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Office Bearers & Committee Archivist Chairman: Michael Osborne Tel: 01463 871473 michael.oz@btopenworld.com Secretary: Ian Nixon Tel: 01349 866178 irf_nixon@hotmail.com Treasurer: Ian Thompson Tel: 01463 790969 ian.judith@virgin.net Committee Roy MacGregor Ranald Smith Miles Vincent Membership Ranald Smith The club has an extensive archive of information relating to all aspects of classic car ownership including technical advice etc. To access this, please contact the archivist, Ranald Smith, at Hawthorn Cottage, 2 Burn Road, Inverness IV2 3NG Tel: 01463 236459 Ranaldsmith@btinternet.com Copyright Neither the Editor nor the officers of the Highland Classic Motor Club are necessarily in agreement with opinions expressed in this magazine. Such opinions are entirely the views of the author and imply no recommendation by the Highland Classic Motor Club Bryan McIlwraith Renewals should be sent to Bryan at 72 Lochalsh Road, Inverness IV3 6HW Tel: 01463 222839 (work) 01463 741632 (home) Bmcilwraith@osteopath-highland.co.uk Please let Bryan know if you have an email address All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealings as permitted under the terms of the Copyright Design and Patents Act of 1988, no part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written permission of the Highland Classic Motor Club HCMC Homepage www.highlandclassic.org.uk Editor Callum Beveridge 47 Old Mill Lane, Inverness, Highland IV2 3XP Tel: 01463 231787 Email: editor@highlandclassic.ndo.co.uk The next Classic Scene GOES TO THE PRINTER on the Monday of the week preceding the next meeting Please send articles by e-mail or typed. 2 3 The Chairman s Bit 5 Editorial 7 Event Diary 8 Spring In The Highlands 10 Miles s Meanderings 12 Out & About Cover picture Pre-war Austins on the recent Drive It Day
April was a pretty good month once it had stopped raining and everywhere decided it was spring. The visit to Dalcross Air Traffic Control was a really interesting and enjoyable evening. We were shown around the Radar and Visual Control Rooms and as luck would have it 3 flights were due so we could watch their flight paths in the Radar room and then pop upstairs to see how they were handled by the controller as they made their final approaches and landed. I think what made the evening was the obvious enthusiasm the staff had for their work and their willingness to explain how all the systems operated. Inverness may not be the busiest airport in the world but I can't see Heathrow allowing a car club to wander about freely asking questions! Thanks go to Bryan for organising the visit. The Chairman s Bit from where the cavalcade made its way to The Old North Inn for a coffee and tyre kicking stop. Whilst we were there I presented a cheque for 500.00 to The Highland Hospice's representative Judith Thompson (wife of Ian our Treasurer). After about an hour most cars continued onwards through Beauly and Muir of Ord and took the scenic route along the Beauly Firth via Redcastle to our final destination at North Kessock. The Grantura was running well and all was good with the world! April also saw another very successful 'Drive it Day', once again blessed by good weather. Around 40 cars assembled at the start in Stadium Road Michael michael.oz@btopenworld.com This Months Meeting Thursday 5th May 7:00pm sharp. Visit to Black Isle Brewery, Allangrange, Munlochy 3
A snap of Donald Mackenzie in his youth? Have you ever wondered what the difference between Grandmothers and Grandfathers is? Well here it is: A friend, who worked away from home all week, always made a morning available when he would take his 7-year old granddaughter for a drive in the car for some bonding time just him and his granddaughter. One particular Sunday, however, he had a bad cold and just wanted to stay in bed. Luckily, his wife came to the rescue and said that she would take their granddaughter out in the car. When they returned, the little girl anxiously ran upstairs to see how her Grandfather was. 'Well, did you enjoy your ride with Grandma?' 'Great, Grandpa' the girl replied, 'and do you know what? We didn't see a single tosser, blind bastard, dick-head, pillock or wanker anywhere today!' Almost brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? 4
