Georgie and I had a wonderful day out in the E-type today. We had been invited , along with many others, to E-type UK for coffee cake and classic cars which sounded rather appealing. The weather was absolutely perfect, not a cloud in the sky and the most perfect late summer’s day, as can be seen in this little video.
We headed up to North Frith Farm in Hadlow Kent which is the home for E-type UK. I wasn’t sure what to expect but as it turned out it was an upmarket workshop specialising in E-types. They had a number of lovely cars on display, not only E-types but also Aston Martins, American cars and plenty of others.
We left there at just gone 1 pm and stopped at a lovely National Trust village called Chiddingstone where a wedding was taking place. There was also a very nice looking tea room but we had not long had lunch so couldn’t be tempted.
Quiz. Find where I took this photo of the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder.
After spending the best part of an hour in the village and having a drink in their pub, Castle Inn, we headed back towards Maresfield where there was a teashop called Duddleswell Tea Rooms that we had passed on many occasions but it was always closed. This time, joy of joys, it was open! Not only was it open it was also full! however we managed to get a table and enjoyed a delicious cup of tea and a humongous slice of cake!
Once our appetite was satisfied we set off back to Eastbourne and as we put the car back into the garage we both agreed that this had been a fantastic day out in the car.
You can see from the map that my phone ran out of battery so it stopped recording the journey just before getting home.
End Mileage 83,980 (110 miles)
Had a wonderful run out in the E-type today. It was a perfect late summer’s day with blue skies and sunshine not too hot and certainly not cold. We decided to take the car for a run on main roads out through Lewes and over to near Brighton where we haven’t really explored the roads. Once past the devils Dyke we were into lovely country lanes and headed up to Wineham to the Royal Oak pub for lunch. We didn’t actually have lunch, just a pint and some crisps.
From there we drove up through Warninglid and on through Slaugham and then out around Ardingly to Sheffield Park where we had a little wander around their glorious National Trust gardens. The journey home was perfect and the car drove brilliantly so we really had a wonderful day. FUEL: Tesco Lotbridge Service Station 83,867 – 53.03 lts £65.17 (106 miles, 11.66 gallons, 13.9 mpg)
Had to fill up with fuel which is never a good experience! But I don’t think it was too bad this time.
End Mileage 83,870 (106 miles)
Georgie and I were invited to lunch with Jennifer and Michael who live out near Nutley along with our good friends Tony and Carol who we introduced to J&M. It was a lovely ‘do’, great food and even better company. Once it was over we decided to take the E-type home via the countryside as we had blasted up on main roads.
As you can see the satnav went a bit wonkey and lost signal so some of the journey is shown as a straight line which obviously it was not. Piltdown to Barcombe was via Sharpsbridge Lane and Barcome to Laughton was via Barcombe Mills, A26, Ringmer and the B2124. The Drusillas section was via Alfriston, Litlington, Exceat and Friston then back to Eastbourne.
FUEL: Tesco Lotbridge Service Station 83,705 – 62.08 lts £80 (138 miles, 13.87 gallons, 9.95 mpg)
Unfortunately I had a problem wiht the SatNav on my mobile so it lost signal on a few occassions, hence the straign lines on the map!
End Mileage 83,764 (62 miles)
Melvin from Just Classic Cars kindly came over to my garage to replace the leaking fuel line and re tune the carburettors so that the car won’t stall anymore. He took the car out for a test run so it wasn’t recorded by satnav.
End Mileage 83,702 (4 miles)
Note: Fit fuel line See Invoice 05/09/19
We were invited to friends (Suzzie and Rod) at Pound Lane in Framfield for lunch which was very enjoyable. The weather was a bit iffy and there were times when the clouds looked as though they were ready to spill all over us, but fortunately it remained dry throughout the day and the hood remained down!
The car has developed a really irritating tendency to stall and when that happens in an automatic then it is quite dangerous as starting requires you to stop, select park and then turn the key. Not a good idea if you stall on a roundabout or at traffic lights! I’m going to have to send the car away yet again this year to get this fixed!
End Mileage 83,698 (55 miles)
I’m undertaking a starting test on the car to try and find out why it is difficult to start if I leave it in the garage for a while. Today’s test was after 5 days of not being started. To make sure the car was fully warmed up I took it for a quick spin around town and up onto Beachy Head.
End Mileage 83,643 (8 miles)
We were invited over to lunch with our friends Greg and Mel in Barcombe Mills and decided to go over in the E-type as it was such a lovely day. Both Mel and Greg are very good hosts so we had a really lovely time and when it came to saying goodbye we decided to take the long way home via Piltdown, Heathfield, Wartling and Pevensey. It was a wonderful day out and so pleased that we took the car.
