Out with Daddy & Baxter in Myrtle

This blog is about the wee adventure I had out with my dad and Baxter today, however I thought I would also add a few words about the misadventures this week, LoL

Myrtle up on the Moors

 

What a nightmare few days I have had. It all started with me planning a leisurely ride out on Sunday on my Buzzraw. As I have not sold the bike, I thought I may as well enjoy it and go for a leisurely cruise. So I got all togged up, complementing the fashion of my bike, and went to head out. Well, it wasn't going to happen, as the bike's battery was completely flat. "Never mind" I thought I will pop it on charge and go out in the afternoon".

Batteryless Buzzraw

 

After about 5 hours of charge I replaced the bike's battery into the bike's cradle and "whey hey", absolutely nothing. I checked the battery charger, it appeared to be working, so I left the bike to charge a little more.

By this time it was getting a bit late to go for a ride and the battery didn't appear to be working. I tried it in the bike one final time, and unexpectedly the bike's display powered up when I pressed the power button. It showed no errors and 100% battery... Strange.

So I thought I would get up early the following day and take the wee bike for a spin. Righty Ho! All geared up and ready to go with a mini picnic and a planned route. I went to get my Buzzraw and...crap, no juice yet again.
 

I have decided to keep the wee bike as a play thing. I haven't done many miles on it in the 3 years I have had it, around 85 I think. I have had to try and locate a new battery, found one on eBay, so that is another £190, but at least my wee bike should be good to go.

I took the old battery apart and Ern and I had a look to see if we could find any obvious faults. My dad has then left it on charge and hooked up a multi meter.

Ok so no Buzzing around until the new battery arrives.

Anyhow whilst I was on fannying about with my bike, my dad decided to start Myrtle up, as she has been standing in our yard for some time, up on stands whilst I have been waiting for her steel smoothie wheels to come back from getting powder coated. The nightmare continued, Myrtle refusing to start. By this time, I had come back out into our yard in a somewhat pissed off mood. My dad had removed Myrtle's oil Bath air filter and was checking to make sure her electric fuel pump was working.

My dad asked me to spin Myrtle over whilst he checked at the rear to see if anything was going on engine and fuel wise. As I spun Myrtle over, my dad shouted for me to stop. When I joined my dad at the back of the car, Myrtle had spat out what appeared to be oil  from the crankcase breather, we then  smelled a strong odour of petrol. Kind of reminded me of Herbie, when he didn't want to play.

We jacked up Myrtle, so she was sitting level off the ground and popped her on stands, then my dad dropped Myrtle's oil. When I say oil, it was a combination of oil and petrol, so much so that about 5 litres of stuff came out. Once the horrible mixture had been allowed to completely drain out, we replaced the oil with some fresh and tried Myrtle again. She pretty much started first click. My dad thinks the engine must have got flooded, however he has bought a compression tester to check everything is ok.

As Myrtle appeared to be running ok, no horrible petrol smell and ticking over, with no blue smoke I suggested we take her out for a run and that was today.

So this morning I packed a make shift picnic, with a flask of coffee and some yum yums, plus turkey sandwiches. Wor Baxter promised to be a good lad, so we took him for a ride out too.

Before setting out I asked my dad how much petrol he thought we had in Myrtle, as her fuel gauge isn't exactly reliable, "enough to get to the petrol station, at Cost Co's", he said. I wasn't too keen driving through to Cost Co's as it can get busy, and I am still learning the fickle nature of this car and its clutch, nevertheless, off to Cost Co we headed.

The first obstacle was in our backstreet, and the poxy speed humps. The first one we came to, Myrtle ground her front end over. I had to stop, take out the AirLift control and pop 95 psi in all four corners. Even modern cars rake over these humps, they are so steep.

Myrtle was running pretty good, I mean she has loads of rattles and is very noisy, but she now steers 100% better and has a decent turning circle. As we went from our house and approached Gateshead, almost at Cost Co's Myrtle's electric fuel pump sounded like a Tommy Gun, getting louder and louder. Myrtle eventually ran out of petrol, right at the side of the fuel pump at Cost Co.

This motoring Malarkey is expensive £56.76 of Super unleaded to fill Myrtle up, and then we were off for a ride out. We ended up going from Gateshead all the way up to Weardale and Teesdale

We drove to Hamsterley Forest to have our picnic and let Baxter have a walk and a breath of fresh air. It has been a lovely day weather wise, there were loads of people at Hamsterley. We sat at a picnic table on the green to have our stuff. A nice relaxing break before returning to work next week.

