Gearknobs

Gearknobs

Following The Life Of An Average Classic Car Dealer... www.doabuy.com

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Ben Dykstra
08/05/2019
DriveTribe
Ben Dykstra | DriveTribe

Driving ALR453B ‘The Italian Job Bus... It was always a childhood dream to drive the vehicles from ‘The Italian Job’ and having built and driven a classic Mini across the StBernards Pass this was next on the list... a friend of mine had restored the coach body onto the original chassis and running gear as the original Harrington Legionnaire body was too badly destroyed in a Scottish scrapyard. To cut a long story short he was double booked one weekend and the Bus was supposed to be making an appearance at a classic car show some 30 miles away. I got asked to take the bus to the show with his blessing and found myself racing down to Wolverhampton to pick it up the next day! We loaded a friends 63’ Mini Cooper into the back, strapped it down and set off... only for me to find that the coach had absolutely no brakes at all. The first roundabout was edging towards me and with £25,000 worth of classic mini strapped behind me with no barrier I was feeling a little scared. I dropped a gear and slowed down by literally standing upright on the brake pedal coming to one of the most gradual stops I have ever achieved in my life. A little shaken but not deterred I decided that ‘the show must go on’ and without the start attraction many peoples days would be ruined, so I carried on gingerly to the M6... with 60’s wipers, no brakes and torrential rain the trip was quite interesting but made well worthwhile by the smiling people passing in their euro-boxes down the M6. We arrived safely at the show with only one minor mishap as I pulled in clipping the front bumper on some grass verge and tearing the bumperette off. The day went well and there were some great photo opportunities but best of all I got to live out my lifelong dream.

Ben Dykstra
08/05/2019
DriveTribe
Ben Dykstra posted in Land Rover Owners Club | DriveTribe

Living with Range Rover V8’s... Classics & P38’s... For many years I have been an avid Land Rover fan, I’ve always had at least on Land Rover in my collection and here’s why... The Land Rover is quintessentially British, it works (when it wants) and is styled around our fair Land... so when two years ago I saw this 1993 Range Rover Classic on eBay I was smitten, it was cheap and very tidy so I went for it. In possibly the most bizarre buying experiences I’ve ever had (and at the time of writing I’ve bought and sold 230 cars) I ended up breaking down on my way home in this Range Rover and re-establishing a new deal whereby I bought the car for £400. (Yes Four Hundred Pounds) which was about half the value of the Wolfrace Turbovane wheels. It was an easy fix (blocker radiator) and I was back enjoying it a week later. The Classic’s 3.5/3.9 Rover V8 engine isn’t the best V8 on the market but it is a reliable lump fitted especially when with the Lucas EFi system. Unfortunately fuel economy is poor with my Range Rover as it suffers from a dodgy Air flow meter so I get roughly 12-13mpg everywhere. The refinement and comfort is second to none for the ‘Retro 4x4’ category and a well maintained example will really impress you with road handling and performance. And there is nothing that can beat the boxy retro road presence and light up indicator stalks! In comparison it’s younger brother the P38 Range Rover was a little flakey, it was a masterpiece in its day but it’s old now and the market is flooded with cheap examples with head gasket issues and electrical problems so choosing a decent one is hard. As with anything to a degree you do get what you pay for and with P38 models going for £1000 it’s a cheap way into V8 motoring, just be aware you’ll need to fix it from time to time as with any good Land Rover!

Ben Dykstra
08/05/2019
DriveTribe
Ben Dykstra posted in FORD Owners Club | DriveTribe

Living with my 70’ Ford Transit Flatbed... So last year I got the chance to buy this Transit, after searching for one for years because my Grandfather used to have one I finally found this one advertised on Facebook where I do a lot of my buying from and I felt the need to view it. When I got to Essex I was astounded to see the lovely van but much more astounded when handed the keys, because there in my hands were the keys to a Mk1 Transit but also on the tatty paper key fob written in my grandfathers handwriting was ‘Transit Mk1 Tipper’. This seemed unusual as this is a Flatbed so it led me to inspect the chassis which I found has the extra Stanton for the tipping ram still underneath. I believe that it’s the very same vehicle that my grandfather sold in 2006 for £300. I bought it to use and have been doing odd ‘pickup’ related jobs but really it’s only for pottering around locally. The 1.6 Perkins 4.108 engine is really designed to be in a boat and therefore 40mph is only just achievable, not that you’d want to go faster as the brakes on this van are particularly bad, but despite its flaws I absolutely love it. It’s such a rare thing and gets a lot of attention everywhere I go... it’s more comfortable than expected but it’s not great long distance due to the engine noise, speed and heavy steering. I take it to the car shows every now and again because... well... when did you last see one?

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