Issue 24 Winter 2012/13

The magazine for vehicle enthusiastsClassic - Collectable - Unusual - Interesting

www.nncvc.org.uk

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Pool Room and Darts

CENTRAL GARAGEBEHIND THE TOWN CLOCK

SHERINGHAMGeneral service & repair of all makes

M.O.T. TestingBRAKING-CLUTCHES-EXHAUSTSRADIATORS-TIMING BELTS

WINDSCREENSTYRES-FREE FITTING

ELECTRONIC WHEEL BALANCINGPUNCTURES

FOUR WHEEL ALIGNMENT(large selection of tyres in stock)

LARGE MODERN WORKSHOP49 HIGH STREET, SHERINGHAM

TEL/FAX: 01263 823168

Air Conditioning Serviceand

RepairsAuto ElectricalEngine Analyser

Breakdown Recovery

M.O.T.TestingStation

Retail MotorIndustryFederation

www.villageinnwestrunton.com

A REAL PUBSERVING REAL FOODTO REAL PEOPLE

Chairman’s Report

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Here we are having said goodbye to another superb club year and

already looking forward to 2013. Your committee have worked tirelessly during the past year and put on a great number of events. Most of these were very well supported though some less well attended. Not that the less well attended events were low key - some were spectacular in their own right.

During 2012 the weather seemed to be against a number of events with some favourites being washed out, let us hope this year will be a drier one. Knowing the amount of effort which goes into setting up events I can sympathise with the dilemma which faced organisers. I had had several last year say “come along no worries if they get stuck we have a big tractor to extricate them”. I had to point out that most of our motors have no sensible point to attach a rope without the great possibility of damage. Actually check what it says about your modern car for towing out of mud apparently towing eyes which look pretty good are not suitable for such recovery. Suddenly the thought of a rope round a front bumper leaves me rather cold.We had a reasonable response to the club questionnaire and Bob Smith has been busy analysing the replies. This very worthwhile project will help us plan the future of the club and enable the spirit of “Fun, Friendship and Drive” to continue and grow. Elsewhere in this magazine you will find more details.

The committee have reviewed the results of the questionnaire and some the suggestions will be taken on board as soon as practical.

We could do with a couple of new faces on the committee, initially as ordinary members though taking a position in due course would not be out of the question nor would it be obligatory. Meetings are generally held once a month on a Monday night in or around

Sheringham and are a good night out.

Our end of Season Festive Lunch was held in late November at The Links Country Park Hotel West Runton.where 75 of us enjoyed an excellent meal and a very pleasant few hours in the company of other members and giving us an opportunity to meet both new friends and and cement older friendships.

At our Festive lunch we held a raffle in aid of the local “Foodbanks” which raised £108 With the help of Secretary Roy’s friend at wholesalers Bookers we were able to purchase much needed foodstuffs to the value of £186.

Do look out for our 6th Birthday Bash on 24th March which is likely to be held at The Links Country Park Hotel as they are able to cater for the expected numbers.

Finally I and my fellow officers and committee members wish you and your families a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2013..Important dates for 2013

AGM Monday 18th February

6th Birthday Bash Sunday 24th March

St Georges Day Run Sunday 21st April

Show n Shine Monday 22nd July

Summer Fair and Show Sunday 1st September

Trafalgar Day Run Sunday 20th October

Geoff

Magazine

Editor - roybeckley@aol.com or

gwroybeckley@gmail.com

Design and layout - Marc Wilford

Printed by Cheverton Printers, Cromer

Secretary’s ReportWe have ended our sixth year with your Club’s membership increasing to 220 The Committee must be doing something right as the membership has increased year by year. However we are not complacent and our questuionnaire was designed to tell us what you like about the club and what, if you have any, your dislikes. Our aim is to “deliver the good experience” in all that we do. We are grateful to those that took the time to reply If we have failed in anyway let us know.- even the smallest niggle - we will not mind.

My thanks to all those members who stepped up to the plate to help during the year especially at the big club events- St George’s Day Run, Show ‘n Shine and Classic Vehicle Show & Summer Fair. Things did not always go according to plan but we will learn from our mistakes for the future.

So far this year you have helped raise over £8,000 for Help For Heroes, East Anglian Air Ambulance and many others.

You will I hope be pleased to hear that we have secured the use of the facilities of Sheringham Golf Club for our evening meetings for the forseable future.

In this magazine you will find some more important information from the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs to which we belong. Do look at their website www.fbhvc.org.uk

My thanks to every one who have contributed articles for our magazines.This issue has been delayed so that we could let you see the results of our survey. However I need some more articles for the next issue - so now is the time to put pen to paper or e mail.Articles with or without pictures to gwroybeckley@gmail.com

The Club Wall calendar which starts on 1st February is now being distributed to members.Whilst we have tried to have this as accurate as possible it is important you check the regular newsletters for alterations and updates

Also in this issue is the notice of the Annual General Meeting and the Accounts for the year ending31st December.2012 Subscriptions are now due and have been held at £20( £10 for under 25’s) Please send a cheque payable to NNCVC to Rex Chipp 64 Howell Road , Drayton , Norwich NR8 6BU

RoyFront Cover - A small section of the 130 vehicles which lined up at the 2012 Show n Shine night

Committee ContactsChairman Geoff Jones 01263 860676

Vice Chairman Christine Sparrow 01603 781917

Secretary Roy Beckley 01263 837619

Treasurer/Membership Rex Chipp 01603 788726

Events Graham Gibbins 01263 826042

Disclaimer:Please note that although every care is taken, the North Norfolk Classic Vehicle Club (The Club) accepts no responsibility for the return of photographs

or other material submitted from contributors. Care is aken to ensure that the contents of all our publications are accurate but the club cannot accept

responsibility for any errors that may occur for the statements or views that occur editorially. Whilst care is taken when accepting adver-

tisements, if in doubt readers should make their own enquiries. The Club cannot accept any responsibility for any resulting

unsatisfactory transactions. Nor shall the club be liable for loss damage or injury to any person or property acting

on information contained in the Club Magazine or any other Club Publication or the Club Web site. The

Club will however, investigate any written complaints which they receive.4

Vortex Trike.ByBrian Thompson.

