Duchy Capri Club Classic Car Show

Once again we put up the “tent” in the field at Flambards to fly the flag, literally, for Cornwall Advanced Motorists. This was the last time the Classic Car Show will be held here as the field is unavailable next year. We had a few nibbles at our bait but we will have to see if any follow through and join our group.

Over one hundred cars took part and the sun shone down on the gallons of Autoglym lovingly rubbed into the pores of precious classics, both old and new. Thankfully the seagulls deferred their bombing runs otherwise open season may have been declared! I spotted a car from 1924, then Anglias, Cortinas, Capris, a Sweeney Granada (although green), Escorts, and then the modern stuff – Fiestas, Focus, Mondeo, and the brand new, courtesy of St Ives Motors, and loads more.

This custom 1934 Ford is typical of the time, money and sheer hard work that goes into making a work of art on wheels. Straight out of “Whacky Races”, if only Dick Dastardly and Mutley were in attendance.

There were some interesting paint jobs as well as this glittering example shows – in fact the photo doesn’t do it justice. Try explaining to your insurance company that the other car was black, no red, no green, no blue, no, sort of sparkly……

Then we were at sixes and sevens. Which is a Caterham and which the Lotus? They disappeared around lunchtime for a run somewhere, and there were only six sevens!

 

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26^th February 2008

LADOCK VILLAGE HALL

Twenty-six of us squeezed, sardine style, into the small meeting room at Ladock Village Hall to hear a most interesting presentation by Martin Polmounter, Company Operations Manager, at Steve Andrews Tyres Ltd.  Steve was also there to give a brief history of his company and introduce Martin. 

Steve Andrews Tyres, based in St Austell, has branches also in Truro and Bodmin.  It has been in existence since 1984 and has always prided itself in delivering a “quick and personal Cornish service”.  However, “quick” does not mean poor quality or a lack of professionalism, quite the opposite.

Martin in full flow

Martin based his talk on a series of questions about our knowledge of tyres from what the law says we need, through the various numbers and letters embossed on the tyre itself, to what the future holds.  We learned about directional, asymmetric and composite tyres – the benefits of fitting an original equipment tyre – getting what you pay for, cheapest is often not the best option.  We also were shown some examples of worn tyres, how damage is caused and the perils of over and under inflation.

As to the future and whether air will still be at the heart of tyres or not.  We saw some interesting photos of a car sporting tyres that you could almost see through.  Each wheel had a central core to enable the traditional stud/bolt fixing but surrounded by a series of spoke like struts which were able to deform over bumps and kerbs to absorb the shock but then regain form undamaged, leaving just a narrow strip of treaded rubber on the rim. 

It looked weird but the crooks would probably vote for it as the Stinger device used by the Police would then be redundant.