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.

Myrtle, Tango & Grandma

Wow! What an exhausting couple of weeks I have put in with Myrtle my 65 Bug, Tango my wee Orange Smart car & Grandma my beloved Beetle GSR.

I am actually attempting to write this with ever so painful, skinned fingers, that are down to Tango, I will get to the tale of that soon, but thought I'd start at the beginning with Myrtle.

After having a few practice rides out in Myrtle, with her semi auto clutch adaption fitted, it soon became obvious that her brakes were not working correctly. From time to time she would have a really soft pedal or in some scary instances no pedal at all. We thought the problem might have been an old sticking brake master cylinder, so we ordered a new one, and whilst we waited for it to arrive I set about trying to repair the damaged paint work underneath Myrtles fuel tank were old brake fluid had been leaking from the brake reservoir and the brake master cylinder, man that brake fluid is nasty stuff, it had completely eaten the paint, and caused it to blister and turn to mush.

Nasty stuff that brake fluid

Damage already done by a leaking brake reservoir

I had to order yet another rattle can of Mango Green paint, it's rather expensive stuff at almost £20 a can, with postage, and it doesn't match identically, however the job is done and my main concern having some protection has been achieved. Masking off the area was another mini nightmare, as obviously I had to watch for overspray. Masking off the car was a job in itself, and following this I had a little bit of a trouble spraying the required area as there wasn't much room.

Not much room to get in and apply paint

 

With the front end stripped, by this I mean the petrol tank removed along with the air ride cradle air tank, twin compressors and AirLift manifold, we decided to have one more go at what has been one of our nemesis on this wee car, and that is the wiper motor. Not joking this wiper motor must have been taken off between 10 to 15 times and messed around with. Whilst it works alongside the switch with 2 speeds, slow & fast, it just refuses to park. I had seen this guy on eBay offering to repair them, so sent it away. Apparently there was a terminal missing at 31b.

31b Terminal missing

In order to get the motor out I had to remove the windscreen wipers. I bought brand new wiper arms and even new wiper spindles only last year, Wow! I am not best impressed with the quality of the finish on the wipers, as I went to remove them I noticed they were all rusty, and residue had run down the spindles and just made everything look awful, another job to sort.

These were brand-new spindles along with wiper arms

Terrible quality

 

The motor was only away a few days and came back with a new terminal in place. We eagerly fitted the motor and... Crap! It still refused to park. I got in touch with Nick the friendly gentleman who had replaced the terminal, and he very kindly tried to give me some advice on the potential problem. Nick advised taking the small plastic protective cap off where the parking switch mechanism is and clean the contacts. It looks like an old distributor, with points. My dad removed the plastic cap,  and cleaned the switch contacts, however the motor still would not park. I must add at this point we had it hooked up to a battery on a workbench and properly earthed.

My dad decided to remove the alloy wiper cover, and he discovered that the small rubber seal at the base of the alloy cover was not seated correctly, it was in fact just say catching the small park switch and stopping it from making contact at the closed position. I informed Nick of this, and he advised to send the motor and complete mechanism back to him, and he would do a full inspection of the motor alongside the other parts, you see Nick had discovered my motor was actually from a 1968 Beetle so must have been retro fitted at some point. Problem with this is that it could potentially have the wrong wiper mechanism, and this could also prevent the proper function.

I am now just awaiting its return as I can't get anything built up, as the motor has to be put in place first.

Going back to brakes, they are now all sorted, new rubber brake hosing, brake lines to master cylinder and reservoir and a new brake master cylinder and all bled off.

Moving on to Tango, oh and a mention of my amazing dad, Ern. He just turned 80 in November of last year. When I say "We" work on the cars by that I mean I sometimes get to hold a spanner, or wrench, like when Ern says "Pass me the 10 mm". On rare occasions I have even been let loose with a screwdriver.

Myrtle in her what seems usual position & some maintenance on Tango

A few weeks ago I thought about putting Tango up for sale. No other reason than being bored I think, as the wee car has served me very well. I have owned her coming up to 6 years. I decided to give Tango a much-needed clean and this is one of those times that when we talk about hindsight being a wonderful thing I wish I had never started the job I am about to mention.

So upon cleaning Tango and going to polish her roof I noticed a sort of "bloom" in her roof panel. I polished and polished, but the mark just would not go away. I then went onto YouTube and watched a video of a couple of guys restoring a Smart car roof. It looked pretty straight forward, all I would need was an orbital sander and some discs. I already had an orbital polisher. I asked Ern to pick me up an orbital sander when he was down at Team Valley, and he also ordered me some sanding discs from Amazon as no one had the relevant grits locally. They arrived the next day and I set about completing what I thought would be an easy and straight forward job I mean how hard can sanding be right?

Tango's roof what a nightmare

Just one little patch of clear coat or so I thought

Ow! Ow! Ow!

 

Oh! I should probably mention that Tango has a panoramic roof, it is made from polycarbonate and not metal. The bloom had arisen from the sun and UV light affecting the top clear coat on the roof. The job entailed removing the clear coat and then, so I thought polishing up the polycarbonate underneath. 

