Índex per July 2020 a Practical Classics

Car makers have been hit hard by 2020’s worldwide pandemic, with UK sales of new models crashing to the lowest level since 1946. Just 4321 new cars were registered in April – down 98.7 per cent on the same time last year – with private buyers making up just 871 of those sales. Many will return to the showrooms, but in what numbers? With major increases in employees working from home and the likelihood of further financial instability for some years to come, there will no doubt be a weakening fixation on getting hold of the shiniest, swankiest new models as people prioritise grocery bills and mortgage payments. ‘Maybe now is the time to rethink our car habits’ While this is tough for the new car industry, maybe now is…

Despite the significant crash in new car sales during lockdown, classic dealers and auction houses are continuing to see good sale rates. H&H’s April 29 sale saw a 70 per cent sale rate (See Marketplace, p60) and North Yorkshire dealer The Classic and Sports Car Centre has reported a sales record of over £2m in stock since lockdown started. Founder Nick Szkiler puts the success down to the firms quick adoption of ‘walkaround films’ of the cars on offer. He says: ‘Videos on a car can go out around the world.’ Silverstone Auctions’s May live auction catalogue also featured video content for its lots, alongside images, while ‘The Market’ online classic car auction offers video reviews of many of the cars for sale on their platform. Manager of Bradley James…

G-Wagen Guide £13.99 ISBN 978-1-787115-14-9 If you liked our guide to the G-Wagen last month, go a step further with this handy buyer’s companion. veloce.co.uk Take Risk! £19.99 ISBN 978-1-910505-51-9 Richard Noble shares behind-the-scenes insights into his amazing projects and explains the immense difficulties in bringing them to fruition, in a celebration of the people who made these projects possible. evropublishing.com VW T4 Essential Buyer’s Guide £13.99 ISBN 978-1-787114-38-8 Benefit from the authors years of Volkswagen Transporter ownership and experience, learn how to spot a bad example quickly, and how to assess a promising one like a professional. veloce.co.uk…

Virtual classic car meets have sprung up all over the place lately, but they’re usually organised at short notice and often they’re run as one-offs rather than regular fixtures. As a result, because of our lead times, we can’t tell you about them all. But keep an eye on your favourite club pages and check these out as well. The following are either regular or may run this summer having run successfully earlier in the season. The Practical Classics Classic Model Car Show lasts for the whole summer and is open to all; enter, and see the entries so far, at practicalclassics.co.uk/ models. Hants-based Crotch Cooler Classic meets online, on the first Sunday of each month (facebook. com/crotchcooler). Coffee at the Café in Cheshire has an ongoing online meet at…

Stag owner’s best present ever! I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the last two issues. After the anniversary issue and lockdown, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. I needn’t have worried, clearly. You have all pulled out the stops again and somehow overcome the challenges of ‘home working’, pulling another belter out of the hat! I’ve been buying PC for about 25 years – irregularly at first and then every issue as the rival magazines became more and more remote from the oily bits. Today, age and arthritis mean that I rarely do the heavy work myself. I’ve been forced by the passage of time to stop hauling gearboxes out and nowadays, the biggest job is changing the brake pads or a little light wiring. And…

Wish I still had mine! Martin Chapman There’s a legendary story in my family about my uncle and his Cortina estate. The gearbox failed and the only gear he could get was reverse, so he reversed the car ten miles home… in the rain. Ben Andrews I had a Crusader. The roughest, most asthmatic engine ever and truly awful roadholding. Even after solid rear bushes, mine was still appalling. Nice gearchange and Ghia trim. Adrian Wagstaff My Cortina 1.6 Crusader once broke down on a wet day in Holland. The coil pack connected to the distributor cap had a massive crack in it. A plastic bag, gaffer tape and 10 minutes fettling got us to Birmingham and it ran perfectly after that. Rust eventually got it and I remember crying…