Following the Club visit to see progress on my Vortex

three wheeler build I thought an update would be a good idea. My previous Vortex article appeared in the magazine way back in 2009 and declared the car would be finished “next year”! As I write this we are at the tail end of 2012 and guess what? It’s not finished yet!

A quick recap may be in order. The Vortex was started in 2007 as a two year project and has been built using a set of American plans to construct the plywood and glass fibre chassis. The shape of the body differs greatly from the plans to incorporate a curved windscreen (more on that later) and lighting that will be legal in the UK. The combination of making my own design body and having to ensure UK Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval (MSVA) requirements have been incorporated has meant a lot of work, with the inevitable result of over all progress being slow.

The Vortex plans didn’t help in some respects, take the fuel tank for example. The plans mount the fuel tank at the front in the boot but in the same paragraph recommend not putting it there for safety reasons. Unfortunately no alternative location is available

and no suggestions forthcoming. A couple of possible positions were explored but ruled out because I wanted to keep the weight centralised and low for stability. The only option was to tip the car up and cut out the floor and create recesses for two small interconnected tanks. This kept the weight low and in the centre but their combined capacity was only about 4 1/2-5 gallons so a smaller tank was added next to the engine to bring storage up to about 7 1/2 gallons. Because the Vortex will be using a Triumph motorcycle engine a gravity feed to the carbs was felt to be the best option so a very small header tank was created. An electric pump will continuously fill this tank to a certain level before overflowing back into the main tanks, with feed to the carbs being via two solenoid operated fuel taps, which shut when the ignition is off. In theory this should work fine provided the small pump can keep up with demand at high revs, if not the next size up will be fitted.

Another unforeseen problem was due to the Vortex being an American left hand drive design so there was not enough foot room to the right of the steering column when constructed with right hand drive. Room for the throttle and brake pedals was created by moving the steering rack over to the left and using a longer right hand and shorter left hand track rod

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extensions. What this will do to the steering geometry will have to be seen. Bump steer is a possibility but I reckon it will be fine.

Due to the weight of the Vortex the MSVA inspection manual stipulates it has to have a reverse gear and this has been achieved by using a reverse gearbox mounted in the final chain drive. It changes the direction of rotation and so you end up with six reverse as well as forward gears! To actuate the gearbox a plunger is depressed via a cable mechanism, which is actuated by a second handbrake lever to the right of the drivers seat. All of which was very tricky to incorporate.

The exhaust system was tailor made to fit the space I had using the motor bike manifold, which includes a balance pipe. I had bought various 1 1/2” tubes and bends from kit car shows for a few pounds and had some steel sheet from previous projects with which to make the silencers. The finished system is about the same length as the original bike exhaust but much lighter and cheaper. Each silencer has a small expansion chamber followed by a straight through section surrounded by perforated steel sheet and fibre glass sound insulation. Extra silencing is built into each 4”dia

stainless steel tail pipe. Also included are

a couple of

dummy tail pipes to make it appear as though there are four exiting through the rear panel.

A new air box with a central intake had to be moulded from fibre glass to replace the bike one that had two side intakes. Flexible ducting connects the new air box to a straight fibre-glass duct that picks up cool air from ground level. Each flexible duct was made from fibreglass tape impregnated with sealant and wrapped around a mould and sprayed silver before it set. The split mould was then removed from the inside and the ducts trimmed to size.

The rear wheel mudguard had to be made from scratch as well to get the desired close fit to the tyre. A wood and plaster buck was made of half the mudguard split along its length and from this two moulds were taken, which when bolted together formed a complete mould for the final mudguard lay-up

An aluminium heater unit had to be made to fit the space available in the dashboard using a Metro matrix and Allegro blower motor and home made air distribution and mixer valves. Around this was glued expanded polyurethane foam, which was sanded to shape and covered with three layers of chopped strand mat and resin to form the dashboard top. Four 2”dia chromed exhaust trims were used for the dashboard air

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vents to echo the four exhaust pipes on the rear deck. To aid entry to and exit from the driv-er’s seat the Rover 214 steering column was heavily modified to make it adjustable up and down, with the motor bike instrument binnacle mounted to the column so that it moves with it.

MSVA dictated the position of the rear reflectors, which had to be a certain distance apart. For vehicles with a single rear wheel, such as the Vortex, they could be mounted on the rear of the front mudguards, which is fine if it had any mudguards like the Morgan three wheeler but it hasn’t. This led to the decision to make air vents behind each wheel arch specifically to house the reflectors. This proved to be a lot of extra work but the end result is both practical and pleasing to the eye.

