Camp? Me?

Just got back from our jolly jaunt which consisted of:-

Driving down to the Isle of Wight Thursday 30th April. Attending the TSSC Isle of Wight Camping weekend Friday 1st - Monday 3rd. Staying on the island for some sun before heading to the TSSC SEM meet on Friday 8th May and coming back to sunny Lincoln on Sunday 10th May.

That'll be 11 days of camping and Triumphing!

The Isle of Wight camping weekend was superb. Especially on the Sunday convoy when 64 various Triumphs met up with another 20-30 cars from the TR register for an ice cream at the top of a hill!

First thing on the Thursday was to get ourselves to the Spyglass Inn in Ventnor for some fishy-food...


I can say that the local forty-niner beer was great. Not so great was the fact that the Herald laden with three beer filled adults (and one sober one) couldn't make it up the extremely steep, narrow and bendy Ventnor Hill road - think San Fransisco and Bullit!!! Luckily, Garth held on to the handbrake whilst I, very unusually, became suddenly athletic, leaped over the back of the car and managed to push it up with the little herald struggling. I also managed to jump back in before being left behind!!!

Below are some pics before the Sunday convoy which show some of the cars there...


"Jenny" the Herald next to fellow Lincs TSSC members Phil and Will's (now known as Phylis and Willis) extremely smart 13/60 Herald. Apparently the line-up photos are going to be published in Triumph World - we're the two on the far right of the bottom row!!!






Saturday saw 60-odd cars head for Blackgang Chine on the island and we even managed to blag a parking zone of our own!


Whilst on the island, Sarah (my long-suffering other half) managed to get away from Triumphs long enough to visit a local vineyard. She made short work of the samples!


Sunday night was barbeque night. "Jenny" decided to step up to the mark and become our local ale house for the evening! 10 litres of 'Wobbly Bob' didn't last long (I reckon Will drank most of it as Garth, Phil and myself hardly touched a drop - maybe!). We reckon by the time Stafford comes, we'll be able to adapt the boot rack for optics and crisps...




And me on a leafy lane with 'Jenny' the herald...


At SEM, "Jenny" was treated to a tune-up. These guys were very thorough and despite a diagnosed b*****ed dizzy, we got a 40% better fuel economy on our journey home!!!!


I'm now more eager than ever to get my Vitesse sorted. And guess what? I've even decided on Sapphire as the colour - it's only taken a year for that decision to be made!!!

We're all going on a summer holiday...

Thursday will see us travel to the TSSC Isle of Wight camping weekend.

As Garth and Ellie (Lincs Area Organisers) take the comforts of a caravan these days - and their 2.5PI drinks worse than Oliver Reed - they'll be taking their nice reliable modern. Which means that I have been entrusted to take their Herald 1200 - which we plan to all use whilst on the island.


Before departing, I thought it best to do some 'practice runs', so today we visited the TSSC Open Weekend - about 70 miles each way - to get a feel for the car. I think the car now forgives me!


It was nice to go to a Triumph-type thing in a Triumph-type car for a change (and we even had the hood down for the last 10 miles home although it was bl**dy cold and windy out of the sun).

We'll be staying on the Isle of Wight for a few days before we head off for the TSSC SEM meet (with my Herald driving duties needed again).

I've had so much fun in the Herald, I'm starting to remember a Vitesse shaped project in the garage that needs some attention...

Pies!

Thursday saw the Lincs TSSC group combining their favourite non-triumph things, Pie and Beer. Leicester & Rutland and Northants joined us to visit The Olde Pie Shoppe in Melton for a pie making session followed by a trip to the local ale house.


The results can be seen above. The slightly wobbly one on the left was made by Sarah, my better half, and the masterpeice on the right was "raised" by my own fair hands!

Huge thanks to Garth for organising the event, and to all those that came along to support us - I think we had over 30 people join us on the quest for the perfect pork pie.

Whilst in the pub, and on a pie high, I seem to have mentioned that I would have my car completed in time for the TSSC lincs camping weekend in September. Having spent the weekend shifting bits of the car into the new garage - I think it might have been slightly optimistic....

On the road again...

...unfortunately on the back of a trailer.

Having made the decision to move to a cheaper house to rent, it was time to get the car back into the daylight. The impending move and freezing temperatures had stopped all progress.

In preparation, it was moved outside and made "weatherproof" as I wasn't sure whether the transport people could do it Friday or Saturday.


Luckily John Fotheringham (01522 684004) were able to do the job straight away, so it was soon loaded and on the road. The chap driving the lorry was an absolute star and went out of his way to take care - and they were cheap (and I mean seriosuly cheap).


So, after the move, Blu was finally in his new - double sized home. I can't believe the missus swapped a huge kitchen and small garage, for a huge garage and tiny kitchen!!!




So once the house move is complete, and I've got some heating on the go, the car can finally be painted and rebuilt. Just watch this space...

Feeling Blue (Again!)

Thanks to Garth, I have now tried 'Royal Blue' as a match to the Vitesse's paintwork - but alas, my car is a lighter shade. It's somewhere between Royal Blue and Sapphire.

Now that it isn't a 'standard' colour, I can make the decision as to what colour I paint the entire car. It's got to be blue because of the registration - so will probably go with Sapphire, although I am tempted by Royal. Anyone got any thoughts (or even better pictures of Vitesses in varying shades)???

I am also planning to paint 3mm perspex the body colour and place it in front of dash to see if it looks OK. Vin's chrome dash was a bit too much for me...


Mind you, I quite like the idea of 12 gauges in the car....

Yey! I'm back.....!

A huge thanks to Keith and Ferny for helping me get the blog back onto the Club Triumph website. It needed an amendment to the .htaccess file in my webspace.

Naff all progress with the car, but at least people will now be able to read about that lack of progress!!! I still don't even know what colour it is.

Next Sunday the Lincs TSSC are off to Donna Nook (nr Louth) to see the seals birthing etc - it's a day out - and if anyone else fancied joining us on the run please feel free to come along! I'll be in the Triumph Suzuki Swift (see below)!

Also, I have been asked to provide some piccies of BLU for the Lincs TSSC calendar. My Vitesse will soon be the envy of all (well, those with a Lincs TSSC calendar and an even worse car). I want to be "Miss February" - watch this space!!!

Feeling Blue

I've tried the both Sapphire and Delft blue on my boot. The D on the left is delft and the blue square on the right is sapphire...



The rain spots don't help, but it looks like my colour is a deeper shade than either of those! Damn!

Will try royal blue next before I give up and contemplate painting all of the car (it's only the bonnet and doors that I was hoping not to paint).

I've sent the car details to the TSSC Vitesse Register, so they may come back and let me know what colour the car was originally. Based on the fact that it's a MK2 Vitesse with Mk1 body panels it could have been anything originally!!!