Valve Bounce

NOISE | Cars on Record

2013-02-07T15:46:00.000+00:00

Just sorting out a few old car LPs. I've got to get digitising they sound great.

SCENE | TR2/3 Tuning Catalogue 1955

2013-02-01T10:00:00.000+00:00

Fill your boots.

SCREEN | Micro Cars Agogo

2013-01-31T16:57:00.002+00:00

via @RMAuctions

CUTAWAY | Aston Martin DB3S

2013-01-31T14:35:00.000+00:00

SCENE | Chromeography -- The Joy of Chrome Logos

2013-01-31T10:38:00.002+00:00

Stephen Coles' Chromeography is my new obsesssion.

"In praise of the chrome logos and lettering affixed to vintage automobiles and electric appliances — those unsung metal emblems and badges that are overlooked, forgotten, damaged, lost to time or the dump."

Creative Morning Berlin #10: Stephen Coles from CreativeMornings/Berlin on Vimeo.

This suitably geeky presentation is fascinating and pitched perfectly. Excellent.

LOOK | Memories of Le Mans Classic 2012

2013-01-29T09:30:00.003+00:00

These evocative images of the 2012 Le Mans Classic from Laurent Nivalle are now available as rather special free wallpaper downloads, and this is always worth another view...

CUTAWAY | SU Carburettor

2013-01-28T15:35:00.000+00:00

WORD | Racing Cars, Cut Out and Keep

2013-01-27T14:44:00.001+00:00

Feeling a little bored having to deal with the winter weather? No opportunity to get some serious wrenching done? Don't worry, do this instead. 3D Paper Craft Racing Cars. Excellent.

CUTAWAY | Weber 38-40-42-45 DCOE

2013-01-25T15:29:00.000+00:00

LOOK | Air Drive Cars; They Are The Future, and the Past

2013-01-25T11:46:00.001+00:00

A beautiful new series of photos from Renanud Marion. Take an iconic car design and remove the wheels. Why hasn't this been done before? Hopefully you can bit of height to get out of the daily commuting traffic jam.

GEAR | Unlimited Velocity - London Artist

2013-01-24T11:53:00.000+00:00

Keep an eye on Unlimited Velocity - he's a rather excellent artist working in London with acrylic, pencil, scalpel and sanding paper all on MDF board. In the past he did some great work on a Shelby Collection; which was used by Goodwood in one of their year books. Now he seems to be concentrating on bikes and tools... Low key and beautiful. I never knew I wanted a painting of a hand drill before, now I know I do, life's funny like that. Great things will follow I'm sure!

GEAR | Need Oil For Your Old Car? How To Choose The Right Type

2013-01-23T15:48:00.000+00:00

How do you choose which brand of oil you put in your old car? Just picking up the first 20w50 you lay your hands on is probably not the right answer, especially given that different cars are used in different ways. Is there a simple way of deciding on how to get the best value for your money?

Assuming that 20w50 is correct for your car you could pay anywhere between £12 and £51 for 5 litres. I've never had a very scientific way choosing oil for my cars so invested a bit of time recently reading the excellent book Which Oil. It goes into detail (maybe too much!) about how best to choose oil and grease for vintage and classic cars. This is my very distilled version of the discussion in the book. I think the best decision making route involves taking three things into consideration; the viscosity specified for the particular engine, the oil API classification (other classifications are also used) and the way the car is driven.

The easy bit should be deciding what viscosity is right for the car - read the manual! Stick with this and don't choose an oil with a lower classification than specified. Ambient temperature will play a key part in getting the viscosity correct.

Next is the API engine oil classification. This was introduced in the USA in 1971 and has been used to monitor and specify the quality of oil ever since. It ensures that oil technology keeps pace with the engine technology. The ratings range from the lowest at SA through to the highest at SN. For the sake of this I've used the simple classifications used in Which Oil, these are; Modest = SG, Moderate = SJ and High = SL/SM/SN.

Now think about how the car is used. Is it a track-day car, a shopping car, or is it just used on high-days and holidays? Advice from the experts is to think along these lines;

A few short trips a year - MODEST grade oil. Change every 3 trips or 12 months
Semi-regular use (short or modest trips) - MODERATE grade oil. Change every 6 trips or 12 months
Regular use - MODERATE/HIGH grade oil. Change every 3000 miles or 6 months
Irregular but stressful use (e.g. road rally or track-day) - HIGH grade oil. Change after every event!

So now you know the viscosity you need and the suggested API grade. With that you can now look at what is available. I'd suggest always going with a well established manufacture and looking at the best price for an API grade. If you keep to the oil change routine suggested then the higher price synthetics will not provide a real advantage. Look at the graph and see what the best value oil is for a the specification needed and the choice is yours.

That was easy enough wasn't it? If you've been through a few engine rebuilds like me, then you'll know this makes sense...

Prices are for guidance only, from the excellent Classic Oils people, Halfords and Opie Oils

GEAR | Manual Designs old car prints

2013-01-22T11:32:00.000+00:00

Manual Designs from Greg Maka on Vimeo.

Christopher Holewski is building up a wonderful selection of old car prints at Manual Designs. He makes them from his own stencils, each colour is spray painted to end up with the finished print. Like a petrol head Bansky sort of thing...

LOOK | Conrad Leach New Show

2013-01-20T21:46:00.000+00:00

Judging by the little taster from Conrad's new show in LA it's going to be very good.