The initial decision to use a curved windscreen to improve the look of the car when design-ing the body has led to quite a big headache. The windscreen I used was originally the rear screen of my Mirov, which had cracked during the build and was replaced with Lexan poly-carbonate sheet to save weight. Pilkingtons had the original tooling and made the Mirov front windscreen for me in 2002. In 2008 when I elected to use the original Mirov rear screen as a front screen in the Vortex I made the mistake of assuming that

Pilkingtons had the tooling for that as well. This year just before I was due to paint the Vortex I found out that they hadn’t got the tooling for my windscreen, which was a bit of a blow. I had spent the last five years building a car around a windscreen that didn’t exist! After talking the matter over with Peter Swann at Pilkingtons I decided to make a fibre glass former of the required windscreen shape and get tooling made by them. The total cost of tooling, a windscreen, two side windows and a rear window in green tinted glass with black borders is going to be about £2500, which is a lot of money but far quicker, cheaper and easier than building another car! Remember, never assume, check.

Another smaller problem I had to solve before painting the car was the chassis number. This is issued by the local DVLA office and has to be stamped on the chassis wherein lies the problem. How do you stamp a composite chassis? I applied to the local Norwich office for a chassis number at the same time requesting information on how to permanently mark it on my chassis because it is not made of steel. After several weeks I got a phone call from a nice lady from Norwich DVLA telling me that my chassis number was in the post and that it would have to be permanently applied to the chassis.

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Unfortunately she had no clue as to how to achieve this in my particular case. I gave that mat-ter some thought and hit on the idea of writing the number on my computer and printing it out then cutting it out and bonding it into one of the panels on the car and sealing it in with one layer of fibre glass cloth and resin. After a couple of experiments to check if the fibre glass would be transparent enough the number was duly bonded into the front panel under the boot lid. The result looks very good and is hopefully an acceptable solution. The number was masked off before the car was painted and now looks quite good although the appearance would have been improved if I had printed the back ground colour orange to match the paint work.

I decided to paint the car myself by hand because a) I had never done it before, and b) it would be cheaper than getting it sprayed professionally. After talking to various people and surfing the internet I settled on using two pack polyurethane marine paint. I had already chosen to paint it orange and marine paint had only one option, namely a colour called Survival Orange. Could be a bit bright!

Three coats of epoxy primer were applied by brush

and rubbed

down. Three coats of orange followed but when they were rubbed down the appearance was a bit streaky, which was down to two factors. The first was the brush application and the second was forgetting to check the paint batch numbers with the result that the engine cover ended up a different shade to the rest of the car! The only course of action after much blue air was to buy more paint and rub the whole car down. All the different tins of paint were mixed together to get a consistent shade before the car was finished with four coats applied by mini roller. Small air bubbles were dealt with by waiting a few minutes, until the paint had formed a skin, and then going over the surface with a dry foam roller to burst them. With hindsight it would have been better to thin the paint to avoid the formation of bubbles and apply more, thinner coats. After allowing a few days for the paint to harden it was flatted with 500, then 1200 grit wet or dry paper followed by polishing compound applied by hand and machine. The result is acceptable with a few minor faults to be rectified before final polishing.

Survival Orange proved to be a lovely shade and the end result was worth the effort. It was quite lucky that I decided to paint it myself because the money saved has had to be spent on getting the windscreen made! Final assembly is now taking place and should have been

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pening today but the garageproved to be far too cold and so I retreated indoors into the warm to pen this latest episode to keep you up to date. Oh yes, one final thing, it will be finished next year!

Brian

Some Images from Brian’sworkshop

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Torque Talk 6

Way back in the Spring you were briefly subjected

to the topic of car brochures and advertising-. We would like to extend the item this time using a few examples from our archive.

Most of us are reasonably happy (we hope) with the old vehicles we drive but it does no harm to look over the fence to see what else is available.We both have a liking for the commercial variants of our car an A30 ( 1956 803cc 2 door saloon) .the Morris Minor and other makes.Nevertheless we are content to proceed at the modest pace that an A30 of advancing years dictates. Other makes of car have many attractions and it is one of our favourites we shall use to start this article- the Jowett Javelin and Jupiter.Jowetts in general are very interesting motor cars, the more so because Ann was born and brought up in Bradford where they were built. We recently purchased a great little book concerning the marque the details of which are as follows; the title”A Jowett Album” by Rod Ward. The book is similar to the excellent Shire series but in this instance published by Auto Review. Priced at £5.95p it did not break the bank The ISBN no. is 978-19000482-44-8

I will not attempt to precis the book but a comment

in the introduc-tion was

very

amusing. The author tells of a discussion with a friend where he muses why Jowett used horizontally opposed engines. His friend says “Jowett came from Bradford =they were horizontally opposed to everything. They even built Jowetts upside down, just to be different.”Apart from pulling Ann’s leg abut this it is perfectly true that the J̀avelin model was built in a cradle that could be inverted for easier access to the underside of the vehicle. Nice quote though isn’t it - at least to non Bradfordians!.

In the text of the book are copies of some superb old advertisements for vehicles. The first two concern the Kestrel model of the 1930’s A magnifying glass was needed to read to read it but the effort was worthwhile. “ It performs well and has an individuality about it that causes it’s owner to hang on to it for years and years and years. ( we dont know whether to feel de-pressed or proud of this!) Because of this individuality we shall never make cars for the million and, confidentially we don’t want to.We are a specialised market and all the people who want a car with an endearing personality come to us sooner or later” Heady Stuff!