Ern & Baxter

Ern enjoying the Turkey sandwiches I constructed.

Myrtle 65 Bug

 

From Hamsterley we just followed road signs to make our way back towards Stanhope and from there home. The electric fuel pump and regulator appears to have solved Myrtle cutting out, as she drove solidly today. My dad checked the oil dipstick and there doesn't appear to be any petrol in the oil. Myrtle's fuel gauge cannot be relied on, my dad mentioning he wished he had brought a stick to dip the tank, however when he looked under the bonnet into the petrol tank he said she had not used that much. I am still getting used to the clutch operation and found 3rd gear really difficult to get in, especially when trying to use the engine braking going from 4th to 3rd and panicking somewhat when going up some steep climbs with impatient drivers behind and not being able to hit 3rd, then having to drop to 2nd and on one occasion hitting 1st and almost throwing us through the wind shield "Oops". I definitely think a future mod will be a more powerful engine, not so much to thrash around, just something that you don't feel you are thrashing the life out of.

Ern Checking the fuel situation

The engines the other end dad

Myrtle 65 Bug aired up

Baxter enjoying his ride out

Myrtle 65 Bug

Myrtle aired out, she wasn't sitting right down as pan on bumpy grass

Nice to be out in the old girl

 

I really enjoyed today, being on the quiet country lanes up in the moors, just tootling and spending time with my dad and Baxter, drove 115 miles today.

Upon arriving at home, Baxter didn't want to get out of Myrtle, I think he loves going out in the Wee car.

Baxter

Baxter

A Mixed bag this month

 As the title to this particular blog states, it's been a bit of a mixed bag this month. 

I will get the shitty bit of the month out of the way first so that I can leave you on a more positive ending.

Ok so I have now been off work 3 weeks, after talking to Occupational Health and describing how much I have been struggling at work. They agreed working from home until I can get sorted with a comfortable socket is the best course of action for me.

The pain and discomfort has been going on for months now and following the last Bank holiday I worked, wearing my new socket, I knew I just couldn't keep going on the way I was. So now I am in a kind of limbo, where I keep attending short appointments over at the Disability Service Centre and my prosthetist trying various small adjustments to try and get my socket comfy. The new socket I had made for me is not far off, however I am still uncomfortable, and it gets worse the longer I wear my limb and the more I do. I can no longer wear my current limb for more than a couple of hours at a time.

As for cycling, well I am still at it, riding indoors on my road bike set up on my turbo trainer. My cycling socket is absolutely huge, and it requires me to wear two seals around my liner, even then it gradually slips further and further off, so that is part of the reason I have not been heading out on any biking adventures. I cannot imagine being able to stand out of the saddle using my BTK, as the socket now rotates on my wee leg. It is all rather depressing as I have my new Orbea Cyclo cross sitting in doors just waiting for her maiden adventure. "Ahh well never mind we are still in winter and the roads are manky, the bike looks so pretty I don't really want to get her mucky" I keep telling myself

The Gain going nowhere

   

Baxter either wanting a cuddle or trying to tell me to stop playing

Well turned out Baxter had indeed broke a tooth and must have had an infection, poor little lad. The vet prescribed some antibiotics and painkillers, OMG! £90 odd quid then informed us that Baxter would need to come back to have the tooth removed. "Err how much will that be?" I asked too which the vet replied, "between £350 and £450"... Gulp. Apparently the dear part is the anaesthetic and because Baxter is a fat little git it's costing that bit more. So come Monday the 31st January, Baxter is off to get knocked out, just hope he doesn't have to have more teeth out or dentures fitted.

I'm sure the Universe is conspiring against me this month. My mate John messaged me during the week, asking did I fancy a ride out on Thursday. Ooh a chance for a catch-up. Turns out John then had to work a shift, so he couldn't head out, however that is not all. I had gone to get my bike out of the shed, my Specialized Turbo Levo, intending on washing her, thinking we were going to go out for a ride. Anyhoo I went to turn the bike on to see if I needed to charge the battery. WTF! The bike wouldn't turn on from the frame button. Now, this exact thing happened back in March 2021. I then had to take the bike to Infinity Cycles and get a new wiring harness fitted. After some choice words and much fannying on, I rang Infinity and the lad on the phone advised me to bring the bike down so that they could inspect her and try and discover the problem.

