Longest ride out to date in Myrtle

 I awoke proper early again this morning, firstly around about 5:30 am and then again at bang on 6:39 am, the exact time I have my alarm set, for getting up for work, however today I had taken Annual Leave so why Oh why can't my brain understand "TODAY IS A LIE IN DAY". I browsed my phone to see if there was anything interesting, hoping desperately that I may have won the lottery and I could then put my dream of buying a house in Scotland and buggering off to live a pretty isolated existence. "Pah" nowt again...

Love this Wee car

Out for a tootle with John

   

The Joker

 

I then decided to get up, get ready and go out and wash Myrtle and give her a quick polish, knowing I was going to meet up with my mate John around 9:30 am'ish. I had suggested to John we could have a ride through to South Shields and in passing pop in to the VW Workshop. I just wanted to have a chat with the lad who runs the garage about a few things on Myrtle and kind of get a second opinion as it were, mainly about her rear wings and why one appears to be wider than the other and what I could possibly do to sort the issue.

Myrtle 65 @ Souter Aired Up

Myrtle 65 @ Souter Aired Out

It was very nice talking to Darren who provided me with some bits of advice and of course it is always nice when someone who knows a little about these cars passes on a nice comment about your ride.

Following popping in to the garage, John and I took Myrtle down to South Shields and the sea front and rode along as far as Souter Lighthouse, getting a few pictures and thoroughly enjoying our catch-up. It has been a few months since I last saw John, life just gets in the way I guess at times.

 

Aired Up

Aired Out

Me and the Wee Bug

Got to love my custom mini surf board

We drove from Souter down to Seaburn and then headed for Sunderland, heading down to Penshaw Monument and turning in at Herrington Park where we parked up, and I grabbed us a couple of delicious double ice creams from the ice cream van.

Delicious

Bloody Lovely on a hot Day

Herrington Park with John

Travelling back home and up the Chester Road, Myrtle started coughing and spluttering a little bit, just felt like a lack of fuel. We pulled in at Grange Villa and just stood for a minute or so and surprisingly Myrtle then drove off and was fine again.

We then just did a local loop heading over to Craghead, and up Wagtail Lane, then headed down and through Burhope, going down the back road where the Wind Turbines are. Again a few snaps, then down to Sacriston coming out by the scrapyards and from there back home to Stanley.

Myrtle at Burnhope

Driving this wee car is a lot of fun I am having to watch out for the numerous potholes, as with having the low profile tyres on her, it feels horrible if I hit a hole. It just felt so good to have the windows down on such a warm day and potter around.

Me and Myrtle

Oh and my dad fitted my new Garmin 56W dash cam. It is really small and quite unobtrusive. At a later date I may get a rear camera too, as this is where I figure I will get most of my problems from irate drivers who don't understand Myrtle is an old car and has to take her time. So beep right back at ya!
  

Garmin 56W is tiny

Another very kind comment from a lady in Sunderland as we were waiting at the traffic lights, saying "I Love your car". It's awesome the positive reactions and when the wee car makes people smile...

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...

OCD does not go hand in hand with an old car.

Myrtle is kind of drivable now, by that I mean the semi auto-clutch is taking some getting used to, it is a little bit fickle. At times, I think it is either engaged or not engaged depending on how you look at it, by that I mean if I did have a proper right leg I would press my foot down to engage the clutch and release it to disengage and therefore be able to drive off. Oh! and her brakes have given me a few scares as she keeps loosing her pedal. Ern (my dad) thinks they may require bleeding again, after we fitted a new brake master cylinder.

I have come to realise that owning an old car and having somewhat of my own quirks, as in a spot of OCD that it can be quite stressful. Not everything is going to be perfect, and I am going to have to learn to live with Myrtles little idiosyncrasies.

I love wee Myrtle, so I am  trying really hard to reign in my anxiety and compulsion to get every little thing working and every single measurement, blemish, rattle or squeak sorted. Mind you that rattle on the passenger side door is bugging the hell out of me so I will have to have a look behind her makeshift door card.

So this morning's idea was to get up and give Myrtle a wash and a polish, then take her out for a little spin. I just wanted to practice getting used to her clutch and the gear change and kept my fingers crossed that her brakes would work somewhat when I needed them.

 

We didn't go far, just along to Craghead, turning up towards Wagtail Lane, or the lonely road as we used to call it when we were kids.

