H1/2026 – Throwbacks,  Temptations and a Time out

There are many reasons for the missing updates this year. First and foremost was an unexpected change at work in January. My team was dissolved without prior notice. Org changes are normal in large companies – but the way communication is handled these days is bewildering.While some colleagues were impacted much worse than myself, my challenge was (is) more to figure out how to mentally deal with the situation. But not only the first working week of year was a bad start. The weekend that followed was bad as well.

Someone offered me MG spare parts about two hours further up north-east from Bonn. These would not fit into the Mini or the Morgan. The Saab was still mostly disassembled in my garage. And my wife needed her car. Maggie was the logical choice. But for the first time in years she had been sitting untouched in the garage for more than 10 weeks. In 2025 I only covered a bit more than 2000km in her – much less compared to the years before. And along with this – I also spend much less time servicing the car. The punishment for this followed shortly after. While she did start without fuss and ran fine for about an hour, my tour was abruptly stopped by a sudden and unexpected misfire on the Autobahn. The was on the A1 – close to the exit for Burscheid – but the engine would not start anymore.

There was not much I could do on the side lane off the Autobahn on a rainy day. Oil and coolant looked OK – but I suspected a blown head-gasket. It took three hours in the rain until the car was finally on the back of an ADAC tow-truck. But they could not bring me back to Bonn – instead I had to get a rental car. This process plus the drive back home another five hours.gg

My own “engine” however was not doing well. Initially, I thought I just caught a cold. But after five days it became much worse. I decided to do a Covid test. Nowadays these also test for the flu at the same time. And despite vaccination I was down with the flu for another two weeks. This was worse than the COVID infection a few years back. Didn’t see the garage for three weeks. A work related trip to Dubai followed – fortunately I came back one day before some “bright minds” started a real mess.

In March I slowly started finishing off overdue tasks. But I did not take as many pictures as usual and did not feel like investing time to update the blog. The most important job was to get the Saab up and running again. The entire front was cleaned, rust removed, painted and many parts and bolts replaced. And after two weekend sessions – the Saab was back on the road

March and April started with temptations. It started with me picking up a Rover V8 engine. This engine has done ~480k kilometers and needs an overhaul. The thought of doing a V8 conversion with Mildred crossed my mind. But after thoroughly evaluating the required changes – I buried the idea. Well, at least for Mildred…But the next temptation did not wait long:

Over the last year I somehow fell in love with early TVRs. And then I found a TVR Grantura 1800S to be auctioned in Buxton/UK. Produced in 1965/1966 – these had a 18GB engine from the MGB. This particular one had a HRG crossflow cylinder head. It is not entirely clear how many of the 128 produced Grantura 1800S had this setup. The few cars I saw before had the standard MGB cylinderhead. While not in the best state, I felt confident that this would have been a restoration project I could do.

And it also offered a perfect opportunity for a UK round trip with my son and his Saab 900. A short update about this trip might follow shortly in another post.

The work on Mildred’s body-shell was supposed to be done this summer. But all work on this also stalled again. The work stopped while fitting the front wings. Once this is done the Frontline valance also needs to be fitted. Quite a few smaller holes also need to be welded up. The biggest job remaining are both rear wings and parts of the wheel arches that still need to be replaced. The owner of the shop that is doing the work and I had a chat about the lack of progress last week. Completion is now targeted for October/November. We will see – it would be five year after I bought the replacement shell.