Tempest

That time of the year again to end the show season with a final get-together (that US speak for meet) at the German Christmans market in Birmingham. When: Saturday 10th of December 2011 from 13:00 onwards Where: Meeting point: Bottom of fountain on Victoria Square in central Birmingham (opposite the imposing Council House), just 10 minutes walk from the rear entrance of New Street train station Leave at the rear entrance of the station (red dot on map), cross Stephenson Street, walk up Hill Street and you´ll see the fountain on Victoria Square. Well, that is if the sheer amount of people and the stalls haven´t blocked the view onto the fountain and the wafts of Glühwein distracted you by then :lol: Victoria Square Birmingham B3 3BD What: Indulge in German traditional Glühwein and Christmas food and handicrafts. Opportunity for last-minute Christmas shopping in Birmingham city centre, eg. the famous Bullring Shopping Centre (houses Selfridges and many other big name shops) How to get there: Well, I am not promoting the idea of drunk driving, so leave the Rado at home, get to Birmingham by train, as New Street Train Station is in the heart of Birmingham, 10 minutes walking distance to Victoria Square, where the market starts. Anywhere to stay? Yes, why not make a little weekend out of it. Either stay in nearby Coventry (Ibis hotel just 10 minutes walk from Coventry train station, secure ar park: http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-2793-ibis-coventry-centre/index.shtml), Coventry itself is only 30 minutes by train. This is as hotels may be cheaper in Coventry. Or do it properly, and stay in Birmingham itself. Here are some cheap places to stay in Birmingham: http://www.booking.com/searchresults.en-us.html?aid=303948;label=birmingham-7NggVIdhP6b9AIQxNkD0SwS7897528461;sid=b13e98a786eaaff06235c2a26c20eede;dcid=1;checkin=2011-11-17;city=-2589989;interval=1;order=price The usual big name chains also have branches all within walking distance from Victoria Square: Ibis: http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-1459-ibis-birmingham-city-centre/restaurant.shtml Holiday Inn: http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/birmingham/bhxwm/hoteldetail How long is the visit for? That´s entirely up to you :) Anyone else travelling from Coventry by train: Looking at catching the 12:22 service to Birmingham new Street, arriving into New Street station at 12:45, to arrive at the bottom of the fountain on Victoria Square by 13:00. Tempest

Actually, looking at old docs from last year and comparing plot size, we had 135 m2 last year, and 114 m2 this year, so not quite half the plot size :lol:, but still not enough for a greedy person like me :lol: Tempest

Sad to hear and read about this happening. As a company owner myself I know how easy it is for outsiders (those folk that just have comfy dayjobs as employees ;) ) to criticise company owners in the sense of saying "they should have done this, they should have done that". All very easy to say, but try doing it yourself better. Personally I always valued Darren's honest opinions on my own car. Yes, he was selling what you could call tat, and yes, he even, when pushed hard, admitted that, and was very honest in his advice to me to not fit stuff like boost-return-pipe-deletion kits etc. I respected him for that. I have had 2 excellent experiences with him, where he went far beyond what could reasonably expected of anyone running a business (don't forget, a business needs to generate profit, much as we as customers wish to deny this), for example spent 2 hours removing my G-Lader instead of the usual 30 minutes, didn't charge me anything extra for that, spent a whole day overhauling my Lader, all the while allowing me to watch and learn, insisted on me not leaving the premises at around 20:00 until he had gotten oil lines for the Lader from his local VW dealership (who he even made come back to work), so that my freshly overhauled Lader would not suffer oil starvation due to clogged oil lines. In the run up to me bringing down my Rado for the G-Lader overhaul, I enquired what parts he was exactly going to use, since this is crucial that only approved parts are used. He made no secret of the parts, sent me their part numbers, which i could cross-reference with German forums where I have friends who work for companies like FAG, who make the bearings and seals for the G-Lader overhaul. I watched him take these parts from the packaging, all genuine. Haven't come across anyone else offering that much openness in an area that is otherwise notoriously closed and black-magicky (for no apparent reason to me). Second time I simply wanted to collect new injectors, he fitted them free of charge! Intake manifold had to be removed even, because my Rado was once again putting up a fight. That all may be some time ago, but even more recently when I contacted him with a query I had a reply by email within 24 hours with a once again honest answer to my question. Tempest

