Friday 23 December 2011

A WPMC Forum

I do not do forums,not even the one run by the Imp Club to which I am a long time member,some seventeen years now but recently I discovered a forum that was discussing Hillman Imps and Coventry Climax engines.



I just had to join and have my say!

http://www.classiccarracers.co.za/forum/index.php

Why not join and check things out.

R McB

Thursday 22 December 2011

Brake shoes and linings to fit Ford Cortina 1500 station wagon

For fitting to the following cars:

Fords 1500 cc wagon circa 191962-64.

Said also to be suitable for the 1973-79 Austin Marina LDV front.

Made by Candy and still in the opriginal packing,these bonded brake shoes are brand new.


Cape Town
South Africa

021 790-3859 fax and phone
Posting is no bother.

Sprite gets a proper engine

This was at the Imp Clubs National Meeting in Wales 2011,why would a Sprite show its face at a gathering of Hillman Imps? check the name on the engines rocker cover!

Coventry Climax was of course the basis for the engine in the Hillman Imp.

The picture was creditd to the Imp Clubs Northumbria section,there was no name given.


I have only been to one of these meets,it was in the Wirral area and in 2004,there was easily 350 Imps on display.Time to make time for another visit?

R McB

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Republic Radio

Now on air,find is at http://www.republicradio.co.za/ you can now tune in to light music from Hout Bays own radio station world wide!




http://www.republicradio.co.za/Republic_Radio/Republic_Radio.html

R Mc B

Ferodo VG95 Competition Brake Linings

Ferodo VG95 linings were the choice of most,a hard brake material that was not going to fade.



Rare,I guess so,I bought the last in the country and that was 15 years back.

Said to fit a Mini Classic,so 7" they will not fit 8" as I have tried that.
Five sets of four shoes and brand new.

Offers

R McB

021 790-3859 phone and fax line.

Cape Town
South Africa

Original parts from Rootes Cars,Scotland

I read in a South African motor magazine recently that the scribe does not care if the classic car he was selling has its original engine fitted? In his case the sale of the car depended on the original unit,so I can understand his attitude.

 To me originalality is everything,this is why a Le Mans past racer Austin Heally 100 has just sold for the staggering sum of 1.3 million U$,or in South African Rands about R10,600,000,thats right ten point six million rands for an old car!



That car still had its old paint works,it was complete with its rusty wire wheels,the bonnet was missing but may have been removed,the original steering wheel and instuments were still there,the car has done only 32,000 miles. So being original is the idea.

The plastic trim clip parts from Rootes I am using are genuine,even the plastic bags are the genuine thing,so why use copies when we can still have originals.it seems to me we are back to that engine again?

How hard can this be?

R McB

That auction?

London - A vintage British racing car at the centre of motorsport's most deadly accident sold for a record-breaking price - the equivalent of about R10.6-million - at a British auction.




The 1953 Austin Healey 100 Special Test Car was involved in the 1955 Le Mans disaster which claimed the lives of French driver Pierre Levegh - and 83 spectators. It had lain untouched in an English barn for 42 years.

By Mike Spinelli.

Like all racing accidents, the most horrific crash in the history of motorsports happened in a single, chaotic sequence. When Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn dove unexpectedly into pit lane, Lance Macklin swerved his Austin Healey into the trajectory of Pierre Levegh's Mercedes 300SLR.



http://jalopnik.com/austin-healey-100/

Tuesday 20 December 2011

All clamped up

The amount of detail works just to do some classic car trims amazes me,its process after process to even get close to a decent looking job.

This is one of the three bur walnut dash panel trims,last refurbished about seventeen years back,so no complaints.



A minor repair on the one lower corner,the edges had all risen,so an application of our water proof PVA glue (german import) was required.The secret is the new and clean  clear plastic,I keep a roll handy for just this job.


All that work just to get to the stage where we can start sanding.Check the final job out later ,was it worth the effort?