It was another beautiful morning, so I wound Myrtle's window down, yes wound it down, there's a novelty no leccy windows in the old girl. I tried adjusting her little wing mirrors I can just about see out of the drivers if I bob me heed about, but the passenger side is a lot more difficult to see out of. 

I made a short video today and got some pictures, then decided to drive up to Stanley, parked up at Asda, drew some money from the speed bank and went and got my hair cut over at the barbers. Upon coming back I was sure Myrtle was leaning over again... I had to reign in my OCD and drove home to publish me stuff and write this blog.

Myrtle 1965 VW Beetle

It takes some getting used to driving an old car I mean Myrtle is only a 1200cc, she will probably do 60 mph at a push, but she is quite content to amble around at about 40 to 50 mph, much to the annoyance of a lot of drivers. There really are some pretty unhappy and not very nice people out there. Not today as there wasn't much traffic locally, but whilst I have been going backwards and forwards in Myrtle I have received angry beeps, people undertaking me, and people overtaking me, which is a given, I just wish they wouldn't do it in dangerous places. There are some all together raggie drivers. One wifey was about 6 feet off my bumper the other week and not a happy bunny at all. She beeped at me and got a beep back, as Myrtle's horn now works Lol

Of course, it hasn't been all bad I have had a bus driver in his double-decker bus wave at me with a huge smile on his face, a couple of classic Mini drivers wave and a few people rubber neck as I go by with smiles on their faces.

I guess you either love or hate these Wee cars, for me Myrtle just makes me smile. She is heavy on the steering with a huge yet thin steering wheel, her brakes like I say are nowhere near a modern cars, she is noisy and rattly, to be fair no proper carpets or sound deadening down, and her door cards are not trimmed so rattling. She doesn't have a heater, or a radio and I definitely need her seats sorting as I can feel the old springs and something sticking in my back, but like I say I love her.

I'm also used to driving an automatic, my little Smart car Tango, which although is an auto, has a notorious horrible gearbox and, my new 12Up Beetle GSR which has a lovely Dsg box. So getting used to a manual 4 speed, yet relying on a sensor to dip the clutch is a bit daunting.

Myrtle 65

Cars have come such a long way, my cousin came to see me the other week with his brand-new Volvo, a lovely looking motor, however when he got on about all the safety features and the bells and whistles I just though Wow! I am surprised you now don't have to take a separate functional part to your driving test. I know it is not in the too far future of self drive cars, but hey where is the fun in that. Also looking at electric cars, yes the future, but Omg! There soundtrack is so boring as they whirrr! Along. I guess I am still old school.

Wee Myrtle's test drive

 Just catching up a little.


On the Friday afternoon, just gone the 18th, Ern had popped out, so I decided to have a go at installing the new MOA 430 Ultimate Air Ride Gold top front shocks that I had purchased from Limebug. I will get back to these in a moment.

  

Wee Mrtle my 65 Bug

 

You see I have been having real problems airing my car up with the current air shocks and Air Lift 3p setup. After talking things through with Limebug, we came to the conclusion that as I have a set of Cage66 Fabrication extended trailing arms, that the ordinary air shocks that I bought in my deluxe kit from Limebug just were not powerful enough to get my car where I needed it.

 

MOA 430 Ultimate Air Ride Gold top front shocks

My dad and I have been working on and off with Myrtle for over a year, doing various jobs, however we have always come back to the suspension. We have measured, re-measured, tweaked and adjusted, paid a small fortune for all the best quality parts and yet Myrtle has always just driven terrible.

Recently my dad and I fitted a complete front brake disc kit using CB Performance equipment, this included new 2 1/2 inch dropped spindles and required us to remove the king pins and re-shim Myrtle up. Following all this work her tracking was way off, so much so that as we attempted to get Myrtle driveable to be able to take her up to the General Garage at Anfield Plain, in the short space of about a mile, a mile and a half Myrtle's front passenger tyre was pretty much destroyed on the short trip up, cracking and splitting the tyre near the sidewall. Just pleased I didn't have my new alloys and tyres on for the trip up.

Once up at the General Garage, Ash directed my dad onto the garage lift and Ash and one of his colleagues fitted the laser alignment gizmo's to all four wheels. We could see immediately that the front passenger side wheel was way out of wack, it was so bad the lasers couldn't even line up. Ash lifted the car up and got under to adjust the track rod ends and once he used his machine to set up Myrtle she was looking much more aligned.  Ash lowered the lift after tightening everything up and m dad reversed Myrtle off and then took her for a quick blast.