The next one of the same era says “A friend writes that although he has had many other cars,never, until he got his Jowett Kestrel did he have the feeling of com-panionship Thats the best about Jowetts. Under conditions which would make many cars lie down and sulk, the Jowett remains steadfast,willing and cheerful. The 10

more you work it the better it likes it. It’s a handsome car, too replete with every convenience” Our car has had moments of sulks on occassion- we bet you have had similar experiences. Finally there is a ‘one liner” that we like. “The 1.5 litre Jowett Javelin. Take a good look when it passes you” Yes I think we will have one of those when the boat comes in( We won’t sell the A30 though - she’s part of the family.)

You would not expect to have a contribution from us without an Austin reference. That firm seemed to capitalise on excel-lent “one liners” From 1934 comes “You buy a car- but you invest in an Austin” From 1953 “Austin- you can depend on it” and also from the 1950’s “ Buy Austin and be proud of it”

In our collection of DVDs we have two entirely about the Austin. Apart from the publicity films there are a number of adverts that would have been used, we think, in cinemas. You will no doubt remember the fairly recent and very good Vauxhall advertisement concerning two small boys talking as if they were adults and the parents behaving like children. Very amusing .Austin produced something very similar in the 1950’s where two lads discuss petrol consumption and performance of the A30 in what can best be described as adult terms. The second lad,

who is not an A30 “owner” is persuaded to take his Dad to his nearest Austin dealer . It all goes to prove there is very little that is completely new in this world.

Our last comment on the advertisement world of a few years back concerns our be-loved British Seagull outboard motors. there are many adverts that use the paintings/scraper board work of well known marine artists. Apart from their obvious charm it is the captions that make a grab for your patriotic feelings. 1950’s “ Morning orders for spares away the same day-always”.1960’s- “ But.....when all is said and done... there is nothing to equal Seagull....its perfectly simple” Also from the 1960’s “ Be British Buy British”Finally from the 1970’s “De-pendably Yours.. that’s Seagull”The brochures were in the same idiom as were the handbooks supplied with the motors.

All the above seems to point to a country that made things that the world wanted to buy. We have almost lost our manu-facturing base over the years and are left with a feeling that with a bit more care the mood depicted by the type of advertabove could still be with us today. Wheel us back to the old folks home before that closes!Bye for now!

Andrew & Ann11

How I became a VIP at the very exclusive Windsor Castle Concours event 7th -9th September 2012.

I have been involved with Alvis cars for more than 50 years and

in my many guises I used to run a concours event at Harewood House where we got over 700 cars a year attending, The plan was always to have one special theme car every year, the first year of my involvement it was a genuine Bond Aston Martin, quite a crowd puller, so what for the second year, I had always been my ambition to get hold of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Alvis TD21 which had been housed at Sandringham for decades, although it was never available in the past it seemed an ideal opportunity to ask for it again as the then Earl Harewood was Her Majesty’s cousin and therefore had considerable influ-ence and was prepared to use it for his own event. That worked per-fectly, it was arranged I collected the car the week before the event, easier said than done as the car had not moved a wheel in at least a couple of decades and the brakes were seized solid, not an inch of movement whatever we did, so it was dragged onto the trailer by

winch and slid across the grass at Harewood

by a band of helpers.

The car was well polished though and the visitors were unaware of its real mechanical condition,When I took it back to Sandring-ham I mentioned its very poor mechanical condition and what a pity it was so unloved and that I would be happy to put it back in running condition on the basis they paid for all the parts needed and I would provide the labour, on the proviso I could take it out from time to time to special events. That appealed to them as they thought the Duke would be pleased to see his car running again, I had the car for just over a year, not that it took that long to repair but I ran a tour to New Zealand in the middle of the restoration. They were pleased to have it back at Sandringham and I proudly drove it through the gates under its own power and it was soon shown to the Duke. It is a very special car as it was built to the Duke’s specification and I believe is the only car in the Royal Collection now that was owned by the Duke and he did use it extensively for some years. I have had the car out of the museum on several occasions since, for Inter-national Alvis days and couple of years ago for the Alvis stand at the NEC classic car show.So now to Windsor. There had been a request at the beginning of 2012 for the Alvis to be exhibited at a concours event run by Octane magazine and to be held at Wind-sor Castle. Sandringham were not keen to let the car go as they had already been persuaded to send it and several other cars from 12

the museum to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood and understandably that was enough exposure for one year- after all the cars were there as part of the attractions of Sandringham.The Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance event was to be held on the 7-9 th of September. On Monday 3rd at around 8.00 am I got a phone call that Sandringham had agreed at the last minute to release the car for the show and could I get it there on the Thursday as that was the day all the cars in the concours were to parade and drive into the private quadrangle (known as The Upper Ward) of the cas-tle in ceremonial convoy. There were 60 cars (one for each year of Her Majesty’s reign) all perfection; over half of them came from abroad with more than 20 from the USA. The central display was to be four Royal motor cars, Her Majesty’s 1949 Rolls Royce Phantom IV, the 1977 Diamond Jubilee Phantom, HRH the Prince of Wales Aston Martin DB6 Volante (the one used at the wedding last year) and now the Duke of Edinburgh’s 1961 Alvis TD21 together with two Ascot State Landaus. I am pretty good at changing my plans (I had to quickly cancel my plans to be at the NNVC event on the Satur-day) but in this instance I could not make Thursday’s procession up the Long Walk drive into the George IV gate, Friday was the first day of the event so it had to be Wednesday or nothing.It

