[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

We have driven the route to Le Paradis many times. We don’t like to do motorways.

We bring a couple of thermos flasks and fill them up at our hotels. So we can pull over whenever we like, have a little leg stretch, drink some coffee


As I mentioned, finding just a simple place to have coffee in this part of France is a real problem. So we always bring our coffee, and often we pop into a supermarket for some food.

The driving here is superb, but stopping to eat and drink and talk is just as much fun.



On Sunday Annelies serves a sort of Tapas like dinner, very tasty!


Of course, Verdun is mostly known for the enormous battle in world war 1. The main battle lasted for 300 days, killed some 300.000 soldiers and wounded another 400.000. We visited the Verdun Museum. Hugely impressive!!

His Spider and his 2CV. Guests can borrow the 2CV, but not the Spider. If you have never driven a 2CV and get the chance, always go for it. These little cars are a hoot to drive. You can not get them to topple over, no matter how hard you try!


It was a fantastic route, gorgeous country, endless little villages. Also, we were very surprised by the number of Champagne houses. We had sort of thought there were a couple of dozen, maybe 40-50 different one. Turns out there are hundreds and hundreds of Champagne Houses. From very large, almost factory type of operation, to very small, run from a garage. And that is before we started counting the Co-Op Champagne outfits.

Reading your posts is like reading a cherished book. You lean back in a comfortable chair, nurse a drink and cherish the long posts.
Every sentence is crammed with tiny bits of information - from cars to champagne, from the nostalgic Cv2 to gorgeous French Cathedrals ...

A treat indeed.

The last CV2 I saw was in a James Bond - "For Yours Eyes Only".

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Reading your posts is like reading a cherished book. You lean back in a comfortable chair, nurse a drink and cherish the long posts.
Every sentence is crammed with tiny bits of information - from cars to champagne, from the nostalgic Cv2 to gorgeous French Cathedrals ...

A treat indeed.

The last CV2 I saw was in a James Bond - "For Yours Eyes Only".

Thanks so much for your kind words. I really appreciate the feedback. Nice to know you, and others, are enjoying this thread.

The 2CV, even though pretty old these days, is still very popular. Really good ones from the early years do command a premium. But there is just about a 2CV for every budget. They are very simple, so very easy to work on, no special tools required. Part availability is excellent, probably better then when it was still being produced. Cost next to nothing to insure and to run.

Many clubs. There are also quite a few classic car companies that specialise in 2CV rental. You can rent them by the hour/day or even a whole group of 2CVs, for say a company outing.

I will see if I can shoot some more of these 2CVs here and there. Getting ready for a very early morning departure tomorrow morning to the Bockhorner Oldtimer market in Northern Germany!! Got all the addresses I need to visit, including my first petrol stop in Germany in my TomTom.

Jeroen

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Thanks so much for your kind words. I really appreciate the feedback. Nice to know you, and others, are enjoying this thread.

It is indeed our pleasure to read all your posts. Amazing thread this one is. It is a learning experience for many of us here. To quote someone here - it is an exhilarating ride reading about your work.

Thank you so much.

[Jeroen]

Would you believe it! I don’t have an angle saw cutter. Well, I have a little pneumatic one, but that is useless on anything big.

Went shopping at the garden centre with my wife the other day. She has discovered, or rather remembered, how handy the Jeep is for garden centre shopping. You just load up any number of plants, pots, tools whatever.

I will come along and do the driving and the loading up, but whilst she is at the garden centre I always pop over to the next door DIY and hardware store for a more manly shopping experience. (

They had this Bosch Professional on special. Can’t go wrong with a Bosch angle saw cutter!!



I also picked up three of these pliers. They are to be used on some of the hose clamps on my Jeep. You can usually get them off with just any old plier and a bit of fiddling. Of course, it is better and more efficient to use these proper hose clamp pliers. Like I need an excuse to get some more specialised tools!!



Even so, Mrs D managed to run up a considerable bigger bill at the garden centre, than me at the DIY/Hardware shop.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

I have just come back from a two day trip in my W123 to Germany. I drove close to 950 km in all, mostly motorways. My W123 performed flawlessly. It never seizes to amaze me that you can still travel so effortlessly in what is a fourty year old car! In Germany on the Autobahn, on the autocruise, a very respectable 120 km/h!!