Hi, The weather gods smiled upon us on the 17th April for this years Drive It Day. The day started well with a couple of very good tool purchases at the car boot sale at the stadium and just got better as the day went on. Approx 40 cars made their way to the Old North Inn to completely fill the car park. The staff there served coffee and shortbread whilst Mike took the opportunity to present a cheque to the Highland Hospice on behalf of the club. The event ended with a trip around the Beauly Firth to finish in North Kessock in glorious sunshine. Long may that continue! Last months meeting was a fascinating visit to the Air Traffic Control Tower at Dalcross. We were entertained with takeoffs and landings and a very good night was had by all who attended. Thanks Bryan for organising that one. The Inverness Show on the 14th May is filling up up-to-date info on their blog spot at : http://www.invernessvehicleshow.blogspot.com If you re at a loose end this Sunday, and the weather s nice, pop along to the Forres Theme Day for a day in the park. They accept late entries on the day, and it s always a well-attended show. Editorial is your car and a chair! If you wish to join us, and haven t already let me know, you ll have to get in touch ASAP so that I can let the organisers know final numbers. This months meeting is a visit to the Black Isle Brewery. We need to be there at 7pm sharp for the tour This week, I received an entry for the Historic Wheel Rally at Brodie Castle another excellent day out (especially the lunch). Here s hoping for a dry day on Aug 14th. Don t forget the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Rally on 2/3 July. All club members are invited to join in the festivities with a road run on the Saturday followed by an evening ceilidh. Sunday is the Rally and autojumble. Again, all are welcome. Remember, you can receive this newsletter electronically, early, in full colour and do your bit to save the planet. Subscribe via the club website I ve submitted the club entry for the Tain www.highlandclassic.org.uk rally and we have 8 cars confirmed on the stand We have the use of a 10 x 30 Callum gazebo for the day, so all you need to bring editor@highlandclassic.ndo.co.uk 5
HIGHLAND CLASSIC MOTOR CLUB Monthly meetings (1st Thursday of every month) 2011 February 3rd AGM and Quiz Night North Kessock Hotel March 3rd Visit to Charles Perrins Garage and latest Project April 7th Visit to Control Tower at Dalcross Airport May 5th Black Isle Brewery Visit June 2nd Road run to Fort Augustus July 7th Drive Each others Cars Night Brockies Lodge, Kiltarlity August 4th Scenic drive to Whitebridge via Foyers September 1st Struie Run to Edderton Arms October 6th tba November 3rd Visit to Whites Metal Detectors, Inverness December 1st Christmas Club Night 2012 January 5th Annual Auction North Kessock Hotel February 2nd AGM North Kessock Hotel (Further details to be published in Classic Scene prior to the individual meetings) For Sale Wolseley Six landcrab Also a Triumph Dolomite Sprint Ray Lann, Nairn 6
Local Events Diary Here are some details of 2011 local motoring events that may be of interest to our members May 1st Forres Theme Day (New Date!) 7th Highland Historic Classic Commercial Vehicle Rd Run. Meet at Dalmore Distillery Alness at 9.00 a.m. approx, for run to Kyle of Lochalsh and a tour round the Isle of Skye to finish at Kings Arms Kyleakin. (Dinner B/B only 38.00 ) Contact:- charlie.munro21@btinternet.com or TEL:- 01349882220 14th Inverness Classic Vehicle Show. 27th/28th Riley Rally based in Strathpeffer June 5th Fraserburgh Vintage Car Rally 11th Strathpeffer Market Vintage Day 19th Tain Vintage vehicle Rally July 9th/10th 37th Scottish Transport Extravaganza at Glamis Castle 31st Knockhill Classic SpeedFair August 14th Historic Wheelsl Rally, Brodie Castle. 27th Fortrose Vintage Vehicle Rally September 3rd Dingwall Street Fair. Contact Donald Mackenzie 01349 861009 4th Motor Mania Grantown on Spey 17th/18th Selkirk Rally If you notice any errors or omissions, please let the editor know. For Sale 1986 Nissan Cedric automatic, 3 litre V6, 80k miles Offers around 1000 7 JD Bump, Westhill, Inverness 07890650635.
