Today is Sporting Bears Dream Rides at Lauder, in the Scottish Borders.
After 3 weeks of dry weather, it decides, of course, to rain this weekend. Never mind, with the car cleaned up yesterday, it looks gleaming (but wet!) when
I leave at 8am, with a stop to refuel.
The drive down is very pleasant, even although it's wet foggy! I'm glad I fixed those wipers - they're busy! With the headlights on, the "main beam" warning
light is on - pressing the dip switch doesn't seem to make any difference, either to the warning light or to the amount of light emitted... But they're so
dim that they don't annoy anybody else anyway.
The car is going well, nice and smooth, and it's really all very comfy!
On the way down, I find myself asking the old question - why do MGBs go everywhere at 50 mph? Is it the car or the driver?
Anyway, upon arrival, we all get sorted out, have our drivers briefing, and get the cars stickered up.
Then it's time for a wee trip round the parade ring to publicise our presence. All I have to do is follow the man in front. That would be easy, except
that the field down to the parade ring is uneven and muddy, and the man in front has this tendency to drive up the bumps and then stop - if I stop behind
him on the slope, I won't get going again, so between me waiting for him to get out of the way, and him waiting for me to catch up, progress is slow!
Time for a wee shelter and some breakfast! Plenty room in here, and it always gets people talking!
I've to be interviewed by a TV crew, and the cameraman arrives to take some static shots, before the interviewer arrives, and he decides to interview
while I'm driving - that's hard work! Fun though!
Then it's back for some "proper" dream rides with members of the public - can't remember how many but I think it was 4 - the early drizzle has put a
lot of people off, so attendance at the show is lower than normal.
Then it's time to dismantle all the stuff and head for home. The car is manky, but what a day!
The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the birds are singing in the trees. Every story I ever wrote for o-level French started with those words (except in
French, obviously) but today, it’s true, even at the bright and early hour that I have to leave to go to the first American Car Show at Knockhill race
circuit.
The car is full of (the correct) fuel, everything’s packed, so off we go for a leisurely cruise over the new Forth Bridge, and up through Dunfermline. I
see a white American car way up ahead, and think it’s a 1940s Plymouth, and when I catch it up, just as we turn into the venue, it is! My old yank car
recognition skills are improving!
We all get parked up, and I end up speaking to the Plymouth man while we watch others arrive.
This 1966 Lincoln Continental makes a grand entrance, and we all watch him lower the electric roof into the boot with the press of a button. Wonderful.
When I turn around, I see my own car and it looks tiny!
There’s a huge range of American stuff here.
Here’s the white Plymouth that I followed in.
And again...
This 1953 Bel Air is beautiful, and ended up winning a prize. It has a much more modern engine and suspension, so apparently it fair ticks along!
It has a traffic light indicator - basically a wee serrated plastic scoop on the dash, that reflects the traffic light colour when you can’t see the
signal directly because of the windscreen visor. Clever eh?
This Chevy truck looks fantastic.
This is a 1953 Lincoln Continental which was parked beside me.
This 1968 Buick Skylark blew up its engine on the way back from its MOT 2 years ago, and was only finished last night. Today is the first time the owner
has driven it, since she bought it!
This Plymouth hot rod looks fantastic...
Complete with unique interior trim...
And artwork on the trunk lid.
This is a Ford Thunderbird, also beautiful...
Beautiful Chrysler (a mid-life Chrysler according to the owner’s T-shirt).
Loved this old truck - another prize winner.
Another Lincoln Continental, a sedan this time.
Bullit mustang
Dodge Charger...
This wee hot rod was at the Livingston Cruise night that I went to at the end of last year.
Another beautiful hot rod....
Lovely cars - but you know what? I’m perfectly happy with mine, I wouldn’t swap it for any of these.
It’s just beautiful!
At lunchtime, we have to muster up for a couple parade laps...
...including a photo stop at the hairpin.
Note the careful product placement of “Livingston Autoparts” behind the two cars that are based there! (They are a very good motor factors, in all honesty,
I’ve bought various stuff there and they have always been on the ball.)
The owner of the Jeep Grand Wagoner lives near me, I’ve seen this car (and spoken to the owner) in the local Sainsbury car park.
Then we park up again for the afternoon, and get fried by the sun.
They have a burnout competition going on - this guy won it with some spectacular smoking tyre action, but I’m sure he had a front wheel brake lock to keep
the car stationary.
The 1953 Lincoln beside me didn’t take part in the parade -it flooded when he was trying to start it, and it’s still struggling 2 hours later. He’s
surrounded by advice to check the points, plug gaps etc, but the bloody thing drove here a few hours ago so it’s not going to suddenly be anything like
that, is it?
It’s a 6 volt system, so there are people running around trying to find a suitable charger -but flat battery isn’t the problem either... I lend him a
plug spanner and he removes and cleans 5 of the 8 plugs - the other 3 are too inaccessible without a full tool kit. The plugs are soaking in petrol! It
should start on 5 clean ones though! Then I tell him to hold the throttle wide open, no pumping, and turn it over. On the first try, I notice that the
autochoke flaps are shut - that’s not helping! He admits that the choke “sometimes sticks”. I open them up and hold it open while he tries again. It
starts! He’s happy, and I get to go home now that I’ve got my plug spanner back!
I try not to look TOO smug at the various other advice-givers, because I want to get out of here in one piece.
On the way home, I spot the T-bird on the hard shoulder, and stop again. Turns out his bonnet has jarred open, and he was only closing it again before it
folded itself over the windscreen. Wise move - I had that happen once, driving along, view suddenly disappears and your face is covered in glass while the
seat is covered in shit. Not pleasant.
Fantastic day out, except that my valve cover gaskets are leaking again...
Anyway, upon arrival, we all get sorted out, have our drivers briefing, and get the cars stickered up.
Time for a wee shelter and some breakfast! Plenty room in here, and it always gets people talking!
Then it's time to dismantle all the stuff and head for home. The car is manky, but what a day!
