:: Diary - January 2022 ::

:: Saturday, 1 January, 2022 ::

Well, dear readers, what a year last year has been… unforgettable because of the unexpected passing of my son in May - a life-changing experience for the rest of our family, and for hundreds of his friends and colleagues.

However, life for the rest of us must go on, and on a happier note, I got married again, one of my grandsons started school, and the younger one started walking!

Back to cars, though, and we have to say that not a lot has happened, largely due to the pandemic and the lack of car shows. We have had a couple of runs out though, when restrictions weren’t so bad, just to remind us what we’re missing.

And so we start a New Year. As regular readers will know, I have a garage at the house, and I rent half a barn at a farm near here. That means that the Porsche and TVR are garaged, while the poor old Chevrolet has to sit outside, which isn’t doing it any good at all. It leaks in water, which is soaking the inside, and the outside paintwork is now pretty crap.

The farm has just been sold (well the sale is just going through) and the new owner wants to charge a bit more. The guy who rents the other half of my barn has moved out, so I have been offered the whole barn if I want it, at a price that’s not too silly. I’ll be able to get the Chevy in there, so that should keep it dry at least. It just fits through the door though, and has to go in straight (not at an angle like the two sports cars), so it only just fits alongside whatever other car is already there.

Let’s look forward to a few more events this year!

The lesson is that life is all too short, so no more “maybe one day”… the time is now.

:: Thursday, 13 January, 2022 ::

The sale of the farm hasn't gone through yet - the lawyers keep asking "one more question" as they do, so we are no past the proposed moving date.

I spoke to the new and existing owners over the holidays, and asked if I could stick the Chevy in there already - the windscreen seal is leaking again so it's getting wet inside (just carpets and headlining luckily) and the rain, wind and frost isn't doing the California paint job any good! I've had to wait for a day when the roads aren't wet, and when there's no salt on them either. This week has been a lot better so I decide to take it along this morning.

Thing is, it only just fits through the door, and you can't really put it in at an angle...

So it ends up more or less in the centre of the garage, where you can't get the other car in or out past it. In fact, you can't get between the two cars at all - I tried that last time, a few years ago.

So I've been out and bought some of them Go-Jak things - you put them under each wheel, pump the pedal so it lifts the car, then you can move it around like it's on castors (that's because it IS on castors!)

However, there are castors and there are castors. I bought those cheaper tyre dolly things last time, the ones where you have to jack each wheel onto the dolly, but I couldn't move the car once it was lifted. Those castors have an axle bush but no bearings, so the weight of the car (especially this thing) just makes them seize up.

So first I lift the car onto the wheel jacks...

These new ones have bigger, harder wheels, and ball bearings... so it's pretty easy to push it over to one side of the garage.

That lets me get the TVR back in place as before.

Then I position the Chevy far enough from the wall so that I can open all the doors (to let it dry out) and disconnect the battery because the interior light won't go off. There's probably a switch somewhere but I couldn't find it. Connect up a trickle charger and take the jacks out so that they don't distort the tyres, and it's sorted!

Now I can plan tidying up the paintwork (as best as I can without a full respray yet). I also need to figure out why the engine was running like a tractor on the way here - dropped plug lead possibly or condensation in the distributor? Oh and the rear drivers side brake is grabbing so that needs to be taken apart and cleaned up. Oh and I'll have to try to seal that windscreen, hopefully without taking it out.

That's enough for starters!