As I mentioned earlier I went to see the Borhorner Oldtimermarket. (https://www.bockhorner-oldtimermarkt.de). It is similar to the fabulous Beaulieu Auto Jumble in the UK. I have visited that venue about 3-4 times over the years. Always a fantastic experience!!

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...aulieu-uk.html (Outdoor sale of unique cars & parts at the International Autojumble, Beaulieu (UK))

Some people dont like to travel alone, they just find it boring. Although I do like company, I exactly do enjoy these short trips all by myself as well. These days I need to be a bit more careful. Due to some personal/medical reasons I need to take certain things into account. Two days is just about the maximum amount of time I can handle these days.

It is about 350 km or so. I wanted to arrive very early morning at the Oldtimer market on Friday. Because it is usually a bit more quite and you can roam around a bit easier. But rather than get up very early on Friday morning, I decided to drive to Wilhelmshaven and stay the night there. I had never been to Wilhelmshaven. Coastal / harbour town so plenty to see and do that would suit my interest.

Here we go. Route planned in the TomTom



I had planned my route so that I would have a first petrol stop just after passing the Dutch - German border. No border control in the EU. You just barrel through!!



I had found a petrol station only a few kilometers of the Motorway. However, what I had not counted on: all my fellow Dutch motorist were there as well. Compared to the Netherlands the price of petrol in Germany is really really cheap. About 20-25% less. So everybody that lives close to the German border fills up in Germany. This is a very unusual sight anywhere in a small European town. All Dutch cars queunig!



I decided to move on, it was taking to long. Found a self service pump only a few kilometers down the road. No other cars and the petrol was even cheaper!!

I drove straight onto my hotel, checked in and went exploring.

This is the famous Kaiser Wilhelm Bridge, one of the town’s famous landmarks





As you cross it you also have a great view of the German Navy museum. Obviously I had to visit it and you will see some more images of some of the ships on display.



Wilhelmshaven has a nice boulevard. Everything is happening at the boulevard. The town centre itself doesn’t have much in terms of attractions. Some nice parks, some interesting German architecture, but you want to be on the sea side for the attractions, the food, the drinks, and the sun/sea combination.



I had a bit of lunch and booked myself on a harbour tour. I love being out on the water. The tour takes you along the coastal line up to the deepwater docks and into the Navy harbour. I really enjoyed it. Afterwards I went to see the German Navy museum. I only had about 1,5 hour left before they were to close down for the day. So I decided to visit the main attractions, the submaren and the cruiser,

Here you see the Cruiser Bridge and mess room



And the submarine, quite a small one. You are allowed to go inside. As you will recall I used to be in the merchant navy, working amongst others, ocean going salvage tugs and AHTs. Those are small, cramped boats. You pack 22000BHP into a 60 meter ship, it is going to be cramped. But these subs give new meaning to being cramped and claustrophobic!



All the ships are open to the public. My only disappointment with them, apart from the submarine, there was not access to the engine room.







Afterwards I walked back to the center, had a nice dinner and went to my hotel. A nightcap and a little chat with some of the other hotel guests. I spotted them before, they had arrived in a gorgeous red DKW1100. My dad had one of these more than 50 years ago. Although ours was a boring beige one.

I had kept an eye of the weatherforcast the whole week and it has not been looking good. However, on the day itself all was well:



After a big breakfast I drove over to the venue. In true German fashion the organisation was excellent. Well sign posted. If you bring a classic car you get free access for one person as well. Part of the attraction of this market is the classic and young timer parking. It is huge and packs thousands of cars, driven to the event by their owner.

Whilst waiting in the queu I noticed another W123 in my rear view mirror.



The owner was an 82 year old German gentleman. He had been coming to this event for decades.

They handed me this leaflet. It had a sticker with a number. You had to peel off the sticker and attach it to the inside of your front window. The leaflet had the same number on it. You were to sign it and fill in your car registration number.

Apparently, they had the odd classic car stolen here in previous years. So now, when you leave the venue, they check your sticker versus your form to make sure.

Even so, I always use this fantastic steering wheel lock whenever my W123 is parked in a public space.



Lots of classic cars in this classic car (!?) parking place!