The perfect Escort for an Essex fireman 1989 Ford Escort Cabriolet Richard Knights, Colchester, Essex I’ve been in the fire service for 13 years and am now part of the team at Colchester Fire Station. It has been great to commute to work in the Escort each day. This is my first classic car, having wanted an Escort Cabriolet since I was a teenager. It happened after a visit to my mate Paul, who owns an XR3i and a Capri. I got the classic car bug, so went in search of an unmodified example – not so easy these days! This is a special edition ‘Tennis’ – one of 500 cars built to celebrate Boris Becker’s Wimbledon win. This one has a huge file of paperwork, with all previous sales…

SNG Barratt Ordinarily the in-house 3D printers at classic Jaguar specialist SNG Barratt are busy creating new period Jaguar products for customers, but in this time of national crisis, they are using their expertise to produce face mask components for NHS workers. Spearheaded by 3D Crowd UK, they are working alongside over 6000 companies and hobbyists as part of a nationwide effort to reduce the national shortage of critical PPE needed by the NHS. You can donate now to the charity project by going to 3dcrowd. uk. Newton Commercial The well-known manufacturer of classic car interiors has given over part of its business to East Suffolk PPE, who manufacturer masks for frontline services. Alongside continuing trim work the company is now producing face shields, scrubs and masks to distribute around…

The other really special car is an ’84 360GLT Group A racing car, currently being restored by Gerard and his son for historic motorsport. In 1984, backed by Volvo, the car set a number of distance records over a non-stop 24 hour period at Surfers Paradise raceway in Queensland. It circuit raced successfully in 1985 before being converted to Rally specification in 1986, its success peaking in 1988, when it won the 2.0L Class of the Australian Rally Championship. ‘When this car came up for sale I just couldn’t say no to it,’ he says. It’s now going to be a father son project to build and maybe race.…

Last month I mentioned a book by one V A W Hillier – Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology. It has been through a number of editions since the first in 1966, nowadays taken over by Alma Hillier – a daughter, perhaps? – and thanks to PC reader, Geoff Mason, I now know that the initials stand for Victor Albert Walter. A better guide to how a car works I have yet to discover, and the later of the two versions I possess (1991’s fourth edition) even explains the mechanics of four-wheel steering as well as air conditioning, ABS, aerodynamics and emission controls. It’s both useful and fascinating for anyone with a hands-on interest in cars. Were I the prime minister, I would attempt to make it compulsory reading before taking…

No motorsport meeting in the UK has a more diverse entry of mismatched machinery than the Pomeroy Trophy at Silverstone. This event, originally devised by Harry Bowler of the Vintage Sports-Car Club in 1949, aimed to discover through various tests the ‘perfect touring car’ according to a formula laid down by Laurence Pomeroy Junior, former technical editor of The Motor . That formula is quite intricate and includes such vital facts as ‘Circuit speed is proportional to the sixth root of the bhp per square foot of frontal area’. Nowadays the ‘Pom’ is based on five tests, their results adjusted to the formula’s handicapping factors as applied to each car. Which means that a pre-war Frazer Nash could beat a modern Aston Martin, and an Austin Seven or a Citroën…

In similar fashion to other motoring icons like the Mini and Beetle, the days of the £500 Renault 4 are largely gone, but where prices for excellent examples of other classic people’s cars have rocketed, you can still buy an MOTd Renault 4 for a fairly reasonable sum. They also remain one of the cheapest classics to run, with parts still plentiful (for later models) and affordable. It’s unlikely you’ll find many Renault 4s up for grabs at auction or at classic car dealers so it’ll pay to join one of the clubs and get to know fellow enthusiasts on the numerous forums. What’s in little doubt is the fact that values will only go one way. They may not be worth as much as other similar motoring landmark cars…

