COLONIZING THE COLONIES...

One Ginetta At A Time!

As the summer of 2003 progressed, it became apparent that getting the G15 back on the road again was not going to be as quick as we had initially thought.    We didn't find anything seriously wrong with the car, the problems stemmed from being 3700 miles away and on a different time zone to the majority of the parts suppliers we were dealing with.    The internet was both a help and a hindrance, often we'd be elated with finally tracking down an obscure part only to be told that "no, sorry, we don't have any of those left", or "don't take any notice of our website, it's at least a year out of date"!

What proved to be a real kicker were the shocks.    The good folks at Spax didn't return emails and their website made it abundantly clear that they prefer you to go through one of their dealers rather than talk to them direct.    We worked with a company out in Oregon called British Parts Northwest who helped us order the correct shocks... we thought.    Turned out there was a height difference and they wouldn't fit.    We checked with BP Northwest who checked with Spax who told us that Spax made and sent what they have listed as G15 shock absorbers.    The part number stamped into the side of the new ones even matched that of the old pair, but the specification was very different.    We don't know what they were for, but a G15 MkIV they certainly were not!    Thankfully BPNW refunded our money and took them back.

After posting on the GOC website forum we talked with both Martin Grundy and Dave Holroyd about our issues.    Dave gave us excellent info about a company he had dealt with in the past who had made shocks for him from his own specs.    Hoping our problems were finally resolved, we called them up.    They remembered Dave, they remembered making his shocks, but alas, they had not kept the specifications, so it was back to the drawing board.    Surprisingly enough it was Demon Tweeks who finally came through for us.    We dealt directly with their distribution center in Wrexham, North Wales, and after a few conversations with them via email, we ordered the set that they recommended.    With baited breath we unpacked them when they arrived.    The height was correct, so was the diameter, so far so good, but Murphy's Law struck again, the spring seat was the wrong diameter!    At least it was on the large side and not the small, so a good friend carefully turned them down and they fitted a treat.    We breathed a sigh of relief, it had only taken about 11 weeks to finally have a working pair of shocks in the car.

It was now August and we were beginning to feel that the car wasn't going to see the light of day in 2003, but we soldiered on.    The next thing to present us with a problem was the water pump.    Andrew wanted to take it apart and recondition it, so following the procedure set out in the G15 Owners Guide he clamped it into a vise and whacked the top of the spline with a rubber mallet.    Nothing happened, a few more whacks and still nothing.    This was becoming frustrating, he decided to try one more final whack with the mallet, and to his horror, watched in shock as the water pump shot out of the vise, spiraled through the air and landed on the concrete floor with a sickening thump.    The good news was that the spline had been jolted loose.    The bad news was that one of the buttress ribs on the outside of the pump had sheared right off... and the reason the spline was so difficult to move in the first place was because a previous owner had already rebuilt it and then loc-tited the whole thing back together again!    So it was back to the good friend, who also happens to be a very talented welder, and a repair was made.

Finally, the major hurdles seemed to be over.    Andrew continued working in the garage most evenings and weekends and came in happy most nights - so things must have been going well!    We bled the brakes, refitted the carpets and finally put the seats back in. She looked as ready as she was going to be.    There didn't seem to be anything else to do, apart from getting the car registered for the road that is, and that was shaping up to be an interesting experience!

Earlier in the summer I'd taken myself along to the Secretary of States office to find out what was required to legally register a vehicle for the Michigan roads and I came away with a sheaf of papers to be filled in.    One of these forms involves having your local police department make a visit to your home to appraise the car and make sure it's roadworthy.    So, on the evening of September 24th 2003, a young officer with the Novi Police Department stopped by.    Their inspection is pretty cursory... brakes, seatbelts, lights, indicators and a couple of other small items, it seems to be nothing more than a procedure, but he was happy to sign on the dotted line.

