IssueIssue 133133 -- AutumnAutumn 20132013 utut && thrusthrus NATIONALNATIONAL RALLYRALLY RESULTSRESULTS I tell you, it was THAT BIG ! The Magazine of the Sunbeam Rapier Owners Club Chaiman’sChaiman’s ChatChat NoNo 55 -- AutumnAutumn 20132013 between their editor Gary Stretton and As I pen this ‘Chat’ approaching the Lord Montague of Beaulieu, who was a copy date for the autumn C&T, we are still leading lobbyist for rolling exemption to looking ahead to our revitalised National be introduced, stated that DVLA statistics Weekend at Bodicote. Planning is in its clearly showed a trajectory of owner- final stages and I am looking forward to ship by vehicle age as bumping along the an exciting event, which I hope will be en- bottom of a graph and from 1973 to the dorsed by a substantial member turnout. early 1980s, it showed a massive jump in numbers, indicating the revenue collected Remember, this will coincide with the would be an enormous loss to the Gov’t. celebration of 50 years of the introduction of the Series IV in 1963. In 2008, our last However, declining numbers of cars built national, at Blenheim Palace in 1973 in thethe intervenedintervened mine was the sole Series IV yearsyears hashas obviouslyobviously reachedreached there. I hope we get a much bet- a stagestage wherebywhereby itit isis nownow ter representation this time! costingcosting tootoo muchmuch in rrevenueevenue administrationadministration tthanhan isis actu-actu- As most of you will now know, allyally collectedcollected in VED.VED. HenceHence there was an announcement thethe revisedrevised cut-offcut-off date.date. by the Chancellor in the spring budget that he has extended ThisThis iiss aa nnoo wwinin ssituationituation the VED exemption for cars actually.actually. IfIf wewe letlet carscars ofof tthehe built in 1973. This will be for midmid 70’s70’s gogo toto thatthat bigbig carcar vehicles manufactured between 1 January park in the sky, more exemption will 1973 and 31st December 1973 and will be granted in due course. Whereas our take effect from 1 April 2014. Glen will be ‘raison d’être’ must be to keep extant cars checking his records for chassis numbers going. It’s self-defeating! this affects for Fastback models and re- leasing finite details in this issue of C&T. Still, very good news for Fastback owners of 1973 vintage. I shouldn’t hold out any hope however, that this will become the reintroduction In the same issue of Classics Monthly, of the rolling VED exemption we all hope we got a ‘plug’ for Cut & Thrust in a for. Further clues as to why, was printed in new feature this magazine is running by the June – 203 edition of Classics Month- focussing on club magazines. Our policy ly, whereby an interview held in 2006 Would readers please note that their contributions to Cut & Thrust should now be sent to Ron Atherton. 22 Cut & Thrust of providing a complimentary copy to all with their archive of drawings cannot journals editors certainly pays dividends. set up a similar scheme for major Rootes They depicted our spring issue with a products across Audax or Arrow based mention of the new remanufactured Boot models. A missed opportunity perhaps? hinges. The sales of which, by the way, are Admittedly the SOC did create the very encouraging and justifies our deci- scheme when they had a built up a big sion to have them remade in my view. reserve of funds. Nevertheless I feel sure each club would be prepared to contribute My recent debacle of fuel pump issues something towards a pot for tooling and (hopefully documented elsewhere in the remanufacture…after all, haven’t we just next issue) has highlighted the prob- done that with Boot hinges? lem with poor quality remanufactured spares available these days. It is a growing Talking of which, I wish to thank the problem. Pete Wormald presented a new many members both in the UK and Aus- supposed Lockheed brake master cylinder tralia who have supported the club and its at a committee meeting last September, initiative by investing in the remanufac- which someone had bought via a major ture of hinges and handles etc., by making Rootes parts supplier. To all intents and so many purchases thus far. Sales have purposes you would have thought it to be been very encouraging and the money the genuine article – pressed logo brand- will be reinvested in future remanufacture ing on the canister etc. However, it proved of obsolete items as soon as we are able. to be a ‘dud’ as the rubber seal did not ‘mate’ within the piston. It turned out to Let’s hope that the current spell of