End Mileage End Mileage 83,635 (65 miles)
Being a lovely day Georgie and I just set off not knowing where we would go. As you can see we ended up driving through Lewes and up and around passed our favourite tea shop at Bradness Gallery, but as we already knew, they are now only open for the first weekend of the month so no cake for us! FUEL: Old Town Service Station 83,567 – 67.37 lts £786.17 (175 miles, 14.82 gallons, 11.8 mpg)
However, this gave us an idea to pop in to see my Father for tea which was fortunate as my brother and his familey were there also.
End Mileage 83,570 (68 miles)
Georgie and I collected the E-type from Just Classic Cars and drove back the long way just so that I could try the car out. It seems to be fine but only time will tell!
End Mileage 83,502 (34 miles)
Note: Just Classic Cars came over and took my E-type back to the garage as it still had a small water leak and the carburettors needed yet another adjustment! The car did 19 miles whilst at the garage.
The car was ready to be collected. The overheating was simply a switch that needed to be replace under the bonnet that controlled the two big radiator fans. They had a go at the starting issue by fitting a relay switch which now gives 12v to the coil when under the starting load.
End Mileage 83,448 (24 miles)
I took the car over to St Leonards where Just Classic Cars are based and left it there for them to fix. This has not been a good year for problems with my E-type. Lots of visits to sort out the same old things!
End Mileage 83,424 (25 miles)
Invoice Just Historic Cars See Invoice 30/04/19
Unfortunately my SatNav stopped working on this journey so only the start is recorded. I had to take the car over to Just Classic Cars to fine tune the carburettors as the car is still being a bit of a pain to start. As it turned out the journey was a bit of a disaster. Not only did the car suddenly stop in Hailsham on the way home (actually it stalled whist driving very slowly) but as we came along the seafront in Eastbourne someone waved and pointed at the car so I knew there must be a problem. I looked at the temperature gauge and it was right up on max! I limped the last mile back to my flat where the car boiled like a kettle. Yet another reason for it to go back to the garage for fixing!
End Mileage 83,399 (47 miles)
It was a lovely day and Georgie and I had made arrangements to visit my brother’s house in Maresfield to say hello to his in-laws who were over from St Petersburg, Mila & Evgeniy. Ashley, Evgeniy, Little Richard and I played football in the garden whilst Mila, Yulia and Georgie had a chat in the kitchen. I took this photo with Evgeniy, Mila and Richard in the car.
We had a lovely time there and left quite late so took the quick way home.
End Mileage 83,352 (64 miles)
I had to pop into our local Wicks DIY shop today so decided to take the E-type, just for fun! I drove home the long way!
End Mileage 83,288 (10 miles)
Georgie and I drove over to Just Historic Cars in her Mini to collect my E-type. Melvin ran trough all the work that they had done, including the service but he said that the starting issue was proving difficult. They have put a relay in to give the coil 12v at startup and this has certainly helped, but it seems to want to be very rich when starting but of course they have made it a little leaner to improve the MPG. It should be a lot better but if I am not happy with it then they would have to investigate further.
It was a cloudy but dry day and at 12°C it was still a pleasure driving with the roof down especially on the long straight on the A271 from Ashburnham to the A269 T junction where I like to give the car its head if the road is clear, which it was today. Of course Georgie couldn’t keep up with me at that point!
I filled up with petrol whist Georgie put the Mini through the car wash.
FUEL: BP Pevensey 83,271 £68.98 50.39 lts (65 miles, 11.08 gallons, 5.87 mpg!)
I have no idea why this figure is so low, perhaps a fuel leak? Made a mistake? Evaporation over the winter?
End Mileage 83,278 (24 miles)
Note: The car was with Just Historic Cars from 26/03/19 to 17/04/19. I had the car serviced along with the following work: Change engine oil and filter, replace damaged exhaust clamp and retighten centre flange joint, top up gearbox, PAS, washer and Carb dash-pots. Check break pads, fit new plugs and check HT leads, cap & rotor. Check coolant leak, retighten clamps and replace lower radiator hose. Thorough check of ignition system to resolve difficult cold start. Free and lubricate LH linkages and set up. Adjust mixtures, check voltage at coil and fit a relay to provide 12v to coil when cranking. Clean bad connection to lower thermostatic switch cable and replace cable £1,266.17. They drove 12 miles in the car during testing. Invoice Just Historic Cars See Invoice 17/04/19
I have found a garage that specialises in E-types (a recommendation from someone that I met who used to own an E-type) so I contacted Melvin at Just Historic Cars to discuss my starting problem. He filled me with confidence so I agreed to take it over to his garage in St Leonards. I drove over there with Georgie following behind and had a look at their workshop. Scott and Melvin showed me around where I could see that they do much more than just servicing and had several cars in various broken down states that they were rebuilding. I left the car over there for them to sort out the issue and do a service. I also asked them to give it a good look over and discuss anything else that they thought was needed.
End Mileage 83,242 (22 miles)