Better for some (many) coats of twin pack high gloss lacquer.It can cure during the night and go for a trial fitting to the metal dash panels tommorrow,thats one of the panels in the picture.

R McB

Plans,postage and delivery.

We recently posted a set of dinghy plans to a customer,it was only ten days back,as of today they have yet to arrive. Since posting we have had a public holiday and two weekends,thats five days out of the ten that no work can be expected.

The customer was on the phone at least twice today,will we send him a new set of plans? the reply was negative,we are using standard mail services and given it is December and a Christmas rush has to exist, we can really only offer the same as the plans supplier http://www.dixdesign.com/ offers:

If you select standard delivery and your parcel has not arrived 3 months after mailing, we will replace it subject to a service charge of 20% of the value of the order and delivery of the replacement by courier service, at charges as set out below. (etc etc)

I trust this is acceptable and can be understood by the buyer?

R McB









Chrysler Pentastar returns

As I am refurbishing what the Imp Club says is a rare Imp Penta Star badge, I thought to check the exact colour scheme.Mine was silver with black relief,thats long gone and its just clear gloss black right now.There were a number of colours it seems?
 

Chrysler Corp. will revive Pentastar logo

By John Neff RSS feed

Posted May 17th 2007 10:38AM



In order to celebrate its new found freedom after being divorced from DaimlerChrysler AG, the newly minted Chrysler Corp. will ditch its current winged logo and return to the famous Pentastar logo. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that a senior executive has already emailed some Chrysler employees about the switch back to the old logo after learning about it in a meeting Monday night with veeps and senior management. In addition, the Pentastar will get a redesign to update its look.


Apparently this email from a senior exec included a few interesting tidbits, including that Cerberus CEO Stephen Feinberg regrets naming his company after the mythological three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell. We also learn that Feinberg owns Ford and Chevy pickups, which he plans to quickly trade in for a Dodge Ram. He might want to keep them around for benchmarking purposes, though.


The Imp Club spares department would be keen to find a supplier of the Imp sized Pentastars. http://www.theimpcub.co.uk/

R McB





Hillman Imp mark one and two front suspension pivot plates

These plates pick up the rear of the front swing arm pivots on the car,check the changes,the yellow one is the early mark 1 type and is dated 1966,around the same time the mark 2 car was to be seen and the pivots were dropped to allow the front wheels to sit more upright.




Both suspension points are workable,on the mark 2 version you may need to make changes to the cast Iorn stub axle but its an easy fix and highly recomended,once done you can change the front wheel cambers quite easily.

R McB

Monday 19 December 2011

Singer Chamois is the star car.

Its just about impossible to park our 1967 Singer Chamois in the local harbour, without finding a discusion group talking about the car when I get back to it.In this case I opened the engine bay cover so they could see the engine inside.




These people are English,the guy in the striped tee shirt was using his hands to explain a coupe when I arrived,I said which one did you have,a Stilletto he told me.I replied that I had two of those,he came back with 'mine was wrecked when it crashed,he was not the driver it seems.One of the girls had never seen an Imp and was rather Impressed,I am not surprised of course.

Regards

Roy

Sunday 18 December 2011

1967 Singer Chamois wood trim restorations

This job takes hours,days too as the various stages require the paint elements to cure and dry,some twin pack lacquers and paints will not accept a wet on wet coat either.


The old and the new,well the tatty front ones are 1967 but the rear one is really a 1966 Singer Chamois Sport fitting.



The new trim is incorrect as far as it is not bur walnut but over all I would like to think the cabin has been upgraded and not many would know the difference anyway?



When the correct bur walnut veneer comes to hand,I can then restore the set I have removed and then change trims over.

R McB

The seasons compliments from Roy and Jean

So here we are yet again,thats the year 2011 all run  and boxed off,in fact we exported our last order to the USA only four days back.Many thanks to all those who continue to support us and will I hope in the future.


All the very best from Roy and Jean at http://www.ckdboats.com/

R McB