I have a plan. A plan to keep the Marcos, and not have to sell a kidney. So it’s a good plan. I have been put in contact with a chap called Lee Keller who is ex-Marcos factory & apparently a dab hand with the old welder. The fact is that I can’t afford a complete new chassis however ‘creative’ I get with the numbers, so I need to get the current one patched, & patched properly. After several discussions with Guru Chivers it turns out that there has been another Mantis with similar rust ‘challenges’ & that they were addressed by cutting through the sills from the inside of the body & accessing the chassis via that route, thus avoiding any external damage & costly respray. Huzzah! I have bitten the bullet & told Rory that the galvanised chassis solution he offered was (way) beyond my means. Rory was pretty decent about the news, & was kind enough to warn me to ‘be careful’. The car is being picked up by Dave C/Lee & nursed over to Warminster where Lee is based. It will be interesting to hear what he thinks of it.
Tatton Park show with no car (again)
It was the second show of the year at Tatton Park today, and my second show there without the Marcos. It was nice to see the other Marcos cars & owners, as always. Guru Chivers had kindly agreed to attend Tatton with the purple Mantis Coupe & was staying at the house, which was nice as it gave me the opportunity to repay their hospitality from previous occasions. Predictably the main topic of conversation was the dire straights I found myself in with the corroded Mantis chassis. The weather held for the show itself, but Dave & Mandy had a rather moist journey either side of that.
Not quite according to plan
Back home from MHS two days earlier than planned, without the Mantis & not sure whether I’m keeping the car or not. What a complete 
yesterday was. Just totally un--believable.
I got down to MHS about 1000 hours, left the car with them & borrowed the current courtesy car (the new Mini-Marcos! In ‘can-be-seen-from-space’ yellow no less!). Thirty minutes later my mobile goes & although I ignore it the first few times eventually I decided it must be urgent so I pull over & take the call. It’s Rory at MHS & he says… “I think you’d better come & see this”. So, I turn around & half an hour later I’m walking towards the door to the MHS workshop with a sombre looking Rory. I am perplexed. At least, I am until Rory walks up to the Mantis & puts his finger through the chassis side rail, then repeats this on the other side of the car. Oh . “You’ve got a problem”. Yup – even I can see that & I know eff all about cars. Rory then kindly points out that the floor panels have also corroded & that the carpets can be seen from underneath the car. Fab.
So…
“You need a new chassis & floor pans Oliver. This car shouldn’t be driven again in its current state.”
“I can see that! Um… what’s that going to cost, Rory?”
“£10K + VAT & it will be the first Mantis we’ve had to replace the chassis on. It’s like rebuilding the car”
Cue 3 nanosecond pause while I think if I have won the lottery recently. I haven’t.
“Haven’t got £10K at the moment Rory. Can I leave it here?”
“Course you can.”
“Thanks. Any chance of a lift to the station?”
… and that was it. (I got the lift!). The unexpected train journey home was a pensive one. Wonder what the hell to do now.
Cracking me up
Yikes! The Mantis failed its MOT today, with a 6″ crack in the windscreen in driver line-of-sight. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. I knew about the crack & have arranged to go down to MHS to get the windscreen replaced on Thursday, but had hoped it would scrape through the MOT.
It’s a girl!
Gorgeous baby daughter born yesterday! Glad I did not suffer any major hold ups getting back from LM, or I’d be in big trouble indeed. Can’t wait to take her out in the Mantis, although that’s a good while off yet. My son absolutely loved it when we finally got around to going for a spin; the “Faster Daddy, faster” raised a smile although I didn’t have much luck explaining 30mph zones to him. I got away with naming my son ‘Marcos’ (well, as a middle name at any rate) but no luck persuading the other half that ‘Mantis’ is a well known girls name. Oh well… Mind you, she drives a Honda CRV so maybe it’s time we dismissed naming children after cars completely!
