A chance to talk mostly about Bolwell Sports Cars.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Yet another Mark 7
I almost forgot. There was another Mark 7 at Tanunda over Easter. The Hamiltons brought along their ceramic example. Here Ewan and Alec are taking it through the witches hats with great dexterity.
While you are drawing long straws I gather from Rick Dathans report on Easter in the Victorian Slipstream that my cars were included in the Sunday cruise so should they not be included as attending? Kapunda IS in the Barossa is it not? Unless only Kapunda-ites think so - the official State stuff says its just north of the Barossa. Guess we will have to take a bottle or two of red to the Wheatsheaf and debate the issue. We can also debate the validity of Dathan's comment about my Mk 5. Rough? I am bringing back to life a car that is 43 years old and off the road for 20 odd years and been hacked about by multiple owners. I guess that's why I am a member of the South Aussie Club and not the Victorian Club. They're too posh for me I am just a simple Bollie enthusiast. It seems my decision to keep my other 4 Bollies away from Easter was justified.
What a pity. It was a great little historic pub in the true South Australia country pub tradition. The comment about rough infuriated me as for many years at club events it was not unusual for at least one Mk 7 or another to turn up in racing grey (primer) as evidenced by the shots of RAA633 in this blog. Re the Mk 5 between Grant and I we have spent over $17000 on rebuilding it and once the cosmetics are taken care of it will come up a treat. People uneducated in the challenges of Bollies always reckon they are all rough, indeed it may be observed that your Ikara is so but we all know that it is being rebuilt and will be great when finished and that no unregistered work in progress in a repair yard may be judged against the finished item. What put me off was that the comment came from a long time club member who had to catch a train to Melbourne to bludge a ride in various other people's Bolwells to the Easter events.Little wonder that the number of Bollies turning up at such events has not grown over the years. Now back to a pub to discuss this all at why not the Norton Summit. I will be back in Oz in early July and we can crack a couple of Bollies from the shed, pick up some red and go enjoy the open fire as it will be cold. Perhaps Colin can place some racng grey on the "rough" Mk 5 so it can come for the run too.
I don't think the WIP Bollies have died at all - witness the Hamilton Mark 7 turning up in primer each year for ages. The only reason it didn't this year is that it didn't get back together in time after a couple of "major" jobs. I also think you are a bit "rough" on Rick. Lots of work is happening with the updating of his Ikara and it will be quite a weapon when back on the road. Progress is hampered by his willingness to roll up his sleeves and help other Bolwell owners with their restoration problems, even travelling up to Sydney to do so. Even if his car was running he wouldn't have been able to have brought it, and the reason why he needed to bludge a ride, is that after too many speeding fines he has been relieved of his licence for a while. More power to him, perhaps, for not staying at home under the circumstances.
The value of the Norton Summit as a cosy watering hole after a spirited drive in the hills is not lost on all South Australian Bolwell owners and I'll look forward to July and to taking you up on that proposal.
I was not being too rough on him. I have never met him but he took it upon himself to be overtly critical in a situation he did not have to be. WE know the car look shithouse as colin has been forced to reglass entire sections of the body (explains the headlights being out altho Colin could have simply glassed over them too)As the car looked shithouse I would never have allowed anyone to inspect it but my permission was not sought and it was included on a run by the Club at Easter and I had some wally making uncalled for comments about my car.
John, Uncalled for and obnoxious observations by others are the reason I am so private about my growing collection of Bolwell's. These comments were in writing in a newsletter with national club distribution.Unfair, unjust, uncalled for, and just plain pompous. And as I said my interaction with such people over the years is the reason I am a member of the South Aussie Club even thought the collection is Melbourne based.
Hi, I'm Rick. I had an email earlier today that suggested there was some bun fight going on in the Bolly Blog - and the emailer wanted my input. "Odd", I thought, but opened up the Bolly Blog and started reading from where I last visited just before Easter.
I then had another enjoyable hour reading through the articles up to date (but I skipped all the Milano ones - sorry John - and only skimmed the Ascort ones). I think I have said it before - this Bolly Blog is GREAT! I love all the reminiscing and the general warmth and niceness this blog exudes.
I also went to the NSW site (nice work, Graham) to see the Peter Wherrett videos. I actually never saw any Torque episodes when they were on. That opening scene with the Nagari coming out of the tunnel is actually very well done.
Not having found anything controversial, I then explored the comments. Well, here it is, but .... I am astounded! From what I can gather reading the comments: there is a Colin A that owns the Mk5, while we saw it at the workshop of Colin B (the guy that was so helpful at the funkhana) and Colin A has taken offence to the word "rough". The only way for the latter to make any hint of sense is if Colin A thought it was in reference to the quality of the rebuild ..... or how I thought the car would turn out when finished (no, that would be totally ridiculous). To clarify, it was simply an observation, a one word adjective to describe how the car currently looked when standing in front of it. The body had not yet had fibreglass repair "whiskers" (that stick out at the edges) trimmed off or been smoothed, let alone painted; ie, "rough". It was its main distinguishing feature - besides the obvious exoticness of it being a Mk5.
I even went back through my photos to re-examine the car: "Ooh, that's rough", I said out loud to myself. ....and when I say "Ooh", I mean that kind of Ooh where you have just sucked on an especially sour lemon. Ooh.
Anyway, Colin A, I don't know who you are; I don't know anything about your car, and even if I did, it would not be my place to write in detail about your car in an article about my Easter trip. Far more appropriate for you to write an article that tells all of us the history of your car, how you came to obtain such a rare beast, the work you have done so far, what you plan still, etc.
Cheers, Rick
PS Colin (A), your comment, "They're too posh for me": don't tell me you didn't read the same thing in my article!