Lots of cars, but even more market stalls. You can find anything for your car or even some other stuff as well!







There were a lot of vendors from the Netherlands too. I recognised some, including the “sleutelprofessor” (Key-Professor). He’s a Dutch chap and he travels to just about every Classic car event anywhere in Europe!



What with the cheap price of petrol in Germany I considered buying some of these and filling up!



They also have some special sections on certain fields for special cars, such as fire engine, tractors, classic campers etc.

Love the Unimog!!



Lots of tools and lots of stuff for my machining hobby too!!



Did I mention you can find just about anything here? Have a look at this one stall.



Just as I was about to leave, the tractor entered the field. It is a real Porsche!!



I spend about 7,5 hours here. Very lucky with the weather. If it rains, these sort of events are done for. With so much stuff displayed in the open air, vendors have no other choice than to cover up everything.

Also, I always bring very sturdy walking shoes to these events. You will be doing an awful lot of walking and the fields can be muddy too! You dont want to be ruining your leather shoes!

My journey back home was very smooth, except for some heavy traffic when I got near Utrecht. Luckily, my TomTom with its traffic information managed to find me some sneak through detours. The one thing I noticed is that for some reason my cruise control on the way back, developed a small problem. It used to keep the set speed pretty stable. But on the way back I noticed it was going up and down by about 2-3 km/h. Not sure what’s going on, I will have a look at it soon.

I filled up to capacity, at the quiet, very cheap, self service petrol station just before crossing the border back into the Netherlands.

All in all, I had two very nice and interesting days. In all honesty, this Borhorner event is not on par with the Beaulieu Auto Jumble. But is comes in as a solid second as far as I am concerned. I will definitely come again.

Next event in only a few days: Two Alfa Spiders, two old gits and dozens and dozens of Swiss and Italian mountain passes!!

Jeroen

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Here we go. Route planned in the TomTom

Another delightful post. Now for a couple of questions:
Is this TomTom PNG as good as the Garmin?

Lots of tools and lots of stuff for my machining hobby too!!

Did I mention you can find just about anything here?

Real drool worthy collection of tools. As we can see from your collection of some tools sourced from these places - it is almost impossible to get them from regular tool shops.

A long time ago in a flea market called as Moor Market in Madras, I bought a meat grinder (made in Germany before WW II) . I bought a new grinder a few years ago. The new meat grinder gets jammed often, needs a big biceps muscle to operate, rusts like a bucket and generally useless. But the prewar German meat grinder is still a gem. And you can't find any rust in it.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Another delightful post. Now for a couple of questions:
Is this TomTom PNG as good as the Garmin?



Real drool worthy collection of tools. As we can see from your collection of some tools sourced from these places - it is almost impossible to get them from regular tool shops.

A long time ago in a flea market called as Moor Market in Madras, I bought a meat grinder (made in Germany before WW II) . I bought a new grinder a few years ago. The new meat grinder gets jammed often, needs a big biceps muscle to operate, rusts like a bucket and generally useless. But the prewar German meat grinder is still a gem. And you can't find any rust in it.

Thanks. Yes, I love my TomTom. Seamless navigation all over Europe. Free map updates via WiFi. Excellent speedcamera and average speed warnings and of course the traffic information which allows you to find different routes through heavy traffic, knows what routes and streets are closed etc.

Mine has the build in SIM, which used to be the best. Which works on the GPRS network which is 2G. In some parts of Europe 2G networks are being decommissioned, so the TI won’t work. Everything else will work of course.

Very easy Root planning on the computer or directly on the device.

Nee TomTom have no built in SIM but use a Bluetooth connection to your smart phone.

I have a small Garmin for my cycling and I also used a Garmin ETrex on my RE Bullet in India.

I find that many prewar appliances were overengineered. Which means they never ever break down. A lot of the old stuff you might find on fleamarkets might still work very well.

In August my wife and I are off to the largest fleamarket in Europe. Temploux in Belgium. 6-7 km of high quality brocante!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Today was a gorgeous summer day. About 22-23oC and a nice cool breeze. So we took the Spider for a spin. I had read about a “harbour festival” in Woerden. Only about 45 km from us. Best, we can get there via little country roads and one little ferry across the river Lek. Nice little tour.