When Ern returned he said Myrtle now drove 100% better and that he had even had her up to 60mph along the bypass, without her wanting to wander all over the road. This was such a relief and for the £20 quid Ash charged well worth the money.

 

Ern in Myrtle at the General Garage

After having Tracking done

Myrtle's camber is still slightly out, but it's miniscule, being - 1.49 degrees, so rather than mess about with the shims again I think I am just going to leave her alone.

Now then getting back to the new MOA shocks. Like I mentioned earlier Ern had popped out. I was bored so thought I may as well have a go at fitting the shocks myself, it's a simple enough job really.

Our yard is block paved, however it has a slight ramped angle to it. This just happened to be where Myrtle's front beam was sitting over. I got the trolley jack out and placed a piece of wood on the pad of the jack, thinking this would aid in giving the jack some purchase on the protective skid plate that is attached to the narrowed beam. I had just jacked the car up and was measuring up to see if the axle stands would go under and realised the axle stands were going to be sitting right on the lip of the ramped block paving, so I went to jack the car up just a tad more so that I could put the stands under the underside of the floor pan.

That's when Myrtle slipped off and wood block and then the pad of the jack shot up under the underside of Myrtle, just where the spare wheel sits. "Awww! Fuck". It took me ages to try and prise the wood and the jack out as they had jammed right up between the skid plate and beam. I eventually got them out and noticed there was now a huge upward dent in the spare wheel area.

What a struggle I had removing the spare wheel as it was now jammed. Eventually I managed to get it out and sure enough when looking under the bonnet towards the front of the well, the underside had a huge bowed dent. I decided to leave this for now and get my dads advice on how to go about fixing the area. Thoughts running through my head of "Awwww! Man it's like one step forward ten back with this car".

Cracking on with removing the old front air shocks and then replacing them with the new MOA's, it didn't take too long at all. Everything when checked looked good and the new shocks although slightly larger appear to clear everything.

When my dad returned he had a look at the dent I had caused and with a little gentle persuasion he was able to knock the ding out using a piece of wood, a mash hammer and a dolly. The paint had cracked, so I rubbed the area down, masked it off and then primed and repainted the area using a rattle can. It's not perfect, but hey Myrtle is no show winner. I just want her to a standard that looks presentable and something that is reliable. She will be used for pure pleasure and to hopefully once complete bring both my dad and I miles of smiles.

A quick test of the new MOA front shocks and it immediately became clear that they are more up to the job. You can now see Myrtle start to raise her front end at around 30 to 50 psi, and she comes up a lot quicker too. I am still playing around with what pressures to use, you see where we live we have speed humps that are like small mountains. I always feel I have got Myrtle up to a good ride height and then as she is driven over the humps she makes the most awful scraping sound as she catches somewhere or another. The humps are really bad I have already had 3 exhausts on my little Smart car due to them.

Kyle with my cars

I love this wee car

 

On Saturday, the 19th Ern & Kyle took Myrtle for a little test drive, whilst I followed in Grandma my new Shape Beetle GSR. We only went over to Burnhope and the little picnic area overlooking the valley. Just wanted to see if Myrtle was driving ok and how the suspension felt. As, yet I still cannot drive Myrtle myself due to her not having the semi-auto clutch adaption fitted. With being an above knee amputee it certainly does make things more difficult and also comes at a premium.
 

Wee Myrtle with Grandma

Ern informed me that Myrtle is now driving great. I could pretty much see to be honest as she was straight on the road and not pulling or leaning to one side, plus my dad was going that much quicker.

I am now looking forward to getting the clutch mod done in October and once that is done we can start working on other areas of Myrtle, once I have saved up some more money of course, as boy this wee car has been somewhat of a money pit.

Stuff not going the way you planned is the path to the dark side.

Man, I can't sleep I've been up since 4am and I still don't feel right. I originally went off work on the 3rd February, that's like over 2 months ago. Just when I thought my immunity was back to normal, whatever normal is "Boom!" I get hit with what appeared to be mild cold symptoms, which then led to getting yet another chest infection and being completely floored.

Mind you although this sounds like me having a bit of a whinge I am so grateful and feel very fortunate that I have not contracted something much worse. As we all know this is an unprecedented time and really quite frightening, seeing and hearing all this sad news about the coronavirus and COVID-19 and all the people that are having their lives cut short. So no I am not complaining.