was hastily arranged for me to get special permission so that I could drive (trailer) the car right through the Castle grounds entering though the King Henry VIII gate then through various courtyards and arches into the back entrance of the quadrangle, not an easy drive as the arches had little room for error and the whole area was full of tourists who, naturally seeing something different, congregated around the car taking pictures and no doubt wondering who I was. When we got into the quadrangle, a very private part of the Castle, there was just me and a few corgis plus a man brought in to rake over my tyre marks as I drove over the gravel, he did that both as I went in and when I went out.I arrived back on the first day Friday which was Owners and Special Guests day. a very grand affair. There were other events organised to run over the weekend, on Saturday it was the RAC Best of British Tour leaving Central London and arriving at Windsor at around 9.00 am this was a mix of British cars all privately owned apart from the RAC’s own Alvis 4.3 and all in superb condition especially selected by Octane Magazine one for each year of Her Majesty’s reign and they parked in lines outside the Keep, a similar event was organised for the following day that was called

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The EFG Octane Jubilee Tour of Elegance another 60 spectacular cars, as well as these cars a selection of car clubs had been invited to exhibit their cars and they did it in style. Rows of Aston Martins, Jaguars, Bentleys and I have never seen as many Ferraris in one place in my life there must have been at least 60 of them. The whole event was very up market having Octane magazine as the main sponsor with Bentley Motors as a very close second and various other companies/organisations involved as well. The general public could look at the cars in the Park for free but it cost to go into the central part of the display and it was expensive to do so, even the catalogue was £25. I am not sure if anyone ever figured out who we were but we got VIP tickets for everything including lunch each day at the Anton Mosimann restaurant .The Central Exhibit in the quadrangle was the most amazing collection of cars I had ever seen in my life, it must of cost their owners thousands of pounds to get the cars there and the total value of those 60 cars must have run into tens of millions of pounds and each car seemed to have a minder. It was invited guest only or if you were a participant in one of the tours you could pay £350 and get a pass to the Quadrangle, not unsurprisingly there were very

few public in there and it was never

crowded so

you could get as close as you wanted to the cars. The minders were pleased to talk about the cars, lift bonnets, open boots and doors, the ones that I was most impressed with were the 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom 1 with the unusual body even the boot was fully fitted with suit cases, totally impractical, the Daimler Double six which had the longest bonnet if have ever seen on a car. A Maharaja’s Rolls Royce that had a solid silver radiator. But every car was a delight to look at but so sad that more than half the cars were British but living in other countries. There is no doubt most had unlimited amounts money spent on them to bring them to such a high standard condition, Sunday afternoon at four o’clock the event closed and the owners were invited to start their engines and drive their cars down the Long Walk in procession and within minutes they disappeared from view. I was the first car in and the last car out of the Quadrangle and it was so quiet and empty in there on our own as if it had all been a dream. An amazing event to be part of, I cannot believe it will ever take place again at quite the same level

Robin Bendall

Some pictures from the Windsor Concours

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Questionnaire November 2012 The Results.

As the club was now almost 6 years old the committee decided it was time to take stock of how the club was operating. The questionnaire was designed to

receive comments on how the club was working and to garner information as to how it should move forward over the next 5 years. When filling in the questionnaire members were reminded that the club was originally formed as a social group for both genders who happened to have an interest in classic vehicles; it was not intended as a “hard core” motor club. The motto adopted was “Fun Friendship and Drive” and that classic meant a “Classic, Unusual, Interesting or Collectable”

77 questionnaires were returned (from a membership of 220) with most of the questions answered. This represents a 35% return which compares favourably with the general rule that about 33% of most questionnaires are returned. However a number of questions were left unanswered and this has been taken to mean that no particular preference was given.

Members comments received on each section are summarised with a selection of replies to question 1

The Questions.

1.Does the club do what you want?

Why did you join the club? • To meet other classic car owners with similar interests, to enjoy social and motoring events and generally enjoy our classic cars with others.• We wanted to join and be involved with a ‘local’ club in North Norfolk for all vehicle enthusiasts.• Help, friendship & shared experience from other classic car people.• To meet people with classic vehicles and use them for occasional run outs etc.• Wanted to have a club that was different.• Recommended by a friend.

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What do you like about the club?• Friendly atmosphere and people, variety of great cars, good events and speakers etc.• It’s the most friendly and sociable group of people I have met in a long time and offers a great variety of events. Perhaps some times too many.• Well organised, very friendly and great fun to be a part of.• Lots of members with wide-ranging interests.• Everything.• Friendship amongst like-minded folk.• News about numerous events through the year.• ‘It’s everything it says on the tin’.• Covers all makes and type of vehicles.• The weird chairman!

What do you dislike about the club?• Members age range seems narrow, but understandable given the subject.• Too big.• Members complaining and not offering to help or suggest change.• Nothing as it caters for all.• Nothing really except that monthly meetings are some way from where I now live. • Constant reference to needing new members on the committee.• Members not willing to marshal events.• Some people could be friendlier, a bit clique.• Aloof committee members.

1.1 Outdoor events

Club Organised events

It would appear that from the responses received more than 2/3rds of members had attended the major events organised by the club. Some 21 members reported that they had attended some of the events on an annual basis. In addition almost ¾ of members would prefer events which included a suitable club run.

