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I ventured down to this years Motor Mania in Grantown for the first time (not as an entrant) and was pleasantly surprised at the relaxed informal atmosphere. I think it is a great format with most cars parked as if they were ‘just popping down to the shops’ and with various craft and food stalls around the edges. There were quite a few club members present and it was nice to wander round having a blether. It never ceases to amaze me at the amount of old vehicle events that there are in this area. Talking of events, this year’s Fortrose Fun Day was blessed with the weather and the largest turn out of cars so far, most of which took part in the run round the Black Isle. Thanks must go to the Fortrose and Rosemarkie members who organised it all. Last Saturday was the Lifescan fun day event for their employees and friends to which we had been invited to display some cars. Although I was a bit disappointed with the turn out I would like to thank Matt Nixon, Hugh Finney, Ian Beaton, Miles Vincent and Callum Beveridge for bringing their cars (2 in Hugh’s case) and to help to promote the club. I would especially like to thank Callum for supplying a gazebo with the flag of St. George painted on the top just to make me feel at home! (not that you would ever get me to move back again!). You may have noticed that there is not much

talk of the TVR in the above and yes you’ve guessed it’s broke again. I took part in lasts month’s run to the Dores Hotel, an enjoyable evening with about 15 cars taking part. But on the way home the charging light came on (again) and on further inspection I found that the dynamo bearings were shot which had also damaged the windings. I have decided to convert to an alternator and while I am there to completely rewire the car. Watch this space…….. Last but not least I would like to welcome new member James Paterson from Evanton to the club. James has a 1961 Mk2 Jaguar 3.4. I look forward to seeing you at future meetings. Michael

THE CHAIRMAN’S BIT

This Months Meeting Thursday 2nd October at 7.30pm

A Pub meeting at the Smithton Hotel, Smithton Road, Inverness

01463 791999

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Hello, What a busy month it’s been for car meetings. We started off in Fortrose and the weather gods smiled on us once more. A great day with a pleasant run to Cromarty and my traditional annual visit to the bakery there. A couple of weeks later saw me and the kids at the Dingwall street fayre - without my car. A couple of light showers didn’t seem to spoil the day at all. There was a good turnout of cars of all shapes and sizes. The following day saw me in Grantown (with my car this time) for Motor Mania. Now I’d never managed to attend this event before, but I now know what I have been missing. There was a very good turnout of vehicles from modern classics to early vintage cars—even a famed Stanley Steamer. I’ll be making this a permanent fixture in my calendar of events. There was a film crew there interviewing owners, including out own Fred! See http://www.speyvideo.net/PageSVV2/PagesSpey2/GrantownPage/MotorMania2008.aspx

For more details. Just time to tell you of a Classic event on Sun 19th October. There’s a run to the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William involving clubs from all over Scotland . I’m looking forward to this it’s more of a ’drive’ rather than a ’sit in a field’ type event. More details direct from me. If you don’t see me at the monthly meetings, you can write to me at the address inside the front cover, or email me direct. Callum

EDITORIAL

Sadly, due to ill health, we have to find a new owner for our 1972 Midget. He is a very lively personality and has given us hours of fun and enjoyment with absolutely no problems at all. If you think you can give him a good home please phone John on 01340 831898. He is priceless in our eyes but we would accept £3750 for him.

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After another astonishing verdict from the FIA stewards yesterday, it's good to have some more sensible things to write about. Having been brought up to marvel at the likes of Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, as men as well as racing drivers, my 'sport' has been ruined by the driving standards of the Sennas and Schumachers of this world. Don't start me on

last year's McLaren saga; and as for the President of the FIA (not) bringing the sport into disrepute - hold me back! Anyway, to more serious matters. Having read Ranald's article in this month's Classic Scene, I realised that I am not alone in my interest in

collecting motoring memorabilia. My kids don't understand why I still keep magazines and books going back years, but I just do. I've

still got university textbooks which were read once and never again, but that's another story. I

tell myself that someday I'll have a house with a room which I can turn into a library, but anno domini may put a damper on that, as well as the need for a room large enough with a floor strong enough. I too have been buying Autocar since the sixties, and have expanded my collection back to the early fifties, thanks to eBay. Ditto Motor Sport (and how good it is again, after its decline in the 90's). I've got

quite a few duplicates, mainly from the fifties, if anyone is looking to fill a gap in their own collection. Yes, I've got a complete run of Grand Prix International, and F1 Racing, plus all sorts of F1 magazines that seemed to flourish in the 80's and 90's. Autosport for years from the 70's, and all sorts of runs of Classic Car magazines, including the first issues of T&CC. And there's a run of