BODYWORK Inspect the bottom six inches around the entire vehicle for rust. Starting underneath, common rot spots include the chassis rails, both sides of the sills, the outriggers and larger jacking points. Feel around the front wheelarches and look inside them for corrosion. Open the doors and look for rotten metal on top of the arch and up to the seatbelt mount. Check the underneath and top of the step into the cab. Move to the rear arches and have a thorough look around. Locate the battery and check acid hasn’t rotted the surrounding metalwork. Look at the rear arches from inside the van to see if they’re rotten. If you’re buying a van that has been recently resprayed, make sure the side panels are straight and the paint is…

James likes... THE JAPANESE ONE Although I admit they are very charming and absolutely brilliant off road, Range Rovers of any era do very little for me, I’m afraid - least of all this one. I’ve been in three P38s over the years and in two of the instances, the cars ‘failed to proceed’. It gets better looking as the years pass and they are very comfy, but were I to be in the market for a swanky classic off-roader like this, I’d take a top spec Toyota Land Cruiser. Matt G likes... THE STANDARD ONE Despite its well-documented flaws, the P38 is an impressive piece of kit that can still be bought for little money. If you want a luxury barge that you can cruise to work in, feel…

Let me start this month with a word of thanks. My mate Tom Morris has a habit of drawing my attention to certain details that I am, for some reason, unable to un-see. One such area of observation concerns number of Morris Minors you see with wonky bumpers. Once you clock it, you see it every single time you look at one. The problem isn’t due to careless drivers knocking into things all the time, more a huge temptation by restorers to assemble the new, shiny bumper elements away from the car before slotting them in place, under the illusion that the hefty bumper iron will keep things in line. Now I’m hyper aware of this, in fact, I’m paranoid that my Minor will display this issue. So, before lockdown,…

Matt Tomkins PROJECTS EDITOR Our resident workshop whizz, Matt has much expertise in Morris Minors and A-Series engines. John Simpson MASTER MECHANIC Big John has worked at the greasy end of the motor industry since leaving school. Theodore J Gillam TECHNICAL EXPERT Theo taught automotive engineering and makes amazing things in his shed. Ed Hughes WORKSHOP GENIUS Ed singlehandedly keeps a fleet of obscure classics on the road. He’s never owned a modern car. Kim Henson CLASSIC CAR GURU Kim’s been restoring classics for over four decades. BMC vehicles are his speciality. Nigel Clark DIY RESTORER Nigel’s driveway achievements rival those of professional mechanics. He’s our resident Triumph expert. TRIUMPH HERALD Won’t you just shut that door! Q Do you have any tips on how to get my Triumph Herald’s…

Fuses that blow are a nuisance, especially if they do so at random and knock out vital services such as headlights or windscreen wipers. The cause is often a short circuit – and these can occur intermittently as the car bumps along the road. Fuses that overheat without blowing cause less-abrupt failures, but are – if anything – more of a menace. A fuse is intended to be the narrowest and weakest link in a circuit. The fuse wire is designed to get hot and melt through, breaking the circuit and preventing other parts from overheating or damage being caused to other components. You can’t, however, make a fuse that will pass 10 amps without any restriction then blow at 11 amps. The rating is the maximum current that the…

Classics For Carers, a home-charity motor show, took place on June 7, fundraising for NHS carers. Get in touch with your driveway show pictures. Contour Autocraft’s Bruce Macleod shares his wealth of experience at contouracademy.com in a new series of bodywork video presentations. The National Transport Trust has announced that The Princess Royal is to become its new Royal Patron, as the Duke of Kent stands down after four decades. Rare Mazdas have been crushed after the owner fell behind on the rent, including two TWR 626 GC coupés and a pair of rare Mazda 626 4x4 hatchbacks. This lockdown barn find, an early 1947 Hooper-bodied Daimler, was used by royalty and is now to be restored. It was one of Daimler’s first post-war cars.…

