tinworm-wheels: Lily keeps me warm again

Sunday, 23 November 2008

Lily keeps me warm again

A few years ago my Prefect, with its heater whirring, was the warmest place to be on a wintery day - warmer even than my house...But failing that, the trick, as old folk know, is to keep active.

So, while others doubtless decided that when snow-bound, there was no alternative but to turn up the thermostat and watch TV all day, I was outside, scraping snow off Lily, bolting my newly-charged battery in, pulling out the choke and firing the old girl into life, before driving her up onto the ramps so that I could slide under her and inspect her bottom. I couldn't see the nascent hole which MOT chaps, last year, had said would make welding necessary before the next test (now past due), but I will have a better look when there isn't a stream of freezing snow run-off trickling down my neck.

I am hopeful that no welding will be necessary because the supposedly simple jobs always stretch out much longer than expected, and my time is far better spent. But I WILL have to tackle the rusty guttering above the car doors and the bottoms of the rear doors, as well as other bubbling patches on the bonnet and near the filler cap. No second hand price will compensate for losing the fun I have with Lily, so I might as well start looking after her properly.

I think I should seriously look at replacing the rubbers around the screens,which let in rain, the rust patches and along the trims....so that I can keep enjoying driving her. Quite frankly, she is more reliable than my "proper" car.

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Tinworm's Other Wheels

Here are some links to some of my other vehicles. My Lamb Chop (Lambretta Chopper), a re-modelled LI frame with 150cc SX engine rebored to 175cc, with stage two tuning and custom seat made from a laminated office chair by yours truly. The pic is the sweetheart photo I keep in my wallet. I prefer to think that I wouldn't do something like this to a scooter but I suppose the fact that I enjoy someone else's handywork makes me a bit of a hyporite. It won best scooter at the Bristol Bike Show 1999, before I rode it to the Isle of Wight for the annual rally. I got a heat seizure on the way back but got the clutch in quicky enough to save the engine.

Here is a slideshow of a bike I have put on a back-burner until the 101 is finished. The restored engine is in my livingroom but the rest of it is stored in the airing cupboard, etc. It is a Francis Barnett Fulmar, 1962. I won it in a pub bet when I was 16. Later, I gave up all worldly belongings to join an ascetic religious order, returning the bike to its previous owner. Years later (now apostate), I found him again and did a deal to get it back.

This is my Ford Prefect, which is on the road and starts every time. Last winter a mate came round and we sat in it with the heater on because it is warmer than my house! Since taking these pictures, I have had the number changed. For some reason when the original number was sold DVLA gave it the wrong period plate, an A reg. They corrected the error for free. It now has authentic black and silver plates.

I restored my Cyclemaster in 1994 and found a 1954 Tax disc under a 1980s one. The bike is a 1940s one and when petrol was rationed and motorbikes, let alone cars, were prohibitively expensive, autocyles (early dedicated mopeds) and cyclemotors (engines for bicycles) were the popular solution here. You just replaced the bicycle wheel with one of these with a 32cc engine in it (made in the early 1950s) and could run for a couple of hundred miles or more on a gallon. I loved riding mine until I dropped it downstairs. I am in the process of replacing the buckled front forks and sorting out the coaster hub which is locked-on. I am hoping to ride it in a forthcoming NACC rally. (the close-up pic is of someone else's engine. Mine has a cover-plate over the carb)