A bent Alvis 12/50

If I'm ever lucky enough to reach the age of 85 then I suppose I wouldn't complain too much if I were just an inch or so out of true but the Alvis doors were beginning to annoy me.

The bottom edge of the driver's door stuck out by an inch and whilst the aluminium door skin was not very permanently attached it still meant that from the inside, daylight could be seen.

The passenger's side was every bit as bad and the lady navigator wouldn't go anywhere without a travel rug (or two).

Things came to a head one day when I closed the door rather firmly (OK, I slammed it because the hinges were worn) and rust fell onto the running board.

As you’ll see from later photos the aluminium door skin is attached to the door by crimping the skin round a mild steel strip which is screwed to the door frame. Over the years the steel strip had rusted completely through thus allowing the door skin to act as a vertical “spoiler”.

So, not only were the door frames warped but the door skins were barely attached to the door frames.

I had taken the Alvis to a coachbuilder last year but such was the sharp intake of breath that I thought I'd end up inside a whale.

Co-incidentally a friend of mine, who has a lovely collection of prewar oily rags and was also employed by Brighton's Royal Pavilion as a conservation expert, was seeking early retirement and it seemed only natural to ease him into retirement gently!

After the door hinges had been drilled out and new pins put in, off came the doors which were whisked away in Ray's only modern conveyance - an oily rag Morris Traveller with over 300k on the clock.

These photos of the driver’s door(left) and passenger’s door(right) taken in the back of the Traveller clearly shows the problem. 

That old adage "it's not what you know, but who you know" is only partially right because although I take great pride in being an apprentice bodger, Ray's skills seemed founded on a lifetime of proper experience.

So here is a rough idea of the process Ray went through to conserve the original woodwork and yet “de-warp” the door frames. 

Pre-Op 1 

This photo shows rather too well the delamination of the plywood of the inner door panels. The kicking strip/carpet which is laid along the base of the doors to a height of 4 inches has been folded back on itself at the top of the photo.

Pre-Op 2

This shows the drain hole in the bottom of the frame, which is a very sound door frame, but you can see the poor state of the mild steel metal strip which is screwed on to the frame and to which the aluminium door skin should attach.

Surgery 1

The patient on the operating table; the door is mounted in several clamps and vices with operating equipment laid out behind...and various dials which make it appear that the door is on a life-support system - I did say that Ray was very experienced!

Surgery 2 

The first incisions - just looking at these photos and writing about it reminds me too much of my dentist.

Surgery 3

What do we do with this bit?

This has been cut off the base of the door; the thinner part of the piece of wood is the leading edge of the door frame.

Surgery 4 

Transplant complete; and the piece of wood which was on the outside curvature of the door is now being clamped to the inside of the frame. 

Result - the frame is the same thickness but now it’s the correct shape!

Surgery 5

...and now the equivalent of the dressings; small aluminium brackets have been made to attach to the door frame in place of the old rusty pieces of metal - their positions are adjustable.

Driver's side 

Before  

After

Passenger's side 

Before  

After

There is slightly more patina in the paintwork where a couple of old screws have pushed against the aluminium but unless I go to Specsavers that should be the least of my problems!

British Engineerium Open Day - January 6th

Along with a couple of acquaintances of mine we’d been asked to arrange to display some cars for the third Open Day of the British Engineerium.

But first a little history about what was originally the Brighton, Hove and Preston Waterworks Company founded in 1834 by an Act of Parliament. After a name change it was bought by Brighton Corporation in 1872. 

By this time it was pumping 2.6 million gallons of water per day or 100,000 gallons per hour! 

But 100 years later in 1971 the Goldstone Pumping Station as it was then known was considered outdated and was replaced by a small electric version.

Jonathan Minns, a steam expert, along with a number of other volunteers started the restoration of the Engineerium. But despite a lot of fund-raising and a couple of royal visits there were ongoing funding problems and in 2006 it was put up for auction.

I remember this well as I looked at the Bonhams catalogue but the more I looked, the more I realised that I shouldn’t go along to the auction as there were about ten lots which I wanted to buy. I needn’t have worried because half-an-hour before the auction was due to start Mike Holland bought EVERYTHING.

Mike has spent a lot of time and money restoring the buildings and this Open Day was a precursor to the hopeful eventual opening of the British Engineerium full time.

The Open Day was on a Sunday and they had started to fire up the boiler three days previously.

On the day about thirteen or fourteen Ringmer Multimarques cars turned up as well as some Classic ‘50s/‘60s American cars, a dozen British bikes, some of Nick Spice’s cars as well as some military vehicles.

Inside the British Engineerium

In those days we had an Empire and engineers we could be proud of.

The boiler which has been fired up is at the far end of the photo to the right.

In addition to the 20 to 25 cars which turned up there were probably about three hundred to five hundred people there, including a lot of very well-behaved children! 

Mike Holland has been very careful to involve local schools as well as making the ticket prices very family friendly. You can find out more details of the British Engineerium here... 

http://www.britishengineerium.org

Outside the British Engineerium

Alvises watching the London to Brighton VCC run

It rained, a LOT.

Three of us had decided to breakfast at Staplefield to watch the event. 

