Documentary

I have spent the last few weeks trying to find a way of having a documentary made of the whole rally in order to increase the awareness of and funds for Julia's House. I have approached several production companies who are very enthusiastic about the project, however they have said that without a big name celebrity then they would be unable to take on the expense of filming as they would be unlikely to sell the programme to a TV channel. I have contacted numerous celebrity agents however as the rally is 18 months away they are unable to tell what their clients will be doing this far in advance. I have even contacted the major TV channels who, whilst being interested, have said that they too would like to see a celeb involved. What happened to reality TV aye? So now I need to find someone well known enough to satisfy the TV channels, as well as being up for a challenge and willing to spend 3 weeks in a car worth £500. Anyone know of such a person?!?

Eddie Murphy perhaps?

New Year's Visit

Having withdrawal symptoms from not seeing the old chap over the festive period, Paul and I decided to head over to SMS motors and see how the Mustard Bomber was doing. On our arrival we saw that work on the car was in full flow. Lucky Number 7 was up on the ramp and the sills were being repaired. I was interested to see a number of 'inspection holes' at the bottom of the car. "How useful" I thought; these could be used for a number of applications ranging from foot steps to external shelving units, however it would appear that this is where the rust has been cut away ready for a fresh steel panel to be welded into place. I'm sure that this is probably the correct way of doing things although you do need to consider the benefit of all that extra storage space.

The guys at Southern Motor Services are doing a cracking job and I'm told that the MOT is on the horizon.

Our car has been SORNed until the MOT but when that is done we'll be taking Lucky No. 7 out on a few road trips in a bid to build up to th emain event slowly.

With the New Year we need to renew our efforts and start to approach perspective sponsors as well as looking to get the car sign written or wrapped with the sponsors logos.

Rust - the Arch Enemy

The guys at Southern Motor Services have been overseeing the work after their apprentice was given the task of rebuilding the rear wheel arch. When we bought 'Lucky No. 7' aka 'The Mustard Bomber', someone at some stage had repaired the large hole with fibreglass. SMS's star apprentice has been working on the car and has grown quite attached to it by all accounts and doesn't even like to see the Old Chap left outside the workshop at night just incase it gets wet and more rusty. A sterling job, well done that man.

Julia's House

I spoke to the team at Julia's House today and in particular the lovely Lin Hudswell. We had a chat about the Windy 500 and about meeting up in the New Year to see exactly what good work they do with the children and their families.

Hopefully Lucky Number 7 aka the Mustard Bomber will be out of the garage and available for the trip having been lovingly restored to some of his former glory by Andy, Kenny and the team at Southern Motor Services.

Visit to the Garage

Paul and I set off to the garage this morning to get the car checked over prior to getting the MOT done. Bearing in mind that I had driven 150 miles back from London without a hitch, Paul drove less than 2 miles down the road when the exhaust fell off. And it didn't just fall off.

I was following the Triumph in my car when I started to see sparks on the road, I then saw a large lump of metal bouncing off the road and spiralling in slow motion towards me. I slammed on the brakes causing them to lock and skid towards a hedge. The Triumph's exhaust then rearly removed mine as it hit the underside of my poor little car.

Paul stopped and was able to remove the last bit of exhaust pipe and we managed to get the car to the garage where we left the 'Old Chap ' to be checked over.

A few hours later we received the news that our pride and joy was held together by rust and probably some sticky tape. I'm suprised we even made it back from London. To say there is a large amount of welding to get done would be an understatement and it will be a major operation to get the Dolomite back on the road.

It's going to be a good few weeks until the Trimph's back in working order but when he is He'll be as good as new.

Thankfully Andy and Kenny at Southern Motor Services have said that they are willing to support us and are going to help us out, so a massive thank you to them. Top blokes!

http://www.southernmotor-services.co.uk/index.cfm

Lucky No.7 parked outside SMS HQ, Crossways

Doli Wallies

This morning we left at 0800 hours and headed off to London to pick up our Triumph Dolomite 1300. What can I say this car is the quintessential English gent. From the walnut sports steering wheel to the thick brown shagpile carpet he is a suberb specimen. Yes the sills may be a little holey and he may be in need of some TLC, but ultimately you can't keep a good man down. The chap we bought the Triumph from gave us the original bill of sale which shows that in August 1980 the owner paid a handsome sum of £3802.37 for him. 'Him' being the aforementioned Dolomite in a nice sandglow colour with a chestnut trim. The original owner kept the Dolomite for 25 years and we are only the 4th owner. We have all of the MOT's and even the original handbook and service book.
The drive home was steady as I kept it to a sedate 50 mph and the weather was filthy however as we entered Dorset at one stage I'm sure I had a whopping 67mph out of him. Upon returning to a steady 50 the blood returned to my knucles and I was happy to plod along. I didn't want to overexert the old feller on his first run out afterall.

We arrived back in Dorset at 1630 having had a couple of stops along the way - all in all it has been a thoroughly good day. With our Team registered and the number awarded we have now become the 'Lucky No.7' Team.

The car

After a very short conversation, a colleague of mine decided that he too couldn't miss the opportunity of a lifetime and he became the second member of my 'Turner's To Be Confirmed' team. Paul then began to search for some vehicles with kudos which in Windy 500 terms means an old clapped out 'heap'. After some searching we decided upon the perfect vehicle; a 1980 1.3 Triumph Dolomite. From the pictures on ebay it looks like an absolute beaut and it is with great antisipation that we head up to Enfield tomorrow to pick up our chariot. If it makes the trip back from London then I am sure that it'll just chew up the 5500 miles of road along the 'Windy' route.