Numerous town organise these havenfestivals as we call them. It is usually a mix of all kinds of ships on the waterfront and a whole bunch of other activities around it. Markets, displays, old crafts demonstration etc. Lots of food and drinks being sold to the public. Special things for kiddies etc.

This was a particular interesting one as they had brought together quite a nice collection of “classic ships”. From very large barges to tiny little push- and tugboats and some classic yachts too!

Woerden has a very old centre and it is what we call a “vestingstad”, a citadel. the old city walls are still present. It used to located on the river Rhine. So at some point in time it was a hugely important town, for traders and so on. But the Dutch kept changing all the river beds, building dikes, canals and what have you. You will be hard pressed to find the river Rhine anywhere other than close to the German border. The river here is called “the old Rhine” though.



Here you get an impression what a harbour festival looks like









The tug boat in the image above is based in Gorichem, pronounced Gorkum. It is a beautiful old steam tug boat. Prior to the outbreak of the second world war in the Netherlands we had a trick if anybody was suspected of being a German spy. We showed them a card with the name Gorinchem on it. Everybody in the Netherlands knows it is pronounced Gorkum. The (very clever) way of thinking was a German spy might speak Dutch, but he/she would give the game away, because only real Dutch now how to pronounce Gorinchem.

Here you see one of the inland barges (we call them binnenvaartschip) leaving the harbour.



Most of these classic oldtimer ship are diesel driven, but like the tugboat I showed earlier there were a few steam driven too. Like this gorgeous sloop.



There were several displays of stationary engines too. These might be called stationary engines, but if you have read my other post about the Stationary Engine Event, you will have understood their owner take these engines all over Europe. Including Woerden.



This was of particular interest to me. This old Industrie diesel was mounted inside a container on a barge. It was beautifully restored. I chatted to one of they guys. Like myself he too had sailed as a marine engineer, with Industrie engines too.

This one was running and you could observe the running gear, lubrication taking place etc.



For me the most interesting boats are always the tugboats. Big or small, Ultralarge or tiny, I just love tugboats. Here you see dozens of them:



The Netherlands still has hundreds of these old tugs. They are mostly privately owned, some are owned by societies/clubs. But they are all looked after extremely well. During the summer months they go from one nautical event to the next, all over the Netherlands and sometime into Belgium and Germany too.

They represent for all intents and purpose the Dutch Maritime Historical Heritage and Culture.

All the tugs enter into a competition and do a “pull”. So they tie up to a large hawser attached to a stress tester and they measure the bollard pull!



Whenever there is a public event in the Netherland, there will be one of these hurry gurdy things. Very Dutch, very pleasant to see them out here.



Some more barges moored on the opposite site of the canal.



Usually, at these sort of events, there will also be several boat model building clubs present. Some great models on display. These are all radio controlled. They are quite complicated. Twin propellors, rudders, bow thrusters, fire monitors, lights, radar, towing winch, anchor winch, all remotely operated.

This is the model of the oceangoing tug Happy Hunter. I have sailed on her once.
This particular model is made from a kit. Very well put together



But this tug was completely self build. So no kit. Sometimes you might get lucky and get a drawing from the internet. Some people will write to the owners/company. But a lot of it is done from photographs. Very impressed on the level of detailing on this tug.



Some more barges



A nice touch, they also had about a dozen or so, classic yachts. Gorgeous to look at:



All in all, a very pleasant day. We spend some 2,5 hours roaming the festival. Had a bite to eat and drink. Then we got back into our Spider and drove home across some different rural roads, different little ferry too.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

If I am in England, and I suspect that I might be talking to an American spy, then names like Warwick and Worcester, not to mention Cholmondeley

Another great outing, and very nice to see all the boats. The model making is super-impressive.

You might be glad to know that an old friend of mine lives on a converted tug boat near Ipswich. I do not know her well these days, but if I remember correctly, it is not just a static relic, but is a workable boat. I have the singular honour of having introduced her to sailing! But I became a landlubber, whilst she went on to live and sail on many a different craft, having a fondness for traditional rigs, and to become a marine artist, illustrator, and author!

[Jeroen]

An easy going Sunday, loverly weather. I spend several hours this morning fiddling with my cars. All sorts of odd jobs.

First, let me show you what I bought in Germany. Only three very cheap items.