Ray in the Riley had taken the scenic route from Piddinghoe whilst Jon with his newly acquired Alvis 12/50 Woodie met me on Brighton seafront in a lashing gale at 07.30.

Greasy Spoon, Gourmand and Oily Rag 

We trundled up the A23 at an estimated 45 - 50 mph; that’s the mid-point of the speedo’s oscillations from 30mph to off-the-clock (another winter job) 

At Staplefield, Jon drove the Woodie onto or should that be into the common land; into, because it sank due to all the recent rain we’d had. Fortunately I had a rubber mat in the dickey seat to put under one of the rear wheels and there were three or four helpers on hand to push.

We found some hard-standing and Jon proceeded to fire up his two BBQs... One for the coffee and the other two-burner BBQ for the ...

.. and Shepherd Neame
flavoured sausages.

...black pudding, bacon, eggs...

And of course, this is the other reason we went there...

The way to arrive

Doing it in style...1901 Panhard Levassor

1898 De Dion Bouton

WOW...

..the 1903 100hp 11.1 litre four cylinder Gordon Bennett
 Racing Napier...yes, that’s correct, the displacement
of each of its four cylinders is the same as the total
 displacement of a 2.8 litre Daimler Sovereign...

The sun shines on the...

Heading back to the Jack and Jill Inn at Clayton I lost the group when I got stuck behind some of the veteran cars so I headed back to Brighton via Ditchling and with some trepidation I drove up over the Beacon and was very pleased to have done it in third gear; double-declutching from third to second whilst driving up a hill is completely beyond me!

To Angouleme by Alvis 12/50 - Days 6 to 8

Returning to Brighton...
...Plus de repas, plus de vin, plus de fun

On Monday we set off to Saint Malo and stopped the first night at Le Lion D'Or on the Loire where we discovered that Monsieur Basil Fawlty was alive and well...

Tuesday night found us in Dinan at a lovely little hotel and Dinan is certainly worth a weekend break - it’s really beautiful.

Wednesday was an 08.00 start but in the event we arrived at the port in time to hear the announcements of the industrial action; resolved for us fortunately, but afterwards, expanded into a full blown strike.

We had a lovely day trip back to Portsmouth past the Channel Islands and then the drive home - what could go wrong?

Well, the driver in the overtaking lane on the Worthing by-pass had obviously had a brain by-pass as he cut from the right hand lane across me so that he could turn left. Fortunately I'd tweaked the brakes before we left Brighton but even so, our friends who were following in the Bugatti were not the only ones who thought the Alvis would fall over as I swerved and the car tried to do one of those clever stunt drives along the A27 on two wheels to avoid the "by-pass" man.

Luckily he drove off otherwise I think some damage may have occurred which wouldn't have been covered by my fully comp insurance.

And the end of the tale?

Just as we were passing Guernsey, the postman was trying to deliver the 120 Solex jet which had been stuck for nearly three weeks in the sorting office because the postage should have been 59 pence rather than 50 pence - Jobsworth?

I fitted the 120 jet (the manual recommends 115) and the car ran perfectly; slightly rich at tickover but no spitting and of course more reliable revving when double-declutching. The received wisdom is that Ethanol in petrol makes the fuel:air ratio leaner so if your car shows similar symptoms you should consider contacting the very helpful Carburretor Hospital.

It was a lovely laid back event and one which I would recommend to any Francophile but we could have done with three whole days in Angoulême as I never got to see the Cathedral, the paper mill or the famous comic museum.

We did 836 miles and apart from the spitting, the Alvis ran perfectly - enough to make the Bugatti owner go out and buy an Alvis, but that’s another story....well, let me put it this way, if we go again it may be the ex-Tony Leech Shooting Brake in front instead of the Type 40...or perhaps the Shooting Brake behind....

To Angouleme by Alvis 12/50 - Day 5

Race day at Angoulême

On Sunday we decided against public transport and we drove in to Angoulême; the sun was rising through the mists of the fields and it was a magical drive particularly when one of the marshals mistook us for the €300-entry rally cars.

We parked and escaped before the Gendarme pressed his case for us to move on - they're not really going to tow away a Bugatti are they?

Panhard

For Toni and I the morning practice was rather easier to follow than the racing in the afternoon. I of course walked round the paddock but Toni, despite my training (as I apparently snore) found the pits...well, the pits and very noisy, so she went to look around the Cathedral.

The winning Bugatti

I met up with Barry O'Sullivan, a new member who is looking to lease/borrow/beg a 12/50 (see Autumn Bulletin, Page 3) in the paddock who had driven down on Friday night and was driving back on Sunday night(!).

Citroen

In the event we only watched two races; the first comprised Panhard and Citroen single seaters. The Citroens appeared to be 2CVs turned back to front.

The second race was for vintage cars and comprised  Bugattis, Rileys, MGs, an Alfa etc....very exciting to see them sliding round the corners.

But 30 degree temperatures were beginning to take their toll and so we headed back to the Relais before all the racing had finished and the exodus had started. This time we opted for the à la carte menu which was to prove a big saving over the €39 menu and the Paris effect was still working!

Alfa Romeo approaching Carnot corner