BMM closure denial Following an appeal for donations, newly-appointed managing director of the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, Jeff Coope, has said the museum is ‘in no danger of closing.’ Mr Coope explained: ‘We are having to divert some of our reserves to fund overheads.’ Heritage Skills to return The Heritage Skills Academy (HSA) has confirmed its students will be back training on site from June 1. Apprentices had been training remotely in virtual classrooms since the lockdown began. Santa Pod under threat Santa Pod Raceway has said that it could close if it has to refund tickets bought before COVID-19 restrictions cancelled large gatherings. CEO, Keith Bartlett, urged customers with pre-booked tickets to choose to take a credit offer for future events, rather than opting to cancel outright. Dutch…

When the Cambridge-Oxford Owners’ Club (co-oc. org) ran its first virtual classic car rally four years ago, some thought it was mad. But now everybody is doing it, largely because they’ve been forced to, but partly because it allows clubs with a global membership to stay in touch with each other. The CO-OC’s John Lakey comments: ‘This year’s virtual rally was entitled Don’t Drive It Day, Selfie Isolation. We had some brilliantly inventive entries, some with a COVID-19 theme and many celebrating ownership of these great cars.’…

buying parts for this year’s projects, drooling over cars for sale that we can’t afford and revelling in the atmosphere. But all is not lost because we’ll be at Beaulieu for the International  Autojumble on September 5-6. Check out beaulieu. co.uk for more info. There’s nothing like the Beaulieu Autojumble. It’s an event that the PC team holds especially dear, as we always meet such a great bunch of enthusiasts there and because we are also event sponsors. We should have been there on May 16-17, busy…

Toilet tube to extend a corroded tail pipe on a Volvo 340. Howard Edgar When my dashboard lights died, I taped a ‘Percy the Penguin’ torch to the steering column of my Opel Manta. Anthony Knight One of our workshop controllers substituted the casing of a Bic Biro over an original slightly wobbly indicator stalk on a Citroën C15 van. Derek Hatton The door latch on my car failed, so the correct solution was obvious. Jon Edwards I made a new grille for a seat Ibiza out of a waste paper bin. Gav Miller I used a tent peg as an ignition key for my Sierra. Graeme Kennedy The throttle cable broke on a friend’s Autobianchina van, so we completed the journey with me positioned in the back, engine cover…

In My Tribe by 10,000 Maniacs from 1987 in my 1985 Panda 45CL. That’s also the original Fiat issue radio/cassette still fitted, by the way! Neil Vincent I remember my Mum having A Variety of Varney on cassette in her Marina. It was a lovely Pye Auto Reverse Cassette Player with two pod speakers. The main reason I remember the Reg Varney cassette is that Pye were making their cassettes in a Seventies shade of Avocado Green. Graham Ellershaw I went to pick up a Cinquecento. I packed age appropriate cassettes, only to find out when I got there that it had a CD player. It was a long nine-hour drive back. Colin Alexander Cassettes? I haven’t got modern things like that, but I must admit that my gramophone does…

No rally stage today and the Dutch speed limits are being adhered to. What can be said from the start is that it is an unsurprisingly loud car – with no soundproofing or creature comforts the engine makes itself felt via every sense. Next comes the precision. ‘Works’ settings mean that accelerator, clutch and brakes act without hesitation… you need to be thinking with the car as you drive it. The final part of the puzzle, the experience that you won’t forget, is how this big saloon shrinks around you as the speed increases. A 240 is a heavy car, and while not as big as more modern fare, it is no Escort. However, with all the extraneous weight stripped out, what you are left with is a very tidy…

‘Trying to make a loud noise very quietly really is an all-consuming task’ You might have become painfully aware of the proximity of one’s neighbours during lockdown, especially when the sun’s drawn people outside. They do say that good fences make good neighbours, but there are many tool catalogues and industrial processes that can furnish you with the means of being a very bad one. Fear of upsetting people has added a layer of jeopardy to many jobs over the past weeks, as I clamp the goggles, ear-defenders and respirator to my head, and let the National Grid agitate the angle-grinder’s windings. Trying to make a loud noise quietly is as all-consuming and doomed to failure as driving a car with a flat battery and not stalling at traffic lights.…