Once again a great show to finish the season, and also once again a highlight in the show calendar. Had a good line-up of cars, 6 in a row, attracting a good deal of interest from the public. Only smaller snag is the 2nd time we were placed a little out of the way of the through-routes, so the numbers of people visiting our section of the show tended to dwindle a little more than hoped for. Still, we did get loads of people visiting, people to chat to, and also loads for us lot on the stand to look at. There is always so much to see during the 3 days. Looking forward to the one next year. I've already handed in the booking forms for next year :hugegrin: Tempest

First set of pics, some very tasty cars again, although some still coevered up as of last night, when I walked around the place after having cleaned my car and finalised the stand :hugegrin: Pics: Tempest

Those buying a ticket, please do keep receipts and hand them in to the stand, so that the CCGB can demonstrate footfall that our stand generates, in an attempt to get a bigger stand again next year :) Tempest

Cars to be on the stand Thursday 11 am onwards: Hall 6, stand C92. The staff on-site should be able to assist you in guiding you in the right direction and hall-door. Map of the site available here: http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com/visitors-guide.php?title=location-maps&id=33 Map of the NEC site: http://www.thenec.co.uk/travel/Documents/nec-site-map.pdf Hall plans (which stands are where): http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com/visitors-guide.php?title=hall-plans&id=34 Needs Acobat Reader or similar Tempest

Possible to send pics of the 2 front subframes? Tempest

We´re in hall 6 on stand C92 this year. Map of halls and stands here: http://www.floorplanlive.com/public/floorplanpdf.aspx?showid=233&viewid=1 Keep your entry ticket and drop off on the CCGB stand; the CCGB can reclaim some sort of discount for each ticket. A way for the organsiers also to monitor how many visitors a club attracts. Tempest

Nice to read indeed, just could do without the commewnt about G60s :lol: Tempest

Same here, no longer can make this, same reason even as Jim, visiting the same friend to help do a matrix job :) Hopefully the meet will be well attended, and looking forward to pics :) Tempest

Thanks for the comments chaps :) The Mk1 brings the smile to my face, each time I look at it, let alone drive it, pure go-kart feeling. The 928, well, that´s a totally different animal, still feeling my way round it. Still not quite sure. With multimeter attached I staretd to pull fuses, observing the battery voltage (measured between battery jump terminal in engine bay (the actual battery lives in the boot) and some ground point in engine bay) rise from a measely 3 V to a still measely 6 V. Then decided to check the voltage across the battery itself in the boot, and upon moving some controller box of the gash aftermarket alarm system (no less than 3 controller boxesd stuffed into the fuse board area, one in the boot - has got to go ultimately, too gash to even look at the wiring) to one side, I heard the alarm make a noise like ¨I back again!¨, also getting full 12 V across the battery terminals. Everything worked fine again. Had already cleaned the battery terminals and ground point in boot some weeks ago, and spent tonight underneath the landshark cleaning the ground strap between engine and body. Tempest

As of yesterday the long wait till spring has started as I took my Mk1 Rocco out for its season-end trip. Wasn't planned for, since I already had taken it out on Saturday, but hey, what do you do, when you need to rescue a 928 :lol: Electrical gremlins (and the 928s have loads of these) prevented it from coming home. Sorted in the end and hopefully staying that way till the next gremlin appears. Osnabrück built reliable cars, Zuffenhausen sporty ones, eh ? :lol: Tempest

Errrrrrrrrrr, cheese, I have cheese! Looking forward to this one, few days of nothing but petrol-sniffing :) Tempest