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Other supported events

The vast majority attended static events. When choosing events to attend there was no real consensus on whether distance was a factor. However of those 35 members who expressed what would be their preferred distance to travel 63% said 30-60 miles, 20% preferred 60-100 miles whilst 17% preferred 20-30 miles. Only 10% stated that travel distance was dependant on fuel costs.2/3rds of members preferred to meet up beforehand and then drive to static events whilst there was no real preference for runs over static events. Visits to wider afield events produced no real majority either way but the majority of members agreed to the idea of re-visiting venues on a 2 or 3 year cycle.

1.2 Indoor events.

¾ of members had attended in-door events and everyone seemed to enjoy them and there was no consensus as to whether they should be more vehicle related. Everyone agreed they were happy with the venue whilst the vast majority thought the meetings were friendly and not too long or impersonal. There was however

a 2 to 1 majority against summer indoor

meetings.

1.3 Applying For Supported EventsThere was no real pattern for booking events as there was a large majority for booking both early and late with no consensus about last minute bookings! In addition there was only a slight majority who said they would be annoyed if an event was cancelled due to last minute bookings. Everyone agreed that the system for booking events was fine. A large majority agreed that they would prefer a smaller number of club supported events, but on the other hand a similar majority agreed that one event per month would be acceptable! 2/3rds of members expected to hear about events where members could attend individually whilst ¾ thought we should restrict sup-ported events to club members only.

1.4 2013 Events CalendarMost members agreed that they would attend the full range of events, however there was less of a majority for treasure hunts. There was less interest in week-end rallies, however there was a 2 to 1 ratio in favour of winter runs and lunches.

2.Communications

2.1 The Club MagazineAlmost everyone declared that the magazine was an asset for the club and that it met their expecta-tions. ¾ of members had already contributed to the magazine or said that they would in the future. Half of the members would read 18

the magazine on-line and a similar number said they would be willing to assist in its dis-tribution. A small number said they could assist in producing the magazine if required.

2.2 The Annual Wall CalendarA large majority agreed that it was of benefit in planning events and that it was placed in a prominent position so that it could be regularly checked for changes.

2.3 The NewsletterEveryone agreed that it had been useful in the past 6 months, although a large majority agreed that a monthly update sheet would be more useful with a similar majority agreeing that an on-line only version would be acceptable.

3. General

3.1 Fund RaisingAll bar one member were happy for the club to raise money for local charities and that charity fund raising was secondary to the role of the club. 15 members were happy to sell items on e-bay for the club.

3.2 The CommitteeThe vast majority agreed that the committee should ask members for suggested events but that once elected they should have a free hand. Half of the members felt that they could of-fer suggestions for future events. Only 13% would consider com-

mittee membership although this doubled if membership was for a limited period.

3.3 Assistance with the ClubThe largest area for assistance was for marshalling which totalled some 80% of members who answered the question. However support for being the responsible adult or writing up an event was more limited to less than 50% of members. There was a larger majority who would consider writing an article for the magazine in the future. ¼ of members said they would help to organise runs locally or further afield. Almost 70% said they would help at indoor meetings whilst less than 1/3 rd would consider being part of a small group organising events or able to suggest suitable speakers for evening meetings.)only 4 members were able to introduce sponsors to the club whilst 2/3rds could provide details of other club’s related activities.

3.4 Club DataOf the 71 members who an-swered if they agreed to a list of their vehicles being included in a club register only 4 answered no. Similarly only 8 members did not want a list of club mem-bers and contact details being made available.

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3.5 Next Generation

All bar 2 of the 70 members asked, agreed with the club’ “Next Generation” initiative.

The Committee is most grateful to Bob Smith for his excellent analysis of the replies of which this is a summary.

More detailed analysis including members comments in respect of all the questions is available to members on request from Roy Beckley our Secretary. 01263837619 or gwroybeckley@gmail.com

These will be sent by email where possible. Hard copy is also avail-able for those without e mail

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TYRE LABELLING

Did you know Motorists can now choose tyres with

confidence thanks to a new labelling system similar to those found on white goods. This includes three ratings: Wet Braking, Fuel Efficiency, and Exterior Noise. Wet Braking is classified from A to G with the former the best and the latter the worst. This is emphasised by colours ranging from green, through yellow/orange, to red. These ratings reveal – in rela-tion to a benchmark - how far cars travel in the time it takes to slow from 50mph to 12mph. For example, tyres that fall 10-24% short of the benchmark are labelled E, and those 55% ahead A. Fuel Efficiency, once again, is marked A to G. The most efficient tyres barely deform under stress which saves fuel, but can hurt ride quality. Finally, Exterior Noise is calculated at 50mph with the engine off. It is shown in decibels with a computer-style three bar volume indicator. Quiet tyres, of course, make driving comfortable.Paul Everitt, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Chief Executive, said: “There are more than 150 million tyres currently on UK roads, so any information to help motorists understand crucial safety and performance characteristics is valuable, particularly given the safety improvements and fuel

efficiency savings that can be gained from choosing the right tyre.”The tyre labelling system came into effect on November 1st 2012 following a vote in the European Parliament. Clearly, it enables motorists to compare products from numerous manufacturers and choose compounds – based on facts - according to their requirements. That is far preferable to relying on mechanic recommendations that could be based purely on stock levels. Labelling also ena-bles motorists to save money by purchasing from less familiar companies, confident the products compare favourably to bigger brands. Excellent.