S AT JUN 20 Anglia Car Auctions’ classic sale, online video link, King’s Lynn, Norfolk. (01553 771881, angliacarauctions.co.uk ) WED JUN 24 H & H Classics, Automobilia, Bike & Car sale, online, Cheshire. (01925 210035, handh.co.uk) S AT JUN 27 Classic Car Auctions, online, Warks. (01926 640888, classiccarauctions.co.uk ) SAT JUL 4 Spicers Auctioneers, Sledmere House, near Driffield, Yorkshire. (01377 593593, spicersauctioneers.com ) THU JUL 9 Dorset Vintage & Classic Auctions, Henstridge Airfield, Henstridge, Somerset. (01963 363353, dvca.co.uk) TUE JUL 14 Barons Auctions’ Summer Classic, Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey. (023 8066 8413, barons-auctions.com) SAT JUL 18 Historics at Brooklands, Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge, Surrey. (01753 639170, historics.co.uk) WED JUL 22 H & H Classics, Automobilia, Bike & Car sale, online, Cheshire. (01925 210035, handh.co.uk)…

‘Six months ago, I bought my childhood dream car – a Volvo 850R. An odd choice maybe, but I’ve wanted one since I was 12, when my parents and I visited a Volvo showroom to buy a 440. The salesman gave me a Volvo magazine featuring the new 850R, which I’ve kept to this day. Under the boxy design, its five-pot turbocharged engine has 250bhp, and top speed is 155mph. After some less than subtle fast Fords, I rekindled my desire to buy one. After much searching I found this genuine UK car with rare manual ’box in the publicity colour of Bright Red – just like in my magazine. It has the characteristic Nineties turbo lag: put your foot down and nothing happens, but past 3000rpm it pulls savagely…

Citroën CX GTi Turbo Engine 2500cc/4-cyl/OHV Power 168bhp@5000rpm Gearbox 5-speed manual Work done Removal of worn parts, replacements ordered. Unlike the 2CV, which is fully mobile and on my driveway, work has ground to a halt on my big 2020 project – the derelict Citroën CX I rescued from a garage in Scotland more than a year ago. It’s 20 miles away so getting there at this point, mid lockdown, is not appropriate and I will need assistance to do the rest of what is a fairly complex job. As you may have read previously, it decided to drop both coolant and hydraulic fluid everywhere. I was however able to determine the water leak isn’t the pump, after all, despite a system that was quite clogged up. The steady trickle…

With lockdown in place, my Land Rover project is on hold for obvious reasons, meaning I’d begun to think about what I’d got at home to get on with. Bingo, sat right in front of me on the kitchen window sill were an Austin-Healey Sprite MkI speedometer and tachometer that I’d recently purchased for my race car restoration project. They were in need of some care and attention. I wasn’t looking to restore the gauges to ‘like new’ condition, but I was looking to maintain the character of the Sprite’s years and racing heritage while getting it mechanically sound and back on the track. It was time for the gauges to get sympathetically freshened up. Task one: gather a range of cleaning products. With a new seal set, solvents and…

Whether you’re replicating a tired and corroded standard exhaust system or, like us, upgrading it to something bigger, making your own pipes can be extremely satisfying. It can also save you a few quid or allow you to keep you classic sounding sweet where off-the-shelf replacement parts are unavailable. There are a large number of companies selling pipework, pre-formed bends, sleeved connectors and silencers in a variety of materials, grades and diameters. You could, of course, bend straight pipes yourself using a pipe bender and make your own connectors using pipe expanding mandrels, but in our experience it’s far easier to buy preformed sections. We’re working with two-inch high grade stainless steel pipework and a straight through performance silencer from piperexhausts.co.uk but the same principles apply no matter what your…

