Weds.03.05.06. Chris and Colin had started work by 8.00 am. From being in the pits last night we were all uplifted as to how the car was coming together. The slow, meticulous, yet thoughtful, pace of Colin was paying real dividends. He had precisely marked all the necessary contact points for the wings, bonnet and nose cone to the central tub and scuttle. He shaved, very carefully, slivers from the leading edges of the bonnet so that it met the engine side panels perfectly. He had previously lowered the front wings by three centimetres causing a problem with the fitting of the nose cone. But, he had achieved a compromise by fine adjustment, maintaining the angle of the newly levelled bonnet, the lowered front wings and the nose cone. All the body panels fitted immaculately accentuating the beautiful flowing lines of the car. Small pieces of filler were then used as markers to finely position all the sections. It only remains for these areas to be rubbed down, sculpted slightly, thus blending into the whole. Everyone stood back to imagine how the car will now appear when finished. Edges smoothed, lines cleaned, angles altered, the new strength and engineering quality of the chassis, all were there to be admired. Collectively, we were witnessing three weeks of concentrated development work dramatically emerging before us.
Chris and Colin now turned their attentions to the cockpit. The monumental decision of whether or not the car should be left or right hand had been discussed in the ‘Roy Castle’ corner the night before. ‘Where will it live?’ France or Wigan, ‘how will it be maintained throughout a cold wet winter?’ ‘Could Gemma look after it if it was in London?’ But, as Chris remarked, “Just imagine driving through those quiet, leafy French roads”, was in fact, enough to sell the idea. The car will be changed to left hand drive; will be stored in France, driven in France, Italy and Spain, and anywhere else that the car will take us.
The next courageous development would be to replace the windscreen with two fly screens. This would solve many other impending problems that we have yet to meet. Namely, the location of the heater, the wiper motor, the re-design of the side screens, the fixing of the hood, all of which we now do not need. In an instant we were bursting with new ideas. Colin suggested that the gear stick could, in fact be moved forwards as well as shortened effecting a much more comfortable driving position. Chris felt that the hand brake mechanism should be centralised combining practicality with a comfortable working action. Colin favoured the height of the central tunnel being reduced to encourage a natural flow to the boot area. Chris pointed out that the pedal box was too high, stating that changing gear must have been extremely awkward: a new box must be fabricated then placed at a convenient height. It is all suddenly becoming exciting.
The gang had already gathered at the Oak by the time we arrived so we were met with a barrage of, “No more Bertie!”, “No more oily rag!” “Have you finally burned that Sofa in your garage?”, “get the round in!” Eventually, there was a half sensible request from Danny, “any progress with the plywood flyer?” Of course, this was water off two ducks backs as we pompously informed everyone of today’s dramatic progress. I, also, casually mentioned that the Post and Chronicle had been in contact requesting to produce an article about the car and the race. They would be in touch tomorrow to arrange a mutual meeting. The bating crowd was now silenced, but not for long.
Chris was mistakenly wearing the £3.00 jeans that he had won a few months earlier from Humphrey Moon, when he was still a car trader. They were £3.00 for a very good reason. Questions were asked as to what chest size they were and where did the arse finish. Chris defended his acquisition by extolling the quality of the denim and the finely stitched seams. His other main defence was to attack Toby’s pink polo shirt. Toby, for most of the evening, had been swanking around the pub, chatting to Katie the barmaid and Katie the saltette, like a rustic farmyard cock puffing out his chest. Lofty, as Danny refers to him, always has a serious ‘sniff’ when the chickitas are about: he is at his best when Jamie’s girlfriend is in the Oak ‘the girl with the massive charlies’ his eyes constantly glued to her chest. Lowtie felt that Chris could complete his ensemble by borrowing Toby’s shirt. Pink polo with denims would work but also means ……GAY. With that, Toby rips the polo from his back revealing his ancient crumpled torso then offers the shirt to Chris: who graciously declines. The polo is only returned after cries of “You’ll flatten the beer”, “you faver a lumpy mattress” and “you’ll frighten a bobby’s horse”. The girls at the bar cringed probably never having seen an old persons flesh before. Chris chuckles.
No comments:
Post a Comment