Callie Update, next instalment

En route for Mulhouse

The short drive from Luxeuil-les-Bains to Mulhouse is spectacular, I may well be looking for an excuse to go back and drive it again, only without having to resort to ear plugs! The French National Motor Museum is well worth a visit for any petrol head, or indeed anyone interested in beautiful things and design in general. The collection of Bugattis is very special, but there are plenty of other interesting cars as well. I certainly had no problem staying interested for the major part of a day.

I parked up as close to the main entrance as possible, and got a gratifying amount of attention, even with Callie in somewhat less than prime condition. Although ear shatteringly loud inside no pedestrians seemed to care. I have noticed that where ever I go in Callie people smile. When I have had other classic cars they have got attention but never so many smiles.

The museum is very largely still based on the Schlumpf collection so is mostly Bugattis, Bugattis, and more Bugattis ~ I'm not complaining!

This is my second visit, the last one must have been about 1990 with my Brother, at that point they were celebrating the Royale and had all the Royales still around on display, I failed to be disappointed by only one this time!

I left the museum, tired but content, and went off to find my hotel, after finding a parking spot and unloading my luggage, I found a lovely bar and enjoyed a few nice cold local brews! 

Although Bugattis are clearly the stars of the day I can't leave without at least one photo of a bright yellow MGB GT, and one that mercifully behaved herself all day

Callie update

 I'm very aware that I've not really mentioned my adventures with Callie, the last post I left you with a list of jobs I had done and the promise of a fairly major journey in the pipeline. Well, the very next day she went into my usual garage for her MOT, all was going fine until the brake test, not only did she fail this, but was totally immobilised in the test bay! Going for the emergency stop test the brake servo split in half, leaving no braking at all! Fortunately I have two cars so I could drive across London to pick up a new servo, which they could then fit, complete the test and free up the testing bay. All could now go ahead for my trip to the French National Motor Museum in Mulhouse.

Waiting for the ferry at Dover

The first day went well, the drive down to Dover was pretty boring, but the crossing was quite nice and I picked up a duty free bottle of Ballantine's! I got away from Calais quite briskly but avoided the "payage" sections of Motorway, and had a quiet night. The next morning I quickly discovered that the overdrive had decided to stop working, I had a quick look under the bonnet for a lose wire or blown fuse but couldn't see anything. As the main purpose of overdrive is to make high speed cruising more relaxed I decided that I would just carry on, but avoid the motorways and major dual carriageways.

This meant I was driving on much more entertaining roads, and I will admit to enjoying the experience of driving an old fashioned GT on some great driving roads ~ until I found myself enjoying the experience a bit too much, and came upon a very unlevel "level crossing", I'm pretty sure I made air but I definitely grounded out, a quick check didn't show any obvious damage, until about fifty mile later when the exhaust broke in half. I still had one box left attached to the car, so I put the other half in the back and carried on!

Route Departmental 66

The lack of exhaust didn't seem to effect the performance, or upset other road users so I just picked up some ear plugs and carried on, I thought I could sort this out when I got home. That night I stayed in Luxeuil-les-Bains in Lorraine after some more fantastic driving roads through the Vosges. By the time I got to my Hotel I was in need of some rest, some food and a glass of wine - not necessarily in that order! ~ and yes I did have quiche for dinner!

Meet Callie

On arrival

So far I have spent most of this year a little obsessed with my "new" car. Callie arrived in my life back in January, like most cars over 40 years old she did not have an MOT, but I was assured that she ran and stopped and went round corners. I knew she had not been on the road for a couple of years but had been driven up and down a drive so all should be OK, or thereabouts.

My initial assessment was that everything was there but needed refreshing, the only real problem was that the wipers didn't work. The switch was OK but wiring was a bit of a mess and I assumed this was the problem, oh if only it had been that simple. A total swine of a job but in the end I had to fit a new motor and a new wheel box ~ but now I could legally drive her on the road. So far I have

• Full Service with new engine oil and filter, new plugs, points & condenser.
• New fuel filter
• New gearbox oil
• New Horns
• refreshed reversing lights
• Fitted sound deadening (carpet underlay)
• Cleaned out and adjusted carburettors
• Adjusted rear brakes
• Cleaned overspray off windows
• New mirrors (inside and out)
• New heater control valve
• Flush and replace coolant
• New hoses, thermostat and housing
• Tighten up steering wheel mounting
• Replace bonnet catch spring
• New clock and cigar lighter unit (for phone charging)

Visiting friends

I am currently engaged in trying to replace the front engine mounts before she goes in for an MOT tomorrow, and then a trip to France on Sunday ~ only four days from now, when I plan a round trip of around 1,200 miles.

My rational in buying an MGB GT was that there are loads of them around so there's no need to be too precious, I want a useable car not a show pony! Spares are readily available, indeed, you can buy everything needed to build a complete new car, and, I thought it would be reasonably easy to work on. Well two out of three isn't too bad, but just about every job I have done so far is way more difficult than it should have been, too much is virtually inaccessible, things are at stupid angles and often there isn't space to use the correct tool. But all in all I am having fun with it.