M 147 Editorial

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Ian Grace
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M 147 Editorial

Post by Ian Grace »

This morning I received the following from Mike Jones:

"Hi Ian,

Sue & I both heartily agree with your editorial in the latest mag.! I think that those of us who were lucky enough to use pre-war cars as everyday transport view them in a different light from those who buy them now as a hobby or plaything, or to indulge their restoration skills, and who never get round to driving them enough to become confident, or perhaps are dismayed to find that they don't behave like the latest offerings of the industry.

We should take a leaf out of the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost fraternity's book - they seem to go off on Continental journeys of 2,000 or 3,000 miles regularly without a second thought!

Cheers, Mike"

I think Mike could be on to something here. In my younger years, there was a time when my scruffy and unoriginal 1932 2-seat Minor was my only transport and I got used to driving it all over the country and in all weather conditions. I recall a few breakdowns, but none that I couldn't fix or jury rig at the roadside and press on. I've had brakes bind on (and get very hot!), the dynamo stop charging and so on. I did run a big end bearing in Hyde Park early one Sunday morning while racing an Austin 7! And I had a half shaft go on me on the long hill out of High Wycombe on my way from Reading to Henlow - that was my first day in the RAF. My Drill Sergeant wasn't impressed, but had to admit that he had never heard a more original excuse for being AWOL! But the point is, I weathered all these minor conveniences and got the car to the point where it was perfectly reliable and I drove it hundreds - if not thousands of miles.

The question is - how can we persuade current-day owners, who have never experienced this sort of motoring, that our cars are perfectly up to being driven, if only they will push through the initial period of road-sorting and becoming trusting of their cars?

The Austin 7 fraternity has never suffered like the Minor does. They regularly hold runs to the continent. I'm not so familiar with what they get up to today, but I recall in years gone by that they always ran an annual rally to one or other of the Principalities. And I know in recent times, a number of Sevens have entered the Peking to Paris. And of course, the VSCC has become swamped with Sevens that turn out in droves for nav rallies and trials nearly every weekend.

The VMR was firmly founded on the principle of encouraging owners to use their cars, so I am extraordinarily keen to prevent it from becoming an enthusiasts club for owners of cars that are treated as anachronisms, curiosities and investments which appears to be what is happening - with a few very notable exceptions, of course.

What does the team think?
Ian Grace
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Re: M 147 Editorial

Post by Ian Grace »

For reference, here's the Editorial:

"So we find this old Morris in a shed. The ash frame is rotten and the tin worm has done its worst. The tyres are perished, the bonnet has gone and mice have made their home in the back seat. After decades in damp and darkness we drag it out into the daylight and winch onto our trailer for the journey home where we work on it for years. Our labour done, we roll it out of our garage, fueled and ready. We press the starter button and it starts immediately. We take it down the road. It drives perfectly.

But does it work? Has it rewarded the effort of restoration? Perhaps so, perhaps not. If it drives, some might say, what more can you ask?

We can ask a great deal more, and the car that we have returned to life can fulfill much more than the task of taking us down the road. We have restored an element of time, and in the restoring of that element, we have restored the time for our own use. 1929 or 1931 or 1934 is here for us now to re-live, if only we recognize what we’ve done in this act, bringing life again to an old and living machine.

There are those who rebuild cars for the rebuilding’s sake and trailer their shining result to the judging ground where they are eased gently to the grass. And the judges, unthinking, walk down this row of dead metal to say, “This one wins.”

We haven’t sunk to that depth in the Register and most certainly never will, but there are a disconcerting number of newcomers to the vintage car world who think, seeing these immaculate cars and the handing out of trophies at beauty pageants, that this is the end result of those years of work, that scratchlessness and the correct sidelamps are the meaning behind it all.

Forgotten is the fact that cars are meant to be driven, and they cannot live unless they breathe the air of country lanes and taste the wind of going places across time. Times which include engine failures and oil leaks, binding brakes and battling downpours. If we lock our cars in the garage or take them out for an occasional trip to the local on a sunny Sunday, we are missing the transcendent joy of vintage motoring. Every day motoring, long, lonely journeys across the fells, trips to the seaside with the family and even sporting trials were all part of the time from which our cars came, what they were built for. As we restore these machines we should give heed to restore not only elegant steel and ash, but also to rebuild the context from which these living machines came.

