LINCOLNSHIRE SECTION
News
May 2010I’m writing this having just come back from BLS the Alfa specialists in Lincoln with a fresh MOT and no advisories on my 75 V6. The car should have been on display in the centre of York for the Giorni Alfa Centenario di York but due to damaging a spark plug thread in the heads the day the before the event I had to take the Veloce Twin Spark instead. Luckily for me, Mal Nicholson from Trent Side Classics came to my house one evening last week and put an insert into the head, then sorted a malfunctioning air flow meter, to get the car up and running.
Anyway back to recent events and our Tuesday night meeting in April was held at Trent Side Classics at Burringham near Scunthorpe. Mal showed us around his workshop starting with a demonstration of some of the machining he does. Kevin brought his recently restored Sud into the workshop where we could examine the car thoroughly including underneath. With cups of tea supplied by Mals wife Val we moved on to the welding shop where there was a Triumph 2500 PI undergoing restoration work. Next was the paint shop where a freshly restored Sud had just undergone its painting and was ready for refitting all the mechanicals and interior.
Moving on saw us looking at Mals Montreal, Fiat Dino and his daughters Dino Spider before we moved into the parts store. What an Aladins cave that was, with thousands of bits for old Alfas, Lancias, Fiats and Ferraris. Outside there were a couple of P6 Rovers that were sale. Bearing in mind the Italian theme of the evening, 2 of our members are now the proud owners of P6 Rovers. Keith Bailey bought the blue 2000 to run alongside his 916 spider and Michael Herring the 3500 to replace an existing similar car. The evening was rounded off in the local pub where Mal entertained us with his stories of cars, boats and bankers!!.
The following Sunday brought along Spring Alfa Day which of course was quite local for us. What a great day that was, the weather was good, the organisation excellent and it was nice just to meet up with friends and fellow Alfisti once again. Charlie Blow one of our regular stalwards was stuck abroad due to the Icelandic volcano but that didn’t stop Viv dusting off the 1966 GTC and getting it out of winter hibernation.
I had a dilemma of which car to bring. The 75 V6 was still undergoing winter overhaul so it was either the 75 T/Spark or my newly acquired Mito which I had only had for 1 week. In the end I decided to take the 75. I did however visit the Shop 4 Parts stand and buy 2 litres of oil for the Mito in case it needs any before its planned first service at 18000 miles!! That’s seems a long way for a service especially for a turbo charged engine. It was very nice however to get a free cup of tea and a cake with my purchase and both Keith & Brian who were with me at the time also appreciated it.
That brings me to Giorni Alfa Centenario di York. What an excellent and well organised event that was. A number of our regular members cars were on display including 105 Guilia (Paul Jaggard), S2 spider (Carole Jaggard), 105 GTC (Charlie & Viv Blow), Sud Ti (Kev Plowman), 75 Veloce T/S (Mike Scarf).
I started the day off treating my wife Debbie to breakfast at Bettys where we sat in the window looking at everyone admiring the pre war Alfas. With a mixture of shopping, looking at the cars, lunch in an excellent pub picked out by Charlie & Viv, more cars and shopping, it was a great day out despite the cold.
Mike Scarf
Secretary
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January 2009
A few of the Lincs section members along with Dave Wood and his wife Linda who was responsible for reforming
the Lincs section enjoying their Italian meal at Colosseo's.
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Our chairman Martin's fun day out!!
This article was written by Martin in December 2008
So, when‘s the best time to carry out a comparison between two soft top cars?
A. In summer, fine weather and warm temperatures.
B. In December in the pouring rain and biting wind.
Answer should be A, so why were three people stood in the middle of a disused air field for 2 hours in December, while
one of them was taking photographs of a 2.0 Alfa 916 Twin Spark Spider and an equally good looking Lotus 2.0 turbo M100.
The section was contacted by Graham Flemington who is a freelance photographer/reporter for Classic Car Mart Magazine.
He had been tasked to provide an article which compared the two cars from the point of view of the owners not a technical
list of statistics, so needed an example of both cars and their owners to meet for a photo and interview session.
And that’s why; on a wet and windy Saturday morning I climbed out of my sick bed to meet him, and Paul, the owner of
the Lotus in deepest Lincolnshire.
After introductions, we followed our host along the runway to the airfield perimeter track which appears to now be part
of the local road system and found a group of 3 foot high heaps of road chippings to shelter behind while static shots
of the exterior and interior of both cars were taken.
By now all of us were completely frozen and soaked through to the skin, Graham asked if we would drive his car while
he took shots of the others travelling along the road and so trying to avoid puddles and holes in the road while he
hung out of the back door of his Cavalier we drove up and down for half an hour. Next came cornering “action” shots
which were taken from the top of one of the gravel heaps and, in a nearby village, where he took some additional
standing shots. Paul insisted on lowering the top of his car but I couldn’t bring myself to accept soaked seats and
carpets so mine stayed up.
With wet cameras and frozen hands Graham called a halt to photography; we adjourned to a local hotel for coffee,
lunch (thanks Graham!) and a chat about the cars. Are there any weak points? What is it like to own the car?
Recommended internet sites and what about the owners clubs?
Graham then needed to take each of the cars for a short drive which is where he came to appreciate the Spider,
it was quieter, smoother apart from the slight scuttle shake, and he felt more comfortable than in the Lotus,
a better touring car although probably not as fast considering the turbo on the Lotus. This could be due to
the Alfa being a one manufacturer car and the Lotus a mixture of Ford, Renault and Lotus parts stuck together
to make one.
So now, dry and warm we let our interviewer go to use his computer to remove each of the rain drops on his
chosen photographs! and produce the article which will appear in the March issue of the Classic Car Mart
Magazine.