A day later Infinity rang saying it was the same problem as last time, the poxy wiring harness bit, and that the bike was now out of warranty... Great, so I was quoted about £56 for the part with £15 labour, telling them just to carry out the work. Another day went by, and the following day Infinity rang saying they had fitted the new harness, however the bike was still acting up. They had discovered that  the TCU was at fault and this was going to cost £105 to replace, the guy on the phone saying Specialized had given me a 35% discount on the part. Obviously I needed the bike sorting, so the final bill was £190. 

Infinity Cycles and the team have always been spot on, when I have had work done there, like getting my bikes wrapped etc, so I am not miffed with them, however I am pissed off with Specialized as upon reading up on various eBike sites, there have been a lot of issues with the motors and electrics. It has definitely put me off buying another Specialized bike in the future,  if I was going to purchase another bike. Even been thinking about selling the Levo, she is 3 years old now and in really good nick, I already know what I would go for if I did sell her, but I will keep that under my hat for now LoL.

Ooh! my Mikro guitar arrived, eventually, on Wednesday. I had ordered it from Anderton's Music way back in December. I eagerly unboxed it, tuned it, trying both my mini tuner and the one incorporated on my Orange Crush 20 RT and I have to say I was proper disappointed with the sound. It just sounded terrible to me when playing a chord, it sounded like the G string was always out of key and wavering and lingering longer than any of the other strings.

ibanez grgm21m-mgn gio mic

Ibanez Wee guitar

 

I have been taking guitar lessons with a gentleman called Tom Welch, just had my 4th lesson Yesterday in fact. So as I am a total noob with anything to do with guitars, I asked Tom to have a bit of a play around and give me his opinion. Of course Tom could play the wee guitar, as he is a pro, however he agreed the guitar did sound out of tune and recommended taking it to a "Luthier", you see I am learning new stuff all the time. A Luthier is someone who makes and repairs guitars and can carry out tuning and required adjustments or replacements of parts. I will come back to the wee Ibanez in a tick.

I found Tom by doing a quick Google and searching for guitar tutors in County Durham. He has his own website which provides details of his years of experience and what he can offer in the way of tuition. I got Tom's phone number and gave him a call, like I say, a month a go now. 

When Tom arrived for my first lesson with him, he simply asked where I was starting from, and I told him "absolute beginner". It has only been a month like I say, No I can't play any tunes very well, however I have learnt so much and Tom sets me homework to work on each week to help improve not only my use of playing the guitar, but in the understanding of music. By that I mean working on Chords, scales, timing and  how to read tableture, of course there is much more. 

At times, it can feel a bit overwhelming and as I am sure those people who can recall just starting out learning the guitar, you feel you are never going to get it. I think one of the main things is that I am not being too hard on myself, practising each day, and enjoying the challenge, mostly just making a noise Lol. Tom is a great Teacher, who is very patient, and I now look forward to seeing him each week, as he is a genuinely nice fella.

Sore Fingers

Right back to this Wee guitar. After Tom had had a go, and recommended taking the guitar to what we now know as a guitar maker, repair person, I tied to think of somewhere pretty local and thought of J G Windows at the Metro centre. I could see they were open late, as it was 6pm by now. When I rang Windows I got to speak to a very friendly lad called Lewis who said "Just bring it in, and I will have a look at it", "Ok when" I replied, and he said "can you get in tonight?" So Ern and I boxed up the guitar and headed to the Metro and Windows.

Long'ish story short, Lewis had a look at the guitar and said he couldn't find anything wrong with it, saying for a small guitar it was one of the best he had heard. You see the guitar is classed as a 3/4 or travel guitar, the fretboard is only 22.2inches. The guitar actually fits on the parcel shelf of Tango, my Smart car, 

I asked Lewis how much I owed him for his time and he replied "Aww nowt it's ok". I handed him a tenner anyway, as I think it's polite when someone does you a good turn.

Back home I gave the guitar another go and to me, it still sounded dreadful, like an out of tune bagpipe. The following day I rang Steel Town Music and spoke to Matt and asked would he have a look at the guitar. Matt asked me to pop it in, and he would take a quick look at the guitar and amp setup, as by now I was thinking could it be the amp.

