"If only you were nearer" Back on track! Apologies...

Hopefully more to post up later tonight about the Chicago side of the trip, it's slow going working through all the photos bit by bit! After not updating the thread properly for quite a while, it's hard getting back into the swing of things.


Yeah, the 911 is currently on the London Motor Film Festival stand at the NEC which is helping to promote the festival as well as RED camera systems. Bryn asked if it could be used on the stand and I happily agreed. I spent the day there yesterday and met lots of really nice people, even if the show itself wasn't exactly amazing. Some nice stuff there, but I'm not sure I'd want to pay to get in?

Toyo tyres also kindly supported/sponsored the car with a new set of its tyres. That's one thing off the MOT hitlist!









If any of you are going to the NEC this weekend, please feel free to drop by the stand (hall 19, the Performance Car area) and take a look at the car/say hi to Bryn.

Glad to see you back and finishing this thread mate

Tease:-(

Haha, I've been up hours, just had things like work to do first. I should still be working now, but I'm conscious that I've not kept the updates coming as fast as I'd hoped. So I'm taking a little break to fit in another installment.


One thing I've learnt from spending some time in Canada, and now the US, is that the 510 is far more highly/widely regarded and revered than it is here. There is definitely a good, strong fan base here, but nothing compared to the adulation it gets the other side of the Atlantic.

I was hoping to have found a cheap 510 for myself to bring back here, I love them, but it would seem that prices are even higher across the pond and this is mainly down to two things; racing heritage and the fact that so many people had them 'back in the day' that there is a lot of fondness for them. With that has come a huge renaissance in the cars popularity. Which has, in turn, driven the prices up a lot.

You know how popular and pricey Mk1 & Mk2 Escorts are over here? Same thing over there, even though they are Japanese in origin.

Finding an unmolested example is almost impossible because they have mostly been turned into track cars and race cars. Not all, but certainly most. Very rarely you might find a mildly modified example to restore, but the majority will have been beaten around a track at some point.

The rarest of all the 510s are the ones built, from the outset, as a genuine race car. And this is what you see here:



Look up 510 race cars and you'll see they had a huge impact on motorsport in the early 70s. Labelled 'The Giant Killer', they were super successful on the track and this, in turn, cemented their reputation as bonafide performance cars.

As said, this one is very unusual in that it was never road registered, but instead was built to race from day one. Built in 1972, this actual car has raced against Paul Newman and also Dorsey Schroeder (I had to look him up, I'd never heard of him either, I must confess). It also set the track record in the Road America race in 1987. It's a serious bit of kit!



The car was bought last year by Fish's Dad, apparently it had only recently been subject of a thorough restoration but it turns out, not thorough enough.

Mr Fish Sr is currently tearing it down to do a proper mechanical resto on it. Even in this state, it looked so mean and purposeful. I can't wait to see it when it's all finished. Hopefully with some of the external character left intact?











Behind it are two other gems. These are both work in progress projects that started out as road cars and are being turned into track weapons emulating two extremely famous race cars. The interior of '46' hasn't been started yet and will be torn out and made into a proper race spec at some point. '86' is a lot closer to being finished, full cage and interior is done. Once both are complete, they will be run together as a homage to the original and most famous two (out of only three ever made) BRE race cars. I believe the '86' livery will be changed to '85' when this happens?













It's not every day you get to spend time gawking over a 510 race car, let alone three of them! As you can probably guess, it's the original '41' that floated my boat more than the two beautifully finished replicas of the BRM team cars, but they were pretty lovely too!

I figured at least one of those 510's would be on Libre's - rare as hens teeth but no want or love for them this side of the pond.

Over here, datsuns are still fetching strong money. Rather than being turned into race replicas though, a lot got CA18 and SR20 swaps. Lightweight + Turbo EFI = Scalded Cat. There are some still unmolested examples and non-restored ones available. You can also get the earlier and later datsuns, including the 1200 ute (sunny tora). I'd have another in a heartbeat, if I had the money.

Damn, I would have gone down to Autosport if I had known you were there! I've been more cautious with this January than other recent ones!

Fair play to getting sponsorship off Toyo! I'd have left the Direzzas on though .

I had to re-register to RR just to comment... I was home sick and had searched this thread on my brother's recommendation, and read all 32 pages within 24 hrs. It was simply so good that I couldn't stop reading! (Best part was that I could just scroll past your nasty cliff hangers and continue reading.) It's been said MANY times before, but you have a gift for writing.

As a Canadian, what you have put into words about our car culture can be said of every area I've visited in Canada. We really have it good here, and it was fantastic to be reminded of that through your kind words. I don't know Scott, James, or any of the other guys you ran into, but I can tell straight off we'd all be fast friends. Bit of a surprise for me on page 25 (http://retrorides.proboards.com/post/2154030) - the second picture of your newly acquired 911 is side by side with my good friend Noel's "Lightning McQueen" themed Neon. They had told stories of the burned out 911 and I hadn't really given it a second thought until seeing that picture. (Scott might remember it - it was FAST)

Like everyone else here mentioned; you've really hit the nail on the head with following your passion, and you have perfectly captured the adventure with your wordsmithing, and your breathtaking photos. You have also reminded me of many of my own adventures that I really should have documented better!

This adventure in particular reminds me of 2008 when I flew to Portland Oregon to buy an 89' Peugeot 505 Turbo 5sp from a good friend that I'd known for years and had never met. I stayed in his home for a couple days prepping the car and filling it with spare parts, and then drove 2000KM home through the mountains. That was the longest, but I've also done 4-5 other 16 hour round trip road trips to collect other Peugeot's, and your words perfectly describe all the feelings experienced when buying a car this way, so thank you very much for a wonderful reminder of how cool those adventures were. (Coolest road trip so far was driving my 89' 505 Turbo to PPIHC in 2013 to see Loeb obliterate the record...)

Lastly, while I love the book idea, your point is well made. The problem however, is that I have literally had hours of enjoyment despite now being at the mercy of your damned cliff hangers. Anyway - It occurred to me that there hasn't been a suggestion of a way to contribute towards your expenses so that you can do what you do best. Be it traveling or even working on your car, if it enables you to write more content, I'd happily contribute. I know how much work these posts can be, and I really feel a little guilty that I can't even show a little appreciation for all your hard work you've put into this. (Paypal link in your sig maybe?) Apologies in advance if that's not allowed or anything.

Thanks again MM for taking us all along on your journeys.

Rabin

Well that's me all caught up.

Moar Please!!!!!