Well I went to the meet, and I'm glad I did in the end. The rain stopped
just as I left the house to set off and by the time we got there the sun had
actually come out (no brolly needed). It stayed windy all day and was quite
chilly but it turned out quite nice out of the wind.
The meet was at Otterbourne near Winchester, held by the Southern Classics
car club. Our local TSSC group had a turnout of about a dozen club cars
including a couple of GT6s, 5 Spitfires & a Spit6, plus heralds, vitesses &
even a Bond, the Jags (couple of nice e-types & a replica d-type which shows
up at several of the shows) & Moggy Minors also turned out in force. Apart
from that there were quite a variety of different makes & models from a
Porsche to Hillmans, even a '55 Ford Fairlane in very nice nick. It was a
smallish meet, about 100 cars in total so our contingent stood out well.
The emergency toolkit (cellphone & AA card) weren't needed as Baby Blue's
clutch et al behaved perfectly. The only problem I had was with my window,
up to yesterday it wouldn't wind right down. Today it decided it would but
then wouldn't roll up again so, with the aid of a couple of screwdrivers & a
couple of helpful guys the door was dismantled on the field to discover that
a bar inside (remember I'm not technical so I don't know what it is) had
been bent & was catching on a bolt. The car's due to go back to the garage
who repaired the accident damage to line up the door properly so they'll
have to put that right too, I can only assume it was part of the accident
damage as I never had problems with it before.
It was a lovely day coming back via the scenic route (OK, so I took a wrong
turning) via Lower Upham (never did see Upper Lowham!) with the roof down
even, how's that for a hardy lass here in the UK in April! It was mighty
blowy but I was wrapped up nicely and the sun was actually quite warm by
then.
I gotta say it was good to have 'sounds' in the car too, even with the roof
down, with the speakers in the footwells & the volume cranked up I was well
able to howl along loudly & tunelessly to a great tape of doo-wop & others -
well I was alone so it was my choice - 'Mule Skinner Blues', 'Love is
Strange', 'Endless Sleep', 'The Birds & The Bees', 'La Bamba' & more. The
music just went so well with bowling along English country lanes in a
topless Spitfire, not a motorway in sight (except the one I went under) and
even only 1/2 mile of dual carriageway.
So, all in all it was a good day out. Not the most exciting of shows but
pleasant weather and a good run out in my Baby Blue. Let's hope this is a
good year for all listers to enjoy our cars as they should be - driven!
Suzie
|