A Triumph Swordfish 1500 - On The Road

[Paul L]

Last Man Standing
My wife and daughters spent most of the half term week ill with a cough/cold.

Unfortunately, I've now got it as well, so all I did today was to peel back the covers and start the engine.



The only good news is that the battery seemed fine today, as it sounded like it was dying last time I started the car.

Cheers, Paul.

[Paul L]

Short Sharp Shocks:
I'd forgotten to send a birthday card in time, which was a good excuse to drop it around in person.



This area is also a good example of the madness that is the London property market.

My mate and his sister bought their first house in this area in 1995 and spent less that £100k.

These days, these little two bedroom terrace houses will set you back over £800k, bonkers!

I also took the scenic route to Sainsburys, where this pickup was HUGE!



So around 14 miles yesterday and 9 miles today, which isn't much, but better than nothing.

Also, if it wasn't so cold, the sunshine and clear blue skies would be a real joy to drive in.

Cheers, Paul.

[Paul L]

Molleur - "I like big cookies and I can not lie.
You other brothers can't deny…"



My first batch of cookies were for an event at work, where, despite their shape, they were all eaten.

Then my wife and daughters complained that I should have saved three for them to try.

So I made a second batch, which were miles better & looked more like 'real' cookies (but I forgot to take any photos).

The key differences were:
- Halved the ingredients to make just five cookies per tray.
- Switched Lurpak butter to Stork Cakes (which my daughters use).
- Left the 'balls' of cookie mix in the fridge to chill a while before baking (an internet tip).

But that is more than enough about baking, so back to getting out and enjoying the car...

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Sunny Saturday…
Despite the beautiful sunny morning, I had to put domestic chores ahead of taking the car out.

Thankfully, the sun was still shining when I finally headed out after lunch.

So I took a chance and dusted off my summer hat and gloves.



I also chanced wearing just my light blue polo shirt, but did leave a jumper in the passenger seat.

At slow speeds, with the sun out, it was lovely and warm.

At anything over 50mph, or if there was shade, it was a bit chilly, but I wasn't going to complain.

The car continues to get extremely positive reactions wherever I go.

Hearing a small child say "Wow! Look at that car!" will always gladden the heart.

But my favourite comment of the day came as I crawled through St.Albans traffic...

"It even smells like an old racing car."

Unfortunately, that would be due to the oil leaking onto the hot exhaust pipe (see below).

Obviously, convertibles with their roofs down were everywhere, including a nice red F Type.

Also passed a McClaren, 3 Ferraris, 2 Aston Martins, 2 Maseratis, 1 BMW i8, countless Porsches, etc.

Only saw one classic car out (a TR2/3?) and to this day I've still never seen a Sammio/Tribute/Miglia/Formosa/etc. on the road.

I clocked up just under 70 miles and was out for almost 3 hours including stops for petrol and photos.

Found a modern industrial estate for the photos.







Which reminds me that I really do need to wash the car at some point as it has been a long Winter.

Parked the car on the street when I got home…



Which allowed me to check the oil when everything had cooled down.



Note the mud sprayed all over the inside of the bonnet.

Unfortunately, I'm still leaking / burning oil, so I will have to get that looked at by a professional at some point.

This was the oil left on the street during the short time I was parked before moving back onto my driveway.



Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Jag - I know my patch work quilt will be nothing more than a 'veneer', but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do.

Whilst the bench shear does sound like a good piece of kit, I don't actually have a bench!

So expect my handiwork to be as rough and ready as the rest of this build.

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Saturday Slog
My reward for a tough week at work was to take my wife and daughters on a shopping trip to Uxbridge.

But it got worse, as my wife has borrowed a pressure washer and the driveway was on her hit list.

So I had to move everything that I've been using to jack up the car, or hold stuff down, which was neatly stacked on the drive.



I only carried it through the house and onto the patio, as it was too hot to continue to the bottom of the garden.

Then my garage wall needed a trim.



Before I had to cut and edge the verge (more about that later).



Then I could move my car off the drive, before being sent to mow the lawn and blow up the paddling pool.

When my chores were finally complete, I noticed just how much oil was blown over my wife's car and I was only idling for a few minutes.



Then I had to stick my head in the passenger footwell, with my feet hanging over the rear of the cockpit, so sort out my heater leak.

