LIVING WITH CLASSICS
OWNED SINCE August 2019 // MILEAGE SINCE LAST REPORT 2632 // TOTAL MILEAGE 126,088 // LATEST COSTS Nil
1980 TRIUMPH TR7
For a long time, lockdown for the TR7 was no different than it was in February, January or even earlier than that. My friend Greg and I had enjoyed an outing to Bicester Heritage for a Sunday Scramble in October, the Triumph was put in the garage afterwards and that’s where it stayed. Promises to use it over winter were forgotten – I hadn’t even bothered to turn the engine over every couple of weeks or roll it forwards and backwards to prevent the wheels from going square.
I know – bad, right?
In my defence, I have an excuse – expecting your first child in August does rather alter your priorities. I think the phrase is ‘nesting’, a phenomenon that pregnant women go through, preparing the house for the impending arrival.
Expect it seem to have hit me instead as spring and early summer has been spent thoroughly sorting out the house and the garden – but not the TR7.
However, Nick’s idea to get together with our classics was the spark I needed to finally revive my sports car from its unintended slumber. I’ll be discussing just how I got LBY back into weekly action again in an upcoming Our Classics, but it’s fair to say that there are still things to sort – including the MoT. It expired in April, so I’m taking advantage of the six-month extension simply because I want Robsport, the Hertfordshire-based specialist that I trust, to take care of it. For now at least I’m just enjoying driving it again. The plan is to have the car government-approved for another year of motoring before I become a dad.
The short drive to Burghley House, windows down and Webasto roof thrown back, was especially good fun. It was also fab to see my colleagues (my friends) for the first time in months, even if their tales of what they’d been up to with their cars during lockdown were far more interesting than mine!
1972 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE
Having survived all that winter threw at it, sitting on the driveway beneath a cover that at times threatened to fly away in the high winds, it was finally time for HAY 583L to return to the road.
I gave the battery a steady charge and treated the points to a liberal spray of WD40 and the 1200cc engine burst into life.
A gentle, 20-mile run assured me that all was well and, with the window wound down, relived the innate pleasure of driving the Brilliant Orange machine.
A longer journey would really have benefitted both car and driver, though, so the need to visit Aylsham in Norfolk gave ‘Harry’ a fine 180-mile round trip of the kind that the Beetle is ideal for. My familiar journey east via the A47, passing close to Wisbech and King’s Lynn, went well but the real treat began when turning right from the A149 roundabout on to the B1145, north-east of King’s Lynn.
It’s one of my favourite rural routes – a winding scenic road through gently undulating farmland, with well-maintained tree-lined sections and historic villages.
After collecting a lump of railway-related cast iron (don’t ask) at Aylsham, the journey continued north via Melton Constable and Fakenham to enable me to call at Doktor Dub’s workshop near Wells.
A piece of silver trim fell off the passenger side front panel on the way home from a Norfolk visit late last year and I felt sure that there would be one somewhere on the good Doktor’s shelves – and I was right!
Now all I have to do is to work out how to fix the replacement bit of trim to the panel. While I’m at it, I will get round to fitting the set of new hub caps that I bought during lockdown.
’It’s one of my favourite routes – a winding scenic road through gently undualting farmland’