Getting away from it all
Dixon asked ‘Can you do a report on the Triumph?’ I assumed he had seen my heroic (OK, simple) heater hose replacement on social media – until he added: ‘I like those pictures of it with Jules’s house.’ I got the impression he would have liked the pictures even more if the Triumph hadn’t been in them. Thanks. None taken.
He does have a point, though. Jules is Julian Balme, once firebrand punk record sleeve designer, now more likely to be putting together something for prestige motoring book publisher Palawan; also a classic (especially Yank Tank) aficionado, and owner of the best domestic garaging I know of in London. After all, if you can comfortably get a Gasser drag racer, ’60s Ford Galaxie and Lincoln Zephyr into it, just imagine how many normal cars would fit. And all underneath a super-stylish four-bedroom house in Streatham with gated access to the rear and plentiful parking.
Sounds like a sale pitch? I suppose it is, really, because having been the person who persuaded me to stay in London when I was plotting an escape over 20 years ago, now Jules ‘hypocrite’ Balme is making his own bid for freedom (or Devon, as it is also known). Sure, those cars will fit right in on the single-track roads of the South Hams. You can find his house on the market at knightfrank.co.uk; it’s the one on Hillside Road, Streatham, SW2.
London really is becoming a bit of a lonely place for old car fans as the exodus continues, but those that are hanging around certainly make the best of it. I am now making a conscious effort to seek out others and take part in a few informal meets. More of which anon.
The hose? Really? You want to know? Well, decades ago I bypassed the àboutdesouffle heater on the Triumph due to a leaking valve. That hose recently sprung a leak behind the Jubilee clip. Happily, it sprayed water everywhere, so the leak was easy to trace and, because it was accessible and I had a few metres of spare hose, it was fixed in a trice. Hmm, maybe Dixon was right. Let me tell you about Jules’s house…