Most of the photos I took were rubbish, but this was after I'd removed the heat shield material from around the heater & hoses.



There was some slack in the jubilee clips, so I really hope that tightening these up has fixed the problem.

Especially as the only way to tighten one clip, was to loosen it fully, reposition it for a better screwdriver angle, and then re-tighten it.

At which point I had engine coolant pouring down on me in a space I could barely move it and struggled to get back out of.

Then it was time for the car to get washed for the first time since I got back on the road last November.

But before I started, I noticed another problem, as I'd clearly had a petrol leak that has bubbled and stained the paint.



My only thought is that I didn't secure the cap properly when I last filled up.

Washing the car ended up being quite depressing really, as whatever problems I have with my paint (white marks) are clearly there to stay for now.

But even if I have inadvertently ended up with a 'survivor' finish, I still love my car and all it represents.



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I'll end this update by returning to why I had to tidy up the verge earlier in the day…

While I was trimming the hedge, my wife was chatting to the lady next door and my promise to take her to church in the Swordfish came up.

Now given all the mess and noise my neighbours had to put up with during the build, the offer of a drive was the least I could do.

She was even happy to wait until the car was painted, as I did offer to keep my promise when the car was on the road in grey primer.

So as tomorrow (now today) was forecast to be the first real warm Sunday since the car was painted, we made it a date.

Given the fact she is 82, I wanted to sort out the verge out so that I could park along side it to help her get it.

We just need to practise getting her out before we go, as that is the part my mum struggled with given how low the car sits.

Which meant that by the time the car was clean and I finally had some time to myself it was just gone 6pm.

So I decided to go for a quick spin to double check the route to her church which is a few miles from here.

It was a lovely evening, still lots of sunshine and no drop in the hot temperature, so a T-shirt was more than enough.

Along the way, my rear view mirror was filled with a white Rolls Royce Phantom Convertible with the roof down, something like this.



At which point, the traffic ahead slowed to a snails pace and were both just crawling along for all around to see.

But you couldn't make up what happened for the next 10 minutes until we went our separate ways at a roundabout…

I must have got 20, or so, positive reactions and the poor Roller (which may have even been chauffeur driven) got tumbleweed.

From people walking past on both sides of the road saying nice things to children pointing & waving (obviously I wave back).

Plus cars coming the other way also commenting, flashing their lights, hooting, giving a thumbs up, etc. as they passed (even a bus driver).

If ever there was a journey to confirm that I am needlessly worrying about the standard of my paint job, this was it.

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Until next time, take care, Paul.

[molleur]

Or, make the cookies smaller.
Glad you are getting out and enjoying the car!

[Mister Towed]

Is that a G Wagon you've parked next to? It looks huge.

[Paul L]

Mr T -

Jokes aside, I keep looking at cars like this and wondering what Tribute could do with them.

Note: I'm just looking, with absolutely zero chance of building anything else for years to come.

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Very Busy
I hope to catch up with a load of forum replies over the weekend, as work has been manic lately.

But I do have one small bit of car related news…

I saw an advert on Ebay for 5kg of alloy off cuts for £20 + P&P, so I thought I would take a chance...



Despite having a full mix of sizes on display, the advert was very clear that what you get would be 'pot luck'.

At this point, I am only thinking about covering the main sections of the cockpit sides, not the rear cockpit wall.
( Mainly because it took me so long to fit the seats I just can't face removing them to get access. )

So as a guide, the short & fat piece in the centre is 30cm x 40cm and the cockpit sides are around 1m x 50cm.

Which means I will need to create some sort of overlapping patchwork quilt design see what that looks like.



Until then, take care, Paul.

[Jaguartvr]

I bought the same batch and it has proved invaluable. I also bought a second-hand bench shear, £40 on eBay. This makes cutting a breeze, square edges with no distortion. The bench shear is one of (the many) invaluable tools that you never knew you needed until you had one.

[Mister Towed]

Did you leave your tank full by any chance, Paul? If so the petrol may well have expanded in the heat and overflowed out of the filler.

Nice to see you're still enjoying your car at every opportunity, I really miss mine so need to get my Speedster on the road asap.

You have my deepest sympathy regarding wife borrowing pressure washer for you to use. Mine has plans for me to do some 'gardening' (whatever that is) today.

