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.

The Windy 500

Having heard 'Spooky' talking about his trip from Weymouth to Africa in a double decker bus, I knew that I had to be involved in his next project. After ruling out a trip from the Middle East back to Weymouth in tuk tuks, it was decided that we would travel across Europe in teams along some of the best driving roads in the world. And to make it interesting we would do it in cars that cost no more than £500. After a brief conversation the name of the event was decided upon - the Windy 500.