Boxing day jaunt - Wokingham Town Hall photo opportunity

After Christmas excess, and frankly typical Christmas Day weather, it was nice to wake up to blue skies and sunshine. Supposed to be nice for a while now - all the way into the New Year. So Amy's been under wraps for too long and I wanted to get a few miles in the sun to shake both of our cobwebs out!

Being Boxing Day, I had hoped it would be quiet to give me an opportunity to get a Wokingham town centre picture done - couldnt normally park up where I did. Just got up and out early-ish to get a few miles clocked up and as hoped, town was dead quiet.

A few interested glances at the same time!

Five minutes of "fame" - Brooklands Website

Just looking ahead to the Brooklands Austin Morris day next year to check what day it is on and looked at the website. And what car do I see on one of the headline images? That was our visit from 2015 😀

Clocking up miles - Work and at Parents

The miles gradually increase with a journey here and there. Went to work again today and visited parents over lunch time then home of course. Overall just another 15 miles or so, nothing much but keeps creeping towards the magic 40,000 on the speedo.

And haven't pictured her outside my parents current house before so just for posterity.

She'll go to bed in the garage a bit later, but just a quick stop today.

Rain forecasted for the first time in a little while, so back under cover for now

Just some miles and the takeaway run!

I wasn't happy just starting Amy and not driving her the other day. It's warmed up now, and still dry so I treated her (myself?!) to a drive. Through town, out into the country a bit then back through town and home.

Nothing spectacular, just a nice little jaunt around 15 miles or so for no reason whatsoever, then in he evening we haven't done the Friday takeaway collection in her for ages, so figured why not?!

Put her to bed actually at Christmas maybe. We'll see, but doing a few functional journeys like the old days is kind of nice.

Frosty -4°!!! - Just a start and warm up

I don't often start Amy up and not drive her anywhere, over all the time I have had her I've only done it very rarely.

I don't really see the point, some people do it to keep their classics ticking over, but if she's started - why not drive her somewhere is my motto!

But today, hmmm it's MINUS 4°. A lovely day but too cold to bother, just for the sake of it.

Having said that, the last time she drove in such conditions was a couple of years ago when I took her to Reading in Dec 2014.

So today I just wanted to see if all would still be OK at such cold temperatures.

Easy!! No problem, she started an absolute dream and warmed up, revved and ticked over nicely. I just left her long enough to see the water temp come up and all the frost to melt on the bonnet and left it at that.

Austin - you CAN depend on it!!





She sure looks pretty, with Christmassy frost on the windows! :

Keep her driving - Work today and few more drives

In this really bad spell of weather, it's hard to make sure I keep Amy running. A classic car's worst enemy is inaction, especially when kept outside on the driveway as Amy is.

I don't want to put her away for her Winter sleep in my parents garage just yet, but with wind and rain having been prevalent since the last journey, it means I haven't had her out for a spin since then, over two weeks.

Today is slated to be nice, so out she comes for a work trip. I never just drive straight to work anymore, it's only 2 and a half miles, no where near enough of a journey, always drive a big loop to get there!! (Although that's still only 5 miles!!)

She always takes a while to start after sitting for that length of time, but it is only pulling fuel through, once it comes through, she fires easily and purrs .. The long time Somerset owner I know has exactly the same issue with his, and he's had it since 1960!!! So it's just nature of the beast. I had wondered if the new fuel line setup would solve this and stop the fuel dropping back, but it's just the way it is designed means this is just normal. I guess replacing the mechanical fuel pump with an electric one would work around the issue, cos it'd start whirring away as soon as the ignition was switched on and more quickly pull the fuel up, but it's a non issue really, So I wont be doing anything about that. Not a new issue, she's always done it after a long rest and it just seems worse in cold weather, cos the engine turns over more slowly when trying to start!

Then the next couple of days, although miserable, are supposed to be dry and clear, so she'll stay out and probably get a Saturday jaunt for the sake of it.

New place - The Lookout

Nice weather for an early November day, took the dog for a walk and decided to go to the Lookout havent taken a picture there before, even though it's on the doorstep and a very popular venue for walks!