Roy

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“Birkin” Bentley a winner again

The Magnificent ‘Birkin’Bentley, which set a world record for a British car at auction when it sold for £5m last year won the

Car of the Year award at the 2012 International Historic Motoring awards ceremony

In the hands of Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin the 1931 4.5 litre super-charged Bentley set the Outer Circuit record of 137.96mph at Brooklands in 1932

Eighty years later following the death of its owner,legendary watchmaker George Daniels ,the car set another record when it was sold at auction at Bonhams for £5m. ( His collection of watches was sold by Sotheby’s for £8m)

Setting the tone of the awards evening guests were greeted by a quartet of rare and valuable historic cars- James Bond’s iconic 1963 Aston Martin DB5, the extaordinarily beautiful “Embericos” Bentley Special, a superb Ford GT40 and the famous Linder Nocker lightweight E Type Jaguar.Other winners included Lord Montagu of Beaulieu who received a lifetime achievement award, Museum or Collection award went to the National Motor Museum. Motoring event of the year was the Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance ( see report from Robin Bendall elsewhere in this issue), Motorsport event of the year was the Goodwood Revival, Race series of the year the RAC Woodcote Trophy and Club of the year was the Aston Martin Owners Club.

Roy

News from the Federation

Historic Vehicle MoT Exemptions

The Statutory Instrument introducing the MoT exemption

was published in October and came in to force on 18 November. SI 2012/2652 The Motor Vehicles (Tests) (Amendment) (No 2) Regu-lations 2012 simply adds pre-1960 vehicles to the list of other types of vehicle that do not require an MoT in order to be used on the road. We understand that a final decision about exemptions has not yet been made for Northern Ireland, which was the subject of a separate consultation.The Road Traffic Act indicates that: the date of manufacture of a vehicle shall be taken to be the last day of the year during which its final assembly is completed except where after that day modifications are made to the vehicle before it is sold or supplied by retail and in that excepted case shall be taken to be the last day of the year during which the modifications are completed.The Federation’s response to the original MoT consultation, backed up by the completion of the on-line survey, deliberately included the option of voluntary tests – some-thing which had originally been opposed by DfT. The voluntary test will be the same as the statu-tory test with all the component and performance exemptions as allowed at present and there is thus

no need to reinvent the wheel – the test is there and will remain in the VOSA manual. The vehicle testing station can log it onto the system and carry out the test as normal. As in any case where a vehicle fails its test, whether voluntary or mandatory, the keeper has a responsibility to ensure they do not use that vehicle on a public road as it is not in a roadworthy condition.To enable members to find a suitable testing station the Federa-tion has carried a list of garages known to be sympathetic to our vehicles on the website for some considerable time. There are ap-proximately 400 testers listed, all recommended by historic vehicle owners.The situation regarding those circumstances where an MoT was required, for example, as part of the V765 procedure, was clarified at a meeting with DVLA in Swan-sea in September. An MoT will not be required apart from for the cherished number transfer process, which is subject to a different regulation. DVLA have announced that form V112, Declaration of Exemption from MoT Testing, will be amended to add a new category ‘O’ to the list of exempt vehicles manufactured before 1 January 1960. This completed form will be required in place of the MoT certificate.The Federation has suggested that it would be in the interests of safety to require an MoT for any vehicle that has been off road and/or subject to a SORN declaration for more than three years and is about to be used on

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the road again. This would pre-vent, for example, a vehicle that was taken off the road because of a previous MoT failure com-ing back into use with no checks on roadworthiness. No answer to this suggestion has been received at the time of writing.A footnote for owners of all vehicles irrespective of age: an MoT test certificate issued after 18 November 2012 will now show the vehicles recent mileage history. This has been introduced as part of a govern-ment initiative to reduce vehicle crime. Where available, the mileage history will comprise the readings associated with the three most recent VT20s (test passes) along with the dates of those readings. This will be in addition to the mileage recorded at the time of the current test.

The Club is hoping to get a list of local MOT Centres who will test pre 1960 cars. Up until now an MOT Centre could not refuse to test a vehicle unless due to its size it would be dangerous or impossible to examine it using the facilities and equipment available. Please let Roy know if your MOT centre will test pre 1960 cars - 01263 837619 or by email to gwroybeck-ley@gmail.com

Notifying DVLA of year of manufacture

The subject of exemption from the MoT has been covered in

the previous article The follow-ing concerns the details relevant to the DVLA.

Where an owner believes that their vehicle should be exempt from the MoT due to the law change but the Vehicle Registra-tion Certificate (V5C) does not reflect this they will need to write to DVLA to request a change. The address to write to is DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BA.

In order to ensure the accu-racy and integrity of the vehicle records held at the DVLA, it is important that evidence provided to amend or add information already held on the DVLA system is accurate and truly reflects the vehicle for which it is issued. Therefore it has been decided by DVLA, after discus-sions with the Federation, that for these specific cases requests will only be considered when accompanied by either an extract from the manufacturer/factory record or an extract from the appropriate Glass’s Check Book. Both these documents will have a direct link to the chassis number that should already have been accepted and recorded on the vehicle record as part of the initial registration process.

DVLA will not accept general 24

dating certificates as evidence to amend or update the date of manufacture. This is a change to what was mentioned in the last edition of the Newsletter, due to the nature of some of the notifications already received by DVLA. However, dating certificates will continue to be accepted for other purposes such as V765 claims and re-quests for age related numbers for recently restored or recently imported vehicles.

