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1000km or Bust!
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04-09-2013 2:55pm#12011 was a bad year for my classic driving. Some days Little Red would run sweet as a nut and other days she would break down 5 minutes after leaving the house. She had a random and intermittent fault that I had been chasing all year which made me lose faith in her. Like one Saturday she drove 150 miles without a hiccup sitting at 80mph on the motorway and sweeping through country roads all day. The following weekend the Little B1tch had me sitting at the side of the road 4 times in as many miles from the house. I had changed all the HT leads, I had changed 5 coils(!!!!), timing set, etc. etc. In the end I just couldn’t trust her and had really had lost faith. So much so that in 12 months I had only covered about 200 miles in her
Then one cold December day I decided to take her for a run up the road just to get her juices flowing. 1km up the road and she was coughing and spluttering as if on kangaroo petrol and then power dropped until she was dead at the side of the road. Not Again!!! So I restarted her and limped her home back to the garage. I happened to have my timing light out of the box so for sh1ts and giggle I stuck it on and found the timing was all out of whack! I reset it and took her back out and she ran sweet. I then gave her a kick in the guts and brought her up to red line, but again it was as if 3 of her cylinders had dropped out and she died. I limped her back to the garage again and checked the timing again- way out of whack! Yes finally the bloody problem! The advance/ retard mechanism in the distributor was sticking so no matter how many times you set the timing it would always go out of whack! I suppose after near 40 years of spinning something in there was bound to be worn or sticking. Christmas was a few weeks away so I covered her back up happily knowing that in the new year I would get her sorted.
2012 – A new year and time to get the little bitch fixed up! So I removed the distributor and sent it off to the UK to be totally refurbished and converted to electronic ignition. There was a few week lead time on that so while I was waiting a mate and I decided to address the front brake caliper piston that had been sticking for the previous few years. We stripped the caliper and sure enough one piston was seized and the other wasn’t great looking. So I ordered new pistons. While we were waiting on them we decided to remove the other front caliper and have a look. The pistons and seals were pretty bad too, so ordered new pistons and seals for that side too.
…..So while we were waiting on them we decided to have a look at the rear brakes……….found that they had been seized for what looked like for years………so we ordered rebuild kits for them………….so while we were waiting we decided to strip and rebuild the front wheel hub bearings………. Then strip and clean and paint the front bulk head…………..then fit an electric Kenlowe fan (but left wiring it on the long finger)………… Autumn rolled in and she was back together just as the weather turned bad. But there is always 2013………… ;-)
2013 – Another new year but also her 40th birthday! So time to put as much mileage on her as possible. But work and other priorities always meant that I never did. Then one day a friend invited me to do the annual K.V.V.C.C.C. Kerry Run. She wasn’t road tested and especially for such a 1000km long run from Dublin to Kerry!! But fu<k it! She will do the distance or else make a beautiful burning lump of metal on the side of the road somewhere. A mate decided to ride shotgun with me for the craic which was great as we could then share the driving as this was going to be a hands on long drive.
We had arranged to meet him in Dundrum at 10am that Friday morning. Even at 8am it was a glorious sunny morning and I knew the possibility of being stuck in Friday rush hour traffic was high. And in this heat she would boil and l never wired in the electric fan! Necessity is the mother of all invention! I chopped up an old flex from an extension lead for the wire, soldiered it to the battery terminals and then to the electric fan. I then ran two wires into the cabin. The “switch” to activate the fan was simply my passenger twisting together the two bare ends of the wires! Crude but it worked! Although my passenger was giving out about the risk of electric shocks and fire! ;-) It was now 10am, this last minute bodge has me late but the at least my makeshift fan wiring meant that we could keep the engine cool. And so off I set towards Dundrum.
On the M50 she flew along passing out most of the humdrum work road traffic. She purred at 70 all the way. She was flying! If she can handle 30mins on the motorway then she can handle Kerry! And so I then arrived at my mates gaff. “How did she go?” I was asked. “She is absolutely flying! She is well able for it!” I replied.