Prices are researched from several sources, including clubs, auctions, the trade and advertisements online and in print. Prices are reviewed and updated every issue. Our C/D rating is a basic guide to what you can expect to pay (£) for the best examples of a model, a concours car or something from a dealer. CONDITION 1 means well-presented cars that have no obvious faults. CONDITION 2 cars are capable of regular use. They have a current MoT certificate but will need work and/or original parts. CONDITION 3 cars usually need a full rebuild, but may be driveable and MoT’d. PLEASE NOTE You can’t value any car without seeing it – don’t buy blind. Russ says ‘Buying and selling should be fun, but sometimes, it’s a nightmare. Follow these three rules…

At the Practical Classics Restoration Show in March, the Renault Owners’ Club was set to have a rather special 1988 Renault 5 Monaco on its stand. The group’s Rob Slater relates: ‘The one-owner car has clocked up under 12,000 miles and when that owner had to stop driving due to Alzheimer’s we were offered it to recommission and sell. The car is rust-free as it’s always been garaged, but it’s needed some bodywork repairs, carried out by Staffordshire Smart Repairs at a generous discount; big thanks also to Lancaster Insurance for their financial assistance. The club is set to sell the Supercinq in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society. It’s available for viewing in Staffs, so if you’ve got a 5-sized space, drop Rob a line secretary@ renaultownersclub.com.…

IN THE NEWS Home computers were about to become reality for many, with the launch of the Commodore 64 computer in January. Over 12 years of  production, it managed to sell between 10 and 17 million units. The launch price for the 0.985 MHz, 64KB machine was the equivalent of over £1200 today. AT THE FLICKS ET: The Extra Terrestrial was the huge hit of the year, proving that not all aliens were out to destroy the human race . The titular character was designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who also did the xenomorph in Alien and the visitors from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and was apparently somewhat based on Albert Einstein’s face. IN THE CHARTS The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me was the opening number one single…

Regarding Spotted ( PC , June 2020), the Mitsubishi Colt Galant is in fact a Mitsubishi Colt Sigma. The Galant was a two- or four-door very similar to the Toyota Celica, while there was also a Galant GTO. I had a 1976 Galant 1600 GL Hardtop (2-door), only ever saw 12 of them. Phil Winning, Harwell I thought I’d point out that the Kubelwagen in Spotted ( PC , June 2020) in Thunder Bay Ontario, is actually a DKW Munga that was built by Auto-Union in Ingolstadt between 1956-68, which explains the four rings. I can’t imagine there will be that many of these out there. The VW Iltis (Type 183), which is a similar sized military 4x4, built from 1978-88, is regarded as one of the key driving forces…

Volvo 340 van A number of Volvos are owned by friends, including this completely original 340 van in concours condition. It fits in rather nicely and it is probably one of the rarest vehicles here. It’s a former Belgian post office van. Volvo 340 Turbo This 340 Turbo has an interesting plug hanging out of the front bumper – an option for the Swedish market, where antifreeze is not enough to stop a car freezing up. Hence the need for a mains heater to keep the engine warm overnight. Volvo 262 Coupé Bertone On the driveway sits an immaculate 262 Coupé. These odd looking beasts were built in conjunction with Italian coach builders Bertone. Just over 6000 were produced in period, and even fewer remain today. Volvo 460 Turbo Bodyguard…

However keen I’ve been to stay home, safe, alert, or whatever this week’s word is, being cooped up apart from nearby countryside walks and the weekly nerve-wracking supermarket sweep is starting to get to me. With pretty much only one classic car sale to distract me each month, I’ve been drawn in to buying stuff I don’t need from eBay instead. The thing is, when you have that need for deals, it demands to be fed regularly. ‘My purchase history of late has been odd, to say the least’ With little need to get dressed before lunchtime when working from home, I can justify the bargain designer dressing gown. The rest of my recent purchase history, less so. Deduce what you will from the immaculate Sixties fishing reel, ten sets…