[micky1mo]

Paul L I have some 0.9mm sheet aluminium here so if you cut a template you welcome to call-in and have what you need.

[Paul L]

Mr T - I try hard not to fill the tank to the brim, mainly to avoid spilling petrol over the paint.

But it is possible the car could have over heated under the covers.

Just to be clear, my wife was the one using the pressure washer (borrowed from one of her friends).

So it was my car and associated bits of wood/brick/etc. that were in the way and needed to be moved NOW!

By chance I was talking about your car yesterday (see below) and your Speedster is already looking good.

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Mike - Thanks for the kind offer.

I had a look at how the patch work quilt might work yesterday (see below), so I'll keep you posted.

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Sleepy Sunday
First job of the day was to carry all the wood and bricks from the patio to the bottom of the garden.

Then I had to move my normal car, so there was enough space to park the Swordfish next to the kerb.

To say I was gutted to see a fresh leak from the heater when I removed the covers would be an understatement.



But there was no time to fix that now, as I had a 'date' and needed to get out of my working clothes.

Fair play to my 82 year old neighbour, Betty, who climbed into the car with no issues whatsoever.



Obviously, I took it easy and we had a very pleasant trip to church and, thankfully, she also had no problems getting out either.

Which means I've now taken two ladies in their 80s out for a spin, but my teenage daughters still wouldn't be seen dead in it.

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I was able to take a slightly scenic route home, via meeting my wife in Sainsburys, as we were having a small BBQ in the afternoon.

Along the way, I passed an interesting looking car in front of a garage, so I turned around, parked up and stopped for a chat.

Turns out it was a two seater 1927 Lancia Lambda with a V4 engine and the owner, in his 70s/80s, was a complete star.





He knew all the car's history, originally owner by a Contessa, fibreglass front wings added by a later artist owner, bonnet extended, etc.

He also wins the prize for best 'What is it?' question asked to date… "Is that a Sprite based special?"

I dropped Mr T's homage to the Lancia D24 evocation into the conversation, along with the straight 12 'Medusa' from Rods 'n' Sods.

Could have chatted for hours, but we were both supposed to be somewhere else, so we said our goodbyes.

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Then it was more gardening, before manning the Bar-B-Q, where the heat from the grill combined with the heat from the sun slowly cooked me!

By the time we'd eaten, the fact I've had a hectic few weeks finally caught up with me and I needed to have an afternoon nap to recover.

End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Sunday - Part 2:

So it was late afternoon before I had a chance to see what I could do will my aluminium off cuts and the cockpit walls.

Basically, I just want to turn this...



Into something like this…



But, as with most things on this build, this will not be as straight forward as I first hoped.

Take the top edge for example, the flat surfaces end below the painted cockpit edge.



If I want to bring the panels up to the green edge, like so…



They will all need to be hammered into shape to match the side wall contours.

Thankfully, there are good/obvious places to end the front and bottom edges of the panels (when trimmed to fit).



But where would the rear edge stop, given the curve I made to pull the corners together?



Using a patchwork approach would certainly help me work around the side seat belt mounts.



But in practical terms, I can't see a way to get decent access to the whole side for drilling/screwing without removing the seats.

In which case, this may be a job I can only make a start on (say the front section) now and come back and finish over the winter.

As taking the seats out will mean I can't drive the car which would be a pain now the nice weather has arrived.

Or, I have to commit to doing the rear cockpit wall and just accept this is a big job and wait until the winter.

Anyway, that is a problem for another day, so take care, Paul.

[Mister Towed]

Congratulations to your elderly neighbour for going out for a spin with you, it just shows that age is often just a number and not a barrier to enjoying yourself.

'27 Lambda looks very nice, very similar to the better known Alfas of the same period and not a million miles from the original Marlin.

Hmm, always wanted one of those. Lambda homage as another future project, perhaps...

[Paul L]

Mr T - I wish you a long and happy retirement, where all your car building dreams come true.

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Manic Monday
More gardening chores first thing in the morning, but I knew I'd get some car time later on.

So I set off around 10.20am and racked up just under 3 hours / 70 miles in glorious sunshine.

Actually, it might have been a bit too glorious, as despite the Factor 30 I still got sunburnt.

