Two lunches of note this weekend, Dave Robbo organised Saturday at Du Fermier Trentham the weather was a little warm at 34°C so the only brave souls were Richard and Judy in the 20/60 Sunbeam, shaming the rest of us in our air conditioned appliances.  The food was good, so was the wine and the company was not bad either.  The cool change arrived as we left the restaurant so bravery has its rewards.

Sunday I was determined to get the Sunbeam finished for the test run/lunch  to Jinks Creek Winery this time organised by Des.  So up early to man handle the radiator back into the car, this is easier said than done as firstly it is very heavy and secondly the headlight bar does not come off without far too much effort so the bloody thing has to be lifted up to about head (my head) height then jiggled around past the fan.  New radiator hoses fitted and Sue lost one of her stockings to a good cause as a filter for the top hose.

This brief description glosses over  my ineptitude as most of it had to done at least twice so it was not ready to go until 12:30.  I had half an hour to have a shower and wash the car, it was not a great wash but looked much better for it, the same could not be said about myself.  Sue is ready so let’s go, or not,   high voltages and water do not seem to mix.

Plan B (for Bugatti) started straight away and seemed to forgive my attentions latterly being dominated by an overweight English pretender.  Like on Saturday the Food, Wine and company were great and when we got home I learned a bit more about magnetos (BTH in particular) and will attend to some basic water proofing at some later and no doubt wetter time.

Lastly went for a quick spin around the block with no boiling, I then let it idle and shot the radiator with the IR temperature gun and the temps are even across with about a 20°C gradient top to bottom.  All in all not a bad weekend.

Where to start.  Ah yes the Solexs, I have been in luck.  Went to Bendigo Swap and as usual walked for about 6 hours and saw precious little but caught up with many like minded friends who were doing a similar fruitless exercise.  Andrew my fellow hiker needed to attend a meeting so I decided to spend the time looking through some stalls in what is usually a wasteland and it was, except for an oasis of European vintage parts with amongst other things two 30mm barrel type Solexs. Of course the gentleman knew his prices and the fact I was desperate so no bargain but a good result for Bendigo.

Alas the new carburettor, air fuel meter and the balance thingummy  are waiting in vain, as I have been distracted  by another project.  It’s everything the Bugatti isn’t, slow, comfortable, large and English. No it’s not a Bentley but a Sunbeam.  Laurie the previous and second owner had the car for 45 years, I don’t have 45 years in me so will have to settle for less.

The car is a 1928 20.9Hp tourer with its original Sunbeam body.  I’m not sure why they didn’t just call it a 21Hp as it was taxed as such.  The colour is white which makes it look enormous so it will get a respray in a more slimming colour and definitely black mudguards. I’ve given it a compression test and they are all about 120psi so no problems there.  An ever expanding  to-do list and apart from new tyres it’s mostly small stuff for now.

Oh yes one more thing.  To pay for all this new stuff and to comply with garage policy edict 265B one toy goes for one toy gained so the Emblem has drawn the short straw. The consolation is after very little tinkering it runs although I think I was a little over zealous with the oil supply.

Now I must go attend my other distractions: Blackberries, Scotch Thistles and the bloody lawn.