I absolutely love this one, its an original Bosch poster mounted on special plastic board. I just happened to notice a guy rummaging around a bag at one of the market stalls. He pulled out five of these. He asked the guy how much they were. Euro 20 a piece the vendor said. Guys says I will give you Euro 15 for three! Which was the vendor said was ok. So I immediately said, I will have one for Euro 5 then! The vendor sighed, but he let me have it.



I also found a small set of adjustable pliers. It will replace the one I have as that is no good anymore. With this one, I have know three different sizes adjustable pliers. Only Euro 5!



Finally I spotted this little thing. It is a template for grinding different angles on drill bits, or cutters for my lathe/mill. I had been on the lookout for one for some time. Did not see them anywhere. Euro 2! Less than a cup of coffee.



This morning first thing I cleaned up the angle template:



Next I hung my Bosch Spark plug poster. These days, when I get myself an new poster / sign I usually end up re-arranging some of the existing ones. It is getting full.



Next I decided to see if I could find anything wrong with the W123 Cruise Control. Now this is a very simple aftermarket cruise control, I fitted many years ago. It took me and then neighbour Toon about 12-14 hours to fit it. Then it took me almost as many hours to get it to work properly.

This little device takes a pulse from a reed relais mounted near the drive shaft. Little magnet on the drive shaft and Bob’s your uncle. Worked ok. But after a few years I remembered I had an original MB pulse sensor which gets mounted on the back of the speedometer. That did a much better job of keeping the speed stable and it also lowered the speed at which I could engage the cruise control.

One year, whilst I was living in either the USA or India, I visited the Netherlands and drove my W123. All of sudden the cruise control wasn’t working. I eventually traced it to a broken electronic box, which got replaced. It has been working very well ever since. I love driving on the cruise control, especially on motorways. As I mentioned earlier, I noticed a little hysteresis/hunting in the speed earlier this week.

So I decided to check the Bowden cable, whether it might be running a bit tight. The Bowden cable is the bit between the cruis control activator and speed control arm or lever.

All of this is a bit of makeshift arrangement. I wanted to mount this aftermarket cruise control in such a way, it would not affect the car’s originality. So everything needs to be able to be taken off again and you would not be able to tell it was ever there. So no new holes to be drilled or whatever. I came up with this clever contraption of bits of steel plate and some parts I got in the bicycle shop.





I disconnected two bolts and that meant I could take the whole assembly off. A bit tricky, one of these bolts is tiny and fits into the aluminium attachment to the speed lever. Toon made this part himself and it took him a couple of hours filing. But a steel bolt in an aluminium parts is not the best combination. So I soaked it with penetrating oil and it came apart no problem.



You can see some wear here on the adjuster of the Bowden cable. Not a problem, as I re-attach everything I will make sure it’s well out of the way of the locking nut.



I could feel that the inner cable of the Bowden cable was running pretty smoothly. So I dont think that was the problem. Even so, with everything apart I decided to oil it. Strung it up, so I could drip some oil in from the top.



It’s always a bit of a debate what kind of oils works best. But I always use just teflon chain oil from my bicycle. It’s runny enough that it will find its way down between inner and outer cable. And it has capillary working too, so it will find its way into all nooks and crannies of the cable.



I wanted to test the cruise control, but I did not want to drive the Mercedes. To much hassle, I have to move four cars, before I can get it out of my garage. But I remembered this cruise control had a special test mode. I could not remember how to set it to test mode. Fortunately, not only do I read every manual of every device, car, domestic/garden appliance I buy, I also keep all my manuals for ever!.



Very easy. With the ignition off, press brake which will erase all previous data. Then hold the set button and start engine. When the engine runs, release set button and press on button. The cruise control is now in test mode. Which means you can use the up and down buttons to rev up /down the engine.

Quickly connected my special exhaust hose to dump the exhaust fumes outside the garage.



I am happy to report that the cruise control works fine. Of course I won’t know until I drive the Mercedes again. Just for good measure I lubricated all the levers and bearings in the very complicated speed control mechanism of this car.

Next, onto the Spider. Occasionally the Spider suffers from a bit of a sticky throttle pedal. When you touch the throttle pedal lightly I won’t move easily enough. So you push a little harder and then all of a sudden it moves and the engine revs up too much. The most likely cause of this are down to two rubbers that hold the complete pedal assembly in place and allow it to rotate.