1966 Rover P5 Coupé Price: £8750 Just two owners and 55,000 miles from new. Body sorted five years ago, recent brake and overdrive overhauls. Love the whitewalls. 1982 Opel Rekord Estate Price: £1800 Probably not the most exciting of cars at first sight, but this may be the sole surviving right-hand drive example in the UK. Sound, but needs paint. 1958 Austin A35 Price: £3450 Solid and straight two-door with no rust and a recent new interior. Only downside is the rattle-can paint job, which is reflected in the asking price.…

1 Chain free At TDC remove chain pulley. Lever from end of cam. Fix spocket in place with nut from cam cradle. 2 The naughty studs Remove the standard head bolts and then the nuts on the angled studs (pictured). Remove with a screwdriver. 3 The solution When that doesn’t work (it won’t), employ the bespoke stud extraction tool. I bought mine from Rimmers. 4 Inner and outer Once the outer collar is screwed onto the stud, the centre piece is inserted and screwed up to the top of the stud . 5 Tighten and pray Once the the centre piece is tightened hard against the outer collar then you have a chance. It might take a lot of time, some heat and some penetrating oil, but……

At the conclusion of my previous Staff Car Saga ( Practical Classics , May 2020), I had replaced the head gasket on my TR6 in an attempt to fix a coolant leak, and all seemed to be well. Or so I thought… but we’ll get to that. A planned trip to Race Retro at Stoneleigh Park at the end of February provided a perfect excuse to get a proper test run in. A 150-mile round trip would surely show up any further issues. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the case. Having arrived at Stoneleigh and let the engine cool down, I checked the rocker cover cap and found a decent coating of the dreaded ‘mayonnaise’ underneath it. Removing the radiator cap showed up a loss of coolant, too. Nothing…

There’s been an irritating oil leak from the sump plug ever since I bought my Spitfire MkIII project. Not enough to show a rapid fall on the dipstick, but a steady drip, drip into the tray on the garage floor. Sealing the plug with PTFE plumber’s tape, swapping sump plugs and replacing the fibre washer under the old brass plug didn’t help. I had already snapped up another sump for £20 from used Triumph parts emporium Spitfire Graveyard and there was a spare gasket sitting next to the sump in the Spitfire’s boot. My excuses to delay had run out. The sump’s fixing bolts unscrewed without protest after the oil drained out. The old sump had been glued in place with gasket and silicone, but some judicious levering with a…

I am glad that I started with the cylinderhead when I began the task of putting my Rover 2000 TC’s now-2200 engine back together, with all its new, or newly-machined, parts. It is mostly the same engine as it was before, with the same block, engine number, crankshaft, camshaft, valvegear and ancillaries, but it now has 2200 conrods (narrower small ends, to suit the new 2200 pistons) and a 2200 head casting that takes bigger exhaust valves. ‘A gentle nudge was enough to break off the top of valve guide number eight’ Gosnay’s Engineering in Romford overbored each of the four cylinders, balanced all the bottom-end components, lightly skimmed the head and fitted brand new valve guides. Gosnay’s deemed the crankshaft fit for service with no requirement for a regrind,…

It’s quite common for classics to have inadequate interior lighting. One or two 5W festoon bulbs is the norm and they’re not up to much, particularly if they are old and blackened. Replacing them with brighter LED bulbs would seem a simple solution, but it will help if you know a little about them before you buy. A dedicated firm such as bettercarlighting.co.uk can provide a high-quality solution to most needs off-the-shelf. LED festoon lamps come in various lengths – so measure your bulbs before ordering. If you’re feeling creative, however, there’s a number of online sources of cheaper and more varied offerings. Quality’s usually quite acceptable, although the rating in watts is sometimes exaggerated. No matter, though, because an LED lamp operating at less than its advertised 3W still…