Dogs chase cars.

wol916 · Post by **wol916** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 3:58 am

We have all seen dogs chasing cars, the question is have they ever considered what they are going to do with it if they catch one.
It will be four years in June since I started my restoration I should have it done before that, the trouble is the nearer I get to completion the more I think - Great but what am I going to do with it? :?

Moeregaard · Post by **Moeregaard** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 4:03 am

You're going to drive and enjoy it. The nice thing about home restorations is that you're never really finished with them.

MarkE · Post by **MarkE** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:00 am

Warren, I don't think that your thoughts are so unusual.

I really enjoy the restoration process, and always start to think of the next project about three quarters of the way through! This usually means that I don't have much time to actually go and drive the car I've just restored, and when I do, it's never quite lives up to the dream.

I was chatting to a couple of the guys at Hagerty Insurance last year about how classics are used. Their view was that perhaps 10% are used less than 100 miles a year, 80% less than 1000 miles a year, and 10% over 1000 miles a year.

It's little wonder that road tax is free!

But really, there's nothing wrong with that situation. We have interest in classic cars for many different reasons, with some enjoying restoring, some modifying, some on organised tours and club events, some in racing and some of the more extreme in the concours world! Some even use their cars as everyday transport, but they are a very small minority.

I'm one of the 1000 miles a year or so, but with 4 classics on the road at one time, that does add up to quite a few thousand miles a year. ...just over 5000 miles last year, but that was exceptional. This year I'm quite focused on two smaller projects, so I doubt I will manage more than a couple of thousand miles in the classics. But I will have oily hands and a bad back!

So, what's the next project going to be??!!

wol916 · Post by **wol916** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:01 pm

De tomaso pantera race replica for track days.

wol916 · Post by **wol916** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:35 pm

Seriously though I think the problem is I will need something to fill the time (about 50 hours a month).
I?ve built many competition cars in the past and never had any reliability issues with those so I would hope this is no different and require little maintenance.
I suspect the answer will be a bike of some sort, who knows there may be a Brough Superior in the neighbors barn that they?ll sell for a few quid.

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 12:28 pm

wol916 wrote:I suspect the answer will be a bike of some sort, who knows there may be a Brough Superior in the neighbors barn that they?ll sell for a few quid.

Hard luck, I gave him a tenner for it last week.

I did very well on the deal.

I weighed it in for scrap and got twenty from the crusher guy. :-)

MarkE · Post by **MarkE** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 6:16 pm

One of the biggest bike shows of the year is one this weekend at Stafford, only an hour or so from you. You will get some good ideas there!

http://www.classicbikeshows.com/event/3 ... ycle-show/

I have been playing with a couple of Honda's finest from the 1980s. One is a CB1100R from 1983, and the other it's successor, a VF1000R from 1984. Both were made in very small numbers, homologated for production and endurance racing, and were hugely expensive in the day, and relatively quite cheap today. The V Four is a 16 valve quad cam with gear driven cams. which makes a fantastic whining gear noise, akin to a supercharger, from 3000 rrp up to 12,000 rpm. It still pops along even by today's standards.

There are also some fantastic bikes being brought over to the UK from the USA, mainly Japanese from the 70s and 80s, but many of the older British stuff from the 50s and 60s as well. All need restoring, as many seem to have been left in the back of the barn when the tyres needed replacing or the chain snapped. There are some seriously low mileage and stunning machines coming over.

Bikes are so easy to restore compared with cars, and most of the bits are still available, at least for the more popular machines from the 60s onwards. Go on, pop over to Stafford!

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:06 am

My Norton won an award at Stafford in the late 80s

Mick Grant's dad was drooling all over it. Still got it. Must rebuild the magneto before I get too old to bump start it. Not that it's heavy - it weighs much less than the works bikes did. I made half the fasteners myself because you couldn't buy aluminium imperial bolts and set screws in the UK. I turned the belt drive primary drive before you could buy such things, designed and made the full-flow pressure oil filtration setup, came second in that year's MCN Special of the Year competition at the BMF show behind a Rover V8 Jag-axle trike, blah, blah..

wol916 · Post by **wol916** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:13 pm

I know of a barn with an un used Norton F1 rotary in it, but he won't sell. Or at least not last time I asked. I do have a 990 KTM super Duke that needs cleaning but that's only an hours project.

trondvo · Post by **trondvo** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:52 pm

MarkE wrote:Warren, I don't think that your thoughts are so unusual.

I really enjoy the restoration process, and always start to think of the next project about three quarters of the way through! This usually means that I don't have much time to actually go and drive the car I've just restored, and when I do, it's never quite lives up to the dream.

...snip...snip...

I'll double that, restoring a car is great therapy, take away the stress from daily duties. I find the last 10% of a restoration hard, when the car is almost done one always wonder whether something needs redone or if you (or the mechanic) should have rebuilt that gearbox, gone for a new clutch, rebuilt the diff, etc etc.

Love the VF1000R, never had one though. I often find myself lurking around for a RD500YPVS or RG500. Those were the bikes I wanted in the 80's.

My now sold 750 SuperSport, if I remember right this is close to Gro?glockner, the hot summer of 2003 or 2004, 40 degrees heat on autobahn and I was going for Tuscany but turned back to the mountains when close to Verona.

Stelvio, same trip.

I ride my Monster S2R some 1500 km's a year but no (long) road trips on a Monster thank you.

Also have a 999S, a '56 Moto Morini 175GT and a Reno Leoni built Ducati 250, its not seeing road action though, its a race bike. In the front my 61 OTS being stripped for paint so this photo must be around 2000.

The Morini in Sicily 2004 Motogiro, the second photo I am in the back behind a really nice Gilera and its owner Patois.

The Morini almost broke down on the fifth day, we made it to the finish though. 11 years later I am almost done with the engine... things take time.

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