News from Faringdon

ell a load of work done and despite a spell of illness I am up to speed with my personal plan for the year. This did not involve use of Microcars but rather selling off the rest of the unwanted ones in the best condition I could reasonably manage to work them. Fiat Jolly GiardinieraThis has been effected and I am down to just Messerschmitt and Goggomobil now. Even the last Heinkel has been traded off as I was offered a solid Fiat Jolly requiring rebuild, one of five left? To be honest, while I wanted to keep a Heinkel this very rare and valuable car could not be turned down and the Heinkel was not the model of the marque I really want to have in the collection; I want a coal scuttle boot rod change car. So the Jolly will be restored and sold at some point yielding enough cash to buy a suitable Heinkel and probably a healthy margin on top.

Along with clearing Microcars more big cars and the Puck have gone too. The shed and yard are beginning to look empty at last. However there are still some five cars to go plus ten or so scrap cars to shift, all by Christmas hopefully as then next year I have five 'schmitts to restore in a big effort to clear the decks of projects to a sensible level. That said I bought three more 'schmitts over the summer and another is due to arrive shortly. Three have left over the same period so a rotation and improvement of my collection has taken place. I find it odd that several of these cars were openly available, one even technically being sold, but no one had got on with a deal. Yet I keep hearing the moan that there are no 'schmitts available to buy. They have gone up guys! You cannot get a whole 'schmitt for under £5K really these days.Yet I keep hearing the moan that there are no 'schmitts available to buy. They have gone up guys! You cannot get a whole 'schmitt for under £5K really these days.

Posh Sheds

I have a beautiful English Heritage Buildings oak frame 47-foot garage I contracted to dismantle in Hampshire in the shed too. It took four days to shift with help from the BUMS. So once property issues are resolved I can rebuild this, which will house most of the remaining collection of cars allowing me to finally leave rented storage accommodation though in fact I might sublet it as it remains a cheap shed. Indeed if I stay in Faringdon with a double plot from the estate then I will have all I need on site as the workshop area is emptying slowly of unwanted spares and valuables. I should end up with a garage for a big car and a 'schmitt in store or as a workspace on a big car. The mid workshop will allow a 'schmitt through the door and is heated for year round work. I have a den beyond for clean work and possibly equipped with a wood burner scrounged off Tony Yates for aiding moving his cars from Chipping Camden. So a great area for differing works and hobbies. Two oak frame garages front and rear will take care of the entire collection and I may even install a flat in the upstairs of the house for a bit of income. If it works out it should do for me as a base.

Pub Nights

So I failed to appear at any rally this year save Bath. I have attended most of the three club nights near me. Tormarton continues and must be one of the oldest meets taking place on the second Wednesday of each month now at The Major's Retreat in the village where we can afford to eat! Mid month there is The Fleece at Bretforton which has been installed as a new pub night over the winter after a reasonable attendance at the classic car nights they run over the summer. This is a Microcar club night, not just 'schmitts, and takes in Worcester, South Birmingham, Stratford and down to Swindon and Gloucester as a catchment area. The date is to be confirmed but seems to be the third Wednesday in the month. An email to me (secretary@messerschmittclub.org) will put you on the list to be notified. Then there is England's Rose, Postcombe on the last Tuesday of the month where we have a chomp and a chat. Otherwise during the day I have been busy and weekends tending to be clashes with customers or other business to be done. I am even not doing Mannheim, in part as I need no new stock at the moment but also the exchange rate is so poor.

All this rationalisation is going to have a clear knock on to the way I conduct my hobby in the future. I am gearing up for having cars in use but in operation from the home base. I have sold the Puck and the van will be going shortly. Citroen BX are being groomed for use as everyday transport. I am not really that interested in events that are based on fields of campervans anymore unless I decide to take that route myself. If so it will be using a rebuilt Buster Bubblevessal — the ultimate in bubble convertocamper technology complete with internal ramp so it can take two vehicles or turn into a workshop (had wondered about getting an MOT licence for part time work and a mobile service at Bubblecar rallies). I wish to do daytrips out from home base as it maximises driving the classic yet controls time and expense and avoids being stood in a fields in the middle of nowhere being bored after 10 o'clock at night. Hopefully I can get some of the local guys moving too and we can get a cell going where we visit each other and motivate getting cars going. Further I plan to have some non-Microcar classics in use so I can spread my local attendance wide yet remain in keeping with the event attended. Also, longer days out are possible in bigger cars as dogs can come too. Beyond that Doc and I are looking to start planning the Hebredian Tour in late April/early May by 'schmitt. This is something I have always wanted to do on a list of slightly odd adventures. They require a sorted car as they will, by definition, be unsupported trips using the cars as they used to be with accommodation of tent, B&B or scrounged. Because the locations are not mainstream I do not expect to be accompanied but Doc seems bent on joining the first trip. If it is a success then it might well be the west coast of Ireland the year after.

Club

Not sure where the MEC fits in around all this activity on my hobby and business interests as I will be building up 'schmitts to sell each year and I have worked out a provisional building schedule converting plots to houses in Cumbria and then looking to perhaps do the same on a family in crisis property portfolio I bought cheap in Bristol in the summer depending on how it works out, as there is a mess of leases and covenants to sort out as the whole thing was mismanaged. Such an amount of work will leave little spare time and I will not be able to support much of the activity of the club on my own nor attend further flung events. Alternatively if the general election produces a Government incapable of solving our economic malaise with viable or radical policies I think it might be time to leave for pastures new abroad. Clearly that will end my commitment to the club by default. As it is I will stand aside if someone wants to take on MEC secretary.

Indeed we have a very important round of meetings for the MEC coming up including an AGM to really get a grip on the future of this club. There are many differing options available but the dominant thing is the amount of input there is from people interested to be involved in organising stuff. At the moment we need some new blood to get things done as the incumbent folk are all too busy with their own activities. More on this shortly as interesting ideas are afoot, feedback is coming in, some outside the box. Yet ever looking forward I have suggested that in a few years the MEC might back a return of the National Rally to the 'Burford' formatI have suggested that in a few years the MEC might back a return of the National Rally to the 'Burford' format using The Cotswold Wildlife Park. We have a tentative booking of our rally being at the Two Stroke Rally at Gaydon on the 30th of May and a camping weekend on the traditional midsummer weekend in Derbyshire with the Heinkel Trojan Club. These are to be ratified. We have a Christmas Supper organised at Postcombe on the 22nd of December. Tony is about to announce The Nosh to be early in the New Year. I would like to see an event further south so that the Southern Coast guys can have a reasonable run out. So there is activity on your behalf but clearly based on where the organisers live and on venues offered elsewhere. We are happy to sponsor events pretty much anywhere if they have a sound chance of providing some fun for the local Micronauts.