As soon as Matt looked at the guitar and had a little play, he commented on the very thin strings and demonstrated how easy it was for the guitar to go out of tune by pressing down too hard on the strings. Well with me being a beginner I am finding I am probably giving the neck of the guitar a death grip as I am trying not to get any buzz or dead sounding strings.

Matt suggested fitting lager diameter strings, I think it had 9's on, and he suggested 11's. "Great" I replied when should I drop it back in, as I knew Saturday was a busy day for the guys at Steel Town Music. Matt was spot on and said "Oh I will do it now it won't take long". Within about 10 to 15 minutes Matt had the strings replaced and tuned up my guitar, he had also adjusted the Truss rod slightly and also the action. Before leaving, Matt plugged my guitar into his amp and allowed me to have a little strum to see if I thought the guitar sounded better, which I am very happy to say it did. So that is another shop I would highly recommend for friendliness and first class service, plus it's local and has a great choice of guitars and other music paraphilia. Cheers Matt for sorting me out.

Oh Ern bought a couple of guitar hangers, after we read some reviews on Amazon. They look canny and when the guitar is place on the hnager it automatically closes to prevent the guitar from falling off/out of the hanger. When reading the reviews the amount of pretty stupid people who were blaming the hnagers for falling off their walls. I mean come on it only common sense to make sure the hnagers are affixed securely. My dad used a hammer drill and some wall plugs pluss longer screws. He has put one hanger in his den for his guitar and another in my bedroom. Thanks Dad.

Hanger keeps guitar out the way and looks neat

Looks neat on the wall

Gives me a bit more space I can pop my wee guitar on the stand on the floor.

 

Obviously, I now have a bit of a music addiction going on, it's not just playing the instruments I have found I take pleasure in how beautiful they look, Errr no not in a weird way. Some of the workmanship and material used are fantastic. The price of some of these guitars and ukuleles is bonkers.

Speaking of Ukuleles I have been doing a sopot of research and fancy investing in one. I have narrowed it down to one of two that are within my budget. They both come from the maker Flight. They are part of Flight's princess series, the Diana and the Sophia. The concerts look way too small for me so I would opt for a tenor.

  

Flight Diana Soundwave Tenor

I will maybe invest when I get a bit better with my playing and of course when the Universe decides to give me a break with sudden financial bills and I can put a few quid away.

 

Flight Sophia Soundwave Tenor

Both Ukes look amazing, love the design of the necks and the soundwave system gives the Ukuleles even more appeal. Slightly drawen to the darker wood of the Diana and the red accents.

Myrtle over the Winter

 So as we are in the colder wintery months, Myrtle has been put away under her car cover. My dad and I don't have any plans to mess with her, as it is just too cold to be tinkering on working outside with no garage for cover.

An old picture of Myrtle, I think I will get her new Smoothies done black again

 

Saying that, next pay day I do intend on removing Myrtle's front 17-inch SMA alloys and getting her new tyres fitted. The 165/35/17 Nankangs which are on at the moment I am replacing for the same tyres, however a 40 profile, the same as the rears. I know it is not much, but those 35's just look way too thin, and I am constantly in fear of buckling a wheel when hitting a bump or a pothole, of which there are loads around here. I am also looking to get Myrtle's Steel Smoothies powder coated.
 

Smoothies to get powder coated gloss black

 

Sometime ago, I bought a pair of 8 x 15 steel smoothies. Pleased I got them when I did, I mean I waited ages for them to come in stock, but I see they have now shot right up in price. I wish I could have bought 7 x 15's as I think they may have fitted better, but hey ho. What my dad and I have done is seen what the fit was like with the 8-inch wide rims alongside the 1-inch rear spacers on Myrtle's narrow axles. We then had the 1-inch spacers machined down, so they allow the wheels to fit a little better with the spacers in place.

Milled down Spacers, I think they are now 19 mm

My only concern now is that I hope the new Kumho tyres I bought look OK on the wider rears. I have opted for 205/60/15 Kumho Ecowings on the back end and 145/65/15's for the front.


Back in October, I had ordered some parts for Myrtle, this way to try and solve the cutting out issues we were having. My dad worked on Myrtle mostly when I was at work, he fitted a completely new steel fuel line from the front to the back of the car, and we decided to fit a new electric Fawcett fuel pump, and filter alongside a regulator. My dad went one step further, fitting a custom-made cut-off valve, which makes it easier for removing the fuel tank. At the moment I haven't got any real sound deadening in Myrtle, and man that little petrol pump is quite noisy. I also have not had the opportunity to drive far in the wee car, so not sure if it has resolved her cutting out problem.

