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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Sammio Builds and discussions

Sammio Builds and discussions Sammio bodied car builds and specials

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  #2841  
Old 2nd December 2016, 07:45
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Triumph Special - Thanks for the alternative brake handle options.

At least I have something to fall back on if my attempt to trim the existing handle goes horribly wrong.

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Deggsy - Cheers Derek.

I remember Jeff H saying the same thing about the risks of driving around in primer.

At a push, I might be able to put my Circus Tent up on the driveway to offer some protection when painting.



But I guess I will have to wait until the outside temperature warms up a bit before getting the brush/roller out.
( No compressors will be harmed in the painting of this car. )

Thankfully, the more I drive the car, the less worried I become about the final paint finish.

At one end of the paint scale you have the "survivor" look that Gary/Lancelot Link has used recently.



At the other end, you have Jeff H's work.



So my target paint finish is better than survivor, but worse than professional.

As that will match my overall build standard, complete with mis-matches and slightly lumpy bits.

Cheers, Paul.
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  #2842  
Old 4th December 2016, 19:18
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Christmas Shopping
I was supposed to be spending the whole day sorting out Christmas cards and pressies and not playing with the car.

Then I took a quick break to watch the video clip that Michiel posted of his old Spyder #47 here:
http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/foru...&postcount=206

And before I knew it I was peeling off the covers and taking the Swordfish out to the shops.

It was also a good excuse to try out my new Winter gloves.



Then, with one small present safely tucked in behind the passenger seat, I took the scenic route home.

Although I should have packed my proper camera, as there was a great view of Wembley stadium here.



Just over 10 miles in total, but as the man in the video says….

"I never come home with a sad face."



Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2843  
Old 11th December 2016, 15:28
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Limited Sunday Service:
The good news is that by yesterday I had almost all my Christmas cards and parcels in the post.

However, I needed to return/exchange one gift this morning, but the shops didn't open until 11am.

As I still can't persuade my daughters to go for a drive in the Swordfish* I had to take my normal car.
( * You're sooooo embarrassing dad. )

Which meant it was almost 1pm when I finally got out for a drive.

There was a silly amount of traffic in every direction I tried, so I only managed 16 miles in over an hour.

Waterloo may have been won on the playing fields of Eton, but these are some of the playing fields of Harrow.



I wore tinted goggles today in an attempt to combat the sun sitting so low in the sky.



They helped a bit, but were still not great.

So next time I am out, I will copy something I saw Phil9 do and put somesome tape along the top edge.

Something like this, final size and shape TBC.



Note:
In my haste to grab some electrical tape from the summer house, I picked up black wire wrap by mistake.

Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2844  
Old 11th December 2016, 16:16
DaveP DaveP is offline
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The Swordfish still looking great Paul. If I was your neighbour I'd have come shopping instead. Kids eh!

Dave
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  #2845  
Old 12th December 2016, 19:07
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Nice to see you're still managing to get out in the car Paul, i had thought i may of been able to get out yesterday but the weather up here is poor plus the roads are covered in salt.

Keep posting the pictures, great to see.
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  #2846  
Old 13th December 2016, 08:12
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DaveP - Cheers.

Reading is not that far from here, so I am sure we could arrange a meet up for a spin some time in 2017.

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Swifty - My plan is to keep driving it as much as possible over the winter to stop anything seising up.

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PS
I forgot to say that when I was driving on Sunday I did spot a few other hardy souls out with their roofs down.

Including a couple in a 4 seater Audi with a huge wrapped up Christmas Tree on the back seat.
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  #2847  
Old 17th December 2016, 15:10
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Bloody Fog!
I haven't been able to sneak out for a quick drive, as there has been a damp fog lingering around here all day.

Still, there is some good news, as I've bought a second hand GoPro from Ebay, which should hopefully arrive before Christmas.

Once I have got the hang of it, I will attempt to film and pull together some in/on car footage to the sounds of On days like these.

Unfortunately, I don't have any beautiful mountain passes to play with and the trees around here are currently bare, not green.

