HGF Blues

It has been an odd few days. Relocating to Bath has meant lots of criss-crossing of the Wales-England border in search of somewhere to stay. On Saturday I managed to get time for me and Mark to fit a pair of twin 40 Solex carbs to the Capri. Like all these things it took longer than expected and involved plenty of skinned knuckles and frayed-cable puncture wounds. But come 6 and they were on and the car was idling brilliantly. A quick test drive confirmed their awesomeness; small boys gawped, old people grinned and I scanned the horizon frantically for the nearest petrol station.

With the carbs fitted I prepared for a potentially expensive but audibly worthwhile trip back over the Bristol Channel. The car made it to Bath without a hitch and I looked over a potential flat before heading back to Cardiff. Then outside Newport, passing the slimmest bit of hard shoulder imaginable it happened; a sudden collapse of oil pressure and revs, accompanied by a cloud of oil out of the back. Bollocks. Climbing out to inspect the damage revealed a very oil stained engine bay and the contents of my (crap) cooling system making a bid for freedom in vapour-form. The car wouldn’t turn over in any way at first, and because of the hairy location the RAC man had to tow me down the slow lane to the next junction. (Surrounded by three highway patrol vehicles) Coming down the slip road the tow cable decided it'd had enough and came loose, leaving me freewheeling down a fairly big hill towards a very busy roundabout.

The Capri went onto the flatbed under its own steam and started without any fuss once it'd cooled down. Its now at 'Gumpspeed HQ' (Mark's drive) suffering from a blown head gasket and looking decidedly sorry for itself!