Ern has been hard at work installing the new fuel system under Myrtles tank

I have just got Myrtle back from Bewick Mobility, actually, on Tuesday 4th January. You see, has been away getting her semi-automatic clutch adaption tweaked. What had happened is one day I went to drive her and the semi-auto clutch would not operate correctly? I couldn't get her in gear. Upon inspection, the cable that works through a pulley system driven by a motor under Myrtle's rear seat to the clutch arm appeared frayed and stretched.

I contacted Bewick, and they suggested I pop the car down and then got to work on her, putting a different cable in place that is more durable and also sorting an issue with the magnetic sensor pickup. Long story short, Myrtle now drives a lot better and the semi-auto clutch, although it takes a bit of getting used to, works well.
 

Whilst I am on about picking Myrtle up, it was a bit of a nightmare when we did go to collect her. She had been standing for some time, so her battery was dead, so she needed a jump, then she tried to cough into life and I could hear the electric fuel pump going like the clappers "Tick, Tick, Tick". The fuel gauge isn't the most reliable, so I suggested we dip the tank and low and behold poor Myrtle had no go go juice. Once we put so fuel in she started after a few clicks and I drove her around to the nearby petrol station to pop £20 quid in her.


The drive home from Blaydon was fun, however as Myrtle has no heating it was bloody freezing, another reason Myrtle is a purely nice weather car LoL It is the first time I had driven her since my dad had done all the work on her track rod ends and steering. You see, part of the problem with the 4-inch narrowed beam and the air ride dampers was that Myrtle's steering had to be limited by a stop to prevent her track rod end on the driver's side rubbing against the airbag. After some time experimenting with various track rod ends from Hyundai's and other makes of cars, my dad was able to fashion a shorter track rod end with a curve that cleared the Bag, and I think he said it was from a Peugeot. Anyhoo Myrtle's turning circle now feels a lot better, no longer do I have to think where I am going and panicking in case I cannot get around a corner without having to do a 9 point turn. Really, she was that bad. I think I could just do a full circle on a football pitch.

The Track rod end now misses the Airbag

 

This year I am hoping to enjoy driving my wee car a little, of course she is an ongoing project. Things that are really annoying me are her rear wings. The passenger side appearing narrower than the driver's and the rear light looking wonky. I am hoping I can get either a new passenger wing or tow matching wings to even her up. Then I will need to get her painted. I would also love a bigger engine and free way flyer gearbox, and lastly to get the custom interior I have had in mind done. So as you can read, all these other jobs come at a huge cost, so for the time being I will just enjoy her the way she is. Even had her up to 57 mph the other day. The speedo was reading about 70, but my Dash Cam said 57 mph LoL

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

For Yonks now, I have had this underlying... I don't know what you would call it, need, want or desire to get myself a guitar and try to learn to play. In hindsight, I should have bought a guitar years ago, like when I was first poorly with my leg and stuck in the house doing bugger all. I mean I might have been kind of descent by now, or not, who knows.

Over the years I have perused the various online shops and watched YouTube videos thinking "man I wish I could play a guitar". Then a few weeks ago I thought to myself instead of wishing, why not be proactive and just give it a go.

So, not knowing the first thing about anything to do with guitars, I started looking at reviews of equipment and got my eye on a dinky little guitar which I really liked the form factor of. It is an Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black.

Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black.

 My thinking was if I learnt to play to an okay standard the guitar would be an ideal travel size, something I could pop in my old Bug Myrtle and head off somewhere quiet and just strum away. 

I guess it all goes with my overactive imagination of either sitting by a peaceful Loch in Scotland or my dream house, again in Scotland playing by a log burner on an evening with a roaring fire and a lovely view....Ahhh! To dream.

After watching some guitar tutorials and downloading the Fender app, I kind of convinced myself "hey you could possibly do some of that".

Anyhoo this morning our electric was off, bare with me here. I got up in the dark, managed to get ready and headed off for work. After finishing early as I am on a phased return, due to my stupid prosthetic leg killing me, I came home to discover our electric was still off and Ern was wrapped up in a throw lying in the dog-end with wor Baxter on the old beat up sofa.