We loaded her up and then set off heading back towards the M50……. Or at least tried to! 300m from the house the traffic lights turned red and we stopped. The sun was beating down and the day was beautiful. The lights eventually turned green. And I pulled off with her lepping and bucking like a bandy legged kangaroo. :-0 Nooo! Not again! We managed to get her up onto a footpath and she died. “FFS! Only 300m from the house!! This is some start!! Grrr!!
It can’t be this problem again, it just can’t be!” But then again the new dizzy was never really tested, none of the car was really tested so maybe the new dizzy didn’t fix the original problem!?!?!?! We lifted the bonnet and did all the normal checks. Everything looked okay…….. after about 5 minutes we scratched our heads and wondered if it was game over?! I tried to start her and she purred into life! “Come on! Get in while she is running! We’ll blow the cobwebs off her on the open road!” And off we went!
And sure enough, after a kick in the guts on the open roads she was humming along. This wasn’t going to be a nanny handling trip, this was going to be a proper shake down with hard driving of 1000km to test the old girl for once and for all. We sat at 80 all the way for the next few hours. Engine turning over at 3800 rpm with overdrive in. Nearly 120 years of age between us two and the car! Water temperature remained constant and with no oil warning light we made good time and distance over the next few hours. We decided to take a detour, well faith decided that we would take a detour as we got lost and seen a sign for Bunratty. So we headed towards it and stopped to have a look at the impressive Bunratty Castle. We peeled ourselves out of the car and stretched our weary muscles. She is an assault on the senses in all aspects- muscles, nose, ears, everything, but such fun! This is not a modern car where you can relax and take things for granted, you need to constantly have your wits about you, you feel every bump, ripple and camber of the road, you have to be aware of everything around you and plan your breaking points or overtaking points. Real full senses driving!
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We spent about 40 minutes strolling around the castle and then an ice-cream later we were back on the road with my mate at the controls for the run from Limerick to Killarney.
On arriving in Killarney we realised just how drained we were and just how deaf we were. That evening while setting down in the Gleneagles Hotel with a few pints it felt like we had been at a Metallica gig all day- that constant drone in your brain-ball, dulled hearing and drained heavy head. Man we need ear defenders! But this was a full day of hard driving! But the 40 year old old girl didn’t let us down! A few pints led to a few more and then the next morning came….. The route was from Killarney and around the first half of the Ring of Kerry and stopping in the Waterville Lake Hotel just outside Waterville.( With some detours along the way of course! ;-) ) The muster point was the car park adjacent to the Gleneagles Hotel at 9:30 and then an official 10am kick off time to get the convoy moving. There was a very nice collection of machinery.
We’re got ourselves a convoy!
I’ll get you the next time!!!
Skellig Rock
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And then back to the mainland across the bridge.
The Waterville Lakes Hotel……………
Driving through the main gates and alone it’s drive something seemed a bit off……… the grass has been hastily cut but something else was strange but what was it? On arriving at the main entrance we could see that this was a huge hotel with beautiful views, but strangely “we” were the only cars parked in the car park. As we approached the reception entrance I noticed that the windows were filthy and the walls looked a little “aged”. And then we stepped through the doorway and into the huge reception area. It was like going back in time to 1994……….
You CAN with a NisSAN!
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An amazing piece of glass!
Woops! We forgot to put headlights in the design! We’ll stick ‘em on here so! ;-)
Class car.
The lobby and reception desk was built to handle a few 100 people coming and going per day. The expected din of the hustle and bustle of people in a hotel reception failed to register with our ears, instead a deathly silence. You could hear a pin drop. Then the slight smell of damp hit our noses, not an unpleasant one but just that musty smell of a house that had not been lived in for years. We approached the long reception desk but instead of 6 or 7 receptionists checking people in and out there was one person with a sheet of A4 paper and a biro. “ It is a stunning location and a huge complex, What happened here?” we asked. “Visitors simply stopped coming when the boom started”. “When was the last time that this place was open?” “This time last year for the annual K.V.V.C.C.C.!” :-0 It was mad and sad as what was such a fine hotel in its heyday is now a ghost hotel and spa.
It stunning view of the lakes no longer viewed from the balcony, the swimming pool and gym doors sealed with chains across them. Such a large and fine place forgotten……….
