Engine Punk

Sad that this very rare car got so far down the restoration path but then progress faltered. At least it got moved on to someone who might get it together properly. I spotted this on eBay yesterday -- it sold today for £300. The Austin Allegro Equipe is the rarest of all Austin Allegro production variants and earned notoriety as being the Allegro that had "Vroom!" As far as I know they were all in the silver and featured a rather fetching go faster stripe in orange and red. All Allegro Equipes had the 1750 cc engine and five-speed box. Those alloy wheels you see were also unique to the car. I have no idea how many Allegro Equipes were made but there can't be many survivors and I really hope this one has found a good home. If ever an Allegro was to become collectable, the Equipe is the most likely. The Vanden Plas 1750 may be posh but it doesn't have "Vroom!" Forget about folding down picnic tables and a burr walnut dashboard that really is as good as th...

I've had answer from my scrap buddy Rob about flattie power outputs. Here's what he had to say. Hi Ginger! The 3.6 21 stud developed 80 bhp and the 3.9 mercury 24 stud 95 bhp. I guess with Offy heads and twin carbs you should be up to about 150 bhp. Doesnt sound a lot but its all torque....... Hope this helps.... Toodle pip! Binky I should explain that both our given names are Robert but when we were riding Rob's Triumph sidecar in the Land's End Trial it became too confusing in the middle of the night and by morning we were Binky and Ginger. And don't forget - torque is never cheap.

My trusty old laptop is no longer so trusty. After switching on and the appearance of all the menus, neither the wireless mouse and touch pad work. It doesn't respond to any of the keys on the keyboard, eitehr. I think it's something to do with the McAfee Security system. There is a limited period of time when the mouse does work erratically and I can click on some of the icons but as soon as the McAfee symbol appears everything grinds to a halt. This Acer laptop is coming up to 3 years old but, as you can see, I have used it so much in that time that I've worn away the silver finish on the leading edge. I added numerous pieces of software to read to allow me to build my own website and create my own videos. I also added a PCMCIA card and a wireless mouse and keyboard. But about this time last year it was apparent that I had found the limits of what this machine could do so I replaced it with my desktop. It was still useful to have the laptop around that, in addition to...

 I know that I keep going on about it but I'm still very excited about the look of The Wormton Lamb. A large batch from the printer has arrived here at Anarchadia Publishing and soon I can start sending them out. Although two boxes full may not sound much, when I look at them I can't help but think about what it must be like to have a whole garage full. That would have been the result if I'd had a conventional print run. This is the first batch of pre-publication copies of The Wormton Lamb and I'm going to have to think very carefully about to whom I send them. Several obvious recipients are the national libraries for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Every book that has an ISBN must by law have a copy lodged with each of these national libraries. It seems like an expensive business at the time that is a consequence of having an ISBN. Personally, I think the benefits of having an ISBN outweigh the costs of sending out library copies but I know some ...

When I was a child, my parents would let out our house in Cornwall to holidaymakers. During the summer, we lived in a large caravan at the other end of the garden and late-night TV featured black-and-white horror stories on the Saturday night. My sister and I would watch these in our beds in the dining area of the caravan. Most of these were more entertaining than terrifying but there was one that had a genuine hide under the bed clothes moment. This was a film called "Night of the Demon". The Demon was really just a man in a rubber suit but you could see him coming a mile off and he was huge, preceded by a terrible whistling up of the wind. And if you are the last person to have touched a piece of paper upon which was written certain runes, then you would surely die at the hands of this monstrous Demon. MR James had provided the inspiration for this story many years before. It translated pretty well to the 1950s setting of "Night of the Demon", which either sho...

Some black and white publicity photos of the Siva Llama turned up on eBay a few weeks ago. I watched them after being tipped off about them by Graeme Pearson the editor of the Imp Club magazine. I didn't bid but they've found a good home though because they now appear on Franka's site. The registration of the car depicted is a new one on me. I have a short list of known cars and hope that this one is an unknown survivor. There's something that inspires camaraderie between the owners of obscure motor cars. At the ARCC (Association of Rootes Car Clubs) Rally at Blenheim Palace in 2000, I met an affable chap from the Clan Crusader owners club called Jim McEwan. I was attending with my Siva Llama at that particular show and he was fascinated by it. Jim was the club historian for the Clan Crusaders and we had a long and enthusiastic talk. Over the next 18 months or so, he sent me a number of articles that featured a Siva Llama. These weren't just photocopies -- th...

I had a pleasant surprise on Friday when I return from work. The proof for The Wormton Lamb had arrived. Here is, resplendent in its new cover design. I've been checking it through over the weekend and on Sunday night was delighted to be able to send Lightning Source a message accepting this proof. I had a couple of e-mails from Lightning Source today confirming the dispatch of two separate orders of copies of The Wormton Lamb. A carton of 20 will soon be arriving at my door as well as a solitary copy but I must ordered for some reason months ago. It serves to remind me how long this process has taken and what a milestone I have reached. All I have to do is publicise it so -- tell your friends!