So…I rescued a dog in February, a border collie (mix, I think) named Brodie. Since then, I have essentially spent most of my time hanging with him, and absolutely none out in the shoppe doing anything useful on any of the vehicles! But I have washed nearly everything with wheels on it in the last month, so here’s some shots of the stable being hosed down, with the help of the pupper.
At the top of this post you can see Brodie sitting nicely (he does not do this much) next to the BSA, which I was going to re-commission for the road in hopes of going on the Isle of Vashon again this year, for the first time in awhile. But the Isle will be cancelled, me thinks (and should be in this covid-19 plague), and I haven’t yet done much. I think I’m going to try a Thorspark conversion on the magneto to try and cure the warm non-start problem, which is why the bike was shunted to the side in the first place.
The Morgan is stuck exactly where it was last time I mentioned it. I need to weld up the right-hand wing, and then fit the bonnet. When I will be doing this is unknown. (I would like to get this machine back on the road.) Behind it in the photo, you can see fence posts for running a small segment of fence which will allow me to have pupper visit me in the shop and not escape down the drive, which means I could work in there and not trigger his separation anxiety. Another project!
The Triumph is still working well. I think it has 28,000 miles on it, though only a few hundred of those were put on this year. Work has been slow, so even if I didn’t have doggo and we were not in the new dark ages, I wouldn’t have been able to afford a road trip. Maybe next year, or the year after?
Reggie the MGB is a reliable old car which I don’t deserve to own, really. It fired right up for this washing session, and I’ve driven it perhaps 100 miles this year. Pup really really disliked my attempt to take him for a ride in it! I have done literally nothing to this machine in ages, and it never complains. Champion.
The XJ6 is another machine which has been woefully neglected but fired up for a wash. I need to pull the engine and gearbox and re-seal them, and more importantly, replace every vacuum line in the car. I think its idle issues can mostly be traced to old and creaky vacuum lines, of which there are many. The engine is not in its first flush of youth, but I don’t have the $7,000 a rebuild costs, and it runs well enough to easily outlast me at this point, so I don’t see the point. I will accept donations if someone would like to pay for it!
(I am going to note here, as a developer who works with WordPress for a “living”, if that’s what you call it, that the block editor continues to be a tire fire. This simple post crashed it twice, and I have to edit images outside of wordpress because their built-in editor is still garbage. Bah.)
The Disco is where all of the action has been, sad as that is. I’ve put 9,000 miles on it in the past year. Mr. Pup can ride in the back, despite his awful car manners, because I have a dog guard in place. It has been pretty reliable and while there are a few niggling issues, everything works and it’s comfortable and capable. Awful gas mileage, but I knew that.
I’m sorta looking for a trailer, but without much enthusiasm, as used ones sell for, and I am not kidding, the same price as a new one. What kind of moron would buy used when new is available, with a warranty, un-dented fenders and un-rotted bed timbers? I guess some people must. But I don’t want to pay new prices, so unless a bargain shows up, I’ll do without.
Hello! Fellow Washington State Discovery owner here. I check in on your blog every year or so and have always enjoyed it.
Question, where did you get the headliner fabric from? Mine is in a pretty sad state of affairs and could use a recovering.
Monte, I’ll have to look, but I may have a piece big enough I could let you have cheap, since I bought twice as much as I needed. I think.