No idea why after having been in the previous 4 years, and always having been given a stand that could accommodate 5-6 cars, we this year only get a stand that can take up to 3 cars. It may be that there are simply more and more car clubs trying to get a stand each year, the more popular this show gets. It may be that the CCGB simply does not take out more options to decorate the stand that make money for the oprganisers. Clubs like Merc, BMW etc. all get BIG stands, but also pay massive amounts of money to get things like carpeting, lighting rigs, electricity, which in turn pulls in the money-paying visitor crowds (which is how the show organisers ultimately make their money). Do come and visit us, since we will have a very nice stand. like in the 3 previous years (1st year we were at this show on our own) combined qwith that of the SciroccoRegister. We do try and get a good selection of cars, too :) Tempest

Yup, was the same here, till i sold one car in my fleet, my Mk2 Storm Rocco, to free up time for the remaining 2 in my fleet. ,,, Tehn came along a 928, which i swore to myself I would´t do anything to, but hey, what do you do on a weekend when the sun is shining and you are otherwise are bored? :lol:"Get the spanners out :lol: Tempest

Not an issue for me (at the moment at least), i.e. at the moment I can still afford to invest play-money into my Rado. Not interested in whether I would ever see that money back, as previous posters have already said, it's a hobby. If I can't afford it any more than that's that. I would, however, hazard a guess, that people who are affected by the current job climate will not really be that keen on posting their views here for several reasons, they'll be busy job-hunting, and posting up here that thanks to the economic downturn they cannot necessarily afford all the play-money for their Rados is a bit like saying "I am now unemployed!", which no-one really wants to do, I suspect ;) Tough times. Tempest

Should hopefully have my recon'd alternator back onto the Autobahnexpress-Vehicle this weekend. Alternator sitting in my backpack at work at the mo'. Tempest

As of today with a valid MOT again :) Well, because it is :lol: Tempest

Try taking it to a good bodyshop first. Exactly the same happened to my Mk1 Rocco back end of May. See here for results, as I picked up my Mk1 Rocco just yesterday. Had dents in roof, too (no sunroof, though, but could be the sunroof may work again, once dents in roof removed), bonnet bent, hinges cut into scuttle, only thing that survived was the windscreen (miraculously). There may be hope yet, provided you can get a good bodyshop. Tempest

Thanks chaps for the comments :) MOT time tomorrow after I spent the whole day today doing my annual inspections (spend some time underneath checking things), and yes, it´s usually the emissions thanks to a rather aggressive camshaft ;) So much fun to drive, great weather, so can still enjoy it for a little bit, before it goes into winter hibernation. Tempest

After 4 long months at the bodyshop following a rather nerve-wrecking incident on our return from the Roadstar event in the Netherlands driving down the crappie A120 just outside Harwich, I collected my beloved Mk1 Rocco today from the bodyshop where the chap who runs the place has performed a miracle: Reshaped the bent bonnet and reproduced the elaborate airbrush on the bonnet. Removed 2 dents from the roof, where the bonnet must have impacted in some way, wings, and the scuttle tray, where the bonnet hinges had nicely cut into. I could not sleep through Friday night, I was and still am that excited, like a small schoolboy (easy to please, I know :) ). Big thanks to Jim for driving me up to the bodyshop in his VR :) Some pics of my Mk1 still at the bodyshop today: Pics of at home where my Rado said hello: My Rado had to vacate the garage, as that is the only one the Mk1 can fit and drive ionto (without grounding etc.) Fortunately the Rado has its own garage, but thatś appreciately smaller, but still, away from the elements. Off for the annual MOT (only 2 months late :lol: ) on Monday, and ready to enjoy a little more, before my Mk1 wanders off into its wintersleep. Tempest

Yup, sounds like a plan. Hope I can keep up :lol: Tempest

Should be able to bring another table (the infamous NEC Classic Car Show garden table) and the club gazebo. Must testfit into car :lol: Tempest

Menu looking good :) Can comfortably beat that: 42.5! It´s how old you fell, though ;) Tempest