the copy replica ones usually run better too.
Unrelated ramblings but still a good tale, and refers to the ash frame termite problem.
A rather wealthy friend of mine who looks like Dick Van Dyke drives round in a old chitty bang bang style Lagonda charabang from the early 30s. Like all old cars it has a name....Henry. Named after its previous owner, a Singaporean silk exporter nicknamed Singapore Henry.
When the jap forces were closing in on singapore, Old Henry decided he would be buggered if he let some jap officer swipe his car. So he got his gardeners together, dug a large hole, put Henry the car in there, and buried it, planting a shubbery on the top.
WW2, and the japs, came and went. Old Singapore Henry tho had fallen to their evil occupation, a victim of the prison camps. His gardeners too. So poor old Henry stayed buried till the new owners of the house found him when remodelling their garden. They dug him up, and found the old housekeeper who explained why he had been buried.
Henry, being a Lagonda built in Britain, so as sturdy as John Bull, still waited below to be saved and put back on the road again where he belonged. The years in the soil hadnt really scarred him much, so he came out much as he was, in one big lump.
It was only when they chipped off the mud and soil that bits started falling off. Seems that while underground the termites had eaten all his wooden bits....and they were what held the bodywork together. The leather and horsehair seats were also now just webbing and straps.....Henry fell apart like a clown car. His finders knew enough not to lob him away, and sold him to my mate Chris who collects old cars.
20 years of loving work later he is now back on the road. Go to Goodwood or any of the classic and vintage rallies, look for someone who looks like Dick van Dyke driving what looks like (and sounds like) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on speed, and that will probably be Chris and faithful old Henry.
The best bit of all.....when they dug him up old Singapore Henry's flat driving cap and gloves were still in the glovebox, which being steel was intact. Chris keeps them there to this day.
Nice story eh?
"Science flew men to the moon. Religion flew men into buildings."
"To sin by silence makes cowards of men."
