In the August of 2009 Esther swapped her MR2 roadster for a ’68 Sunbeam Rapier Fastback as her daily driver. She decided then that although not a Marina she would drive to the Nationals-just for the drive.
Come to November (I think it was) when Chris announced on the forum that the nationals would be held in North Yorkshire-I was working in the channel islands at the time and can remember phoning Kev to tell him in fits of laughter to tell him where the nationals were being held and we already had the agreement from the girls that we would go. I can remember getting a text off Tan with the north bit of north Yorkshire in capitals! Guess she thought it was a long way then!
We decided to camp to keep costs low as driving three cars would cost a fortune in fuel and booked a campsite near Pickering that apparently I had stayed at with my parents as a kid.
My brother, Phil (Barmy) asked if he could ‘catch a lift’ so on the Friday we set off at 8.30am from Kingsteignton in Devon to Pickering. Phil was keen to point out he wouldn’t be getting his hands dirty on this trip-he works as a mechanic by trade and was on holiday. All of the cars were pretty laden-the girls in the ‘beam. Kev in his car and me in mine with Phil flitting between the two Marinas.
The 3 cars at Sedgemoor services.
We made Tamworth services for lunch and discovered Paul (Jubilee nut) wasn’t too far behind. We would cross paths around Derby. The weather was lovely but as we pulled in to the services Kev’s car stalled as he tried to park and wouldn’t restart. We picnicked on the grass under a tree and set to investigate the non starting car. The float bowl was empty. The pump seemed to be working and at first we suspected a faulty fuel sender and the tank was dry. As the petrol station had no fuel cans we emptied a milk carton, disconnected the fuel pump from my carbs and pumped some fuel out and filled the float bowl up so Kev could make it around to the petrol station.
He filled up, went for a spin around the services and all seemed well for a minute or too. Then I topped up and after comparing the amount we had filled up by it was obvious that Kev hadn’t run out of fuel. Anyway, the car seemed to be running fine so off we set.
We hit slow traffic on the M1. Kev’s car started to splutter in the slow moving traffic and we stopped on the hard shoulder. The float bowl was empty again. I quickly stripped the fuel pump to find nothing at fault and tested it and I thought it seemed fine. We suspected a blockage in the pipe or dirty sender filter. As long as we were moving at a decent speed it seemed ok. We set off again once the traffic had eased and 60mph was achievable.
Stuck on the M1
Twenty mins later and after getting stuck in the inside lane because of heavy traffic we pulled out to the middle lane to overtake traffic and Kev’s car died. He quickly made it to the hard shoulder. We again utilised the milk carton to fill the float bowl and was just about to set off when we spotted Pauls Jubilee ( it certainly stands out in M1 traffic ) approaching. He stopped and reported a similar problem and reckoned whilst moving the sender filter was ‘washed’ but at slower speeds the filter blocked restricting the fuel.
A little further on the M1
We hit a roundabout near York and whilst in the queue the car died again. Out with the milk carton and back in the queue only for it to die again as the lights turned green. I got through but saw in my mirror Phil and Tan pushing the car. Through a red light...................!!!
Just after the roundabout
After the roundabout the traffic was crawling and as we were blocking the inside lane we slung a tow rope between mine and Kev’s and set off in the slow traffic. The tow rope snapped (quickly tied in a knot again!) and we continued until my temp gauge hit the red. The traffic was still queued for as far as we could see so it was decided to stop to avoid damage to mine.
Paul caught up with us.
And this guy ( sorry didn't get his name) stopped for a chat
Steve stopped in his TC
And Darren after driving past came back to see if he could help.
After much discussion we decided to call the AA. A mere 20 miles from our destination. In total we waited nearly two hours to be recovered, had 4 marinas stop and check if we were ok and eventually arrived at the campsite at 9.15pm as the sun was setting and nearly 13 hours after setting off. Fortunately we had brought a massive homemade spag bol with us that just needed heating up. Tea at 11pm in the dark it was but just glad to be there at last!
On the truck
In the morning it was decided Kev would find a local garage and ask to borrow their ramp and get the sender out. He disappeared in my TC and came back pretty soon having found a friendly garage (and one very unhelpful one!)
Out with the milk carton again and I followed him into Pickering to a tyre fitting place. As Kev pulled onto the ramp the car died.........
Early Saturday morning
It was now 9.15am with the car run due to start at 10am. Once on the ramp the problem was soon apparent-the short bit of rubber pipe from the sender over the axle had a 1.5 inch split on it. Fortunately in my big box of spares I’d brought it was soon fixed. A mad dash to the campsite, wash and change and we made Levisham by 10.15 and went out on the road run.
The split pipe
The road run was a little disjointed and we ended up with Chris and Paul-separated from the rest but met up with everyone at Goathland. Kev had noticed a wobble from the rear of his car but it went away when Phil got out of the back and rode with Chris. We joked about keeping the boot lid clean so if Phil had to push the car again he wouldn’t break his weekend wish of not getting his hands dirty!
Early on in the road run
Sunday was a little more restful. A couple of hours to get up, shower and have breakfast and seemed like the first time we didn’t have to rush about. The road to the station was in bad repair and the previous day I had scraped my exhaust over a dozen times so I went solo and very slow and all was fine.
Good selection of cars
The show went well and we left at 4 ish as many had already left or had taken a trip on the train. Est won best visiting car-not surprising at it was the only non Marina there!
Andy presenting the trophy to Esther
The trophy on the bonnet
The 'Beam
We drove out to a garage not far from Pickering that we had passed on the road run the previous day. Kev came in my car on the way back as we wanted to get some money out and everyone else went back to the campsite in Esther’s ‘Beam.
We found a cash machine and were about 25 yards from the car when we notice a loud noise-looking to the left we could see rain-heavy rain that was like a sheet hammering down and fast approaching-it hit us as I struggled with the key to open the door and dived in the car. As we turned to each other to comment on the close call there was a knock at the window.......
