Classic car mechanic – The show must go on
‘In the corner of the workshop, Olli Ragbin sits watching events unfold before him’
Third week in a row and we’ve got more happy customers for you!
We’ve had this lovely lilac Morris 1,000,000 on the blog before, so I think it’s now worth a little back-story to bring you up to speed.
For the last 18 years Terry & Christine have been applying liberal doses of love and care into this little gem. A while back they commissioned the CCM techs to do those final little things to bring her over the line. From my corner of the workshop I’ve seen this scenario play out a fair few times now. The customer has a vision, has set the direction of travel and has often done a fair bit of graft themselves toward realising the dream. Final crafting handed over to CCM for that last ‘cherry on the cake’ bit.
I reckon they often visualise the end result with images of them tootling round the country lanes on a quiet summer morning. This is a long-term motivation and the image is, I suspect, oft revisited.
The last 5-10% is often the trickiest. Partly because it’s those last niggly jobs. Or even the jobs that just need that little bit of extra specialist care. The one thing our gang can do is put focussed time and expertise into your project. It’s what you commission us for. With that extra time, we can complete, finish and have you heading toward the sunny lanes.
I love this pic because it has personal history. These are happy people with a lovely car. In a world of increasing homogeneity, this purple 1000 stands out. It turns heads. It makes people smile. It brightens the day by just being…. well, by just being!
So congrats to Terry and Christine for getting the dream over the line. Love it.
(It's Morris week of CCM... Maureen (in the background) has been joined by a new friend... more of that later)
Guess whose camera had a smudge on the lens this week? Eric will no doubt argue he was doing this because he liked the effect. I think he forgot to wash his hands after that 3rd Jammy Dodger.
(what you can see is a stunning sliver/grey Mk II. What you can’t see is the contrasting red leather. I bloody love this car!)
The Jaguar Mk II. If ever a car defined what it is to be a classic in the eyes of many, this is it.
We did some work on steering bushes. At least I think it was the steering bushes. I could see the techs faffing around and muttering underneath and toward the front and after a short test-drive I could see lots of ‘imaginary exaggerated steering wheel’ action and much smiling.
This week it was back for suspension bushes. Apparently, the steering work had such a transformational effect that the whole hog was requested and anything that moved was to be bushed. And if it didn’t move, it was to be bushed till it did. (An approach you’ll remember young Chris has with welding)
Bushes on classics can be tricky. Suspension components exposed to the UK climate over many years put up a massive fight. It’s the sort of thing that if I were faced with would see me reaching for the biggest hammer and chisel I could find and would end up with a flattened thumb and the component in question being sworn at prior to being doused in petrol and set alight.
I think Eric sensed this personality weakness from the moment we met. It’s why the workshop rags are my thing. They don’t fight back and my thumbs are not in any immediate danger.
That’s how he sold it to me anyway. He walked away from the job offer and updated all tech training material with the ‘Olly exclusion zone’ clause which defines how close (or not) I’m allowed to get to customer cars.
(Not close)
One thing I’ve noticed about nearly all folk connected to CCM is we all share a certain character flaw.
I don’t want to get myself into hot water here, but it’s just a little too obvious to ignore. So let’s all recognise it, accept it and then we can all move on.
The tendency to let ‘heart-rule-head’ is present in each and every one of us.
And so, to this week’s ‘ridiculous purchases’ section.
Dr Ray has bought a motor home the length of Liphook. No wonder Mrs Dr Ray has the raging hump. This appeared outside the workshop this week and I wasn’t convinced it was driven there and genuinely suspect it was winched into position. Negotiating the tour bus round the back of the unit is ‘eye of the needle’ tricky.
Not to worry, to make a hard job even harder, it’s left hand drive….honestly… this thing was built for practicality and immediately blots its copy book by being the length of a small market town whilst insisting you sit in the passenger seat to sail it.
(Dr Ray looking for his book of excuses. He’s sure he left it in here somewhere)
Now Eric doesn’t make many mistakes (well, he makes loads of them actually, but pointing them out is hardly going to keep me in gainful employment, so I’ll just pretend he doesn’t).
Here is a pic of Eric’s latest, very sensible and completely understandable purchase. I believe it only needs a quick wipe over with a damp rag, maybe a spot of T-cut and she’ll be good to go.
(ok, ok, so the fog light cover is on upside down….stop being so critical)
(ok, ok, so perhaps they didn’t quite get the green on the left door matched pantone-perfect with the green on the right door. Stop nit-picking. It’s not an attractive quality in a person).
Ingrid’s left eyebrow is again raised toward the sky and the subtle silent headshake is back ….again.
(Just time for 2 more Jammy Dodgers and I’ll then get a shot of that TR7)
Back in the 80’s British Leyland launched this gem onto a suprised world. I seem to remember it was in the new avengers TV series (I was at the time less focused on the TR7 and more focussed on wanting to marry Purdy).
Hope was alive that the British car industry was gearing up to be on par with Lancia and the other Italian producers of exotic small sports cars. Reality didn’t quite turn out that way, but god, it’s still a beautiful car. Much underestimated in my view… I’ll take one with a V8 please and thank you.
Finally, a shameless plug for our local thespians. Many of you may not know that Hampshire’s most respected Classic Car Engineer is in fact also a titan of the acting industry. So versatile is he that he can overcome all obvious physical characteristics and transfer his audience into a land of make believe and wonder.
The gaffer is currently the Giant in Jack and the beanstalk and is also the lead role in Legally Blond (ok, so I may have overstated things a shade with the word ‘lead’ but he’s in it, so that’s all that counts.)
Neither a giant, nor blond is Eric. No money exchanged hands for his selection for these roles but I did hear rumour that this was Sepp Blatter’s final casting decision as ‘head of talent’ for the Haslemere Thespians (he took the role to keep a low profile following the fiasco of the 2022 world cup bid).
If you’ve even commissioned work with us, sold us a motorhome, motorcycle or small English van with nearly matching doors, then it is your duty as a human to buy a ticket and bring your most enthusiastic ovation (standing, naturally) to either, but preferably both of these shows.
That’s it for this now. As Panto season approaches, we’ll bid you a good week ahead and stay safe one and all.
From Siobhan, Dr Ray, Shrimp-eye Justin, Young Chris, Izzi, Ingrid, Alfie and Eric ‘he’s behind you’ the gaffer, see you next week
Olli
ps Great back story to the 'Minor million' below. only 350 examples made. All lilac!
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