I haven't updated the web site for a week. I know it's been at least a week, because the emails asking "are you still alive?" have started coming in.
Anyway, it's TVR Car Club day! It nearly wasn't though, the useless inconsiderate ungrateful incompetents at our usual hotel decided, 2 months ago, to
take a booking for a family barbecue from another group of car people, on the same day. Did they think "Oh hang on, the TVR Club are due here that day,
we'd better check with them"? No.
Did they think "OK we'll take the booking, but better tell the TVR Club the place won't be available that Sunday"? No.
Did they mention it to our organiser at the TVR Club meeting there at the start of May? No. Or the meeting at the start of June? No.
So when did they decide to tell us? Well, the answer is, that they didn't. What they did, was tell the other lot they needed a minimum of 30 to make the
day "viable". What that means, in business terms is "If you don't have at least 30 people we'll have to cancel your booking because we can probably make
more money from the TVR mugs". It also means "if we don't tell the TVR people, they might still turn up anyway, just in time to pay more money to clear
up the leftovers".
This unfortunately overlooks the probability that some of the TVR people might be members of the same forum that is organising the other event, so could
be aware of it all along.
Or, of course, it could simply mean "we are too fucking clueless to care whether the TVR Club come here or not" - an impression of their long-term
business strategy which is certainly borne out by their attitude and service when we are there.
Either way, it's not nice.
I could decide to launch into a diatribe recounting their various incompetencies and failures, but I am better than that, I won't lower myself to their
level. No, I will take a more enlightened and philosophical view. Fuck 'em.
In any case, any dilemma this month is resolved by the fact that I wasn't going to be there today anyway - the Sporting Bears are attending a car show
in the borders (the English Borders, not the Scottish one) and I have booked the Porsche in for that. Six of us meet up for the drive down, including
two TVRs (Dave and Ron). It's a cracking sunny day, and we get the tent set up and the cars are arranged (eventually, following about 25 committees and
steering groups).
As well as the "charity collection" side of the Sporting Bears work, I like car shows, just for a chance to blether to people who are interested in
whatever car I have taken. Today, I end up talking to a man who has a 911 the same as mine, except a year older, and red, not white. He's had it for 18
years, and his has a couple of wee paint blisters in the same places as mine, and has a pretty high mileage (about 10,000 less than mine). Then he tells
me that he's recently turned down an offer for it, and it's a LOT more than I paid for mine.
This knocks me back a bit, and I'm starting to worry again that I've been conned, and bought a pig in a poke - until he tells me that he sees the sticker
in the window for the place I bought it from - and it so happens that they have serviced and repaired his 911 since he got it - and he says they are great,
good service, couldn't be better, etc.
By the time I get home, I've done 2,100 miles since I got it (4 months ago) and it has been just brilliant.
While I am browsing the car show (well, waiting for the queue at the donut van to go down a bit) I find a stall selling chrome headlamp rings that will
fit the TVR - since mine are starting to corrode, I buy a pair!
Also, another TVR (not one of our group) overheats on the way out, and "Dave and Andrew's TVR Rescue and Recovery Service" springs into action. Another
Sporting Bear gets there first though, and diagnoses a faulty "otter switch" (the wee thermostatic switch in the cooling system, that controls the radiator
fans) and short-circuits it with a bit of wire. Fans on, job done. All that's left for us to do is apply a bit of insulating tape to hold it in place, and
offer advice on just leaving the fans on until he gets home.
In other news (just by way of an update) I've also been progressing my renewed complaint about the state of the Lexus repair. I had to take it to the
Lexus approved repairer (not the RBS plonkers) for another opinion and, if they thought work was needed, to get a quote. That quote has been passed on
to the insurance company. They also asked for a copy of my bill for the two tyres and wheel alignment. All of that has been approved, they are paying for
the tyres and a further paint repair, I just need to get it booked in.
I spend the whole of the morning washing 3 cars, but only the TVR gets dried off properly. It's still my baby!
Then I decide to have a wee run out, just because I can. The car is brilliant, as always, but reminds me that the roads around here are in terrible
condition. I think I need to buy a moon buggy or something. On the way back, I pass Mike's house, and he's out playing in his garage so I stop to see
if he remembers me. He does! After much chat about, well, everything, he promises that he's coming to the next TVR meeting in a fortnight.
When I get home, I decide to fit the headlight rings I bought at the start of the month, at the car show.
A single screw holds it on underneath - then it just unclips (carefully without scratching the paint)!
Here's an old and new side by side. YOu can see the original screw hole in the new one. You can't get a screw upwards into that on the TVR, so you
have to fit a little "tang" to convert it so that the screw goes horizontally.
Here's the little "tang" from behind - it's just a wee strip of metal with 2 holes, pop-riveted through that screw hole.
So the first step is to drill out the pop rivet and get the tang off the old one - that doesn't take long. Then transfer it to the new one and
pop-rivet it on - that doesn't take long either. What happens, though, is that the chrome lifts slightly around the edge of the rivet hole, and when
I try to brush it aside, it peels off in great long strips.
In other words, it's shite.
I also find, when I try to persevere with fitting them, even temporarily, that they don't even fit properly.
I decide to clean up the old ones instead, which is easier when they are off the car, but they are still not great. I also manage to
break the tang while I am replacing it - metal fatigue and rust are not a great combination.
Mission aborted. I order two new ones.
The Postman Always (brings) Rings Twice.
Yes, my headlight rings arrived today. Before I can open the parcel, Adrian arrives for a wee visit. I'm still a bit dubious about the quality (of the
headlamps, not Adrian) but they'll do.
After Adrian leaves, I decide to have a go at fitting these things.
First job is to make new "tangs". I get a stainless steel hose clip and straighten it out, and clamp it to a bit of wood, and drill 4 holes in it. Then
I cut the tangs out of the clip.
So that leaves me with two of these. Tip - if you're going to do this, cut them much closer to the hole shown, otherwise the tail will scratch the
headlight recess when you put it on. I modified these after, once I discovered that…
Then pop-rivet it into the hole in the chrome ring.
Then it's just a matter of clipping the ring on the top of the headlamp, pushing the bottom in and getting a screw through that wee tang. Sounds a lot
easier than it is - it's dead fiddly!
So with that mission accomplished, I tidy up a couple of other wee bits, then move on to the Porsche, to check that the heater is working (it doesn't
feel like it does, but the heaters in rear-engined air-cooled cars seldom do). All the bits and blowers seem to be working though…
Here's an old and new side by side. YOu can see the original screw hole in the new one. You can't get a screw upwards into that on the TVR, so you
have to fit a little "tang" to convert it so that the screw goes horizontally.
Here's the little "tang" from behind - it's just a wee strip of metal with 2 holes, pop-riveted through that screw hole.