I was due to pick up my new spectacles at 15:30pm, so asked Ern did he fancy a look-out to grab a nice cup of coffee, just to get out the house and fill in a little time before I went to collect my gigs. So we got wrapped up and jumped in Tango, my wee Smart car, and we headed up to Stanley. Rather than drive home, I suggested we just sit in the car and drink our coffee, as there was only about 30 minutes to wait before my appointment at Young's Opticians.

Whilst we were waiting I happened to get my phone out and decided to show my dad the Fender App that I had downloaded, and together we watched the short tutorials and had a canny chat which I really enjoyed. 

You see, my dad has been really hard of hearing of late, and yesterday he went to get his ears syringed, and I think his hearing is much improved. It has been dreadful trying to talk to him of late as he gets frustrated and a bit ratty, so I have basically avoided chatting to him, something I really miss.

As I saw my dad was taking a real interest in the guitar lessons, I quizzed him about when he was young, as I could recall him telling me he used to play the violin. It was lovely to hear him talk of being a young boy and learning the violin. I then asked him would he actually like a guitar for Christmas and was astounded when he said "Yes" as normally my dad always says  "well I don't really want or need anything". It's a warm and fuzzy feeling to be able to treat him to something that I think he will get some enjoyment from.

When we got home from the opticians, the electric was still off, so Ern suggested we head back up to Stanley and visit Home Bargains to get some candles and a lighter. This time we jumped in his car and took Baxter for a ride out, as he loves just lying in the back of my dad's car all snuggled up in his blanket.

A leisurely walk around Home Bargains grabbing a few odds and ends including two candles and a lighter, and we returned home. The leccy was still off. We had to wait about an hour or so before it came back on. My dad then put his computer on, and we had a good look at various guitars, checking out their reviews.  We came across an East coast Guitar a T1 Thin line, it is a budget guitar, however in the YouTube review at Andertons, sounded really good. The guitar came as a complete starter pack and had been reduced from £324, down to £249. I stepped out of the room to go and put my own computer on and when I came back downstairs my dad said "Okay I have ordered that guitar". That kind of told me he was quite excited.

 

East coast T1 Thin line

 

Anyhoo it's a Christmas present, so I will square up with him pay day. I guess he is now getting a guitar rather than the Ninja Foodie air fryer I had originally bought for him earlier this month for Christmas, LoL.

As my dad had just ordered his gear from Andertons, I thought I may as well go and have a look at the stuff I would like. As I mentioned earlier, I fancied an Ibanez and to go with this also would need an amp. Again, I had done a bit of research and opted for an Orange Crush 20rt. I wanted a black cabinet, rather than the orange coloured one, and managed to find one at GAK (Guitars Amp & Keyboards) for a reasonable price of £125.

 

Orange Crush20rt

Orange Crush 20rt

I then went over to Andertons and ordered the Ibanez GRGM21-BKN GIO RG MiKro Guitar in Black, along with a Tourtech 3 metre braided cable and a variety pack of Dunlop picks.

Ibanez Gio Mikro

    

Tourtech Braided cable

      

Dunlop Variety of picks

 This evening, chatting to my dad, it was lovely to hear him talking about years gone by. I asked him, "So, how old were you when you were learning to play the violin?". My dad then went on to tell me the story of not only how old he recalls he was, but also how he got into the violin. My dad would have been around 10 or 11 years old when he was playing his small violin. His grandfather, so that is my Great Grandfather, was a Big man and also played the violin, however had to have a custom one made as he was such a large chap. Ern says it probably would have been more like a viola. I asked my da  "So were you forced into learning to play" to which he replied "No I quite enjoyed it, following in his grandfathers footsteps". He then went on to tell me he even got to play in an Orchestra at the old Johnson School", there is a new school there now in Durham, I think it is the one on the way to Neville's Cross.

I recalled a time from my school days and said to my dad "I was in a school orchestra, well kinda you know". "Yeah, it was when I was about Ooh 6 or something". My dad jested, "what did you play? The tambourine". "No" I replied, we played at the old church in Stanley, it's knocked down now. I think the Joke Centre used to be there. We played and sang to Little Donkey and I played the Coconut shells to which my dad chuckled saying "Aye I bet you went Clippety Clop, Clip" as if your donkey had lost a shoe.


And so both of us are looking forward to this new challenge/interest, and we will see if you can teach old dogs new tricks...

Myrtle is starting to take shape!

