Spring diary dates for you & Premium cars explained.

We will soon be opening for the year, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to explain a couple of things, and give you important dates for your diary.

New in 2009 is 'Premium' Cars. They are available to those with 'Premium' Access - Investors, Platinum members, and every current member until their next renewal, at which point they need to decide whether they wish to upgrade to Platinum membership or whether they wish to join the investment pool if they wish to maintain their access to the 'Premium' cars. The 'Premium' cars are currently:

Ferrari 550 Maranello

Aston Martin DB9

Porsche 911 (996) Turbo

Maserati 3200 GT

AC Cobra

On top of that, Investors get 2 months exclusive access to the new cars (as was detailed in the investor prospectus). After that, they are free to be used by the relevant membership.

Weather-dependent, we will open for members to take cars from Tuesday 16th March. Cars available to all members will include the NSX, Elise, Bentley and 928. Investors will be able to take new cars, should they wish, with the exception of Tuesday 24th March, which will be the press day for the relaunch of the Club.

Cars will not be available from midday on friday 27th March until 6pm on sunday 29th March. This will be our spring open weekend, and we would be delighted if members wished to join us between 10.30am and 5.30pm on both days to see the fantastic new fleet!

From sunday 29th at 6pm all cars will be available, including the Austin Healey, E-type, Corniche, Mk2 and Citroen DS. The Porsche 550 Spyder will likely be available towards the end of April as we await new parts from Brazil.

9-13 April is Easter, and Ocean Terminal's Big Boys Toy show, where we will have 3 cars.

24-26 April are the dates of the Club weekend away as detailed in Robert's post below. Book soon if you fancy coming as only 4 rooms are now left!

Finally, in mid May, the Ferrari 550 & 911 Turbo will be available for all those with 'Premier' Access and the TVR Tamora and AMG S55 will be available to all. At the end of May our Caterham should be delivered and assembled, and available to investors.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the Open Weekend, if not before!

MN

ps. We've decided after chatting to the other clubs, that the 550 Maranello has to be taken for a minimum of 2 days.

Club Spring Weekend - come and join us!

Classic Car Club Scotland
Spring 2009 Club touring weekend
24th – 26th April 2009

For our next club weekend we have chosen to return to the northwest highlands, for dramatic scenery and open roads, ideal to try out some of the exciting new club fleet.

For those who have yet to experience a car club weekend tour, you can be guaranteed good food, entertaining company, great roads and overall a relaxed atmosphere.
Oh yes – and the sun always shines!

Our base this April will be the small, family-run Tigh an Eilean Hotel in the picturesque village of Shieldaig, in Wester Ross, surely one of the most scenically beautiful and secluded locations in Scotland.

Grand mountains form a stunning backdrop to the hotel, which nestles in the crescent-shaped village high street. Converted from a row of white-washed fishing cottages, the hotel overlooks an idyllic loch which reflects a tiny island covered in Scots Pines. Two snug lounges offer glorious views over the peaceful loch, but on calm, warm days, you will not be able to resist the lure of the gorgeous outdoor terrace, where Italian style meets Scottish hospitality. Imaginative pizzas topped with fresh local produce are served straight from the wood-fired oven, and, if you are lucky, you could be treated to one of the west coast’s spectacular sunsets.


The charming restaurant, adorned with driftwood sculptures, is a welcoming setting for a more complete dinner, with its ever changing menu of fresh fish, shellfish, and top quality meat and game.

The picturesque village was originally built in 1810 to house and train sailors for the Napoleonic wars, but following Waterloo, the place was left to its own devices. Once, quite literally, the end of the road north, the village has retained that other-worldly ‘Brigadoon’ feel, and offers an overwhelming atmosphere of peace and tranquillity

Outline itinerary (provisional and subject to change)

Friday 24th April
Arrive at leisure late afternoon. We will arrange a lunch time meeting place in a convenient location. Our suggested route would be Glencoe, then Fort William on towards Skye then turn north just before Kyle of Lochalsh.

This evening an informal Mediterranean influenced meal in the Coastal Kitchen restaurant, with a roof terrace option is the weather is very kind!

Saturday 25th April
Today’s drive will take us north through Torridon to Gairloch. Several options for detours – including a couple of great dead-end roads! Destination is a unique “Dry Island”, home to a fisherman and his family- one of the last creelers in this part of Scotland. Here we will all enjoy a seafood lunch – with the freshest Langoustines and squat lobster. There will also be the chance to go out with the fisherman while we brings in a “flight” of creels.

