:: Diary - June 2022 ::

:: Saturday 4 June, 2022 ::

I’ve promised to take the car along to a wee charity day in a town nearby. The ideaa is: park u for a wee show, and then a drive i a figure of 8 around the town, in groups led by someone who knows where they are going. That's the theory.

One of the first cars to park up is this lovely Mk 2 Escort.

It has proper Weber carbs and everything!

I've seen this car hooning around locally, as recently as yesterday!

A proper Sierra XR4i - you used to see these everywhere, now there's only a few left apparently.

I like this - it's an NSU 1200TT - I think that apart fro the owner, I'm the only person in this car park that recognises what it is! He says that he has 4 or 5 NSUs, and gives me some interesting background - including the snippet that Audi bought NSU and then owned the "TT" trademark that they use on their modern stuff.

There's a fair variety of other stuff as well!.

Soon it's time to leave in our 6 groups. Our leader is a young lad in a BMW. It's very noce. He goes round in completely the wrong direction. Then he gets lost. Then he forgets that he has to do 2 laps... But we get there, and people have come out of their houses to see the cars go past.

All in all, a fun day out!

:: Sunday 19 June, 2022 ::

This weekend is the Borders Vintage Automobile Club annual show at Thirlestane - although it is supported by Sir Jackie Stewart and has been taken over by commercial sponsors who are running a series of displays up and down the drive - so no space for the Sporting Bears ream Rides this year.

I had booked in as an individual entry, just so that I could attend, but then I found that the Sporting Bears were still having a static display, so I joined that.

Here's the programme of events for the day.

Here's a Ford Escort RS1800 in pristine condition. It wasn't that clean when it left the showroom in 1976!

It has custom- built stands that bolt to the wheel hubs to show how pristine it is underneath - and an array of mirrors in case you miss the point. While I admire the dedication, I just don't have the time or the inclination to restore a car to that condition, and then be scared to use it.

This is a Buick Electra and belongs to a friend of mine.

It's absolutely beautiful!

This is Nick's 57 Chevy complete with "For Sale" sign.

This is the queue for the Jackie Stewart autograph session. It's only on for half an hour, and this was around 10 minutes in, so I think some people are going to be disappointed!

Instead, I head off to the display of his racing cars, including BRMs, Matras and various Tyrells

I like this - the new Morgan 3-wheeler. It's beautiful, it's different and it looks like fun. I have a seat in it and it fits my fat arse! Is it worth £50K though? Probably - and it would be a lot easier to store than a Chevrolet...

A few other random photos on the day.

When I get home, I put the car back in its garage along at the farm until next time.

I'm a bit distracted by custom-building a Subaru power steering rack into the TVR though, so I don't know when "the next time" will be!