Collecting Madness

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Autocourse from 1970 - will I buy it again this year? Probably!

When I was a boy, I used to cut up car brochures and stick the pictures into albums (well, old phone directories if I recall right). The thought of all those brochures from the fifties being destroyed brings tears to the eyes now, but I later grew out of cutting them up - maybe I ran out of phone directories - hence another pile of boxes of stuff from the mid-

60's, mainly British car ranges, as there weren't many garages up here dealing with exotica, like strange foreign cars, in those days. I'm not technically minded but have always been interested in motor racing - see above - and have built up a large library of biographies, standard racing histories, marque histories, and data. I don't claim to have every one of Alan Henry's books, but must have most of them by now. I'm presently working my way through Volume 2 of Doug Nye's BRM saga, and then may get back to Graham Gauld's Scottish Motor Racing history. It's years since I was last at a Grand Prix - Silverstone 1981 to be exact - but I managed to get to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, so I am attaching a few photos from this event as a reminder of what real racing cars looked like. There's more, lots more, you only have to ask...! Best wishes Angus Bethune

For Sale 1931 Riley 9 Monaco SS Manual Rebuilt engine and gearbox 2,000 miles ago. Running gear perfect Fabric body and wings require some restoration Genuine original car with full history, original logbook, manual etc Three pervious owners from new. Tel: 01540 662206 Charles Craigie Halkett

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Sometimes I wonder about the direction our hobby is taking. Old car owners nowadays seem reluctant or unable to get their hands dirty, in contrast to those of yesteryear with permanently grubby fingernails and skinned knuckles. Club members exchanged tales of all-night repair sessions to get to work the following day and packing up broken springs with handy lumps of wood on the way back from a picnic. A breakdown these days involves no more than using the mobile phone to summon a man with a transporter and a major rebuild means sending the car off to some specialist with a Ph.D in legal robbery. Recently I read of a guy who had his car recovered by trailer from France back to the UK because the rotor arm had failed, in the process damaging the disributor cap. Years ago I remember an acquaintance with exactly the same model of 1950s car repairing a run big end lying under the car at the side of the road overnight, many miles from home! Routine maintenance and adjustments nowadays are done by a ‘little man’ whose services the owner is fortunate to be able to call upon. Most of my classic car ownership (since age 17) has involved Alvis cars, mainly models made before the Hitler war, and I remain loyal to the big-hearted cars from Coventry which competed for so long in that most uncertain of markets, that for relatively luxurious and expensive cars of better than average performance. Recently I was lying under the 1938 12/70 drophead removing the sump (no pit in my garage) to change the big-end bolts (the originals - at 156,000 miles) after a fit of the worries. As I tightened and split-pinned the bolts I thought “I am really getting too old for this sort of thing” and mused over what people did in the past at the side of the road. The early iterations of the Alvis Register’s Vintage Alvis Workshop Manual covering the 1920 – 1932 models (I have a 1931 12/60 as well) included a passage along the lines of “Dealing with a run big end by removing the affected con-rod, advocated in some books, is not recommended. I tried this once and the out-of -balance vibration was so severe at 15 mph

that I pulled up and replaced the rod, as it seemed the lesser evil.”. The thought of removing a sump full of hot oil at the side of the road and replacing it twice is boggling to today’s ‘enthusiast’.

