Stop over for Turbo on way to Germany

[cath's mg]

As some may be aware A consortium of 15 people from Germany have purchased t TF Turbo from a seller somewhere in The wildest depth of South Wales.

Mykel who is one of the consortium wanted a pair of SS undercar coolant pipes, and arrangement where made for him to collect them from me. Although the meet was originally going to be South Mimms service station on the M25, the offer of Tea, Coffee and Cath's Bacon Baguettes had Mykel's mouth watering

At about 13:30 Dave & Ann turned up in the Poseiden (they would have been here earlier but I think Dave insisted on his weekly fix of a shopping trip in Harlow ) followed by Rob "Master Yoda" ( jeezze Rob When you going to clean Project Shed ).

I guess we have all know about the reputation the Germans have for efficiency and punctuality, well I can tell you this is not true

After picking up the Turbo in South Wales at 09:00, a trip to Bristol to pick up Steffi then a drive up the M4 - M25, now as we all know us British have some of the best motorway driving in Europe, first class tarmac, no road works and perfect English drivers

Mykel, Cadde and Steffie where 3 minuets late absolutely unacceptable

Well after a good look round the Turbo with lots of encouraging words from Dave and I, Rob was sounding like a plumber giving an estimate (lots of sucking of air through teeth, tutting and sighing I think Mykel, Cadde and Steffie where starting to have second thoughts

Unfortunately Mykel, Cadde and Steffie were on a very tight schedule ( or may be they just wanted to get the hell out of the UK after Dr Dooms words of encouragement), only had time for a quick cuppa The Bacon Baguettes had to be take away , but we did have time for a group photo

I had previously told Mykel that parking and turning his trailer around wouldn't be a problem (not completely true ), but after asking a neighbour to move her rather inconsiderately parked BMW and Mykel's expert reversing all was well ant the "Three Amigos" headed off to the M25 and the Dover Ferry.

I must say that the Consortium have a fair bit of work on their hands to get the TF Turbo ready for MG 20, but if the enthusiasm of Steffi, Mykel and Cadde is shown by the other owners, this is going to be one hell of a car.

Hope you all have a safe trip home Guy's

Gary & Cath

P.S. I had a minor scare after the guys had set off, went outside for something (cant remember what) and saw what looked like a scratch on the front offside corner of Dave's Poseidon, it even felt like a scratch .
Now what do I do? Do I let Dave drive home and hopefully not notice the scratch until later or tell him!!.............well I went back and said to Dave he needed to come out and look at his car
Out came Dave followed by Ann, Rob and Cath, I said "you need to look at your bumper mate"
Dave walked over had a look and said you bloody idiot (or words to that effect) its a bloody great bug that's been squashed
Ann & Rob fell on the flour laughing
Cath gave me one of those looks all us guys get now and then from their other halves and said "you should have gone to Specsavers

[Dave J]

Yes Gary ... could really have done without that ...after i'd just already noticed the drivers side rear light had a crack in it
then you try to give me heart failure with phantom scratches
thanks to you and Cath for the tea and lovely bacon rolls mmmmmmmmm

Dave

[Mykel]

Just a quick summary of this fabulous weekend from my side, to put things in the right perspective

We started our move to conquer the British Isles and nick one of their engineering miracles early on Saturday morning, with (what I thought) enough time reserve on the trip to Calais. Unfortunately, due to fierce fighting from the British troops (UK Border Agency) defending their soil even on foreign territory, Operation Sea Lion vol. 2 was a massive fail - again. First we were stuck in an enormous queue at the Calais ferry port, which cost us about an hour. Then our documents were thoroughly checked and thus it emerged that our friend Cadde was on a black list by Interpol. Well, not he himself that is, but his ID card. He had reported it stolen a couple of years ago and the wallet was found later - bar the dough of course, but he got his card back -- and forgot to tell the authorities about it. Therefore he was dragged to the hut to help HM immigration services with their enquiries. The booked ferry was well at sea by the time we got him back, so we had to take the next one -- a mere 3 hours later. I shall avoid MyFerrySink like the plague in the future.

Although it seemed half of Britain was on the boats leaving the Continent that day, we were very positively surprised that there weren't any queues on the best motorways in the world, so while being the unorganised and inefficient bunch we are, we managed to drop Steffi off at the Cassia curry house at 2000 hrs precisely. Cadde and I then went on to Cardiff to spend the night there, the thoughtful locals had prepared a legal space at the side of Cathedral Road which was just long enough for the car and the trailer, within walking distance from our Lodge. And it got even better: they had conveniently installed a CCTV camera for our security there, so we were without worries to find a broken car in the morning and the trailer nicked. Diolch yn fawr!

With all those worries taken off our minds, we had a peaceful night and after being strengthened by a full English breakfast we continued our quest for the Turbo TF. Up into the hills to Aberdâr (if we can believe the secret messages in a Tolkien-like Elbish language on the road signs) and with very little effort we found her. Some paperwork had to be done and hard Sterling cash was handed over, then I managed to drive the beast on the trailer in a cloud of smoke. Our utter failure to get the plan to work meant we were already out of timing to pick up Steffi by a massive two minutes, which inevitably spoilt the itinerary for the rest of the day.

The remainder of the story in the UK has already been told very precisely by good man Gary here, so I take my freedom to cut it short a bit. We could not go straight onto the M25 as we had to find a petrol station which serves LPG, so a little sightseeing in Enfield was added to the pleasure of our trip, but in the end Morrisons was our friend. From there we headed straight to Dover, no controls or checks whatsoever, and in Calais the Frenchies didn't even bother to show up in their booths. Apart from another stop for LPG, the rest of the journey went without issues, apart from the alarm being set off on the trailer on the slightly bumpier parts of the Belgian motorway network. Unfortunately this seems to have drained the battery to an extent that there wasn't enough juice left to get the engine running this morning. I had to return the trailer by 7 am, but simple gravity helped to unload the Turbo from the trailer and this is where she sits now. I'll give here a jump start in the evening and then hopefully drive her the two miles to my shed where closer inspection will take place in the near future.

We will then find out if German ingenuity will solve the problems from a botched British turbo conversion. Be assured to read some reports on this forum over the next months. Master Yoda has kindly prepared a space for us (read in this thread you must), but I do not expect anything major to happen before Niederrhein Tour is finished in a fortnight. There are just too many things to organise.

And Dave, don't worry about those standard car drivers scaring the hell out of us Monogram owners, they always make things like that they call "fun". Anyway, it's always good to have a cardiologist handy at those meets

Thanks again for the great company and all your -- err -- encouragements.

[colintf]

great summary Mykel

[adrianclifford]

Well done y'all

[purplebargeken]

Epic stuff Mykel! Sorry to have missed it all. I'm only 10 mins away from the Morrisons too. Damn.