The curse of work and modern life has been taking it's toll on the merry band of Monday clubbers. It was on Tuesday 10th April that I saw Chris Millers car for the first time since the day we returned from Istanbul in October 2006.

How bad is that?

The old girl looked in rude health, and passed here annual MOT test a couple of days later, so it was a nice reunion with a car that I spent such a great and memorable time with.

Both me and Chris had taken some time from the daily grind, so we decided to do some work on our cars at his house, and then when Steve could meet us later in the day after his work, we could head to London to Ace cafe.

Chris has installed a monster hi-fi in his car, but has been suffering from interference from his electrical systems. He decided he need to install a capacitor to smooth the electrical input to his amplifier to remove the noise.

If Genghis Kahn had had a stereo in his chariot, it would have looked like this! This thing is 3 Farad's.

Not micro-Farad's. 3 Farad's!!

We broke from our labours for a little lunch. This comprised a 2 year old cheddar, ale and mustard, hot chilli, and smoked goats cheese, along with Marmite and course farmhouse pate.

Oh, and buckets of tea!

We headed off late afternoon and blasted down the M40 motorway in convoy, much to the delight of the poor commuters. We landed at Ace on a warm sunny afternoon, and watched the cars roll in.

Me and Steve

Chris next to a Jag XJS

It was a good Jensen turn out with 7 Interceptors, and FF, and a Healey.

   

The Healey parked next to a Lotus XI

MK1 Interceptor owner Steve Hodder arrived in his beautiful Rover P5, sporting MK3 Interceptor wheels.

Steve's car next to another P5

Steve and Chris admiring a GT40

The car park was beginning to fill up with all manner of classic cars.

I think my favourite is the Fiat 500. The Abarth sports version is a favourite of Michael Schumacher, and I couldn't get the notion of a small block 289 V8 out of my head...

Another view of the Lotus XI

A beautiful old Jag next to a not so beautiful more modern Jag.

And the obligatory Porsche and Ferrari

 

More beautiful Jag's, and one a racing version

   

Steve and Chris fixing an oil leak on Seb Goldings EFI equipped Interceptor SP

A car that was years ahead of it's time, and an idea ahead of material technology was the superb NSU RO80. European car of the year when launched, it quickly earned a reputation as unreliable due to the rotor tips of it's Wankel engine wearing out in very short time. Now perfected by Mazda with modern materials, the RO80 is still a striking car.

A quick stroll around the car park was a who's who of motoring with:

Alvis

Vauxhall Magnum

Austin A30 (it has an 800cc engine in this car, or the equivalent of one 383 piston!)

Lotus 7

There has been an advertising campaign on UK TV for the RAC (Royal Automobile Club, a breakdown service) featuring an Interceptor breaking down (what, a Jensen breaking down! Who'd have thunk it?), and being repaired at the side of the road. No one seemed to know who the car belonged to, but the owner, new to all things Jensen came up and said hello. A big hello to Duncan Larke, and his very very nice Mk3. The light was fading fast, so not the best picture of his car.

 

In the poor light I managed to get the following pictures:

A Maserati powered Citroen SM

And a car I haven't seen for many a year, a Renault Alpine.

All that was left was for Chris to fix a fuel leak on a 1950's Cadillac,

And it was time for a blast home.