Engine Punk

Of all the Vintage Things so far, the A series Vinnie has aroused most interest and I recently heard about a most interesting and very rare variant the TTR. Just before World War II, the factory went racing and subsequently built 3 A series TTRs - or Tourist Trophy Replicas - for sale. Two survive, one in Japan and the other in the US, which is being restored by Stephen Pate at Restoration Werks in Illinois & Minnesota. He's sent me these pre-restoration pictures. That's right - pre-restoration. Market value is estimated at $800k! The price of a TTR has traditionally been reckoned to be twice that of a standard A series Vincent and following the sale recently of an outstanding example at $400,000, $800k could be possible if it ever came to market - not that this TTR is for sale, however. As pictured it features the incorrect forks and front brake but incredibly the correct pattern girder forks were found on a wall in Japanese temple. Obviously really. All that was nee...

Many years ago when I was a student and rock regularly went to college, there was an outbreak of new wave synthesiser bands. Some of these pre-programmed their tunes into keyboards and drum machines and the proceeded to stand by their electronic equipment. That was their idea of playing live and would have been disposable pop if had been popular but this phase didn't last. It was just boring and didn't appeal. For a while in my very late teens I thought the synthesiser sound was great but this soon descended into the sort of pretentious rubbish indulged in by the talentless that said "actually, we're more of a studio band." Nowadays, like Stiff Little Fingers, I believe in the power of guitar and drum but Montarg and Krayon - aka Starbase 109 - have got something. I dunno what but it's definitely a something. But Starbase 109 had my feet tapping when they supported The Stranglers at Exeter University on Friday nite. And quite a few people were danci...

Last Saturday me and Andrew (of multiple tractor ownership fame) picked up this Ginetta G26 in Saltash for another mate of mine. It was an ebay bargain and although engineless has all its other vital organs. Originally Pinto powered there is talk of trialling it - it being that time of year - and possibly installing a Cologne V6. I suspect that it maybe a bit front heavy in that form and for trialling purposes you need good traction but that spec would make for quite a quick car because it's such a light car. I know this because I helped push it onto the trailer. Designed and produced by the four Walklett brothers, Ginettas have already featured as Vintage Things (Pete Low's G21 was the first one ever) but I had come to regard the G26 as one the less desirable, partly because it's eclipsed by real beauties like the G4, the G12 and an old favourite of mine the Imp powered G15. So many Vintage Things but so little time. My mate really wanted a G12 but they are wort...

I've had a few problems with uploading the new cover for The Wormton Lamb. First of all I couldn't log into the Lightning Source website. It seems MacAfee didn't recognise it as a secure site and I had to create an exception report to gain entry into the customer area with my log in name and password. As I'd used the Lightning Source site before when uploading files for both The Horsepower Whisperer and The Wormton Lamb so had no qualms about this. When it came to uploading the pdf file for the new cover, the process was interrupted three times. Each repeat attempt completed less of the process, I started at 17% and ended up at 2%. A pop up box gave the following message. "An error has occurred processing your upload: An IO error occurred. Please try again or contact technical support for assistance." So, I'll have to do that tomorrow. This is the first time I've tried uploading a new file with my new computer. The last time I uploade...

The price of unleaded has fallen below ₤1 a litre. According to a net comparison site , it's down to 97.9p a litre around Liskeard. We are told that this price level won’t last because OPEC are cutting production. The low prices will encourage people to fill up. Demand will increase and the economists (who’ve made a mess of everything already) will hike the prices again due to the knicker elasticity of demand. But I remember how a few years ago OPEC were lowering prices because they were worried that consumers might find alternatives to oil. I reckon they now know that people will be switching away from oil and suing hydrogen or bio-fuels. The writing is on the wall for the oil industry even for plastics. At The Stranglers gig at Exeter University drinks were served from wibbly-wobbly glasses made not of plastic but a clear material made from plant starch. So spare a kind though for the men of OPEC. They've only got a few years left so squeeze as much money out o...

Friday saw me in the old Roman town of Exetercester to see The stranglers and they were better form than ever. The fab four work well together after several years as a five piece following the amicable departure of Paul Roberts in 2006. The current tour features all the singles played in order, although the encore has to No More Heroes. Anything else would be just wrong. That bass intro is real body music - you feel it in your chest rather than hear it. After a few health problems, Jet Black is playing with them again. He is 70 after all but you wouldn't know it from his drumming. Apparently, he invented a special bass drum pedal that has brought greater creative freedom and comfort to drummers. On Friday, JJ said Jet Black was back the dead, which was a back handed compliment. there was always something sinister about The Stranglers so a little resurrectionism adds to their mystique. I'm not a die hard fan because some of their stuff is a bit experimental for me but whe...

Tonight I've updated the files at Lightning Source UK with the new book cover design for The Horsepower Whisperer. As the original illustration featured three abreast seating and the new one doesn't, I've amended the text. It occurred to me that the Conformorians would never compromise on which side of the road people should drive on. It would be an either or proposition. Of course, in Anarchadia, they drive on the opposite side of the road on principle. So M Cadvare's personal transportation device now has left hand drive and I've amended the text to suit. I've continued to use Word when it comes to writing my books. When I use Open Office Writer, apostrophes don't come out curly. In Open Office Writer they are just little flat things that look cheap and nasty, especially when quotation marks are curly. So I open the Word document in Open Office Writer and the apostrophes appear as I want them. Amend them in Writer, however, and they straighten...