Here Ewan and Alec are taking it through the witches hats with great dexterity.
8 comments:
While you are drawing long straws I gather from Rick Dathans report on Easter in the Victorian Slipstream that my cars were included in the Sunday cruise so should they not be included as attending? Kapunda IS in the Barossa is it not? Unless only Kapunda-ites think so - the official State stuff says its just north of the Barossa. Guess we will have to take a bottle or two of red to the Wheatsheaf and debate the issue. We can also debate the validity of Dathan's comment about my Mk 5. Rough? I am bringing back to life a car that is 43 years old and off the road for 20 odd years and been hacked about by multiple owners. I guess that's why I am a member of the South Aussie Club and not the Victorian Club. They're too posh for me I am just a simple Bollie enthusiast. It seems my decision to keep my other 4 Bollies away from Easter was justified.
You'll have to pick another venue, Col. The Wheatsheaf at Allendale North is no more (at least until a buyer can be found, which hasn't happened yet.)
What a pity. It was a great little historic pub in the true South Australia country pub tradition. The comment about rough infuriated me as for many years at club events it was not unusual for at least one Mk 7 or another to turn up in racing grey (primer) as evidenced by the shots of RAA633 in this blog. Re the Mk 5 between Grant and I we have spent over $17000 on rebuilding it and once the cosmetics are taken care of it will come up a treat. People uneducated in the challenges of Bollies always reckon they are all rough, indeed it may be observed that your Ikara is so but we all know that it is being rebuilt and will be great when finished and that no unregistered work in progress in a repair yard may be judged against the finished item. What put me off was that the comment came from a long time club member who had to catch a train to Melbourne to bludge a ride in various other people's Bolwells to the Easter events.Little wonder that the number of Bollies turning up at such events has not grown over the years. Now back to a pub to discuss this all at why not the Norton Summit. I will be back in Oz in early July and we can crack a couple of Bollies from the shed, pick up some red and go enjoy the open fire as it will be cold. Perhaps Colin can place some racng grey on the "rough" Mk 5 so it can come for the run too.
I don't think the WIP Bollies have died at all - witness the Hamilton Mark 7 turning up in primer each year for ages. The only reason it didn't this year is that it didn't get back together in time after a couple of "major" jobs. I also think you are a bit "rough" on Rick. Lots of work is happening with the updating of his Ikara and it will be quite a weapon when back on the road. Progress is hampered by his willingness to roll up his sleeves and help other Bolwell owners with their restoration problems, even travelling up to Sydney to do so. Even if his car was running he wouldn't have been able to have brought it, and the reason why he needed to bludge a ride, is that after too many speeding fines he has been relieved of his licence for a while. More power to him, perhaps, for not staying at home under the circumstances.
The value of the Norton Summit as a cosy watering hole after a spirited drive in the hills is not lost on all South Australian Bolwell owners and I'll look forward to July and to taking you up on that proposal.
I was not being too rough on him. I have never met him but he took it upon himself to be overtly critical in a situation he did not have to be. WE know the car look shithouse as colin has been forced to reglass entire sections of the body (explains the headlights being out altho Colin could have simply glassed over them too)As the car looked shithouse I would never have allowed anyone to inspect it but my permission was not sought and it was included on a run by the Club at Easter and I had some wally making uncalled for comments about my car.
John, Uncalled for and obnoxious observations by others are the reason I am so private about my growing collection of Bolwell's. These comments were in writing in a newsletter with national club distribution.Unfair, unjust, uncalled for, and just plain pompous. And as I said my interaction with such people over the years is the reason I am a member of the South Aussie Club even thought the collection is Melbourne based.
Hi, I'm Rick. I had an email earlier today that suggested there was some bun fight going on in the Bolly Blog - and the emailer wanted my input. "Odd", I thought, but opened up the Bolly Blog and started reading from where I last visited just before Easter.
I then had another enjoyable hour reading through the articles up to date (but I skipped all the Milano ones - sorry John - and only skimmed the Ascort ones). I think I have said it before - this Bolly Blog is GREAT! I love all the reminiscing and the general warmth and niceness this blog exudes.
I also went to the NSW site (nice work, Graham) to see the Peter Wherrett videos. I actually never saw any Torque episodes when they were on. That opening scene with the Nagari coming out of the tunnel is actually very well done.
Not having found anything controversial, I then explored the comments. Well, here it is, but .... I am astounded! From what I can gather reading the comments: there is a Colin A that owns the Mk5, while we saw it at the workshop of Colin B (the guy that was so helpful at the funkhana) and Colin A has taken offence to the word "rough". The only way for the latter to make any hint of sense is if Colin A thought it was in reference to the quality of the rebuild ..... or how I thought the car would turn out when finished (no, that would be totally ridiculous).
To clarify, it was simply an observation, a one word adjective to describe how the car currently looked when standing in front of it. The body had not yet had fibreglass repair "whiskers" (that stick out at the edges) trimmed off or been smoothed, let alone painted; ie, "rough". It was its main distinguishing feature - besides the obvious exoticness of it being a Mk5.
I even went back through my photos to re-examine the car: "Ooh, that's rough", I said out loud to myself. ....and when I say "Ooh", I mean that kind of Ooh where you have just sucked on an especially sour lemon. Ooh.
Anyway, Colin A, I don't know who you are; I don't know anything about your car, and even if I did, it would not be my place to write in detail about your car in an article about my Easter trip. Far more appropriate for you to write an article that tells all of us the history of your car, how you came to obtain such a rare beast, the work you have done so far, what you plan still, etc.
Cheers,
Rick
PS Colin (A), your comment, "They're too posh for me": don't tell me you didn't read the same thing in my article!
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