Ian Vincent

On the subject of CV and hindsight, there is an interesting piece in the S Times today. Apparently Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet has castigated the Government for acting too late. “This is a national scandal” he said. “We knew in the last week of January that this was coming”. But in late January he tweeted that “Coronavirus has moderate transmissibility and relatively low pathogenicity. There is no reason to foster panic”. Talk about a ‘U turn’. Rgds Ian

Brilliant clip. Thanks for posting. Rgds Ian

It may well be a Triumph colour but if the build record I have is correct, and I have no reason to doubt it, in 1959 Triumph were calling my dark green BRG. Rgds Ian

Driving away from Lake Misurana during the Liege Brescia Liege Rally last July.

Back in the day, I had an aged aunt who died and left me some money. I spent it on a 1964 Alfa Romeo Guilia Spider - this was in 1970. It had been undersealed at one time but it was still dissolving as I looked at it and the hood leaked like a sieve, but a wonderful car to drive. 1600 cc all aluminium, twin cam engine and 5 speed box, it was good for well over 100mph. It failed an MOT a couple of years later when the tester shoved his screwdriver through the top hat box section under the driver's seat. I drove it home jacked it up and repaired it - both sides of the car, with glass fibre formed around old Kellog's cornflake packets and then injected with polyurethane foam. I painted it with underseal and covered it in dust and muck before taking it to a different MOT station where it passed. When the sills needed replacing a year or so later, I cut off the old ones and used them as moulds to make some new ones which I pop riveted in place. THe car survived in that form as my daily driver until I went to work overseas for the first time and parked it up in my uncle's yard. Someone bought it from there for £100. Different times. Rgds Ian

THe map light is a period one bought on the bay as NOS. The overdrive switch is not push/pull, it is the correct egg shaped one for the car and works really well, just a flick of the little finger. The orange dot underneath the OD switch is the indicator for the OD logic box - it comes on if the logic switch has turned the OD off because the box has been through neutral and reminds me to turn the switch off as well. Rgds Ian PS It isn't Connaught Green, it is BRG. When I bought the car it was red but when I started to strip it, I found it had been resprayed and under the wheel arches it was still the original green. I sent a swatch of the original colour to somebody who mixed me up some paint to match it by eye. The Original build records (acquired from Bill Piggott later) show it as built 02/12/1959 between 1pm and 4.30pm. It was British Racing Green with Pearl Leather upholstery and white sidescreens and delivered to USAF - oh and it had whitewall tyres.

Then it wil look like a clone of my TR3a (apart from the fact it's a TR3). Rgds Ian

Thks. I now only have one little job left on my list and then I have run out of things to do. I’m going to replace all the rubber fuel pipes with ones that meet the R9 spec. Rgds Ian

Apologies for not replying earlier. The handles arrived in the post yesterday and I wanted to get straight on with it - nothing else to do! - so I fitted them using my approach of a couple of nuts welded to a strip which I pop riveted to the rear of the interior door panel. The result looks good to me. Thks to all who contributed their help and.... Rgds Ian

Happy Birthday Diane. Rgds Ian

Well done Tom - very generous. As this crisis rumbles on it is becoming increasingly clear that the people attempting to manage it are not up to the task. I doubt that it’s the fault of the Government, although they are the ones catching the flack, more likely it’s PHE and the relevant bit of the Civil Service. (At the very top, not those delivering the service). Is there likely to be any accountability when it’s all over? Probably not, it’ll all be swept under the carpet so that the same inept team can carry on with their mismanagement and retire with their gold plated pensions and their knighthoods. Good luck to Dominic Cummings with his campaign to make the Civil Service accountable. I didn’t support his Brexit policy but that’s a done deal now. He has my full support on the Civil Service. Rgds Ian

Unless your wife is a lot more mechanically minded than mine, how will she be able to help with the starting process? Follow Bob’s advice to pump up the oil pressure and give it a go. Rgds Ian

Remove the housing, block up the various holes turn it upside down and fill it with diesel and leave to penetrate. Rgds Ian PS Before you replace the bulb get one of the Revington brass adapters.

Thks again for the suggestion Peter, but have you seen the delivery date on the Rawlnut option? Rgds Ian

Hi Tom, You clearly aren't a fan of the Tory Party, or New Labour to judge from your posts about TB. It doesn't look like you are a Royalist either so who would you like to be in charge? Jezza - surely not! Who is going to save us from this mess? Rgds Ian