So I expect The Wembley Job will not be as glamorous as the original version, but still coming to a forum near you in 2017.

Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2848  
Old 18th December 2016, 20:37
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A Winter's Tale:
Are you sitting comfortably?

Then I'll begin...

With a busy day ahead of me, and no chance to drive yesterday due to the fog, I only had one chance to play today.

So just after 9am I did the motoring equivalent of tip-toeing out of the driveway and worked my way quietly up my street.

I then stopped to double check my rear lights were working as I definitely needed to be seen as it was a murky morning.

My first stop gave me a chance to show just how murky it was.



There was enough moisture in the air for it to collect on the aero screens.



But it wasn't actually raining, as the passenger seat remained dry.



A group of older men out for a walk stopped for a chat and to take a few photos of the car themselves.

I was just waving goodbye to them and about to head out of the car park when a police car pulled it.

They looked over at me as they passed and I gave them a friendly nod and smile as I pulled away.

Less than a mile later I spot two people walking side by side on the road ahead (as there was no pavement).

No problem I thought, I eased up and as this was a double centre line stretch was contemplating stopping if I couldn't pass them safely.

Next thing the older bloke stepped behind his mate and tripped over a branch and half fell into the road.

Again, no problem, as I just pulled up to give him a chance to find his footing.

What happened next defies belief…

As I crawled past them, this bloke started shouting and swearing at me, complete with finger pointing and leaning into the cockpit.

Apparently I was driving like a demon and should slow down before I killed someone, etc.

Now I must confess this caught me a bit off guard.

Not least because if I had been driving like that then I would have run him over and he wouldn't actually be standing there swearing at me.

Now I've lived in London long enough to know you can't win an argument with a loony and I should have driven off straight away.

But the dogs abuse he continued to give me did start to wind me up and I drove a bit further up the road and pulled over at the next available safe spot.

I sat there for a minute seriously considering getting out of the car and running after him to see if he would swear this much at me "face to face".

Please Note: This is never a good idea, so don't try this at home!

Thankfully, at this point the police car from the car park reached this bloke who flagged them down and I guess told them what a lunatic I was.

So I just pulled away slowly, as I figured I knew what was coming next, so a short drive would help calm me down a bit.

Sure enough, the police car followed me for a bit before the blue lights came on and I was pulled over.

Now I rode motorcycles for almost 20 years and two things have always worked in my favour when I got stopped.

First - Be basically 'legal', so I never rode without tax, insurance, MOT, a bike registered in my name and I don't drink and drive.

Second - Be nice, the police have a job to do and most of the time I was stopped to check I wasn't on a stolen bike.
( Which I always appreciated, as some stole my first motorcycle. )

Note: This was in the days before number plate recognition software, so carrying your documents also made sense.

Anyway, back to this morning and I switched of the engine and hopped out to have a chat.

I said they may have heard an interesting story about my driving that was a long way from the truth.

I pointed to the car and explained that it had very little in the way of modern safely features.

So I did not drive it like a demented lunatic, especially on misty days with damp road surfaces.

I also mentioned that he was only able to abuse me because I had safely pulled up in front of him with no drama whatsoever.

The officers said that they had already figured out he was a bit of an "excitable" gentleman.

They also said that his story of my speed and his ability to talk to me about my speed didn't quite add up.

However, I couldn't help but smile when they then said…

"Anyway, enough about him. Tell us about the car."

So we had a great chat before I headed off on my way.

I continued to just drive around enjoying the journey before eventually arriving in the Sainsbury's car park just before 10am.



I'd promised to do a big shop on the way back, so had to put stuff in the boot as well as the passenger foot wells.
( HSBC bag is full of tools. )



By the time I got home, I'd racked up another 20+ miles and had just had enough time to get ready for an early family pub lunch.

Followed by a trip to the West End to see 'Matilda', which was my sister's Christmas gift to us.



I'm now going to sit down and have a quiet pint after what has been a rather eventful day.

Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2849  
Old 19th December 2016, 05:27
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul L
you can't win an argument with a loony
Quite right. They drag you down to their level and beat you through experience.
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  #2850  
Old 19th December 2016, 06:43
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Wicked post Paul. Thanks for the amusing Sunday summary.