The next day, Sept 25th, I got to work as early as I could in order to leave at a decent time.    By 3:00pm I was camped out in the Secretary of States office awaiting my turn.    By 3:30pm I was standing at the counter proffering the required paperwork.    "What kind of car is this again?" asked the girl, for the third time in five minutes, while I had an awful sinking feeling that everything was about to come unglued!    "Hang on a minute" she said and pulled a huge, old book off a shelf at the back of the office that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Harry Potter film.    The minute turned into five and then she staggered, with the book, into her managers office.    Another five minutes passed before she returned to the counter to give me their opinion, which was to the effect that I needed to have both a DOT and an EPA certificate to present with my paperwork.    I politely told her that the car was exempt from both as it was 31 years old.    The DOT certificate was only required for cars less than 25 years old, while an EPA certificate was required if your unregistered vehicle was less than 21 years old.    Back into the office she went and another five minutes passed.    It was blindingly obvious to me that they didn't come across this situation every day!    Eventually she returned and said they now needed a waiver signed by the Detroit Customs Dept stating that the car was indeed exempt.    I knew I didn't have any waiver in the file, but she insisted "No waiver, no title".    Also, she wanted Andrew present as the original title from the UK was in his name.    Andrew was halfway across Detroit in a business meeting.

I dashed home and called Wickman Worldwide in Indiana, who had cleared the shipment through US Customs the previous December.    They said they would call the Detroit Customs office and get back to me pronto.

I paged Andrew, he didn't answer, I paged him again, still no answer.    The phone rang, it was Wickman Worldwide.    Detroit Customs had said that the law regarding waivers had only been in effect for a few months and as our container had cleared customs in December 2002, there was no need for a waiver.    They faxed me the stamped and signed Customs Declaration, along with the stamped and signed DOT and EPA paperwork I had initially filled out when the container had arrived in Detroit.    I paged Andrew again, this time he responded, and promised to leave right away and meet me back at the Secretary of State.    We were cutting it fine, they closed at 5:00 and it was now 4:23.    I got there first and presented the new paperwork to the same girl, who took it all back to her manager.    I sat down to wait for Andrew, who made it six minutes before closing!    Back up to the counter we went to hear the official verdict.    Was the car going to be allowed on the road, or not?

We breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were told us that we could have our temporary license plate and title.    The originals would be processed, as usual, by the Governors office and would arrive in the mail, and if they had any questions about it, then they would contact us directly.    We also requested "G15" for our plate, which automatically extended the temporary plate from one to two months, as personalized plates take longer to process.    Whatever the Governors office in Lansing said about the car, we were legal for two months, which was all we wanted as, by the time the temporary registration expired it would be late November and the car would be back in the garage.

Anyway, much later that night, about 8:30 or so, we ventured out for the first drive the car had had in ten years.    Andrew drove and I followed in our minivan... with a tow rope!    We weren't taking any chances!!    We weren't out very long, we only did about 10 or 12 miles, but it was enough for Andrew to get the feel of things.    Everything appeared to be fine and we returned home with broad smiles on our faces.    As I was filing the paperwork I'd used, I noticed in surprise that we had re-registered and driven the car exactly 31 years to the day of it's first registration.    Surely that had to be a good omen?

The next day, Friday 26th Sept, we both took the afternoon off work and got the car ready to head off to our local racetrack, Waterford Hills, for the last race meeting of the season.    The forecast for the weekend was cold and overcast during the day, but the bad news was an inch of rain was called for overnight Friday into Saturday and again Saturday into Sunday.    So my first stop on the way home from work was to buy a top of the range waterproof car cover, which the salesman assured me wouldn't leak.    When I got home Andrew had buffed her up and I have to admit that she looked superb!    I packed the camping gear in, taking only the most minimal amount we could get away with.    We took the back roads to try and avoid the usual Friday afternoon traffic and arrived at the track without incident, but we were totally unprepared for the reception we got with the car, you'd think we'd arrived with Julia Roberts in tow!!    The entire weekend the Ginetta was the star of the show.    When I was working the False Grid on Saturday we parked the car in the paddock and at times the people were four deep.    Andrew hardly had an opportunity to watch any racing because he just couldn't get away from the car, the people and the questions.    During the afternoon worker break the Chief Steward let us out on the track for a few hot laps, which was tremendous fun!!    Spectators were actually coming to the fence and waving at us as we flew by.    The little G15 had gone from being stationary for 10 years to hot tailing it around a racetrack and the old girl didn't miss a beat.    The Sunday was more of the same and at lunchtime Andrew took the car out again.    Right at the end of lunch, Joel, the Director of Racing, came up to us and asked if he could use the Ginetta as the pace car for the next group going out!    Joel drove and Andrew went with him and they led the F500's and the Formula Vee's round for their warm up lap!    What an absolutely fantastic way to end a great weekend!!    It did rain hard both nights like they had forecast, but the car cover lived up to its' expectations and not a drop penetrated.