Later I recalled an expedition over thirty years ago with a fellow Alvis Register member. I shall call him Blackbeard, although he is by no means piratical, and he then owned a 1931 TJ 12/50 two seater tourer, registered FS 1444. This he had bought from a pupil at posh boarding school Fettes College, although I don’t think the particular scholar involved was Tony Blair. It was in the sort of condition pretentious dealers nowadays describe as ‘patinated’, meaning it was shabby and had been neglected, but not so seriously as to render a major rebuild an immediate necessity. Presumably it has now had a proper rebuild, as it survives today in the ownership of Hugh Gibson, who, by one of those curious coincidences which surround Alvis cars, went to the same school as I did – Golspie High, not Fettes College! Blackbeard suggested it would be fun to compete in the Vintage Sports Car Club Lakeland Trial in the Alvis, and invited me to navigate for him. This may have been because of my alleged knowledge of the technical aspects of four-cylinder Alvises. Despite the event taking place in November, I readily agreed

Alvis Angst

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and he arranged to pick me up from my work in the west of Edinburgh on the Friday evening so that we could stay overnight en route to the event. Accordingly I took the bus into work that day along with a change of clothes (I had to wear a suit at work in those days) and a sleeping bag borrowed off my sister’s boyfriend. I had of course told my colleagues of my plans for the weekend, and the arrival of Blackbeard outside the factory in the 12/50 was greeted by hoots of incredulity. ‘You’ll never get up Honister in that!’ was one of the more printable remarks questioning my judgment if not my sanity. Anyway we set off in the gathering gloom, hood down. I know the car had a hood because Blackbeard’s elegant wife sometimes used the Alvis to commute to her work as a teacher. It normally sat outside their house and one morning after a night’s rain she forgot to sploof out the water which had gathered in the hood. Turning left whilst reversing, she stuck her head out for a better view just as the deluge came over the edge. The car ran well and Blackbeard was a competent driver so we didn’t hold up the traffic, and I don’t recall travelling in the November dark posing any problems. Blackbeard announced rather grandly that he had arranged for us to stay with his wife’s aunt, somewhere in the Annan area as I remember, and that we were expected for dinner. When we reached the specified point I wondered what it would be like, and as we turned into the drive by a gatehouse and motored up to a rather splendid house I felt very humble. The dinner was excellent and the house magnificent, stuffed with clocks of every possible description and with a superb collection of original paintings by Alexander Naysmith. At bedtime I laid the sleeping bag on the bed in the beautifully furnished bedroom and was soon fast asleep, only to waken an hour or two later feeling very hot indeed. This was not on account of the TOG factor of the sleeping bag but because unbeknowns to me my host had put on an electric blanket, an unaccustomed luxury for a tough hombre from the Highlands. I was reminded of my aunt who forgot to switch off the electric blanket and fell asleep, only to awaken believing she had died

and was being roasted in Hell. The car also spent the night in unaccustomed luxury, in the stable block. Next day we were up early. Our preparations for the event consisted of checking the water and oil levels and er…. that’s it. We set off for the start and were proceeding merrily along the dual carriageway when a sudden and complete loss of power accompanied by a series of random explosions from the exhaust indicated that all might not be well in the engine room. “What do you think it is?” said Blackbeard, turning to me with a quizzical look. Experience of cars operating in the autumn of their lives had given me some diagnostic skills. ‘Timing’ I replied as we coasted to a halt on a bridge. Secretly I feared the dynamo shaft had sheared, or that the helical distributor drive gears were stripped, especially after a quick investigation showed that when the engine turned over the distributor rotor arm didn’t. (On the later 12/50s the dynamo drives the distributor.) Next step was to remove the distributor when the problem revealed itself: the rolled-up flat spring retaining the drive gear on the distributor shaft had broken, allowing the gear to rotate without turning the shaft. Blackbeard was very angry, his imprecations centred on the fact that this spring was the only modern component on the whole car. I took charge of repairs. Lifting the driver’s seat cushion and opening the toolbox revealed a motley selection of generously patinated household tools, including a very rusty half round file and a quantity of equally rusty nails. Using the file I managed to trim a suitable nail to length and reduce its diameter to round about that of the hole in the gear. It was then riveted in place using the parapet of the bridge as an anvil and a conveniently sized rock as a hammer. BB was very complimentary of my bodging skills, which upset me. “This is not a bodge” I replied firmly as he set about retiming the engine. Thankfully the repair worked and we were soon speeding to the start. Unfortunately the stoppage meant we were a bit late, but we carried on anyway. The event was a real eye-opener to me. Lots of