I fitted the GoPro today in an effort to start collecting footage for my next car video.

So here are a few screen shots from the footage I got.









Although I had a slight mishap when I first started out as the camera mount spun round as I was driving along.

So here I am effing & blinding as I had to pull over to the side of the road to sort the thing out.



The 'accidental' footage also reminded me that I was supposed to lose some (OK, a lot) of weight before the next film.

As it currently looks like I am carrying the spare tyre around my waist.

I had to get get back early(ish) for a family trip to the garden centre, followed by a nice meal out.

After completing the last of my domestic chores for the day, I'm off to put my feet up with a nice cold beer.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

PS
I almost forgot that I gave a group of bikers some room to pass…



But they really didn't have a clue how to ride in a group, or overtake safely.

[Paul L]

Belated Photo
In addition to using the GoPro on Monday, I forgot about this conventional photo of the car 'resting' in the shade.



Thankfully, despite the Bank Holiday heat and getting stuck in traffic a few times, the engine didn't over heat.

In fact, the temperature gauge never even reached the half way mark.

In other news...

I've made a start on culling the GoPro footage I collected down to something I can actually cut together into a film.

One thing I learnt from 'The Harrow Job' is that you need a lot of 'other' shots to link all the on board clips together.

So I will see if I can come up with a better arrangement to take some more 'wheel level' footage next time I'm out.

I also need to find some suitable music that will not be blacklisted by Apple products if I use it on YouTube.

Finally, I've booked the car back into Enginuity in Acton in a few weeks to get my oil leaking/burning problem looked at.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Mick O'Malley]

Originally Posted by Paul L

But they really didn't have a clue how to ride in a group, or overtake safely.

This triggered a memory from Monday. When leaving Stoneleigh I turn right to wend my way through Cubbington and Offchurch to the Fosseway. Only a few hundred yards from the exit a Nova overtook a pedal cyclist coming towards me on the brow of a rise, well astride the middle of the road. He was 'Leader of The Pack' of another half dozen or so Novas, obviously going to the show. I did my usual SMDH combined with my well honed 'near head on collision' swerve technique but I doubt this penetrated to any worthwhile grey matter.

Rules of the road, what are they?

Regards, Mick

[Paul L]

Mick – Don’t get me started on people who just swing out onto the wrong side of the road and into the path of oncoming traffic (who have the right of way) because there is something blocking their side of the road and they don’t want to waste a second of their journey to actually check if the road is clear first.

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The Harrow Job – The Sequel
I found a collection of Copyright/Royalty free music for YouTube videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music

But the best bit, is it allows you to pre-set the duration before you look for tracks.

The full-length version of On Days Like These was less than 4 minutes, so I had to cut a lot of footage out.

This time, I will aim for a running time of around 6 minutes and will try to include a few more camera angles in it.

So rather than Vorsprung durch Technik by Audi, I’m planning to use Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart.

Although it was tempting to use Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner which is also available on this site.

”I love the smell of burning engine oil in the morning.”

Cheers, Paul.

[Paul L]

Short Saturday
I only had one chance to drive this morning, so I wasn't very happy to see ants crawling over the car when I removed the covers!

Once there were removed, I racked up just over 20 miles in around an hour and a half due to the frequent stops to set up the GoPro.

One of my 'caught on camera' moments shows that I had to pull on a jumper as it was a lot colder than last weekend.



At least I was able to get the next round of video clips:

- Front wheel level



- Rear racing view including the rear wheel



- Some scenery



As I need a collection of clips of just trees/hedges to allow me to cut the whole film together.

The good news is that I was home before the rain started (just).

But the bad news was I still had gardening chores to do.

Which meant that when the rain returned I just got soaked working outside.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

PS
Looks like I missed the 6 years since I bought my donor car anniversary a few weeks ago.

But when I look at the car today, I still can't really believe that I actually got the car on the road.

[DaveP]

Getting in ‘like a cat’

Good luck with the video - car looks great !

Dave

[Paul L]

Dave - Unfortunately, all the other footage shows that I am now a 'fat cat'.

But with one of my friends getting married in October I plan to lose a bit, OK, a lot, of weight in the next few months.

I'm still working my way through the film editing process.

It is amazing just how many hours are required to end up with a 6 minute video.

Cheers, Paul.