This guy's feel for his car mirrors

[rbgarr]

the way I feel about my boat. Couldn't have said it better.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/01/automobiles/collectibles/20091101-ego/index.html

[Garret]

I agree, he does say it well.

However, he talks about how he doesn't like showing the car or going downtown, etc. - but then he does a video for the NY Times?

Anyway, I also like his car.

Garret

[rbgarr]

LOL. Good point!! He's not entirely without ego, and I like the car, too.

[MiddleAgesMan]

He not only loves the mirrors he loves the whole car. ;)

[bob winter]

Very nice car. Did Bentley and Rolls use Lucas electrics? I hope not.

[JimConlin]

I have a friend who has an older Bentley and he calls Joseph Lucas "Prince of Darkness".
Another Lucas fan has these comments (http://www.mez.co.uk/lucas.html).

[Paul Pless]

LOL. Good point!! He's not entirely without ego, and I like the car, too.Like the Bentley owner, I think I recall you posting a few pictures of your boat as well Dave.;):)

[Garret]

I have a friend who has an older Bentley and he calls Joseph Lucas "Prince of Darkness".
Another Lucas fan has these comments (http://www.mez.co.uk/lucas.html).

Why do the Brits like warm beer? Lucas refrigeration....

You occasionally find "genuine Lucas smoke" for sale on eBay too...

[edit] Shoulda read the stuff on the link first!

[rbgarr]

Of course you remember, Paul, but I don't put it in antique boat shows or parades with signs on it or obsess over the mechanicals and finish, which is the kind of the thing he was talking about. He just seems to like going for a quiet, private drive from time to time. No champagne and babes in big hats and dark glasses. :D

[AstoriaDave]

Sumpin' wrong with champagne and babes? :):rolleyes: In equal parts, of course!

[David G]

I, too, laughed at his line about "... no particular interest in showing it." However - I think perhaps what he was describing was the willingness to show it off (though that's not the primary motivation), but the reluctance to engage with an adoring public, and answer endless questions of his novel, noble, steed.

AstoriaDave - Having lived in New England a tiny bit... I formed the (possibly erroneous) impression that a lot of people move to, or stay in, Maine because they harbor a bit of the hermit in their souls. OTOH, people move to Oregon - and to Astoria in particular - because they can think of no better way to express their blossoming joie de vivre. :D Sometimes, we are moved by the elan vital to leave our old shells behind :cool:

[Garret]

I, too, laughed at his line about "... no particular interest in showing it." However - I think perhaps what he was describing was the willingness to show it off (though that's not the primary motivation), but the reluctance to engage with an adoring public, and answer endless questions of his novel, noble, steed.

AstoriaDave - Having lived in New England a tiny bit... I formed the (possibly erroneous) impression that a lot of people move to, or stay in, Maine because they harbor a bit of the hermit in their souls. OTOH, people move to Oregon - and to Astoria in particular - because they can think of no better way to express their blossoming joie de vivre. :D Sometimes, we are moved by the elan vital to leave our old shells behind :cool:

Wait a minute! I live in New England & am very, very good with champagne & babes (or at least babe - New England women ain't famous for being creampuffs...).

Just wanted to set the record straight. ;)

[David G]

Garret - If you read carefully... you'll note that I said "... a lot of people."

I was gonna say "everyone"... but then I remembered you, and figured that might be at least one more like you in jolly old new england :p

[andrewe]

I think some of you are being very rude about Lucas, I spent my youth driving cars such equiped. Not too many electrical pauses in my progress. Plus I learned huge amounts about 12v systems....
I now drive Renaults, well trained by Lucas. I don't bother to clip up the panel in my Espace, it is much easier to feel around inside to get working whatever I need at the time. Not to mention the steering lock going in at speed on the Autoroute:eek:
A

And what about the majestic P100 headlights?

[Garret]

Garret - If you read carefully

Sheesh - how's a person to misinterpret or leap to erroneous conclusions if he were to do that? C'mon!

re: the next post: as far as giving Joe Lucas a bad rap goes, much Lucas stuff really wasn't that bad. I just never figured out how a distributor cap designed & built in England (of all places) could cross-spark at the slightest hint of a mist. You'd think someone might have noticed after a bit....

But then I've owned several dozen British cars & motorcycles, so how bright am I?

[andrewe]

Garret, you are quite right about distributors. Early Minis were frequent sufferers after a bit of rain. Our personal cure was an ally plate fixed in front of the offending object, which stopped the direct rain impact. A can of WD40 was standard kit too. The woes of the British motor industry were, I am embarrassed to say, a result of union intransigence and owner ignorance. But, nothing new.
A

[Garret]

Garret, you are quite right about distributors. Early Minis were frequent sufferers after a bit of rain. And Triumphs, MGs, Healys, Jags, Rovers (both cars & LR's), Humbers, Bentleys, Lotus, who did I leave out? Heck, even my Norton with the points behind a gasketed alloy cover has moisture issues!


Our personal cure was an ally plate fixed in front of the offending object, which stopped the direct rain impact. A can of WD40 was standard kit too. The woes of the British motor industry were, I am embarrassed to say, a result of union intransigence and owner ignorance. But, nothing new.
A

Everyone needs an ally...;) I too have affixed various objects to keep water from spraying directly on the distributor: wood, metal, cardboard, pretty much you name it.

Good thing no American car companies have had to deal with "union intransigence and owner ignorance"! :eek: I think you left out companies being run by accountants & attorneys focusing on short term profits instead of letting people who know the business take charge. British Leyland was a classic example of that. Contrast that with what Iaccoca was able to do with Chrysler.... For a while, until the accountants stepped back in.

[Stiletto]

I love the profile of that Bentley, she's a looker all right!

