Didsbury and South Manchester car show July 11th

Well it's official now. If you are in Manchester and have classic car we are holding Didsbury's first car show on the afternoon of July 11th and it's all free. Register your car at http://www.didsburycarshow.org/ We have planned for around 50 or 60 cars and places are filling up so register now.

Tatton Park Classic and Performance Car show June 5th and 6th

The annual Tatton Park Classic and Performance Car show takes place 5/6th June at Tatton Park in Cheshire near J19 on the M6. This year I think we will see a large number of Italian cars and I'll have by Dino there too.

June 6th also sees the annual Auto Italia event at Stanford Hall, near Lutterworth and the start of the M6. Another great show with lots of Italian exotica (if it doesn't rain!)

Insurance for your Ferrari 308

Well ok, so it's not really Ferrari but I've discovered a new insurance company for my fleet of classic cars and I have to recommend them. I've been insured with Footman James for many years but the prices were creeping up. I was told of a company called Classicline and they did slash huge amounts off my insurance bill. For example the insurance on my 1957 VW bus was quoted as over £400 with FJ but Classicline wanted just £189 for the same level of cover. For my Ferrari 308 they quoted around £100 less than Footman James and they came out about the cheapest for my 1996 Porsche 911 and accepted me not having any No-Claims-Bonus on the basis that I had been using classic car policies for a long time.

Most importantly in our modern times is the personal experience with Classicline - I get the feeling that actually remember me whenever I have to talk to them - sorry but I don't think you get that with www.confused.com

Spring is coming

Although it is still pretty cold here the sun has been out and the roads have been dry for the last week. So I've managed to get some 308 time in, all is well with the car although I need to think about an brake fluid flush and oil change. Checked the rear brake adjustment (you have to take up the slack with adjusting screws) using Birdman's tutorial and noted some fluid came out of the passenger side adjuster screw cover. I'd rebuilt the drivers side calliper a few years ago so I expect the passenger side rear one could do with new seals now. Nice picture of the wheels.

At last, dry roads.

Finally after a month of cold weather and lingering frost and snow the temperature has moved towards 10º and the roads are dry. I took the Dino out for a blast around the M60. All was good, no misfires, no leaks just a howling V8 and lots of smiles - roll on the warmer weather

Brrrrrrr run the Dino up

It's getting even colder here in the UK. There has been about 6" of snow followed by freezing temperatures with -12º predicted for tonight (Jan 7th) in Manchester. As it was sunny out today and with the car being sat unused in freezing temperatures I ran it up until properly warm for about 30 minutes. Not ideal to run these engines on idle for so long as they don't warm up quick enough and the spark plugs get dirty. ad to dig my way into the garage after defrosting the padlocks with a hair-dryer. The Dino started perfectly once the fuel had filled the carbs so no problems - it would just be nice to actually drive it, but the snow and ice will probably be around for at least another week from now.

Ferrari 308 in the snow is a no go

It's been cold and snowy here in the UK for the past few weeks, so no chance for me to get the Dino out. We've had lots of frozen snow which thawed a few days ago then it went and snowed again. Maybe tomorrow...