Dave
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  #2851  
Old 19th December 2016, 08:56
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Mick & Dave - Cheers chaps.

The funny thing is I had read this post from Mr T on Mick's A352/D Type thread before I left home…

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Towed View Post
Modern cars are now almost all fast, quiet, comfortable, economical and safe, but they distance the driver from the experience of fully interacting with the major controls: the steering, the gearbox, the pedals and, well, the seat of your pants.

There's nothing like piloting a simple, lightweight car on skinny tyres down a twisty B road to reconnect you with the pure joy of driving, and if that car happens to look like a classic racing car worth millions, which yours absolutely does, then all the better.

You might well be able to cover the same route faster in a mid-spec diesel repmobile, but the experience would be about as exciting as loading dirty socks into a really good washing machine. Dull as ditch-water.
I can honestly say that the Swordfish is the first vehicle I've owned where I have no interest in finding out how fast it will go.

Mister Towed also mentioned "defensive" driving on his own build thread yesterday and I can relate to that too.

As I pride myself on good 'road craft' learned from years of motorcycling, where you are definitely connected to what is going on around you.

Whilst I wouldn't put myself in the same league as Police drivers, I'd like to think I am better than average.

Ironically, the road I was on will feature in The Wembley Job as it is quite a twisty section.

So if I had actually been driving with a GoPro fitted & running I could have "proved" my story within seconds.

Now I've been thinking about getting a dash cam for my normal car due to the antics of other motorists for quite a while.

Yesterday's 'adventure' has confirmed this is definitely a good idea, so I will look for one of these after Christmas.

Finally, I want to make it clear that whilst I was expecting to be pulled over, I was completely happy with the Police's decision.

In fact, I'd have been surprised, maybe even slightly disappointed, if I wasn't, as clearly I had just been described as a potential killer.

Still, it is now officially Christmas week, so lets hope for some joy and goodwill to all men.
( Even the crazy ones. )

Cheers, Paul.
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  #2852  
Old 19th December 2016, 18:31
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Great post Paul really enjoyed reading through your days adventure.

Living in London you will have a large number of loony tunes so i suppose it's just another day in the big city. We have visited London a couple of times and i was surprised at how people don't make eye contact or speak to each other especially on the tube which coming from the north took a bit of getting used to.

Some friends who are Londoners have come up to us many times now and just can't get over how friendly people are especially on nights out in Newcastle.

Keep posting Paul, as ever they are great to read.
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  #2853  
Old 19th December 2016, 21:24
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Funnily enough I fitted a dash-cam to my daily driver, the awesome 2007 Nissan Micra, due to the appallingly bad driving that too many people display on the roads today.

When people drive drunk, too fast for the road conditions (and/or driver ability) or while talking on a handheld mobile phone their driving is often noticeably bad and obviously stupid and dangerous.

These days though, there are people who check their social media threads while driving, and I'd argue that their driving is more dangerous than drink drivers (as proven on an episode of 'mythbusters').

The trigger for me to buy a dash-cam was the car ahead of me swerving all over the road in the dark on the way into work as its young, female driver turned on the interior light every thirty seconds and lifted a tablet up to look at the screen. During a particularly lengthy bit of screen staring she hit the kerb, over-corrected and came within a second of going head-on into an HGV coming the other way.

After driving steadily for about another two minutes the interior light came back on as I presume she felt the need to tweet about her near death experience.

Okay, so I had kept a decent distance behind her as a safety zone (which itself led me to have an Audi W*nker tailgating me in nose to tail traffic in a 40 limit at 40 because I wasn't tailgating the car ahead so I could clearly be going faster for a few nanoseconds until having to slow for tablet girl) so there wasn't much danger to me, but if she had gone under the truck I'd have been late for work and we can't have that.

Anyway, rant over, dash-cam for Crimbo is good idea.
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  #2854  
Old 20th December 2016, 06:57
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Swifty - Cheers.