 It has been what has felt like a never ending road to get Myrtle to where she is now. It just popped up the other day on Facebook that I have owned her for 2 years. In that time I had never driven her due to me being a professional cripple, and having my leg off, it's ok for free parking, but that is about it.

This was Myrtle when I went to see and buy her.

I instantly fell in love with Myrtle upon seeing her advertised on eBay and arranged a viewing asap, she was up at Lockerbie. As soon as I saw her in the flesh my mind was made up to buy her, I didn't even haggle over the price.

It wasn't until a few days after we got Myrtle that my dad and I started discovering what we thought were small, easy fixes. It all started with her horn not working from the steering wheel push. Instead, she had a small toggle switch under the dash...weird we thought.

My dad downloaded a wiring diagram and discovered that the wire may have not been earthing correctly on the steering column, so we set about removing her fuel tank to get to the column. This is when we saw that Myrtle had no shock towers on her 6-inch beam and at some point someone had bolted shockers directly to her body. Obviously I couldn't leave the old girl like that and this is where what I thought would be a car that just required a few small bits here and there started eating away at my money.

Myrtle as she is now

Due to Covid Myrtle was away for a long period of time last year having her semi-auto clutch fitted. She then required taking back so that the mechanic down at Bewick Mobility could have a tinker with the operation to get her driving better. Apparently because Myrtle has had LED tail lights retro fitted, and they flash quickly 3 times before the brake lights light, it was confusing the ECU of the semi-auto clutch, and it was acting up. It now appears to be a lot better, and just takes a bit of time to get used to. Pulling away and hill starts need more practice, me thinks.

Myrtle was booked in for an M.O.T today at 2pm, so my dad and I changed her wheels this morning as the tyres on my smoothie rims on the front have cracks in them. This came about when her tracking was all over the place following tinkering with her front beam and air shocks. Once we had Myrtle laser aligned at The General Garage, her steering and handling drastically improved.

My dad has done the majority of the work on Myrtle, thanks dad

The new John Browns SMA's from R&R Alloys look pretty darn good, even if I do say so myself. I have 17x7's on the rear and 17x5's on the front. I had to have the fronts specially narrowed as they were catching terribly on the beam and pan. I'm not sure if putting a 6-inch beam on would have cured the problem, but I didn't want to go back to a 6 inch, preferring a 4 inch instead. This still has limited her turning circle and I have to watch if I encounter any really tight turns.

Oh and running 17's requires low profile tyres, so I am an ardent pothole watcher, and as you know there are loads about waiting to destroy your car and kill you.

Myrtle now has working suspension, she goes up and down on her Limebug equipped beams and Air-Lift 3p set up. She has Limebug's Gold Top MOA front air shocks and these have really helped her lift at the front. I am also running Cage66fabrication extended arms, which make the front wheels sit centred and stop my wheels hitting the buckets of my headlights.

Myrtle 65 SMA Wheels

We installed a full custom Aircooled Auto Elec loom and blade fuse box from Iain Burns, who was awesome in his support and service, so now among other things I have a working interior light. I know some people won't get it, but that little light brings me so much joy as I open the door to Myrtle. It's just the little things. Myrtle is also equipped with brighter LED headlight bulbs, and instrument cluster bulbs.

Me and Myrtle

 

I sent the wiper motor away to have a terminal fitted and also to have the motor serviced, apparently it is off a 1968 model, so we now have working wipers which park and my dad fitted an electric washer, using a micro switch in the original button and plunger. I also have stealth USB ports in my ashtray just in case I need to connect anything.

Wee Myrtle

Still lots more work to possibly carry out, however at least I can now enjoy cruising about in Myrtle whilst we plan the next stage in her evolution.

Things I am looking at are all mega bucks, stuff like paint, interior and possibly engine & gearbox.

Me and Myrtle

And so to today's little adventure, a rip down to the Arnison and calling into Halford's to pick up an extendable wheel brace, to keep in Myrtle just in case. 

I also need to pick up a scissor jack. I took a few pics in the car park, and then we headed back towards home stopping off at Waldridge Fell for a few more snaps. 

Looking good

It seems as if I have seen more speed humps in the last three days than any other time in my life. Myrtle still tends to catch now and again, and I hate the scarping noise. I am going to set one of my air ride presets to speed hump mode LoL

Myrtle 65

 

As for her M.O.T, passed with no problems at all...