally reserved for the bottom of the QE2. They weren't pitted, they were cratered
Undeterred, the guys decided that several passes through the paint line would have them sorted, so we watched as several Rolls-Royce wheels went down the line, followed by a TVR wheel, then some Rover wheels, then a TVR wheel... two coats of primer (and curing in the oven) and three coats of metallic silver later, they still looked like the dark side of the moon. Oh well, can't do anything about it now.
I had the tyres refitted and put the wheels back on the car.
Originally, the Telcast wheels had the spokes and the trim groove filled in in black. I did the spokes with a paintbrush, but felt I wouldn't get the groove tidy enough.
'No problem', says a mate, 'I'm a dab hand at that sort of thing'.
Oh no he wasn't, but by the time I got back he'd ruined the job - rather than using black, we'd used the same fire engine red that the car was painted. Shortly after, I had the car resprayed Ferrari Rosso Pearl, so the effect was wasted anyway
Finally, one of the wheel centres was missing, so I cut a piece of alloy sheet to suit and worked out a way to get the TVR logo on, using T-shirt printing film! It took four attempts, but it worked and Graham confirms that one of the centres has a slightly suspect logo, so these are DEFINITELY my old wheels.
[/Jackanory]
So, Jim, I'm curious as to how you ended up with them, since I sold the car to a guy from Hampshire...
I've noticed that one of the Tasmin Challenge FHCs is** an uncannily similar colour to Rosso Pearl, so I wonder...
Ian
EDIT: ** Maybe that should read WAS... been trying to find some piccies but can't see it anywhere in the 2004 season races. Maybe it's been painted again...
>> Edited by wedg1e on Monday 30th May 22:58
Ahh, yes the 14 inch wheels. Well It took some persuading to get the seller to put them on a pallet. (at great expense) It took a while, and I sold the 280 before the wheels arrived. I was going to use them as winter wheels on the 350i, but when I put them on, I found the car wouldn't move, the rear wheels kept spining. -Turns out the P.O. had installed uprated granada brakes, and they are just the right size to stop the wheels going around.
The seller has these things for sale too:
www.pistonheads.com/ads/otherAds.asp?i=40030
So maybe he can shed some light on your old car - maybe its a race winner ?
-Jim
The seller has these things for sale too:
www.pistonheads.com/ads/otherAds.asp?i=40030
So maybe he can shed some light on your old car - maybe its a race winner ?
-Jim
Gassing Station | Wedges | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff