Actually the damn thing needed a stick of dynamite under it’s tail. I did get it into a gallop for half a mile though.
A minor distraction from rebuilding ROJ, a week sailing down the Nile.
Now, where are those new circlip pliers…?
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There is always something entertaining going on up at the farm.
This weekend I was fighting a losing battle with a front suspension unit when a truly enormous low loader arrived – carrying what could only be decribed as 20 tons of earth and rust.
 Where do you want this guv? shouted the driver.
“er, MALCOLM!” I yelled.
 In fact it wasn’t an enormous Renault, but a very rare and ancient American made tractor – an Allis -Chalmers HD14 bulldozer from around 1942
It had been bought by Malcolm’s landlord – a genial farmer with a penchant for old agricultural relics – most of which litter the farm like stranded first world war battleships.
We had a very happy half hour watching them hitch up the crane and lower the thing to the ground.
 The race is now on to see who drives off the farm first, the A-C or ROJ.
 Oh yes and ROJ. I spent the weekend refurbishing and refitting the steering collumn. I can now fit the steering wheel and sit in the car going ‘brumm, brumm’.
…and the Lord said: “let there be light.” and there was light…. and you could see for bloody miles…
Being somewhat short of sight I decided to splash out and buy a hideously expensive welding mask, a Speedglas 9002X auto-darkening screen with larger viewing area.
This weekend I tried it out. After setting up the welder and attaching new gas bottle bottle, I spent an hour or so just playing – butt-welds, lap welds, 90-degree joints, the best I’ve ever done.
Sadly all of the chassis welding on ROJ is complete – the only welding still to be done is when we replace the aluminium bodywork. I’m hoping Malcolm will teach me how.
My wife’s little VDP 1300 however still needs a little work to the sills and rear wheel arches, so I should have plenty of opportunity to play.
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