Driving into London city on a Friday evening was not as bad as expected. There was hardly any traffic. Google maps took me across London Tower Bridge and I even got some thumbs up from pedestrians crossing the bridge. After picking up my son we first had to check on his car “Saabeth” – a 1988 Saab 900 Turbo S. During the last inspection a crack in the brake caliper bracket was found. The owner of HFT garage in Windeck was so kind to send me a “new” used one. Replacement was done in a few minutes. The estimate from the garage for this easy repair was 200GBP – without the part. I feel this is would have been a rip off.
After this we took the M4 out of London and headed to the Bicester Heritage Center to check out a Historic car auction. My son and I both liked a red 3-door Range Rover series 1 – but it was in mint condition and the estimates were far above 60k GBP. It was interesting to see an auction – but I none of the cars looked like a bargain.
On Sunday we arrived a bit after 10am in Gaydon just to find we were almost the last to show up. It is difficult to estimate the exact number of MGBs that showed up – but I would guess at least 400 to 500 cars. I wanted to use the opportunity to pick a color I like the best for Molly – the 1970 shell I have. David Russell Wilks in his Midnight Blue Equippe Racing MGB is one of my favorites. He also told me the color code of his car BU45 from the 1965 BMC paint selection.
Sandy Beige, Old English White and various grey tones were also present. What I did not spot is a Frontline car. If there was one, then I missed it. What I did not miss out on is shoping for spare parts. Chase MG had a long table and initially I just want to look and ask for a dash rail bar (Hi Andreas😉) as well as sew-on stickers.
Instead I found a few other things – more on this in a later post. The trip back via narrow backroads to London was nothing less but spectacular. These roads are what the MGB is made for and we had loads of fun. At a pub we spotted along the way met a very nice couple in a Triumph TR6. After a long chat we continued our way and had to switch back to the M4 to make up the time.
At a stop at the Oxford Services exit we ran into a 1935 Talbot 75. The driver – a nice lady started to start the car which resulted in smoke coming out of the air filter. When I saw her pouring water onto it, I could not hold back and offered help.
The K&N filter mounted to the Zenith carburettor is obviously not original and not the problem – my guess was that the carb was either flooded or has a vapor lock problem. It was also leaking quite a bit. She told us that she drove with 70mph all the way from Bath and had no issues. She was convinced that after the engine cool downed it would start again. A pragmatic view 😊
After dropping off my son in London I got stuck in traffic on the way out towards Didcot. Looking back there was maybe the first indication that something is wrong with Maggie’s engine. Normally she holds a steady oil pressure at just over 40 lb/in2 per squ – around 60 lb/in2 under load. In all this stop and go the idle pressure dropped to 20lb/in2 two or three times. When accelerating it went back to normal and I had no issues getting to my hotel.
On Monday morning Maggie started on the first key turn as usual and the oil pressure was fine. I picked up quite a few parts I ordered from Frontline and Rimmerbros in Steventon – a 6 min drive from the hotel in Didcot. After seeing Tim Feena’s new inlet manifold for fuel injected V8s I must say it is a piece of art. The new Frontline V8 cars will be really something to look out for. A few of their cars are in gunmetal grey and my second favorite choice for Molly.
Next planned stop was Heathrow transmission down in Chichester with the intention to check on a rear axle. But on the way I made up my mind and took a turn through the SouthDowns. Maggie performed flawless and after a tea break I made it to Folkestone. By coincidence a very special car was in the queue ahead of me – a grey Berlinette MGB registered in Belgium. You certianly don’t see these often out in the wild.
Back on the mainland it was raining heavily which made the 4 hours trip back home a bit of a pain – especially because the speed limit makes it very monotonous. I had two stops along the way and all was good. But just before crossing the border to Germany, right where you can drive 130km/h I noticed that the car did not accelerate as usual. Maybe I should have stopped right away but continued in the pouring rain with very low revs in 5th gear for another 10km to the fuel station at the A4 in Aachen.
It is the second time in four years that Maggie ends up on a trailer driving home this exact way. We arrived late I the night and I had to go on business trip right away the next day – therefore I have no idea what the problem or damage might be yet… Maybe it is just the valve clearance – first in my check list tomorrow followed by a compression test…..
Fixing C6622 