Newsletter 04 - August 1998

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NB. The wire referred to on the answer phone was the brake hose! I understood, fortunately. The National Alfa Day at Stanford Hall 14 th June <strong>1998</strong> After being invited to attend the Alfa Day whilst at the Stoneleigh show this year, the first job was to get permission from the boss for another ‘awayday‘. This was not withheld, fortunately. However there was a slight problem. Wife No 2 had invited us to a Mess Dinner with her regiment. That in itself wasn’t the problem, but the anticipated hangover could well be a fly in the ointment. The mess dinners are very formal affairs, Mess Dress / Kit for serving personnel, D.J.s and long dresses for non serving members, are to be worn, (no I didn’t wear a long dress). The wine, Port and Madeira flowed like water during and after the excellent food. Of course there was a drink before and one or two after the dinner, who fell asleep in an arm chair? It was the dancing not the drink! Providing I had plenty of water before I went to bed I should have been OK. That was the plan and though the toilet called me a during the night, because of the water, I hadn’t drunk enough water and wasn’t exactly fine in the morning. The drive up was totally uneventful, though I lost count of the number of Alfas that passed me, I only passed one (with Green ’L’ plates). I stopped for a loo break and put the hood up, for security whilst in the toilet, then fortunately left it up, as I went through a couple of heavy down pours after the stop. On arrival I was directed to the allocated Minari spot. Wot Spot? There wasn’t one. David Rutherford found a space for us, he put up the Minari Owners Register Banner, and we settled our selves in. We left a gap for Michael’s car but the idiot Sud drivers thought it was for them to drive through even though there was half a field two cars further along. I had no idea what to expect from the day, other than there was to be three of us, in our Minari’s. David Rutherford, Michael Waterman and I. Ray Miles came too, and then there were 4. David had tried to drum up interest among fairly local members. But at least there would be a Minari presence, plus from the telephone call I received on the Monday before the event, a ‘sans Minari’ Ron Kellow. When Ron phoned he said he would be in a ‘normal’ car. Thanks for the call Ron, define normal please. He wanted to pick a few brains about the MOT, and the sport of ‘beating the SVA‘. By the time you read this it will be too late, but I was told by a very friendly, Alfa fanatic, MOT tester wot done mine, that with no screen there was no need for wiper or washer! Still may be useful to know, one never knows. Another thing that Ron has s@ll to do, is the wiring , like me and I expect a few others, having heard that this was one of the worst jobs imaginable, he has been puDng it off. When I finally bit the bullet and started the wiring, I found that it was almost easy. Page 16
To return to the report on Stanford hall. The direc@ons received from AROC in the Magazine, which arrived two days before the mee@ng, were excellent and though I ended up by followed a small train of Alfas, I got there no problem. I arrived at about 10.30 and the place was already packed with Alfas. By lunch @me the grounds were almost solid. Unfortunately one had to watch where one trod as the field/fields had been freshly manured by some grass ea@ng muck spreaders. The day was not like any Kit Car show I have ever been to. There were a few new cars on show, but the main interest was the Auto version of a ‘car boot sale’. If you are running an old Alfa this is probably THE place for you. There was a concourse compe@@on for car polishers, an auto gymkhana. There were model, manual, clothing & food stalls, the obligatory beer tent, AROC tent and even a creche, now that is a good idea. Very well organised, but sorry, not for me. Spoke to lots of interes@ng people, both members and non members. Sorry to Tony Hughes for not remembering his name, I won’t forget your name again. Nor young William, with his looks three year old Will is going to break the girls hearts when he is older. I heard a somewhat sad story whilst there. Carl Skinner, whose car I men@oned in an earlier N.L. either wants a special rear, estate body aAachment, for his car, to take his family or he is going to have to sell it, car not family. Having seen pictures of his car I think I would rather take the laAer op@on. (Sell the family). I haven’t been officially told of this rather sad development, but if it is true and someone wants a very preAy car Carl Skinner is your man. I am very sorry to hear of this Carl, but can understand. What I want to know is how you managed to keep the car so long, I couldn’t afford one at your age. I hope that my informa@on is way off the mark. I leO the hall at about 3.30 just as it started to rain. Doesn’t the car steam up easily? I must sort out the demister so that it works beAer. The journey home wasn’t fun. First the M1 was either 70MPH plus or was a slow moving car park. Then being jealous, the M25 decided to play the same game. Now I remember why, when I was on shiO, I never used to go out at the weekend. It was so bad I stopped on the M1 for a meal to let the traffic free up, it just moved to somewhere else. When I got home, I really had the Hump with the world and promptly bit the 3 PRODUCT INFORMATION Nothing new to report. Page 17
Page 1 and 2: Minari Owners Register News Leer Nu
Page 3 and 4: I saved this just in case there wer
Page 5 and 6: Dear Dave, 8th June 1998 The day ou
Page 7 and 8: What sort of plane is a ‘funny ho
Page 9 and 10: day I got a phone call from the sup
Page 11 and 12: Fortunately the Channel was calm, I
Page 13 and 14: town is in a state of turmoil as th
Page 15: Unbelievable though it may be, on 1
Page 19 and 20: Good Ideas! Had a phone call from B

Newsletter 04 - August 1998

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