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wonderful vintage cars of all shapes and sizes, from an Austin Seven box saloon, driven by an acquaintance of ours, through an equally boxy Jowett tourer, a Brescia Bugatti then right up to 30/98 Vauxhalls and a solitary 3 Litre Bentley. Soon I learned that the 30/98 was the one to have, and that the reason for the low turnout of Bentleys was that they are rubbish at trials. I also learned that vigorous bouncing really didn’t make any difference with the heavy Alvis. We decided to lower the rear tyre pressures to about 15 psi for more grip on the many slippery bits, and whilst doing this I noticed the initials “H.D.V.” moulded large into the sidewall of one of the 5.00 x 20s. “What does ‘H.D.V.’ mean?” I asked Blackbeard. “Shhh…” he replied, his annoyance obvious. “Keep quiet. I got these tyres from St. Cuthbert’s dairy. It stands for Horse Drawn Vehicle. They use them on the milk floats.” So there we were, rushing about the countryside as fast as the 12/50 would go, on tyres clearly intended not to go beyond about 10 mph. We kept going and even got quite a long way up Drumhouse, thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the process. By the time we set off to go back to Edinburgh it was already dark, and we were both tired. The Alvis was soon eating up the miles at a steady 55 and we passed the little Austin early on – he was heading for Edinburgh too. I was really enjoying the drive, in very light traffic (by this time it was about 9 pm) when… you’ve guessed it… the engine cut out again and died completely. We were on a straight stretch of the dual carriageway A74, without a soul or any habitation in sight. It was a repetition of the distributor drive problem so again I set about repairs with the hopelessly inadequate tools, this time in the pitch dark, well, actually by the meagre glow of the nearside sidelight. Torch?? Don’t be silly! As I was doing this our friend in the A7 came along and…. drove straight on. “Nice of him to stop and help” said Blackbeard as we watched the dim tail lights receding slowly into the darkness. I like to think we were faster with the work on this occasion and it seemed like no time before we were on our way again, although I can’t actually remember catching up with and passing the Austin.

The rest of the rather tedious journey passed without incident, but by the time Blackbeard dropped me off at my flat it was well into the small hours and seldom have I felt so tired. All this took place half a lifetime ago, but I have remained loyal to the Alvis marque which is more than can be said for Blackbeard, who has owned many desirable pre-war cars. Last time I saw him he was in a very sporting Type 44 Bugatti. St. Cuthbert’s dairy no longer uses horse drawn milk floats to irritate the motorists of Edinburgh. I’m not sure that St. Cuthbert’s Co-operative even still exists, or indeed that you can have your milk delivered to your door each morning, certainly not to my house in one of the more rural parts of the Black Isle.

I like to think that I could still carry out a roadside repair of this nature without resorting to the breakdown man, but if I’m truthful I’m not so sure, but I do think that the enthusiasts of the past were made of sterner stuff than those of today. After all it’s a lot easier but less character building to press the buttons on the mobile and just wait. Of course the Alvis stormed up Honister without difficulty. Robin Gilbert

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Cat Flu My first association with Jaguar started when in 1983 I found an XK 140 at the back of the chip shop in Invergordon. I paid £750 for the wreck and due to other commitments (work / houses / kids) I did not get round to completing the restoration until 2001. I kept this car until 2007 when due to advancing age and injury I found the steering and gearbox was getting too heavy for me.