[andrewe]

Garret, I think you use too much SPIT and polish on your brit motors, hence the moisture probs:D After getting rid of the Mini I had no further (Lucas) issues in my other cars.
BMC used to sell minis for less than it cost to make them. Ford found this after pulling one to bits and costing it. Plus Issigoni was something of a bully and forced his ideas, leading to some effective but not very salable models.
A
A GF picked me up for a party in a Bently T1 coupe, I was a bit suprised as she usually had a Frogeye Sprite. Daddy's DB6 was in for a service, so the garage lent him the T1. Not likely these days :)

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Garret, you are quite right about distributors. Early Minis were frequent sufferers after a bit of rain. Our personal cure was an ally plate fixed in front of the offending object, which stopped the direct rain impact. A can of WD40 was standard kit too. The woes of the British motor industry were, I am embarrassed to say, a result of union intransigence and owner ignorance. But, nothing new.
A

A rubber glove was the trick here. Five leads in, five fingers, voila.
Stretched the hand over the base, stayed dry in the rain.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I love the profile of that Bentley, she's a looker all right!

The Bentley Continentals were the last flowering of English bespoke coachbuilding. The best of the best.

[Paul Pless]

The Bentley Continentals were the last flowering of English bespoke coachbuilding. The best of the best.I think dude's obsession with his Bentley is a little over the top, sure its a nice car and all but its not like its a 'Blower Bentley' or similar 'special', thus he comes across as quite the dork - 'oh i don't like showing off my car so i'm just gonna do this times special video of it'

[Hwyl]

Since we're going negative. The engineers at Rolls Royce clearly did not design the suspension for someone of his avoirdupois either. My heart goes out to the car when he places his bulk in it.

I consider the pre RR Bentleys to be a different Marque, a friend (mentor) had one he'd raced at Brooklands, he'd seriously reduced the value by taking a lathe tool to the flywheel.

[Paul Pless]

Since we're going negative. Seriously... who likes to drive on the 'turnpike'?

[rbgarr]

I could see driving it on the Merritt Parkway or the Taconic ... at two in the morning when there's no traffic. :D It suits the 1940s era when the roads were designed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/arts/design/07arts-MERRITTPARKW_BRF.html?scp=1&sq=merritt&st=cse

[Garret]

I could see driving it on the Merritt Parkway or the Taconic ... at two in the morning when there's no traffic. :D It suits the 1940s era when the roads were designed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/arts/design/07arts-MERRITTPARKW_BRF.html?scp=1&sq=merritt&st=cse

Good point - except that the Greenwich to NY portion (not sure how far into NY) was originally designed in the 20's - as a private road. Had entrances/exits only at each end - as it was only used by the owners who all lived in Greenwich & worked in NYC. The states bought it later & turned it into the Merritt/Hutchinson.

There's my useless bit of info for the day....:p

[rbgarr]

Not useless at all! I love stuff like that.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Well, I thought it was a very nice little video clip and I thank rbgarr for posting it.

I liked the owner of the car and I do feel very much the same about my boat.

The pre-RR Bentleys were a different marque; Bentley Motors never made money after 1926 and was kept afloat by Woolf Barnato until the Depression meant that even he had to watch the pennies, and in my experience (and I have three friends who are very, very serious members of the VSCC) owners of "WO" Bentleys do nothing with them except drive them to rallies and occasional vintage track events.

WO himself disapproved of the "blower" Bentley which was an unauthorised modification by Tim Birkin, intended to keep the 4.5 litre car competitive; WO thought that there was no replacement for displacement and designed and built the Speed Six model.

The price of pre-RR Bentleys, incidentally, makes them toys for the seriously rich, not members of the comfortable middle classes. The boat equivalent is a Fife with a professional crew.

The caption to the video shows that the gentleman who owns this car bought it in 1971, when it would have been at about the bottom of its depreciation curve, and he has owned it ever since - I would not mind betting that he has done much of the work himself. What the video is about is about the pleasure of long term ownership of something really rather nice, which one can afford if one makes an effort. That's different to having a show off boat or car.

Like him, I don't take my boat to classic boat rallies, I just use it for ordinary sailing, the marine equivalent of driving on the turnpike, and like him I do get tired of people walking up and wanting to talk about it without really being interested.

My boat, when new, cost the same as Derby Bentley (the 1930's "silent sports car", built by RR).

The Fifties Bentley Continentals are very nice cars; they do have a devoted following and you can still get the spares from RR, because RR supplied the chassis to the coachbuilders.

[Paul Pless]

I just want to make it clear that I was disaparaging the guy for the hypocrisy of claiming to not want to show the car off, yet showing it off in a big way.

Andrew, you do make a very good point of his stewardship of the car over a long period of time.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Well, I'm much the same sort of hypocrite myself! ;)

[Paul Pless]

I find it hard to believe that you'd not like to tell a little bit about Mirelle if someone pulled alongside and expressed interest in her.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Well, to tell you the truth, for the first ten years I bored the pants off anyone who so much as glanced at her.

Then I went through the inverse-snobbery phase ("she's not a "classic"; just a nice family boat...")

And now I am into the relaxed state of tending to chat about old boats only with other people who also have one... but if anyone who is seriously interested in such things sees her and wants help or advice about this sort of boat I will do my best for them.

The people who just say "Well, I love wooden boats but I cannot spare the time for the maintenance..." tend to get less of my time. After all, I do have a wooden boat to maintain!:D

Oh I turned up the NYT article by clicking on the link...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/automobiles/collectibles/01bentley.html?_r=1

[The Bigfella]

OF course you didn't know that, like most great things in life (think Hills Hoist, the boomerang, the motor mower, the car radio, budgie smugglers, dual-flush toilets and that saviour of many boring parties, the wine cask), Australia is responsible for the Bentley car.


The rest of the tale....

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,26267760-5018056,00.html