You can see it here. The rubbers are pn 11911.44546.00. These rubbers are attached with brackets as shown to the front of the fire wall, directly behind the engine.



I replaced these rubbers more than 20 years ago. Made a huge difference at the time. But it is a real difficult job. Extremely difficult to get at the bolts. The bracket on the left is sort of accessible:



But the one on the right size is near impossible to get at:



I don’t have the spare rubbers anyway. I could have taken the two brakes off and lubricated everything. But I dont like to mess with the car only a few days prior to a big tour. You never know what else you might mess up. Lots of electrical connection that are likely to have to opened up. So best not, lets not tempt fate. So I just sprayed some teflon oil, very liberally in the general direction of these brackets.

You see here the window wiper fluid reservoir pulled up. Just to get slightly better access for my oil spray can. Fill up the reservoir as well



Finally I tied down the four spark plug leads on the Spider. There is supposed to be a cover on this little holder, but somewhere somehow it got lost. I will have to try to replace it. For now two tie-wraps will suffice.

Next, another little annoying problem on the Jeep. The driver door catch makes an awful sound. It is due to the fixing pin, not fitting properly anymore.



For some reason the pin works itself out of the hinge when you repeatedly open and close the door. So I took the pin out, before it fell out.





These pins have an inner piece that you are supposed to hammer down, which will expand the outer one. I managed to get it sort of fixed. But I am pretty sure that the bottom hinge into which the pin is supposed to set has become too loose. Which means I need to take it off, maybe weld it, or create some sort of bushing for it.

By now I had spend about 3,5 hours fiddling and it was time to join my wife in our gardening for lots of fiddling with all kinds of green stuff. I will need to return to some of these jobs at some later stage.

I have made an appointment to go and see a guy about my Jaguar roof liner replacement tomorrow evening. Looking forward to that.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Jeroen, Looking at your drill-angle gauge, I got the idea that it is home- or school-made.

I don't say shop-made, because I suspect that an apprentice, let alone a machinist, would have done a better job: one reason for my suspicion is the saw cuts that don't end at the point of the angle. My other reason is the substitution of the sideways 0 for a degree sign. If it was a commercial item, I doubt that they would hand-punch the numbers, which is also not done perfectly.

Nothing wrong with any of that: it adds to the charm to think it was made by hand, perhaps by a youngster in metal-work class. Might be worth checking the angles, though! Hmmm... I wonder where you will find a drill-angle-gauge gauge!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Jeroen, Looking at your drill-angle gauge, I got the idea that it is home- or school-made.

I don't say shop-made, because I suspect that an apprentice, let alone a machinist, would have done a better job: one reason for my suspicion is the saw cuts that don't end at the point of the angle. My other reason is the substitution of the sideways 0 for a degree sign. If it was a commercial item, I doubt that they would hand-punch the numbers, which is also not done perfectly.

Nothing wrong with any of that: it adds to the charm to think it was made by hand, perhaps by a youngster in metal-work class. Might be worth checking the angles, though! Hmmm... I wonder where you will find a drill-angle-gauge gauge!

You are probably right. It is all a bit crude. I thought it was just a bit of an unusual design. It’s also an unusuallyy thick. Typically these gauges are made out of 1,5-2mm steel. Mine is more than double. Maybe it is home- or school made?

I’ll see if I can double check the angles somehow.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

The last CV2 I saw was in a James Bond

My wife and I went for a little drive in the Jeep last night. We passed through Beesd, a village about 12 km from our home. There is a 2CV specialist based out there. Chateau Deux Chevaux. (https://www.citroen-klassiekers.nl/en/company-profile/)

They have dozens and dozens of all kinds of 2CVs sitting out in their yard. Have a look at this:







These looks mostly like unrestored ones. They all have a sign inside saying that he will restore any CV to any specification your require and also sells 2CV parts.





He also deals in Citroen Traction Avant.

On his website a lot of information on previous restorations and other good stuff.

https://www.citroen-klassiekers.nl/e...-deux-chevaux/

enjoy!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Earlier this week, I returned from my trip to Italy with spanner mate and friend Peter. We did 3000 km in six days and completed the 12in12 Challenge! I am doing a separate travel itinerary write up on the whole experience. Should be moved from the assembly line anytime soon.