Just remember that talking to a stranger on the tube usually marks you out as either a tourist or a "crazy person".
( Thankfully, as you are from 'Up North' and that counts as a tourist around here. )

Which is why driving this car has been such a pleasure, as people react in a very "non Londoner" way, smiling, waving and chatting.

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Mister Towed - Maybe it is an age thing, but I'd forgotten to mention that I don't text and drive.

Whilst I post a lot on this forum, I do so from the comfort of my home, not the comfort of the driver's seat of my car!

Without wishing to turn this into a bad driving RANT fest, a couple of my pet hates include:

"There is something blocking my path so I'll just swerve around it no matter what is coming the other way."
- I've lost count of the number of times I've braked hard to avoid a head on collision with a car in "my" lane.
- This is usually followed by them ranting at me that I should look where I am going!
- The concept of slowing down and checking it is safe before manoeuvring seems a lost art of driving.
- I'd rank this as my number one reason for considering a dash cam.

"I can join the roundabout as long as there is a gap ahead of me"
- Thankfully these drivers are easy to spot, as they approach roundabouts without looking to their right first.
- As an added bonus these drivers will usually also put their foot down, because, seemingly, speed will always make bad driving safer.
- Clearly, the fact I am already heading toward the gap they are now aiming for, with the right of way, means nothing.
- They also don't seem to understand that if I didn't brake I would probably plough straight into their driver's side door.

Actually, I'll stop there before I really start ranting and raving.

This is another reason I respect the job the Police have to do, as they see the consequences of bad driving on a daily basis.

Personally, I could barely watch the "in cab" footage of that lorry driver ploughing into stationary traffic while using his phone.

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Anyway, depressing posts from me will not do much for the season of goodwill.

So I'll leave you with a more uplifting thought...

"There are only 5 more sleeps 'til Christmas.



Take care, Paul.
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  #2855  
Old 21st December 2016, 20:45
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Christmas Countdown:
This is the first Christmas in years where I don't need to tidy up tools & parts associated with car work before the 'big day'.

Actually, it around this time last year that I had just finished re-shaping the first wheel arch on the rear passenger side.



Which was then closely followed by Mister Towed pointing out I should have aligned the wheels first.

Anyway, my Christmas present to myself has arrived and I had forgotten just how small these GoPro things are.



I also got a bundle of various mounting points so I can bolt this to the car and start some test filming.

Unfortunately, I am working in the client's office tomorrow and that may be the last nice day here before Christmas.

So until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2856  
Old 24th December 2016, 14:46
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Brrrrrrr!

'Twas the morning before Christmas
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse...


Well, apart from me tip-toeing around in the dark.

As if there was going to be any chance of me getting out for a drive, my 'To Do" list needed to be done.

So I arrived at Sainsburys before dawn to pick up the last few bits for our Christmas Day meal.

I was back home and out in our garden as dawn was breaking to cut some holly for the mantlepiece.

Next up was clearing the dining room and setting the table for the big day with all our 'nice' stuff.

Which meant that by 12.30 I was able to get some time off for good behaviour and head out.

This was also a chance to try out my new toy.



I only filmed for a couple of minutes to see the difference between the wide and narrow view settings.

Unfortunately, my Mac is so old, it doesn't support the software needed to process the video files.

So the on board footage will have to wait until the new year, by which time I will have got a proper microphone too.
( As the sound was rubbish. )

Instead, I will leave you will a couple of photos.





I was out for just under an hour and half and covered almost 30 miles, but I was pretty cold by the time I got home.

I've got a few more chores to do, so I'd better go.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Take care, Paul.
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  #2857  
Old 24th December 2016, 14:49
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merry xmas to you and all.....hope to see you in new year
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  #2858  
Old 24th December 2016, 18:30
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Merry Christmas Paul
2016 marked a huge milestone in the build
Looking forward to you posts for 2017
Paint and more adventures to come
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  #2859  
Old 24th December 2016, 18:31
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Seasons Greetings Paul, thanks for your postings during the year.
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  #2860  
Old 24th December 2016, 19:45
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Happy motoring to one and all!
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