Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Zelandeth]

I've got some better stuff at home, just poor planning on my part got me here so I was relying on what was in the car. At least I do have backups that live in every car. Plenty of people here evidently didn't.

Honestly will just be keeping time outdoors today/tomorrow to the absolute minimum possible anyway or I'll end up just spontaneously vaporising anyway I think.

Shame as honestly one of the best parts about this weekend is usually just floating around outside with a camera, chatting to folks and snapping the general chaos around me. Being 30+C means that hiding inside is far more the order of business!

[CitroJim]

I've got some better stuff at home, just poor planning on my part got me here so I was relying on what was in the car. At least I do have backups that live in every car. Plenty of people here evidently didn't.

Same here! I looked to get a new bottle of Banana Boat the other day. It's American and since last year it's skyrocketed in price - nearly £22 now What price protection!

Yes, definitely a day for hiding inside and here's hoping the weather didn't spoil things too much...

[Zelandeth]

Would be considerably nicer if the air conditioning in my room worked!

Biggest thing it's dented is photography. There's usually a lot going on around the front of the hotel and I tend to spend a lot of time just floating around there with the camera and chatting to people. Obviously that ain't happening when it's this hot. The main lobby is unsurprisingly packed with everyone hiding from the sun. Also understandably a lot less suiters out and about anyway, given that thermal management is always a challenge for them at the best of times!

Still been a good weekend though. Even if we really could have done without the heatwave. Hoping it actually does calm down a bit tomorrow so I don't melt while driving home, though every time I look at the forecast it seems to have crept up another degree.

[CitroJim]

It's feeling a bit cooler this morning Zel... A little thunderstorm last evening helped no end..

I could hear it coming from a long way off whilst listening to Radio 4 on Long Wave... Long Wave still has its uses

[Zelandeth]

It's feeling a bit cooler this morning Zel... A little thunderstorm last evening helped no end..

I could hear it coming from a long way off whilst listening to Radio 4 on Long Wave... Long Wave still has its uses

I definitely appreciated it being in the 20s rather than 30s while I was driving back home this morning. Yesterday would have been distinctly uncomfortable.

Was watching the path of the storms yesterday evening - they managed to perfectly skirt both ways around where I was so we barely heard even a rumble on that edge of Birmingham.

[mickthemaverick]

Not a murmur in Hertford either despite the weather app throwing Orange Thunderstorm Warnings for the local area!!

[CitroJim]

Not a murmur in Hertford either despite the weather app throwing Orange Thunderstorm Warnings for the local area!!

Amazing how localised it can be. Thrapston, in Northants, allegedly suffered flash floods!

[Zelandeth]

Apparently the hotel got struck by lightning last night, and set the fire alarm off. ...For the third time in four days!

Allegedly we've now been banned from using haze effects. Because that's not been an absolutely normal bit of the stage effect handbook for the last 50 years or anything. If we really do have to stop using it just because the hotel can't operate their own fire alarm properly that will be a real shame. The big laser show that Cfz always has going on during the dances is a big visual spectacle and is great fun to see - something that none of the other UK conventions (as far as I'm aware) do. Scotiacon has a pretty similar setup these days, just no lasers.





If we lose that bit of one of our events simply because the venue can't work their own fire alarm properly that will be exceptionally annoying. Honestly wouldn't be surprised though. Something which seems to be increasingly apparent as a big difference between Scotiacon and ConFuzzled is that the relationship between Cfz and the venue is very much more one sided - which given the absurd amount of revenue we bring through their doors and nigh on non existent trouble we cause is honestly ridiculous. To the extent that they even charge for use of the projection screens in the function rooms...not the projectors (we supply those)...just to pull down the screens which are built into the rooms already. Did we just project onto the walls this year out of bloody mindedness? Maaaaaybe. About half the building's air conditioning is still broken and has been as long as I can remember. Each year we're told it will be better next year, yet it never is.

Not as if we can really go anywhere else though - 3,300 plus change was the attendee number this year. There just aren't any other venues which have the square footage we need unless you start talking about actual exhibition centres. That immediately adds another zero to the operating costs, and it's already a very expensive event to attend. Problem is that I'm pretty sure that the Hilton know that, and know they've got the high ground in terms of bargaining power.

Basically all the gripes I've ever had with this particular event are largely down to the venue. The tiny remainder are just inherent to the extent to which we're a victim of our own success - unsurprisingly there can be a lot of queuing involved for bigger events, and that can sometimes be a bit chaotic. Though they actually did seem to be managing that better this year and seem to have finally stopped the first and second stage queues from colliding with each other in the middle, which used to be endlessly confusing as someone trying to be in either of those queues.

[mickthemaverick]

Looking back to the Stag you posted, this is the Stag I bought and rebuilt. It was Java Green which was a factory colour so I have my doubts that yours was an original colour as I can't see them producing two so similar.

My 5 year rebuild from nuts and bolts up!

[xantia_v6]

I thoroughly approved of this obnoxiously, eye searingly bright green Stag.



Honestly I think it was brighter in person. I approve. No idea if it was a factory colour in period - but having seen the range you had to pick from in the 70s it wouldn't surprise me if it was

I think that the bright green was an option for late Spitfires, so maybe also on last-gasp Stags.

[mickthemaverick]

Have a browse through this lot anf takes your choice:

https://www.triumphexp.com/article/bmc- ... -colors.67

[Zelandeth]

I ended up parked next to the Stag again once I eventually managed to find a space back in the main car park.



Apparently it had a Rover V8 conversion done by a company called May Engineering all the way back in the mid 70s. The bonnet scoop being necessary to accommodate the top of the carbs. Probably does make it an easier car to live with day to day.

One of the reasons I took the Trabant rather than the Invacar was cargo capacity.



That's a standard international travel sized suitcase. While it has to go at the back there because of where the wheel tub is, it fits absolutely fine. Behind the case is a backpack and a couple of shopping bags full of various miscellaneous bits and pieces. Carrying that in the Invacar would have been quite a hassle. What would have been even more of a problem though was that I ended up coming home with quite a bit more luggage than I left with - an additional large bag taking up basically the entire rear seat. Reckon I'd have really struggled to fit that and me in the Invacar, especially with the contents being quite fragile (and fluffing expensive) so not something I really wanted rolling around on the floor getting stepped on by mistake.

Didn't miss a beat on the way home.



The trip back was *considerably* more pleasant than last year, where I was dealing with absolutely torrential rain the entire way and reckon that I ended up wetter in the car than I would have been outside thanks to the leaky windscreen. This time with the temperature in the mid 20s and both windows open it was actually a fairly pleasant (if noisy) drive. I still have immense respect for the people who take these cars on road trips across Europe quite routinely - while I enjoy driving it, it's really not a relaxed car for long distances! The degree to which the drivetrain sounds like it's about to fly apart at 50mph or more is a lot of that, so I will be curious to see if my opinion changes when I sort out the horrendously noisy gearbox.

[CitroJim]

Ahh, the Trabant was a car designed and built to be practical and serve as a workhorse so the ability to carry a lot in the boot would have been paramount. It clearly does a great job.

The Invacar was designed to serve a purpose too but a rather different one...

Pleased you enjoyed yourself Zel

Love that green Stag

[mickthemaverick]

Now here's your chance to go open top Zel!! It even comes from your home town and is currently very well priced!

https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/ ... b1dd20f9cb

Or if you really must:

https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/ ... b1dd20f9cb

[CitroJim]

^^ Those two went amazingly cheaply apparently Has the market for these cars collapsed?