My Spider performed flawlessly. I mentioned earlier the throttle pedal has been a bit sticky earlier. I had ordered parts earlier. They have arrived.



So I will need to change out all these rubbers in due course. Not a job I am looking forward to, very difficult to get access to.

Today I also took the Jaguar for its annual MOT, or APK as we call it.

Car on the lift.



Gives me the opportunity to have a quick inspection myself.



After all the usual checks, the final check is the emission measurement. Probe in the exhaust.





Everything was fine. I did notice that the rubber boots on the steering knuckles had started to crack. I will need to replace those. Once they have a real crack it will be an MOT fail immediately. The rubber boot protects the steering knuckle joint and ensures it stays properly lubricated. With a crack/tear in it, the knuckle will quickly fail.

Once they have ran all their MOT check points, the mechanic enters all relevant data into the computer, into a central database. Once he has entered all the data, he will get an approval, or he might be told the car is part of random sample that is going to get inspected by an official MOT inspector. In order to ensure the quality of the MOT all MOT stations get their work checked regularly. About 3% of the cars get checked over by a Dutch authority known as RDW (RijksdienstWegverkeer) MOT Inspector.

It ensures these garages carry out their MOTs correctly. If the RDW MOT inspectors finds any fault, the garage is going to be in trouble. They will be checked more regularly and if they dont clean up their act, might loose their MOT license. With a 3% sample rate, some 200.000 cars get checked over by the authorities each year.

I had just been talking to the mechanic that in all my years of multiple car ownership, none of my cars had ever been up for a random sample test. I should not have said so, because this time it was.

Nothing to worry than it takes more time. Usually I am in and out in about 30 minutes. But the RDW MOT inspector can arrive anywhere between immediately or 90 minutes after they get the inspection message on the computer. And the car can not be touched or moved, until the inspector gives the all clear.

I could not hang around that long. So they lend me an E-bicycle, so I could go home. These days all garages have at least half a dozen E-bicycles ready for customers who don't want to wait.



A couple of hours later they phoned. The inspector had found no fault with their findings, so they issued the APK certificate and I could pick up my car.

This is the certificate and in the bottom right hand it says Steekproef which means random check. and it is signed of by the RDW official.



I have kept all these APK certificates, of all my cars, over all the years. Part of each car provenance as they say.

As I had the Jaguar out of the garage, I have also moved the Jeep in the Mercedes spot and the Mercedes in the Jaguar spot. Work on the Jeep is about to commence in the next couple of days.



First things first. This Saturday is the Minidrome tour, organised by our friends Bernd and Loes. Part of the attraction for many of the participants is to visit Bernd’s car model museum: https://www.minidome.nl/homeSengels.html

Its always a nice tour in the immediate local neighbourhood. This time about fifty classic cars and part of the route is over our local dike in front of our home. We will have my daughter, son in law, and grand daughter Bella with us all weekend, so they will be on the dike, waiving us on!

The weather forecast isn’t to good. I would like to drive my Spider, but when it rains I will take the Mercedes.

Jeroen

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Today I participated in the Minidome Classic Car tour organised by my friend Berndt. This was the 22nd edition. Berndt has organised this event every year, with the exception of the Corona years.

It has changed name three times over the years. It was called after the village in which Berndt and wife Loes live and which is also where his car model museum happens to be. However, over these 22 years the name of the council under which Berndt village resides has changed. But it is still the same formulae. Very simple and relaxed. You mail Berndt via his website, you pay him a small fee and you show up for the day. All classic vehicle are welcome and you will see quite a spread of different models, brands, from trucks to cars, to motorcycles.

There will be marshals everywhere to guide people to park. They pick out the oldest cars separately. The oldest cars will leave for the tours first. You get a bag with some goodies, route description, rally shield and a voucher for a small gift at the end of the tour.

There is endless free coffee and tea for everybody. People start to arrive from 09.30 and by 11.15 Bernd will do a small welcome and final instructions for everybody. At 11.30 we start rolling. Bernd arranges for a lunch along the way. In this case it happened to be in the communal centre in our tiny village.