LOOK | Mustang Tiger

2013-01-20T20:01:00.000+00:00

There are Mustangs and there are Mustangs. In an age where everyone is painting them green an pretending to chase around San Francisco this is how it should be done.

It's a pity we can't reach out and touch that is a FLOCK finish...

via @JULIUSTHURGOOD

Electric Colour Company

and The Look

SCREEN | Grand Prix In The Snow 1933

2013-01-20T15:33:00.000+00:00

The magnificent Swedish Winter Grand Prix from 1933.
F1 with snow tyres we need more of this.

Hello again

2013-01-19T19:17:00.000+00:00

I'm currently in the process of getting my blogging mojo back!

I've got a few new ideas and have moved over to www.valvebounce.co

Feel feel to join me...

CUTAWAY | Mercedes M116 3.5 V8

2013-01-19T15:40:00.001+00:00

WORD | Mr Ramsbottom and his Triumph TR2

2011-07-17T18:35:00.000+01:00

In some circles the Dreaded Previous Owner (DPO) gets a hard time but is there any greater joy than having a chat or corresponding with a previous owner. There will always little nuggets of information, a photo or document or two and maybe a spare kingpin. It might be a slightly romantic idea but part of the attraction of an old car is piecing together its story and knowing what it has been through.

I will admit to a history of bothering DPOs. After buying my current Mercedes from a dealer we immediately took a slightly reckless decision to take it for a holiday in the South of France. So I checked the car over and off we went. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time and a very uneventful trip from a car point of view. When we got back I thought I’d start doing a bit of research and sent a letter to the previous registered owner mentioning the trip and was delighted to get a very nice letter back talking about the work he’d done on the car and how much he enjoyed it he also said it had been to the South of France so many times it could probably find it’s own way, all very reassuring. Since then I’ve met another DPO but he went through all the problems he had with the car. I already knew about those because he passed those on and I am still trying to sort most of them those out myself!

I will also admit a slight obsession with old car books and manuals and when I spotted an old but very clean hardback TR2 Manual on a dealers stall at the Brooklands Double Twelve last week I had to take look. To my delight tucked inside I found a stack of correspondence from 1955/56. It’s between the original owner of a TR2, Mr J. S. Ramsbottom B.Sc., and Standard Triumph plus a number of other suppliers; Lucas, Smiths, Richfield, Barwell Engineering, Pirelli plus others. As well as these I found some original 1950s SAH and Derrington TR2 performance catalogues (catalogue is stretching it a bit really they are just one page of typed details in those days).

Mr Ramsbottom seems to be setting his car up for competition in road rallies. There are letters about changing springs altering the rear brakes, calibrating the Speedo, installing a Halda Speedpilot and a clock etc.. I found them fascinating, and if Mr Ramsbottom was not happy with the service he got he certainly let them know about it! I know if owned this particular TR2 at the moment I’d be absolutely delighted to get my hands on these letters, so I’ve started searching. Initial enquiries with the TR Register have drawn a blank; unfortunately the commission number is not on their books at the moment. Someone did mention that he might still live in the same house so I’ve just written to Mr Ramsbottom at his original address and am awaiting a reply, fingers crossed.

SCENE | Brooklands Double Twelve 2011

2011-06-22T11:30:00.000+01:00

There were two really quite special reasons for being at the Brooklands Double Twelve this week. The first is this extraordinary Bertone-bodied 1942 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS Coupe owned by Corrado Lopresto that has been cleaning up all the major Concours trophies this year (both the Villa d’Este Concours in Italy and its class at Pebble Beach). It might look like a XK120 with a snow plough attachment in some photos but in the flesh it really is quite beautiful. The restoration work is exquisite with flawless black paint work and a really quite gorgeous engine bay.

The second was this monster Bentley-Napier (like a surrogate son of John Cobb’s Napier Railton). It's eccentric in a quite uniquely English sort of way. Turn the volume up loud.

The Double Twelve is a hugely enjoyable event, the enthusiastic crowd year was about the right size this year and the organisers made very good use of the venue including the the Mercedes World test track next door. It has a slightly old school and quite approach which is a great contrast to the Goodwood juggernaut. The key must be the reputation of the venue and the ability to attract some of the most sought after cars in the world. Long may it continue.

STREET | Citroen DS fading fast in London Fields

2011-05-15T22:32:00.000+01:00

Spotted this ice cold rat look DS in Hackney this weekend.

It look very solid but with extreme patina! A maybe the second coolest car in London this year.

LOOK | Castrol girls at your service

2011-04-30T20:35:00.000+01:00

Fabulous bit of retro advertising...

STREET | Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Coupe Primrose Hill

2011-04-29T17:52:00.000+01:00

I went up to Primrose Hill today to watch the WWII fly past over Buckingham Palace and also spotted this old friend, a fine looking 3.5 Coupe. It seems to be a daily driver but looking smart with it.

ZEN | Fixing Things Feels Good

2011-04-04T18:12:00.000+01:00

How will all these old cars and bike survive in the future? Are there enough people interested to keep them going? This lovely short film from Andrew David Watson poses a few questions about who is going to carry on the legacy.

Adam Cramer runs a shop looking after old motorbikes and he has some forthright views on the nature of work and how this will develop in years to come. It ties in nicely with the book 'The Case for Working with your Hands' by Matthew Crawford which questions just what a good job is and what makes it worthwhile and satisfying.

Give that Adam Cramer a series...

WORK | Moggy and the Morris Minor Millennium Company

2011-03-14T13:39:00.000+00:00

A nice mini-documentry about the Morris Minor Millennium Company, based in South Manchester.