Afterwards options to continue tour, for example, to Inverewe gardens or.

Dinner this evening in the hotel’s main restaurant.

Sunday 26th April
Explore area on own before returning to Edinburgh/Glasgow.
Return route options could include nearby Applecross and the famous Bealach na Ba – where we visited in 2007!

Pricing:
The price is £230 per person, based on two sharing a twin or double room.
There are also three single rooms available for no supplement.
We have reserved all 11 rooms at the hotel – 8 doubles/twins and 3 singles.
All rooms are ensuite, six of the doubles/twins have a seaview, will be allocated on a first booked basis.

Price includes two nights’ accommodation, dinner both nights, welcome drink on arrival, seafood lunch on Saturday.
The boat trip is extra and dependent on numbers costs between £15 & £20 pp

How to book
Call 0844 804 0020 or email Robert@mckinlaykidd.co.uk to reserve your place.
Contact Matt to book your car.

And there's more new cars! 2002 Porsche 911 Turbo, manual

Bought on friday down in London - it drove home beautifully. In Lapis (dark blue) and black leather I suspect this will be one of the club's most popular cars! More details to follow in the week

More NEW cars! - 2002 TVR Tamora

In silver with black interior - more to follow including pictures on Monday....

I've just ordered a brand new 2009 Caterham 7 for the club

Hot on the heels of our new AMG S55KL, is news of a somewhat oxymoronic purchase for Classic Car Club, Scotland. A brand new 2009 Caterham Super Seven Roadsport SV 1.6 Sigma to use it's proper name. With full weather gear, and leather seats, the widebody SV should make the Caterham experience open to all, and with useful luggage space it can be used for weekends away.

It is due to make an appearance in late spring - the Caterham orderbook is surprisingly full in these troubled times - and then Derek has to build it.... Caterham estimate this can be done in a week......

All we need to do is pick colours - I'm going for a combination of metallic orange and matte black - any other favourite colours?
MN

New in - 2003 AMG S55 - all 500bhp of it!

I've just driven the club's new car home from Manchester where it was being sold on behalf of Lady Carole Bamford - wife of billionaire JCB tycoon Sir Antony Bamford. It was her chauffeur-driven car, and she ordered it with all the options possible and would have paid in excess of £125,000 in 2003:

Full massaging seats in all 4 seats, with dynamic (self-adjusting to road conditions) in the front.

Distronic - a form of collision warning radar that also works with the cruise control.

TV tuner and a screen in the rear as well as the front.

Bose surround sound system

Linguatronic - voice activation for various functions.

Seat coolers (as well as heaters) again for all 4 seats.

Separate air-con for the rear passengers.

Keyless Go - a smart card that opens doors, and operates the ignition circuit with a button on the gearstick.

And many others...

Combined with a supercharged 5.5L V8 producing 500bhp and 516 lb/ft of torque, this makes for an absolute monster of a car. 0-60 in 4.2 secs and a delimited top speed of over 200 mph makes this a true Ferrari baiter. 14.2 inch discs with 8 piston calipers means it stops as well!

We were musing about getting an S600 (same power but from a twin-turbo V12 in a more comfort orientated body) but the drive home confirmed we made the right decision! Epic power available at about 80mph, and the fabulous noise of the engine (same as AMG SL55..) mean that I suspect a few people will lose their licences in this.

We have a couple of minor things to sort out, but it will be good to go for the start of the spring season!

Next week I'm looking at a 2003 911 Turbo, so watch this space for more news and pix.

MN

Auction for Ferrari, Maserati and NSX over winter

As mentioned in my previous letter, we've decided to let members who want take a car for the whole 3 months from mid Dec to mid March. They will need to arrange their own insurance, and give us proof, and also have a garage in which the car carn be stored. We've decided to auction each car we wish to be used in this way.

Winners will have a mileage limit of 1,000 per month (so for 3 months that is halfway to the next service!), and also pay a prorated amount for tyre wear. The cars that we will be putting up for the auction will be the new Ferrari 550 Maranello, the Maserati 3200GT, Honda NSX and Elise Sport 160. Should we buy anything new in the next month we may add that in as well.

I already have a bid of £800 for the Ferrari, so with a minimum increment of £100, the next bid would need to be £900.... For the Maser and the NSX we'll start at £500 and Elise at £300 all with minimum increments of £50. The auction will run till early december, so please email me or phone with your bids. Should you be outbid you are at liberty to up your bid! This blog page will then be updated to reflect the new bids!!!

Good Luck,

Matt