At the end of the day, by about 15.30 the route takes you back to Bernd’s museum and then to the starting location where we finish as well. Drinks and something to eat. And a small gift if you did not loose your voucher.

I choose the Mercedes over my Alfa Spider. Although I had enrolled with the Spider. But the weather did not look that great, I had driven the Spider almost 5000 km in all in the last 5-6 week. And after I returned from Italy I had cleaned it, waxed it. Did not want it to get wet and dirty right away. If you wonder what I was doing in Italy in a Spider have a look here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ent-italy.html (Alfa Romeo: Mega-drive through Europe to participate in unique 12in12 event in Italy)

Here my W123 wearing its Rally Shield for the day amongst some of the other cars present.



This might look like a Fiat 850, but it is in fact a Neckar Adria 850 from 1966. Only 6619 produced, right here in the Netherlands



At the front another famous Dutch brand, sadly demised. Daf. Of course we still have Daf trucks, but these little Daf’s are the real McCoy, sporting the original jaratelle CVT! (Also a Dutch invention)



Some people dont like Japanese cars, but these little Honda's are very cute, interesting little cars! They are tiny though, especially for the fairly tall and big Dutch!



This Austin is Berndts' pride and joy. Today it was driven by his daughter Anita. Berndt has a large number of classic cars, and he had brought about 5 or 6, driven by various family members. Some of the volunteers helping out, had got wheels from Berndt too .



Some more from the 50s:



This massive American Battle ship has been owned by the first Dutch owner from 1957 onwards!



In the Netherlands driving lessons prior to your driving exam are mandatory. You need a qualified driving instructor and car with dual control pedals. This company has been a well known local driving school for almost five decades. This was one of their earliest cars. I met a guy who remembered being taught how to drive in it!



A hugely diverse field of classic cars. Where else would you find an Opel Manta standing between a Citroen DS and a Mercedes Pagoda.



Probably about half the participants are pretty much locals, less than an hours rural driving away. The owners of the Opel Manta live in the next village from u. But some people had started driving the day before and stayed in a hotel. Berndt knows an awful lot of people in the classic car scene. Most Dutch car clubs have visited his museum more than once. About 60% of the participants has been on this tour at least twice before. One guy had done all 22!

So it is a very amicable crowd, lots of people knowing each other. Catching up after three missed years due to Corona!

Not really my thing, but very popular these day. Classic campers. More uncomfortable than a modern one, or even a caravan. But it takes all kinds as they say.



There are always a couple of Jeeps;



Some engine details:



This is what I would call a proper, proper coil!!



11.15: Berndt doing his little welcome speech, thanking all the volunteers and sponsors, and then we are off!!



Rolling along little rural roads and dikes





The lunch stop at the community centre of Spijk, West Betuwe, Gelderland (that is a lot of names and letters for a village with just 700 people living in it!!)





The Sunbeam in front of me belonged to an elderly couple. Not sure of their age, but they appeared to be a lot older than I am. The gentleman was not very mobile, so his wife was driving. Not a small car, not an easy car to handle, heavy on the pedals and in particular the steering. I think she had done it lots of time before, because she drove for 3,5 hours without any problems.



Berndt makes a little booklet that holds the complete route description. He always uses the same method. Basically telling you where to turn, some description of buildings along the way (e.g. turn right in front of the cafe), or stay on the right on the Y-junction etc. Very simple, works really well.



All these years, Berndt always presented all participants with a very nice, tiny model car made of tin. Here are my two models from earlier years.



Unfortunately, tin models have become extremely expensive over the last few years. So its not feasible to use tin models as gift. But Berndt, an expert in model cars of course, found a very nice alternative. When we got back to the staring location his wife Loes and a friend had set up a table with the new gifts.



You hand in your voucher, you get your free gift. Very nice little model. Made of steel too!!



All in all a very enjoyable day, nice crowd, well organised, some interesting cars and a nice drive in my own stomping grounds.

Thanks Berndt and team! Hopefully another repeat next year. It is already in my diary, last Saturday in June.

I have started on the Jeep as well. Yesterday I did manage to get the pulley/harmonic balancer off the engine. Turned out a huge job. Most likely I will finish fitting the new crankshaft seal and pull/harmonic balances in the next couple of days. Will do an extensive write up.

Jeroen