Spring In The Highlands 2011 This was the second year that Liz Bligh organised her spring highland rally for Austins. She was driving her late grandfather s 1936 Austin 10 Cabriolet; the other participants for all, or part of the rally were : David and Ethel Green (Caithness) 1936 Austin 10 Cambridge David and June Herron (Elgin) 1935 Austin 7 Ruby Mk 1 Brian and Audrey Hirst (Buckingham) 1934 Austin 10/4 Bob James (Powis) Driving a modern BMW but has restored many old Austins! Billy Lang and Beel McLennan (Forres) 1932 Austin 7 RN Bill and Mary Logan and their dog Jake (Fife) 1936 Austin Pearl David Parker (Lincolnshire) 1948 Austin 16 Dick and June Rickards (Forres) 1926 Austin 7 Chummy Alex Hall (Middlesex) Liz Bligh s brother and navigator for David Parker The rally base was The Newton Hotel, Nairn, where we forgathered on Friday 15 th April for introductory drinks and dinner. Saturday 16 th was a cold, overcast but fortunately dry day. One or two of the motors were running a little rough (? last year s petrol). In spite of the most detailed route instructions, we all managed to meet up at the first stop, Brodie Castle, from three different directions! The Castle was the seat of the Brodie Clan for 800 years but is now magnificently maintained by the National Trust for Scotland. During an extensive tour we saw a letter dated 1311 (in Latin) from Robert the Bruce To Thane of Brodie and also the coronation robe of Queen Adelaide (William IV s second wife) as well as many other treasures. Onward via Lossiemouth to Elgin for a miraculous lunch. Unfortunately we all missed the Ramsay MacDonald monument and the picturesque Lossiemouth harbour due to follow m leader syndrome being in full operation. The lovely lunch was miraculous on account of it being 24hours early. (Liz phoned the splendid Mansion House Hotel to warn of us running an hour late. No came the reply, 8
you re early, we re expecting you tomorrow! ) Thence to the Moray Motor Museum with its fascinating collection of domestic, sports and racing cars, vans, motorcycles and bicycles dating from the very early 20 th century. An unplanned route (on this occasion due to road closure!) took us through beautiful countryside back to Nairn. The day concluded with piping in of the haggis with whisky juggling, a four-course dinner, round of thanks (or was it thanksgiving?) and purchase of raffle tickets. Sunday 17 th was a delightfully warm, sunny day. A bucolic drive took us to Inchmore via Cawdor, Culloden and the Beauly firth. There we met up with a classic car fest of numerous wonderful cars including a classic Rolls Royce, 2L Bristol and a pea green bubble car (BMW). We enjoyed coffee, shortbread followed by the raffle draw. Then through the beautiful wooded Glen Affric to Tomich for delicious lentil soup and sandwiches ( 8.20) and, some of us, a pint of Belhaven beer. Onward through more of Glen Affric to Drumnadrochit and along the south bank of Loch Ness (where there was some very hairy overtaking by motorcyclists) to the palatial Culloden House Hotel for a fine tea of fruit cake and more shortbread. Thence through Nairnshire farmland (via, rally route followers only, Castle Stewart and the village of Ardersier) to Nairn. Six of the remaining ralliers enjoyed a convivial and relaxing evening meal at the Newton which concluded a satisfying weekend s motoring. Our thanks to Liz for organising such a good weekend and hope that her nerves are up to arranging another Spring in the Highlands in 2012. 9
Why is it that, as a motorist, when the postman rings your front door for a recorded delivery letter signature, you always assume that it s for a speeding fine? Luckily it wasn t, but it got the heart racing a little (a lot actually!) Talking of which, I fell out with Er indoors the other week as, when I got home from a particularly stressful day on the west coast and before I d even managed to get my jacket off, she pointed to a letter on the table entitled Safety Camera Partnership and said take a look at that. Well all I could see in the ensuing moments of panic that followed was a familiar number plate, A9 and 80 miles per hour ; and I really couldn t see why she was finding all of it so funny! Turns out though, that it was her Focus that we had returned to the lease company the week before but it was the collection driver that had obviously been tanking it down the A9 past Stirling, oblivious to the fact that there was a video camera van recording his every move. Unlucky mate! I was quick to point