tra- be a Chinese copy purporting to be genu- ditional summer weather continues well ine Lockheed. So beware of what you are into the autumn. I am personally looking buying these days. It’s a jungle out there! forward to this year’s club trip to the Isle of Wight, organized by Barry Blake. Unfortunately there is little or no QI on manufactured items with trialling of I am awaiting news of a photo shoot I products alongside car manufacturer’s have been asked to participate in with my specifications. This is something Stag Rapier, which is scheduled to be featured owners have experienced for years. Hence in Classic & Sports Car magazine, no the establishment of a Club Tooling Fund less. A rare honour for Rapiers to feature (whereby each member has one share in in such an exalted journal, which usu- the company) who work with major UK ally encompasses exotica. As soon as I manufacturers in the remanufacture of have news of when it is scheduled to be obsolete parts which meet original BL published I will try and get news out to specs so that they are a perfect fit for pur- you all – hopefully in C&T (deadlines pose. If a club with around 4000 members permitting) can run such a scheme, I am amazed that the group membership of ARCC clubs Derek Autumn 2013 3 Contents Chairman’s Chat Number 5 Derek Athey 2 Welcome to New Members 4 Classic Pictures Number 1 John Mahon 5 Po�ed Personali�es Number 3 Neil Lamond 6 Bristol Show Jason Salmons 9 Rapier 2013, the Na�onal Rally of 2013 Ron Atherton 10 A Day Out with Dave Colin Tait 20 Rapier Series Model Door Handle Fi�ng Derek Athey 22 Workshop - Oils and Ally Heads etc. Mike Langley 25 SROC Services, Local Area Reps and Your Commi�ee 29 to 31 .uk Webmasters: Roger Hembury and Glen Mason Robin Ballard Somerset No car Neil Beamont Essex No car Rodney Bolton Essex Sereis I Rex Clarke Lincolnshire Series III David Croucher ? No car Vincent France Cumbria Series V Roland Gibson Staffordshire No car Peter Macheta Oxfordshire No car Stuart McFadyen Stirlingshire Fastback H120 Didier Mignery France Fastback Rapier David Peacock ? No car Peter Ryter Netherlands No car Derek Stevens South Australia Series IIIa Peter Thomas Hampshire Series II Peter Tyrell West Sussex No car 44 Cut & Thrust Here is the first of our series of pictures of Rapiers in memorable se�ngs. It was sent in by John Mahon and shows loco number 49395 hauling what appears to be a rake of ex-LMS coaches. John said that his Series III was wai�ng to cross the level crossing at Irwell Vale on the East Lancashire Railway in October last year. The actual picture is shown below, but if that modern lamp post is erased from the picture as shown above (with the aid of Adobe Photoshop) then it could be a scene straight out of the late 1950s. To sooth the brows of those who like to know these things, 49395 was the BR number, but the loco was first used by the London and North Western Railway. It was designed by C J Bowen Cooke and the 0-8-0 configura�on included a flangeless pair of driving wheels at the third axle. The low tender line enabled the unit to run tender-first as shown here. Perhaps of greater interest to some would be that John’s Series III Rapier shown here appears to be an original moonstone and powder blue 1494 cc in very nice condi�on. 49395 has appeared at various loca�ons but here it was on duty at the East Lancashire Railway, part of the Bury Trabnsport Museum in Greater Manchester. Autumn 2013 5 OTTED PERSONALITIE P Neil Lamond - Treasurer S So this is my opportunity to tell you all about myself! I understand most people like talking about themselves, so I have agreed to give it a go. As we are a club dedicated to older forms of transport I have included a few nods to them in this piece. I was born in the late 1940s in Streatham, South Lon- don. My mother had transport in her blood as her mother (Nan) had been a “clippie” on the early trams and her father worked all his life for London Trans- port Underground. Mum and Dad pushed me up to Streatham High Road to see this last tram run through the town. We soon moved north of the river and settled in Harrow, visiting the aforementioned “Nan” on what I quaintly called the “Nanny Bus” which ran from Edgware Station. This photo is exactly as I remember the scene, one of the buses in this photo is preserved at Brook- lands (TD95). In the late 1950s we went TDs at Edgeware station on holiday to Swanage in Dorset and on a trip to Poole this photo on the next page was taken of our family on top of a bus getting ready to head back via Sandbanks.