I sold the XK, and looking for something else found an E type FHC that had the body work done and just need assembling. A giant construction kit without instructions. I completed this in 10 months and disappointingly found that it was difficult to get in and out of. Although it was much better to drive, and easier to work on, compared to the XK. I advertised it on a website and managed to sell it quickly. I then looked for an E type roadster and found my present car on ebay. I decided that I had done enough restoring and opted for a car that had been rebuilt. This is a series 2 E type and differs from the series 1 in many ways both exterior and

mechanically. The headlights are open, the sidelights and indicators are below the bumpers. It has a better cooling system, up

rated brakes, fully syncromesh gearbox, and rocker switches in place of the more traditional toggle switches. This car has been fitted with power steering, electronic ignition and fuel pump, and an adjustable reaction plate (changes the front ride height with out removing the torsion bars).

Although the purists prefer the look of the series 1, the practicality of the series 2 cannot be over looked. It is much more user friendly in modern traffic. It does not overheat, it stops, and you can see at night! I am getting about 23 miles to the gallon, which is not too bad for a 4.2 litre engine. Service intervals are every 3000 miles. Charles Perrin

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Amidst the current doom and gloom surrounding the credit crunch and HBOS etc. we can at least rejoice in the fact that the Fortrose Rally which was held on Saturday 30th August, was an outstanding success. So a very big thank you to all who helped with the organisation of the event both on the day and in the weeks beforehand.

Thanks also to all enthusiasts who brought along classic vehicles as no show can go ahead without you playing your part. For the first time the entry list exceeded the one hundred mark. The Highland Car Club returned this year and the Highland Four Wheel Drive Club joined us for the first time. Minis of Inverness have become regular visitors and it was great to have them attend for a third consecutive year. Jim Williams even brought along a matching Mini and trailer. I particularly enjoyed the sticker on the rear window of his Mini which read, “100% free of BMW parts”.

We have always received strong support from the MG Owners Club and Historic Wheels together with our friends from the Caithness Club. This year proved no exception and we thank them all for their valued support.

Other entries came from as far a-field as Auchterarder, Stornoway, Scrabster, Fort William and Portgordon. The rally is rapidly growing in popularity therefore we must be doing something right! Even the weather was kind to us this year. Much work and preparation was put into this year’s rally and

don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Only six phone calls indeed! Who was it said that?

Previously the rally has been run without any funds and so it was decided that we should hold a raffle in order to cover costs of this year’s event and also to provide a kitty to help cover future outlays. Thanks must go to Alex Mann and non club member Billy Mackay for their efforts in that direction. The raffle raised the sum of £162, not leaving a huge budget for a future event but we had to start somewhere. The local Community Council have expressed their delight at the success of their “Fun Day” having raised over £2500 towards local good causes.

Thanks to all, hope to see you at the next meeting.

John.

OVER THE BRIDGE!

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Right, well absolutely nothing amusing has happened to me this month so we’ll just get on with it shall we? Maybe I’ll finish with a joke if I can think of one!

Beauly is our kicking off point this time and we are heading West along the A831 towards Cannich, although if you reach Cannich you’ve missed the turning I want you to look out for near the village of Struy!

400 Yards past The Cnoc Hotel you will come across a narrow hump-back bridge, DON’T go over it, turn right following the signpost for Glen Strathfarrar down to the side of the bridge.

200 Yards up here you will reach the Gate House and this one really has a gate! There is restricted access to this beautiful Glen so make sure you check the opening times that I will pop at the end of this piece (near the joke!).

If you have turned up at an appropriate moment someone will appear out of the house, unlock and open the gate for you and off you go. The interest starts immediately as the first few fields on your right are filled with farmed Deer so it’s a nice chance to get up close and personal.

It’s single track all the way up and it’s very quiet, however do watch for Hydro vehicles looming around the corners at you as there is a glut of Power Stations up and down the River Farrar. A mile in you will pass the first, Culligran Power Station.

Trundle on along the side of the river and after another mile it all widens out a bit and makes it easier to dodge the numerous sheep. If you are in an open top automobile you may also want to put that

cloth cap on as you’ll get elegantly dive bombed by the Birds of Prey that you disturb from their tree top perches.

I’ll let you work out what they are as I’ve just had to get a Collins Book of Birds from the library so that over breakfast I can answer the incessant questions I get from the kids about what bird has just appeared on the garage roof (no doubt having just poo’d on the Mini still parked in front of it!)