It brought back memories of The Shinning. A huge isolated hotel and we were the only people in it! The owners should organise “Shinning Weekends” with murder mystery clap trap. It would be eerie and spooky!
The Shining!
When I say that it was walking back into 1994, it really was! It was like time stood still in this place with the bright floral pattern carpets and curtains. An iron and ironing bed in every corridor. (Someday in the future we will have the technology so that EVERY room in a hotel can have its own iron and ironing board).
There were no electronic locks with swipe cards in 1994!
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LCD screen on the wall making you strain your eyes as you lie in bed?! Not in 1994! For each room gave the customer the luxury of a 14 inch colour TV on a portable TV stand that you could wheel over right next to your bed. Now that is clever and forward thinking.
The rooms were clean and warm with all their 1990s charm. We got changed and showered from a long day of driving and went to the dinner and bar area for the K.V.V.C.C.C. dinner dance.
During dinner one of the lads had to pop back to the room to get something. On his return he said that the room was like an icebox and called over a waiter to report it. “I apologise about that but we only started the heating up this morning for the rooms. And now all the heat is diverted to the bar and dinner area. But don’t worry we will divert it back to the rooms at the end of the night. )
Dinner was lovely and the drinks flowed. It was a great night and I have to say that I loved the hotel in all its quaint forgotten glory. They really should do Shinning Nights though!
Sunday morning arrived all too soon, and it was time to go to bed for a few hours. Bing-Bing-Bing! Crap! It’s nearly 10am! No time for breakfast the run is about to get going! So down we went and set off on the second and final half of the Ring of Kerry run; Waterville back to Killarney over Moll’s Gap.
Long forgotten but it’s former beauty can still be seen amidst it’s sad decay…
These are the roads that the GT6 was made for! Two hands on the wheel serpentining through sweeping narrow roads. But with a 4.5 inch road clearance at the rear we bottomed out with a hail of sparks quite a few times on the Kerry roads. Our spines and the car’s exhaust taking the impact. And then up and over Moll’s Gap. Again stunning scenery and roads that the GT6 shines on. The final section of Moll’s Gap is nearly hair pin after hair pin corners. Turn the wheel right and then immediately start winding on left lock, all 4 tyres whining in protest, use using our best resolve not to be thrown out of the car. “Fu,king hell!” uttered my co-driver, “Check our speed!” replied I. All during this frantic white knuckle ride we were doing 25 miles per hour!! A few months later I would cross the same road in my SW without even noticing the corners.
And then onto the final leg home: Killarney straight to Dublin in one large hop. Back up to motorway speed and sitting pretty at 80 for the next 4 hours or so. Again this is a serious test for the old girl. Even on such a hot day the water temp remained constant only rising slightly as we got caught in traffic in the towns. But once on the motorways she hummed at 3800rpm all the way to Dublin. We learned our lessons on the way down, so on this return journey we both sat in the car with big wads of tissue sticking out of our ears. Just enough to take the edge of the drone. And it worked! About 4 hours into the journey and all the past two nights were catching up so I turned to my co-driver to ask if he wanted to take her home, but alas he was already out and drooling on himself. So onwards we pushed. And 7 hours later after leaving Waterville including some food stops we arrived home in Dublin. 980km!! Not quite the 1000km but close enough! That was more distance on this one trip than what she had cover in the previous 4 years!
My co-driver had to head off to pick up his daughter so I said pick her up in Little Red and threw him the keys. In he jumped and started her up….burb, splutter, burb….nothing. The same problem as when we set off from his house 2 days and 980km earlier! But we put this down to the baking heat and her sitting on the driveway after such a long drive causing fuel vaporisation. Once she got moving and cool air and fuel was flowing she back purring again with that crisp 6 cylinder engine sound.
Thanks to all in the K.V.V.C.C.C. for such a great weekend and run.
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Great posts - thanks for taking the time.
Did the same trip from Dublin to Kerry, Ring of Kerry, Valencia etc in my '72 SL five years ago... those pics brought back happy memories.
Some great cars. The GT6 in red really stands out. Lovely lines on her (though I'd take the DBS I have to say!)0 -
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