Although I have been out of fettle like I said, when I did feel well enough to venture outside it allowed me to tinker on with Myrtle my classic 65 Bug in our back yard. It's safe out there as we have a large fence surrounding our yard, so I am still socially isolating, and I feel being out in the fresh air is much better than being in a stuffy house all day, plus doing odd jobs on the car has been keeping my mind occupied. I hate it when I am at a loss for anything to do. When I have too much time on my hands this is when I start to overthink things and it can lead to the dark side. I much prefer to be more proactive.

Anyhoo this leads me on to Myrtle and some of the fun and games both my dad and I have had. I would like to say in recent months, however having now owned Myrtle coming up a year, from day one she has been let's say a challenge.
 

Myrtle

Where to start...

A good few months ago upon getting my car back from LVH Engine and Resto where Paul and Rob had carried out some more work that I had requested. I soon discovered that my Air Lift 3P App was not working. This meant I had to use the controller in my car to use my air ride, rather than being able to use the app on my phone. After many failed attempts I thought my Samsung Galaxy S9 was broken, "it must be the Bluetooth on my phone". I did a factory reset and then had to reinstall everything from scratch, losing a good bit of stuff from my phone as I did so. Still no joy so I contacted Samsung and some days later a courier came to collect my phone for a repair. A few days later I got my old phone back and set about reinstalling all my apps. Guess what? still no joy with the Airlift App...gutted. Upon doing a spot of research I discovered that Airlift has been having some issues with their app when using Samsung devices that have been updated to Android 10, and to this point, there is still no fix.

Stoopid Android 10

Also after getting my car back, I decided to book her in to get her alignment done down at BTG Performance. I have had my new shape Beetle GSR down there a few times getting various stuff done and the work has always been first class, so thought getting my old bug set up on a hunter alignment system would sort any issues with tracking or whatnot.
  
 

It soon became apparent when getting Myrtle up on the lift that something just didn't look right mechanically with her alignment. She just wasn't sitting square. The front driver's side shock appeared to be 2 1/2 inches higher and when coming to the rear driver's side bag, it was leaning over at a peculiar angle. Alex one of the mechanics was spot on saying "look I can still carry out the alignment, but I don't think it will help as something just doesn't look right, and I don't really want to take your money". I decided to take Myrtle home and my dad and I had a think over what to do next.

   

Shock relocators welded to extended arms in position 3

Shock relocators welded to extended arms in position 3

The difference in shocker heights

 

Driver's side bag very wonky

 

Myrtle Leaning

The following day we jacked Myrtle up, both front and rear and then started at the front and began to investigate what was going on. My car has had extended trailing arms fitted. I bought the arms from the US, getting them specially made up from Cage66 Fabrications. Paul then welded shock relocators which I got from Limebug, they came in my air ride package. When we first measured between the front drivers and passengers side shock locators there looked to be a 1/4 inch difference in there position. Also, Paul had fitted the shockers in position 3 on the relocators, which was fine, however, I really wanted them in position two as this meant the shockers were sitting more upright, which would help put less load on them when the car was air'd up or down. There was a problem with relocating them in position two that we discovered. When the car was air'd out the very bottom of the shockers were catching the original shock mounts on the trailing arms. It was minimal and with a little light grinding of the original shock mount, they are now sitting good in position two. Another problem we encountered was in that when the steering was turned from lock to lock, one of the tack rods would hit the driver's side shocker. My da fixed this by making a steering stop. Quite ingenious, he used a couple of exhaust clamps and a piece of 1/2 inch angle. The clamps fixing to the front beam and now the steering stops before the track rod hits the shocker.

Only had one pair of axle stands had to improvise

Track Rod end Catching

Whilst working on the car yesterday I noticed with no load on the front suspension the wheels removed, that the driver's side front suspension was sitting a lot higher than the passenger side. Now, this was the original problem we encountered whilst down at BTG Performance. On closer inspection and after removing the shock absorbers it soon became clear that the trailing arms were a lot stiffer on the driver's side than on the passenger side. So we re-greased the front beam and worked the suspension/trailing arms up and down with the shockers still removed. I am hoping that over time and with the added grease that the arms/suspension will become freer and stop the driver's side from sticking. Bonus as we also spotted that when the driver's side and passenger side wheels were pulled down whilst up on stands and the shockers fitted in position two, that there was less of a discrepancy in the shock relocators.

Now to the rear...