The appropriate specialist club will need to make the necessary checks to confirm that the physical vehicle is the same as on the V5C. This could well involve an inspection but in any case an overall photograph of the vehicle, detailed legible photograph of the chassis/frame number, and a copy of the vehicle details on the V5C would need to be seen. It could be anticipated that the chassis/frame number as recorded by DVLA might be missing certain prefixes or suffixes, as recorded on the physical vehicle, or there are minor long standing transcription errors. E.g. ‘ /’ rather than ‘1’, ‘B’ rather than ‘8’ etc. DVLA could well be already aware of these minor differences via the last MoT examiner. However, the core number should match or be contained in the number range of the legacy documentation.In practical terms, It is

anticipated that the named V765 scheme signatories for the specialist clubs as on the DVLA V765/1 List of Clubs, available from http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/forms or DVLA, will be able to assist owners in the location of the manufacturer/factory records if they still exist. Where this avenue draws a blank, it is anticipated that V765 scheme signatories will have their own copies of the ap-propriate Glass’s Check Book, be it the Car Check Book, the Commercial Vehicle Check Book (which includes car based commercials), or the Motor Cycle Check Book (which includes scooters, mopeds and three-wheelers).

If difficulties arise, the Federa-tion is willing to advise.

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Scan this QR code with your smartphone to visit the NNCVC

website.

The Gressenhall 1899 Panhard et LevassorBuilt in 1899 its first owner was Hon Charles Rolls the co founder of Rolls Royce, who purchased the car for £1,250. It was purchased by Hubert Egerton who in 1936 gifted the vehicle to the Castle Museum in Norwich, where it remained in a static condition for thirty years, until Rolls Royce kindly arranged for it to be restored by their apprentices. It remained on static display due to earlier concerns that the rear tyres would not stand up to use on the road (a set of suitable tyres was subse-quently manufactured),until 1994.when, the car was entered and com-pleted the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run It was shortly after this that Team Panhard – a group of nine volunteers – was formed with the express purpose of maintaining the car in running order and driving it at events Now based at Gressenhall it has remained under the tender lov-ing care of Team Panhard. who would like to purchase a purpose built covered trailer in order to attend more local events. They have asked the Club for assistance in raising funds and the Committe are consider-ing this.In the meantime if any member would like to make a personal

donation please contact Geoff, Roy or Rex

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Notice of Sixth Annual General Meeting to be held at Sheringham Golf Club on Monday 18th February 2013 at 7.30pm.promptOrder of Business1 To receive Chairman’s report on the activities of the Club in the preceding year. 2 To receive the Treasurer’s report and approve and adopt the Statement of Accounts ( on page 28 overleaf )

3 To consider and approve any alterations to the Constitution and Rules. Additional Rule to be added to the Constitution and Rules Proposed by the General Committee: Custodian Trustees The property of the Club shall be vested in not less than three Trustees who shall be appointed by the General Committee. The Trustees will deal with the property as directed by the General Committee. The Trustees shall be indemnified against risk and expense arising out of the Club property. The Trustees shall hold office until death, resignation or removal from office by the General Committee by a three quarter majority of the General Committee Any proposed changes in rule should be sent to the Secretary by 31st January 2013

4 To appoint three trustees as recommended by the General Committee

5 To appoint the Officers and Committee members to serve for the ensuing period

6 To appoint an Honorary Auditor who shall not be a member of the General Committee

7 To fix the annual membership fees for the period commencing 1st January 2014

8 To deal with any other business, which the Chairman, at his sole discretion shall permit to be discussed in open meeting. Any Member who wishes a matter,not otherwise on the agenda to be discussed, shall within 7 days of receiving this notice give in writing to the Chairman or Secretary details of the matter to be discussed. Any matters discussed under any other business shall not be subject to any voting whatsoever.

At the AGM on 20th February 2012 it was agreed the annual membership fee for 2013 be £20 so you can pay Rex as soon as you like.

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Advertisers AnnouncementProud to be long term supporters of the Club Harveys Profes-

sional Drycleaners is an independent textile cleaning company. Established in 1995 by its proprietor Mark Riches.The business has grown from strength to strength, starting in the Seaside Town of Sheringham, then after three years North Walsham and there after Eaton, Wymondham, and Attleborough. Its main aim is to provide a professional Drycleaning, Laundering and Textile renovation service.

All Harveys Drycleaning is performed by fully experienced staff under controlled conditions. To this end we use only top quality products and every garment is hand finished.Thus ensuring the end product is the way you expect it to be. Our mission statement is: Quality and Service a Pleasure.Our branches16 Station Road, Sheringham, NR26 8RE Tel: 01263 821133

22 Eaton Street, Norwich, NR4 7LD Tel: 01603 504900

14 Market Street, North Walsham, NR28 9BZ Tel: 01692 501015

12a Fairland Street, Wymondham, NR18 OAW Tel: 01953 607493

8 Church Street, Attleborough, N17 2AH Tel: 01953 455735

Services

We offer a expert dry cleaning service on virtually all items of clothing. This can include garments from a variety of tailored items to your general everyday wear.

Visit www.harveys-drycleaners.co.uk for details of all our special-ist services

Harveys are pleased to announce that from the 1st February 2013 they will give Club members a 10% discount on all your Dry Cleaning on production of your 2013 NNCVC

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Some pictures from

John Allan