MOTOR-BLOG from Coventry

It was my Birthday last week, so I took a couple of days off work to go camping down in the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are so close to us here in Coventry, that I hadn’t thought to go there for a fews days R and R before. Silly isn’t it?

The thought of going away but only driving for around an hour was both a blessing and a curse. I like driving you see, and the journey is an integral part of the holiday experience for me - how would I cope knowing that if I’d left something important behind rather than just doing without, I could comfortably jump in the car and go home to retrieve it?

Well very well as it turns out, despite it feeling a little strange at first. So Helen and I loaded up Susan the Vitesse, and off we went - but not before I’d removed most of the tools and spares that I routinely carry around with me to make room for sleeping bags, a modest tent and a fine selection of tinned comestables. 

Oops. Not a good move as it turns out, as I was soon pulled over on the side of the road between Stow On the Wold and Bourton on the Water with no gears…

Yes where the hell have I been and what the hell have I been doing? Almost a month since my last post? Disgraceful. What the hell am I playing at? Now I’ve got all the swearing out of the way I can tell you - I’ve been redesigning my website at www.neilcampbell.co.uk . It’s still not quite finished yet but as it’s Bank Holiday Monday and the weather is bloody awful, I’ll get the rest of the pages sorted out today.

I’ve also finished my girlfriends site at www.helenwoodward.co.uk and have added an online shop so you can buy as much jewellery off her as you like - and it’s been working too, so thanks to all who have ordered from it. And I’ve also been on holiday - thrice. The first one was a long weekend away for Helen’s Birthday in Wales and very nice it was too - apart from the Volvo playing up - more of that on another post though - there’s a lot to cover believe me.

Last bank holiday, we went down to the Lizard in Cornwall to vist our good friends Thurstan and Tracey and finally we got back last weekend from a week in Malaga - this is why I couldn’t attend the Beaulieu Autojumble on the Practical Classics stand - which was a dammned shame as I was itching to go to that one I can tell you (although it probably saved me from myself as I have an overwhelming desire to buy yet more cars).

The trip down to Cornwall was particulary nice as we don’t get to see T&T that often, and it’s always amusing to see how many more cars Thurstan has acquired. Since I saw them last Tracey has passed her driving test and as a result Thurstan has transformed one of their cars from this:

:

I.e. £250 worth of rusty, floorless, moss covered, MoT failed Herald 12/50 - to this:

I.e. about £450 of rusty, stuffed full of filler, moss covered, white rattle can sprayed MoT passed Herald 12/50.

Yes Phoebe is back on the road! I nearly bought this car a few years ago when I lived in London, but Thurstan bought it instead which was a good thing, as if I’d bought it would have been scrapped a long time ago. I only wanted it for the webasto roof you see, and would have sold it straight on to fate unknown, although it was such a state it would have more than likely become a spares car.

So it might not look pretty (although I’d argue that it does) and it might be as rough as a (insert your own simile here), but another old Triumph has been saved and pressed into almost daily use. As my collegue Keith Adams says - all Triumphs seem to look rough, an he’s right of course. For the very few Triumphs that don’t look rough, they just don’t look right (in my opinion anyway). Perhaps this is why I’ve just never got the Stag? I just don’t get it. I know the V8 is sweet, I know it wears a sharp Italian suit, but it’s about the only Standard-Triumph product that I’ve never harboured any desire for - and I was seriously considering buying a Standard Pennant lately so that’s saying something… 

So we had a great time down in Cornwall. Thurstan and I in his convertible Mark 2 Vitesse, and Helen and Tracey following on in her 12/50 Herald. What fun! If there is anything more enjoyable than blatting around the lanes of Cornwall in the blazing sun in old triumphs with good friends, I do not know what it is. So sitting here with the wind rattling the sashes, and the rain beating down on this bank holiday Monday in May, I can only hope for one thing - please can we have a good summer this year? Please?