Two Saturdays later, 11th Oct, we went back to the track for the end of year Fun Run.    This is an event for the workers and the crew.    The drivers have to do the working and crewing and the workers and crew get to drive the cars.    You have to register and they split you into little groups depending on the type of car you're using.    Needless to say, we both registered with the G15.    You get a total of five laps of the circuit, but they bring you in after each one and you rejoin the back of the queue again, this is so you don't have inexperienced drivers going faster and faster into turn one!    As it transpired, I was the only person in my group - women driving street cars - I was also the first person out on the track in the morning and I wasn't happy about that I can tell you!    My first lap was definitely a white knuckle one!    You might laugh, but you have to bear in mind that this was only the second time I'd driven this car in 10 years, the first time was on the way to the track that morning!    I'd also never driven a car of any description on a racetrack in my entire life.    I did quite well, by my standards at least, and managed to take 16 seconds off my time from the first to the fifth lap, and I didn't do anything stupid like spin on a corner or stall on the standing start, so I was happy!    I also won a baseball cap with "Ist Place" on it and I'm very proud of that!    Of course, I'm still 17 seconds slower than Andrew though!!

A week later, on Sunday 19th October, we met up with the good people from The Detroit Triumph Sportscar Club, right off the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Canada, and joined them on a Fall Color Tour through Essex and Kent counties.    The weather was perfect for the cars, about 62F or so but sunny.    There were 17 classic cars in the group, 16 British and 1 Italian.    We had 2 Spitfires, 2 TR3A's, 1 TR4A, an MGB, an E-Type Jaguar, a Frogeye Sprite, an MGA, a GT6, a Mini, a Triumph 2000 Saloon, a TVR 2500M, a Jensen Healey, a Fiat 124 Spider and us!    Out of Windsor we cruised South to Lake Erie and then drove along the lake to a little town called Kingsville, were we toured Pelee Island Winery and had a lunch break.    After lunch we continued along the lake and then turned inland and ended up at a car museum, owned by the word wide auction group RM, where we had a private tour.    We then went into the outskirts of Chatham for fuel and turned West again and followed the River Thames along a wonderfully windy road to Lake St. Clair and had dinner at the Lighthouse Cove Restaurant in a private room overlooking the lake.    We then split into smaller groups and headed home via a small car ferry to New Baltimore and then the freeway back to Novi.    We left home at 7am and didn't get back until 9:45pm, and had done over 250 miles!    They're quite a social bunch I'll say that for them!!

Our next trip out with the car was the following Sunday, 26th October, with The Austin Healey Club.    This one though was much more local.    We'd met an older chap through the DTSC who owns a TR 8, or TR ATE, as his plate says!, he also has a couple of Frogeyes and is a member of the Austin Healey club too.    Together with a friend, he'd mapped out a route through really pretty countryside ending up back where we started and we all had dinner at The South Lyon Hotel at about 6:00pm.    The colors were still fantastic, the roads were unbelievable, have to be some of the best around here, and the weather stayed fine despite raining all day on the Saturday.    We did about 120 miles that afternoon.    There were ten cars in total, 8 Healey's, Roger's TR8 and us; and again, a really nice bunch of people.    I have to say that owning a classic British car in this part of the world is a huge boost to your social life!

So, now the old girl's back in the garage, having done about 750 miles in the month she's been road worthy, which isn't too shabby at all, and I think we well and truly made the most of the four weeks of motoring we had!    I can't recall a single problem in those 750 miles either.    Andrew played about a bit with things like tyre pressures, shock absorber settings and idle, but overall she performed beautifully and turned heads everywhere she went.    The weather turned absolutely foul in early November and rained until December when it then turned to snow, it was obvious the "real" driving was over for 2003.    The car is now cocooned in its waterproof cover and is back on the ramp up in the nosebleed section of the garage.    I'm sure this morning as I walked through the garage to get in my car for work I heard a little voice ask "Is it spring yet?"