Le Mans 24 hour again
Back from the 2007 Le Mans 24 hour. The itself race was… okay. Diesels won & you can read enough to make your eyes bleed elsewhere on the Net about whether this is a good thing, bad thing, next big thing & so on. I have to say that the event seems to be getting increasingly ‘Chavvy’ & there were numerous ‘organised’ Stag parties present with nobody interested in cars at all really (& that’s coming from me! lol). No problem there until this manifests itself as a lack of respect for the cars & owners; emptying gallons of water into an open car is criminal damage & wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere (I’d like to think). Ditto kicking someone’s car just because they won’t do a burn-out for you & your mates (& there still seems to be plenty of drivers who are happy to do that kind of thing). Has Le Mans become too accessible, with the wrong kind of people attending? Surely there are more interesting places to go & get pissed if that’s the only thing on your mind… Pricing people out doesn’t work (just look at horse racing in the UK) & penalises car enthusiasts who don’t have a lot of disposable income. Besides, I can only just afford to go myself – after fuel, travel, accommodation & beer money there is nothing left for repairs caused by other people. Sorry… rant over.
Despite not being as relaxed as in previous years & prompting some pondering as to what to do in 2008, I ultimately enjoyed myself once again. The race was only a minor part of the experience. The journey, the company, the accommodation, the food ‘n’ booze & the ‘incidents’… these are the things that define Le Mans for me, & that makes 2007 a success!
Paint stripper
Back from a trip to the garage where the nearside mirror was finally re-attached (although the paint was stripped when the tape came off – my fault for leaving it on for 10 months of course..). Battery output & voltmeter also checked due to some odd readings whilst driving but all seems in order. I am still paranoid about the car after the farce of a paint job last summer. I shouldn’t be letting it get to me still, but it does. However, Le Mans 24 Hour is about five weeks away so let the excitement begin! My chum Caz is still having electrical/ECU problems with his supercharged LM500, but he normally fixes these things in time! We have decided to get the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge & travel down through Belgium (& even Paris if we are feeling brave!). Two, no three selling points for this course of actions; firstly, less poorly maintained, over-populated speed camera infected UK roads, secondly, the journey there & back is broken up with a bit of sleep, & finally Caz managed to get one of the cars booked for £1! Very impressive, & more beer money of course! It should be great fun & will make a pleasant change from traipsing down to Folkestone for the Chunnel crossing. I shall, of course, report back at a later date…
Apathy
Aside
… I see I haven’t written anything since my August entry last year. I haven’t felt much like writing up the Mantis since then. The car has been out a few times but it’s still two-tone green, dammit. And I need to win the bloody lottery to get it sprayed properly. Fat chance.
Tsk! What a bitter & twisted fellow I am in danger of becoming! I am still lucky enough to have the car, so shouldn’t be inflicting this hand-wringing drivel on you. My next entry will be more upbeat.
Victory at Tatton
Ironically given the farce of the recent respray, I won a prize at the Tatton Park show today! Funny old world…
Distraught
I am… speechless.
Anuus Horribilis & all that. My lovely, lovely car has been butchered by the incompetent buffoon at Whitehead Classics. I have been too angry to add anything here for the last few weeks, suffice to say that I have been unable to drive the car as it makes my blood pressure rocket. Having spent £160 for a superb valet, I was distraught to discover that the paint does not match the original colour, & that various patches are almost bereft of lacquer. I just can’t face getting in the car at the moment, despite the blazing sunshine. I missed the annual rally & let Isobel down as I was due to assist in the judging (I guess as the comedy act to Rory’s straight man).
The car looks crap. I’m totally gutted. The fellow from Whitehead wants the car back to look at it again but over my dead body is he going anywhere near it. Rory from MHS happened to be in the North West delivering a car, & kindly agreed to meet up with me & give his opinion. It was so grim he voluntarily agreed to write it up (for free! And this is Rory we’re talking about!), which was pretty decent of him. I am just relieved that I did not pay the invoice for the respray at the time, however, I need someone to do (another) respray, probably the whole car this time as the overspray seems to have touched most panels, & it does not seem right that I pay for that, so… don’t know… small claims court? Never used it before but a few people have suggested that’s the route to go. Got the Tatton Park show next month but I have accepted it’s not going to have been sorted by then. Guess I’ll take along a crappy looking car then – the more mud the better!