Mechanic-ing now available for all at CCC...

As most of you know by now, after 7 years with the club, Derek, our mechanic decided to emigrate to Australia. Whilst it was a shame for all in the club to see him go to the sun, it also gave us the opportunity to bring in new blood to maintain our fleet. The Classic Car Club fleet is now being maintained by Danny Gray of Grays Autoprecision.

With a career spanning an apprenticeship at the Merchiston Mews Garage (the original home of Ecurie Ecosse), and Laurie Doonan of the Mews Garage (in the West End), and more latterly a Ford and then Subaru main dealer, he has a range of knowledge of most types of vehicle servicing, repair and diagnostics. .

Danny is settling in well to the Classic Car Club building and he has intends to ensure our fleet is better prepared than ever before for the season ahead.

Some members may have noticed Danny guiding us as we assembled and prepared the Caterham, or have met him already as you collected cars. I am sure you will all meet him in due course.

Work to date on our cars has included repairing the radiators on our 911 Turbo, replacing the brakes on the Maserati and Porsche Boxster, and fettling of the Jaguar Mk2 - a labour of Hercules if ever there was....

Alongside the maintenance of the fleet, Danny will also be operating his own business - Gray's Autoprecision - which is dedicated to maintaining the smooth running of any cars that cross it's threshold. So if you have any motors that need TLC, a service, or automotive electronic diagnosis (ABS, Check Engine etc) give Danny a buzz on 0131 450 7068 or drop him an email at graysautoprecision@hotmail.co.uk

On a personal level Danny also has a strong connection with Islay (the home of some unique malt whiskies) having lived there for many years and indeed has a family connection with a Stillmaster - this may come in handy for future road trips.

See our "Virtual Open Weekend"

For those of you unable to come to our Open Weekend in March, I've put together some video footage so you can get a feel of what it was like! Apologies for wobbly camera, bad editing and Drew's singing - maybe turn the volume off!

See:

http://www.vimeo.com/10604855

Aston DB9 has arrived!

Not often does a dreary wet March day feel like xmas, but it does today. Our latest addition to the fleet has arrived - a 2005 Aston Martin DB9. It's dark green & co-incidentally the same colour as our old DB7 V12.

It keeps all the good bits of the DB7 V12 - the exterior beauty and the mellifluous 6.0 V12, but adds a really comfy and stunningly cool interior and a gearbox that does what you want. It has paddles on the steering column allow the driver to dictate the changes.

It drives beautifully - I think we're all going to be very happy together!

Classic Car Club goes to Skye

Just a few places remain for the club's spring trip to Skye 23rd - 25th April.
Anyone interested please contact Matt or Robert Kidd as soon as possible.

These are the kind of open roads and scenery we can look forward to - picture taken on our last trip there in October 2005!

Caterham 7 SV build day 6

Day 6 was another slow one, but the end must be near! We've been slightly hamstrung by Caterham as they have been slow sending us bits that we needed but fingers crossed that the stuff will arrive this week to allow us to finish the build.

We've fitted the interior and the other rear wing. Still to go are the cycle wings, rear light clusters, windscreen and fitting the hood. Then we'll fire her up. Still waiting for VOSA to give us a date for the IVA test (needs to be done before it can be registered) - it's been nearly a month since we applied so fingers crossed it will be done in the next couple of weeks - I think there are a few people looking forward to driving it!

Austin-Healey 100/6 TV star!

BBC2 this week at 6.30pm midweek eves is showing "Antiques Road Trip" starring a couple of antique dealers driving around Scotland looking for bargains to sell at auction. And this week the undoubted star of the show is the club Healey. Catch it on the BBC iPlayer if you've missed it!

Caterham 7 SV build day 5

A frustrating day..... Lots of fiddly little jobs that didn't really seem to progress the build. We fixed the wiper mechanism, the headlights and indicators, fitted the rear carbon stone guards - these took an hour each! And lots of riveting.

Whats left? Carpets, seats, transmission tunnel. Fitting the indicator repeaters on the cycle wings and fitting them, finishing the rear wings, fitting the windscreen. Then fill up all the fluids, connect the battery and cross fingers! Watch this space.....