Down By The Sea

The decoration of The General nears an end. With just a few finishing touches to go, I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Paint Your Wagon

Share in the delights of the painting process by watching this (fairly basic!) video. The time lapse worked pretty well though. Unfortunately, The General's refusal to start meant that there is a large lamppost in the way!

Maybe I'll add music or something later. I know what tune I want to use!

And not before time...

Some folk (you know who you are) have commented on the lack of recent updates to this page. Frankly, this was because of our state of tension over whether Big G would pass his MOT and be able to travel. We could barely eat and breathe, let alone blog. Well, as of last week he has, and that means only one thing. Let the decoration begin.




To assuage the growing swell of discontent, the GI press office has sanctioned the release of some tasters of Phase 1 of the decorative effort, and I think you'll agree the results are, erm, decidedly average. Which, of course, is the whole idea.



The big fella was displaying some of his refusal to start temprament, so the team focussed on using the blazing Edinburgh sun to good effect and getting as much paint as humanly possible onto the gleaming bodywork.

After a small disaster with the proposed logo, to be rectified through the "colour print and attach with sticky-back-plastic" tactic so beloved of Purves, Noakes & Singleton, the base decor is largely in place. Blue stripes, door designs and logos are for next next week (weather permitting), but for now Big G is looking good.

Thunderhorse

The General has put on a consistent performance over the last week. The jump pack has stayed stowed and I've got him running every time. Every night I have trudged outside in my magic slippers to commune with the starter motor for a period of "extended cranking" and every night he has responded with a cough and a splutter and the occasional chitty, chitty, bang, bang.

I feel I can talk to him a bit now. I have found a technique of reviving the engine from an almost dead state. I'm hoping that I won't need any of this but hey, it must be handy.

But once he's going, sweet as a nut.

Although, dunno what that stuff was we found in the distributor cap last night, it didn't look structural, but you never can tell...

As Jim Kerr Used to Say...

The General is back. Call me Ishmael, but no one has seen that kind of battle not seen since Captain Ahab took on Moby Dick. Thankfully, I conquered this particular white whale and he was up and running again.

And, a couple of hours later, he was still starting....

What you gonna do when things go wrong?
What you gonna do when it all cracks up?
What you gonna do when the love burns down?
What you gonna do when the flames go up?
Who is gonna come and turn the tide?
What's it gonna take to make a dream survive?
Who's got the touch to calm the storm inside?
Who's gonna save you?
Alive and kicking

Sit Rep #2 - ...long live The General

The General is a wee bit dead. The 'weak battery' issue compounded with it being a wee bit damp last night** and he wasn't for starting (even with the jump pack).

We are not perturbed/daunted. Bit drier today so I'm hoping to get him started tonight. That will at least let us get it to a garage!

** and yes I'm a doofus, I couldn't get the bonnet to shut properly

A big thank you...

To everyone who's donated so far. We're now past our initial fundraising target and well on the way to our second thousand. Thank you all for your generosity and support.