Investigation of the rear of Myrtle and carrying out some measuring and using a straight edge, it soon became clear that the drivers side lower bag mount was either bent or twisted. I got in touch with Leanne over at Limebug and she immediately suggested returning both mounts and that they would sort them out if indeed this was the problem. I would have had the bag mounts back within a week, however, DPD kindly lost my package. Upon contacting Limebug they kindly sent out a new pair and we have since fitted them, being careful to put in the 4 washers required between the lower shocker eye and lower mounts and not to over tighten the nuts and bolts. The driver's side rear bag now sits far better.

As this is my first car ever using Air Ride I have been slightly perplexed as to it's set up. Again Leanne sent me a link to a video that Craig from Limebug had done to explain how to set up your air ride in a Bug. This has been most useful and when applied I am hoping with the additional fixes my car will not lean to one side as much as it did.

I am not finished yet of course. This little car is a bit of a tinker. We just seem to be getting somewhere with one job which then leads into something that has a bigger issue. Whilst investigating all the other bits and pieces concerning the suspension I noticed that Myrtle wasn't sitting on any body rubbers on the rear shock towers. Chris the guy I had bought the car off had provided me with a CD- Rom of Myrtle, going from pre-resto to restoration, including body off. I went inside and popped the CD on and checked the images to see if any body pads had been put in place when she was restored. It appeared as if none had been put on to her. Now, this could create some problems as I was to learn.

  
So when a Bug body is removed and replaced upon a chassis, the body can move and as such the doors can go way out of alignment, making it very difficult to get them to line up and shut correctly. This is our next task and one I am dreading. I am awaiting a full set of body pads, both front and rear, along with bushes. Hopefully, fingers crossed the job will go smoothly and she will sit square on her new pads, plus the doors will fit. I have already had issues with her doors when going to fit new door seals so it's a job I am not looking forward to at all. At the moment the driver's door is quite good and that is with the body released somewhat on the pan and on the front and rear shock mounts and beam. However, the passenger door has always been a bit out of whack. Time will tell.

Oh and yesterday as I was coming around the back of my car, as I say she is up quite high on axle stands and her rear valance has been removed, it allowed me to glance at her rear wheels. This is when my OCD kicked in... The rear wheels appeared different, by this I mean as in their camber angles. We removed the wheels, my dad had not long ago purchased a magnetic protractor and he attached this firstly to the passenger side wheel drum and we took a measurement. Then we went to the driver's side. The passenger side with no weight on the axle measure 3 degrees of positive camber, whilst the driver's side was bang on 0 degrees. This now has me a little stressed. As far as I am aware there is no way to adjust camber between axles on a swing axle car. So does this mean my car is bent? More problems...and the return of the Dark Side.

Drivers side

Passenger side

 Whilst carrying out all this work, we had to remove the petrol tank, this allowed me to give it a bit of a freshen up and touch in some areas. My dad bought a neat trim for the edge of the tank and this will also help elevate the tank a little so as the track rod and new steering damper don't foul the underside of the tank when going up or down on the air ride. Whilst we were under the bonnet we also decided to remove the air tank, manifold and compressors, which is a very easy job as they are all attached to an alloy mount, so come out as one piece. My dad wanted to have a look at the wiring, as there appears to be a lot of extra wires and a lot of these are not specifically colour coded, they are just black. After some discussion between us, we have decided to order up a new wiring harness and tidy up her wiring. This will also benefit the guys at Bewick Mobility when I eventually go to get her semi-auto clutch fitted.

Air Ride set up on mount

It's funny how things come about as when we were talking about the wiring and looking on the CD-Rom and work carried out by one of Myrtle's previous owners I received a rather unexpected email. It started

"Hi Glenn

Darryl in Macclesfield, Cheshire here, I decided to search for mol old 65 Beetle again after selling it to a chap from Scotland, around 2102 and low and behold your Myrtle appeared!".

It was great to hear from Darryl who went on to tell me Myrtle was actually called "Duchess" when he owned her. Darryl went on to give me a little history about the car, which was absolutely fantastic. A lot can happen in 55 years and it's magical hearing about other peoples memories involving their cars, where it took them, adventures they were involved in.

Darryl let me know he actually did the wiring on Myrtle, so I hope he isn't too offended that we have decided to give the old girl a revamp.

There are a lot more jobs to be done, Myrtle is definitely a work in progress and a real labour of love. It has to be love because as an investment I have way past that point. My dad and I spent a whole afternoon the other week documenting how much I or I should say We have spent on Myrtle, as to be fair my dad has been buying bits and bobs to help with jobs. Not including the price of her I am at the £15K mark.

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped so far.