As well as supplying copious amounts of Hydro Electricity the River Farrar also seems to be a popular Fishing river. I deduced this from the number of Masochists in full length rubber get ups standing, at intervals, 10 feet from the shore.

Having watched many of these characters standing in many Highland rivers over many years and not seen any of them suddenly take the strain and commence battle with their dinner, I now know why it is called “Fishing” and not “Catching!” (Although, later that day one of my customers did arrive at the door of his Highland Lodge triumphantly holding aloft a fairly sizable fish that he presented to his wife but I’m pretty sure he’d been in the pub most of the morning and had then nipped in Tesco’s – not enough Midge bites!)

Anyway back to this glorious Glen. You start to climb now, out onto a plateau where Brualen Estate begins and the river to your left becomes more Loch-like. 7 miles in and the buildings of the Estate begin, heralded by the sign “Slow Children At Play.” (Strange to advertise the fact that you have Slow Children but at least these

MILES’S MEANDERINGS—GLEN STRATHFARRAR

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are “At Play!”)

Beannie Power Station is cut into the hill half a mile around the corner and looks strangely like the entrance to a London Tube Line.

Two more sweeping miles up the road and atop a hillock on your right you’ll see a monument. Don’t get too excited, it is a smallish monument on a smallish hillock, but a monument none the less.

I’ll let you stop and investigate it as, to be quite honest, it was raining when I got there and I don’t do walking in the rain. In fact I don’t really do walking, least of all hill walking, especially when you see the number of signs posted around the Glen that point out that during the Deer Season there is a high risk off being shot (and as I have no idea when that is I’m not taking the risk!)

So I’d stay in the car if I were you and send the wife to read the monument. We are Classic Motor Vehicle enthusiasts after all and I assume that if you wanted to hill walk or, judging from the state of some of you, were able to, you’d actually be driving a Diesel Series 1 BMW (really, if you’re going to spend that sort of money get a proper car) or crawling along in one of those ridiculous Toyota Prius’s claiming that they are good for the Environment while the rest of us sit behind you in a low gear burning excess fuel waiting to floor it past you burning even more fuel than you think you are saving! (For pity’s sake take the Bus, at least then I can get past up to 60 of you infernal tree huggers in one go)

Shooting Hill Walkers – now there’s a fairer sport than Stag Hunting.

Anyway, at 11.4 miles you’ll cruise past

Brualen Lodge, how the other half live, (although I’ve never seen the curtains open so may be they don’t). Now it starts to get spectacular, climbing for the next few miles with you perched on the side of the now craggy hillside and the river in a gorge below, onwards and upwards to Monar Dam and past the 13.5 mile mark.

Now this is as far as I thought it went because I usually hang a right to Monar Estate (“NO CARS”) but being nosey I pointed mine over the dam and followed the road around the hill to the left and low and behold, another dam. Lochiel Dam this time and over you can go and yet again it looks like it all ends here to the right but hang on take a cheeky wee left again and you’ll find another mile and a half of Heather lined Heaven that terminates at Misgeach Power Station, I told you the place was full of them! GLEN STRATHFARRAR OPENING TIMES APRIL & OCTOBER 9 – 6 MAY & SEPTEMBER 9 – 7 JUNE JULY & AUGUST 9 – 8 CLOSED ALL DAY TUESDAY CLOSED WEDNESDAY UNTILL 1.30PM IF EASTER FALLS IN MARCH THE GLEN OPENS THE WEEKEND BEFORE EASTER

“Knock knock!” “Who’s there?” “Bumblebee!” “Bumblebee who?” “Bumblebee cold with no pants on!” (It sounded funnier when my four year old said it!) Miles

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Highland Heaps Restoration projects spotted in and around the Highlands.

Cambridge comes to Muir of Ord

Neglected VW-based Colvin

15 If you’re brave enough to want to rescue one these ‘heaps’, contact the editor for more info

The remains of an Opel...obviously!

A Typhoon in a Barn—Armstrong Siddeley style

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Some of the vehicles at the recent Grantown Motor Mania Event and Dingwall Street Fayre