Some quiet evening, we should take a moment to ask, is my car truly a living thing for me? If we hesitate, if we’re not quick with an honest affirmative, then we’ve restored a car out of context and left its time behind, and shame be upon us.

What’s our point? What urges this reminder? The point is that we should never allow ourselves to be blinded by the gleam of shining trophies, to bend our efforts to produce a dead showpiece in place of a living, breathing motor car.

All of our Morrises and MGs suffered but survived the war, many being laid up for lack of petrol. Now many of those survivors face a different storage purgatory. Ready to go anywhere, they are locked in garages while open roads beckon.

On Sunday October 20th, we will be promoting our very own VMR Drive-it-Day – just one day where members worldwide are urged to take a drive in their living machines. By all means, rain or shine, take it down to the local. Or further afield. Take your camera. Send in photos and journey reports. Use the day to celebrate not only our cars but the times from whence they came."


Regarding the last paragraph, we had just three Minors worldwide (all OHC) that turned out over the weekend of 20th October.
Trevor Wilkinson
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Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: M 147 Editorial

Post by Trevor Wilkinson »

Hi Ian, I am as guilty as the rest for not using my car on VMR drive it day,just happened to be the "wrong day". Having said that I do use my '34 two seater throughout the year,(it's not put away for winter).
It also driven to where ever we want to go( no trailer ),this year that has been to Anglesey, Wlitshire and North Norfolk plus all the local runs, nearly 2000 miles since January 1st. Distance isn't a problem but I usually keep to under 200 miles in a day but did easily manage nearly 250 miles returning home from North Wales in the spring.
In other years it has also been to Eire and Holland.
I think that a little time sorting out a suitable route before setting off makes for enjoyable motoring, as does an enthusiastic passenger, (I'm really lucky on that score).
So that's it, suitable route and happy/enthusiastic passenger helps, then go for it and enjoy your car while you are still able.
Was a nice autumn day here today so it was taken out for a run, about 25 miles
martinng
Posts: 147
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:31 pm

Re: M 147 Editorial

Post by martinng »

On this subject of vintage vehicles as everyday transport, I miss the times of my youth when my 1931 side valve two seater was my only form of transport. Mind you that was in the early sixties so it was then a youngster at a mere 30 years. How time flies and life moves on. It is staggering to think that this car will now be over eighty.

As a student in Loughborough I would drive to college from London and back each term, which was a trip of about 120 miles each way. I note from the logs I kept (sad person!) that I went via Chingford and Enfield to Potters Bar and picked up a bit of road destined to become the M25. Then up past St. Albans to Dunstable and onto the M1 to Newport Pagnall. I would not contemplate using the M1 these days. From Newport Pagnall I took the old A50 to Northampton and then on to Welford and Leicester and round the ring road to the A6 for Loughborough. I remember that this took me about 4 or 5 hours. The car always suffered with a slipping clutch, so had to be nursed along. Acceleration was quite mythical, the increasing revs being absorbed in the clutch rather than the road wheels. However, the car never failed on any of these trips.

I took a holiday in North Yorkshire and remember driving through central Manchester, where I was so confused by a traffic cop outside Old Trafford stadium that I misinterpreted his signals and drove on past him as he gave up he presented me with a deep bow. I am sure that would not happen today. I also took the car to the Isle of Man for a holiday, where the hills and the slipping clutch were tested to the limits, but my girl friend (now my wife) heroically walked up some hills and pushed on others! This fortitude was repaid by running out of petrol late at night on the TT course the day before a race. It is a heinous crime to obstruct the TT course so a phone call to Liverpool for emergency help was necessary and a reluctant local garage owner came out with petrol at £1 for a gallon (usually 5/- in 1966) at 1:00 am. Of course the story about running out of petrol late a night was altogether too good to be believed!

So finally the car was driven from Swindon where lived after college to Barnstaple in Devon to be stored in my parent's garage to keep it safe from the local children who were beginning to use it as a play thing.
In the three years that I used the car I had travelled 10,000 miles very reliably albeit rather slowly and in retrospect it was a sad day that I sold it to clear the garage before we went abroad for three years.

So now I have a new octogenarian to become acquainted with and when I am familiar with its habits and idiosyncrasies I hope that I will feel as confident to use the car as it was intended and travel these distances to avoid all the fuss and expense of trailers.
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