Sanding disc fitted to orbital sander, 400 grit I set about sanding the first part of the roof. Within about 30 to 60 seconds it soon became clear that the discs would not last long, they clogged practically immediately. After going through all the 400 discs and realising I wasn't actually getting anywhere other than making a huge mess I decided to try using wet & dry and doing the roof by hand. Again had to go out and buy various grits of wet & dry. This time I appeared have more success in removing the top clear coat, but man was it hard work. Long story slightly shorter I actually spent over 7 days sanding the roof of Tango and some of those days were 10 or 11 hours at a time I kid you not. At the end of which I had an extremely sore hand, still have my fingertips are killing me, Oh and end result you may ask? Tango's roof although smoother than a babies' arse looks absolutely terrible. No matter what I put on it and I have tried a lot of products I just cannot get a shine and there are swirl marks. I have gone all the way from 400 grit right up to 1500 in stages, and I am now at a point where I can't possibly do any more I have conceded defeat.

I did a spot more research online and discovered that the roof issues are a common fault that Smart/Mercedes are aware of. At one time you used to be able to claim under warranty and even from your insurance, under glass replacement, not sure if this is just the US market. It's like I say the heat and UV rays destroy the polycarbonate roof, they either get crazing/cracks or like mine bloom in the clear coat.

To have a new roof fitted is extortionate, so tomorrow I may shop around for some quotes at a body shop and try and find out if anyone can pop a clear coat on my roof, as this should in theory bring back a glossy finish.

And finally on to Grandma my VW Beetle GSR. Grandma has been hibernating over the winter. I bought some new 20" wheels for her about 6 months ago and on Wednesday popped down to D&R Tyres at Shield Row to see Dougie about getting some new Michelin Pilot Sports fitted. I explained to Dougie my biggest concern was that my new rims may get scratched or scuffed during fitting. Dougie was spot on and assured me this shouldn't and wouldn't happen, he  then sorted out a quote for 4 tyres and also informed me of a deal where you get £100 back from Michelin on a pre-paid Mastercard, so when that arrives I can use that money towards a service on Grandma. Dougie said he would call me the following day when the tyres came in stock, and he could get them fitted when I dropped the wheels off.

Concaver CRV4 wheels

 

Good to his word the tyres arrived the following day and I dropped the rims off for fitting. I then went back home to continue messing around with Tango and Dougie rang me not long after to say the wheels were already to be picked up. I went down and the lads gave me a hand to pop the wheels in the back of my dad's car. Job sorted, the wheels look awesome, even the lads in the garage commented on them. Fitted balanced, with new valves and not a mark on them. A Top quality service by a local friendly firm, who offered a good deal and some great advice, can't ask for any more than that. Plus you can tell they care about their customers as they maintained social distancing and even-handed out masks to customers if they had forgotten their own. It's just the little touches.

Having got the wheels back I didn't fit them immediately as I wanted to give Grandma a good clean, as like I say she has been in the garage for months and upon going down to get her she was very dusty. As I got in her to start her up I soon discovered that her battery was flat...Again.

I don't have electric in our garage otherwise I would leave her on a trickle charger. A walk back up the street to see the chief mechanic, Ern. My dad drove back down in his car along with his battery boost charger and we soon had Grandma fired up, along with a dash full of various warning lights, oh and a soft tyre.

Could do with detailing under her bonnet

Once she had time to warm up I took her around the block and to our house, thankfully all the lights had gone out, well apart from the tyre sensor one. I then set about giving her a thorough clean, inside and out starting with hoovering her out. Her carpets were manky, you see there is a pot hole right near our garage and it fills with water on the drivers side. I can't step over it, due to my gimpy leg, so on the last occassion it was full of water and mud I must have stepped in it and transfered all the crap on the inside of Grandma. I had to actually wash her mats, put them outside to dry and later on in the afternoon discovered wor Baxter had pulled them off the garden bench/seat and had been lying on them. The little sod, now they need hoovering again as they have white dog hairs all over.

 
I gave Grandma a proper good wash then used a combination of my orbital polisher and by hand to apply and then polish my car. I used some new polish which I had purchased from another local business, one I didn't even know exsisted until my mate John mentioned them. The business is called Juicey Detailing and they are over at  Tanfield Lea North Industrial Estate Unit 11C. Again more great customer service from a very friendly chap. I bought some Bilt Hammer alloy wheel cleaner for Tango which is the best alloy wheel cleaner I have used so far, it stinks, but does a great job, oh and the polish was  by Chemical Guys, called V4 Extreme All-In-One Polish, which again is an amzing product, easy to apply and remove and it works great on minor scratches and swirl marks, polishing  up to a high gloss finish.

All polished and with new wheels fitted

Grandma

Wasn't sure if I liked the new look at first

May even be able to get Grandma a tad lower

 

Following all this hardwork, Ern and I removed my old winter wheels and fitted the new wheels to Grandma. I wasn't sure I liked them at first, but they are growing on me, plus they don't scrub or catch, which is such a relief. I got changed, grabbed my camera and went for a most enjoyable tootle up to Waskerley in Grandma, it felt great to go for a spin, she is just such a lovely car to drive. She has power on tap and I love the sound as she burbles away, or if when you put your foot down she roars and the turbo whilstles.

VW Beetle GSR

Love this car

VW Beetle GSR

 

Oh I also had my birthday this month, after all this graft yes I am feeling my age, it's hard work maintianing a car never mind three, not only on your pocket, but physically too LoL. Not complaining mind I feel very fortunate.