out; however, that she just maybe, had picked the wrong moment to bring it to my attention! (At least he hadn t ended up on his roof, a long way off the road, crossing Dava Moor like his unfortunate buddy did the other week, while picking up a Nissan 350Z from the Press and Journal!) We ve replaced the out going Focus with the same thing (well, all these modern euro-boxes are pretty much the same so why waste time trying to find out where all the knobs are in a new one, when you ve only just found out where they all are in the old one) and OMG! did you know that the Germans have bought Ford?! I kid you not, after my revelations in a Miles s Meanderings 10 previous meanderings about trying to get the bonnet open on a Focus, low and behold, our new one is keyless! And how do you get the bonnet open on a keyless Focus I hear you ask well, with a key of course. It kind of defeats the purpose really but they obviously couldn t think of another way so, no fancy credit card thingy, just a key that you don t use (because if you do, it really confuses the hell out of the on board computer). Oh and how we laughed too, while walking backwards and forwards, to and from the car, with and without the key in our pocket, trying to work out which combination of disco moves would actually render the car secure enough to walk away from it for any length of time without risking losing its entire contents to the next light-fingered scally that wandered past! It was almost as funny again when, one snowy morning, after I had cleared the car (while wearing my Rigger Boots ), I waved the wife off to work in it and then received a phone call from her pointing out that I still had the key in my pocket! The message on the dash had simply read Key outside car but it still happily drove away. Would a more sensible place for it to be kept, while driving, not be in a flaming keyhole, even if it was the one behind the blue oval Ford badge on the front grill for opening the bonnet! Doesn t new technology for the sake of new technology just drive you insane? Even my work has just given me a new hand-held computer to master, it s just like the ones the Tesco boys have (although, apparently, mine is nicer to sign, well at least until the screen gets cracked; I thought they came like that!).
At least they ve had the decency to leave the GPS turned off for the moment, I don t want them seeing how fast I m going, although that s all going to change when I get my new van. It s got a limiter! B@$T@&#$! They are even doing the technology thing in Classics now, you know. Have you seen those vintage-look radios you get nowadays that hide modern internals. If you want to listen to crisp DAB radio would you not just do it in the comfort of your fully loaded euro-box? Isn t part of the joy of Classic motoring, suffering the whistles, whines and crackles of poor reception on your dodgy old radio and cursing when your favourite C60 gets chewed while fast forwarding past that crap track, leaving you with a lap full of tangled tape and only two options; BIC it or bin it! When was the last time you past a tree or bush on the main road that was festooned with that familiar black plastic streamer, twisting in the breeze and glistening in the sunshine? (You re more likely to see a Tesco carrier bag in a tree nowadays!) The modern equivalent of the chewed tape seems to be the warped CD. My van is capable of super-heating one in the play-slot in about half an hour flat on a freezing morning with the heater on full blast. Maybe that s why there is such a readily available supply of the old silver CDs that adorn the dash boards of all those vans and trucks that chunter about the country where the driver clutches onto the misguided notion that they are some sort of secret weapon against invisible speed gun lasers! Their ingenious attempts to deflect or dissipate the rays of an unannounced Safety Camera Partnership speed trap may be completely ineffectual but I bet the drivers of these vehicles are not quite so jumpy in the morning... when the door bell rings! MILES P.S. Good news for all you Ale drinkers out there, The Struy Inn (west of Beauly on the Cannich road) has recently been taken over by a Classic fire-breathing 70 s Alfa Romeo driving Welsh Londoner with a taste for the dark stuff! It looks like we may have a new destination for one of our summer evening club runs. 11
Out & About Drve It Day Cars Clan Crusader If you re interested in further details of these vehicles, contact the editor for more info 12