Out and about with ‘t Kreng

I have been using this car as much as possible over the past month or so. And as a result she became ever more dirty. That was when a friend suggested to go to a local car show and local tour the next Sunday. And of course I couldn’t show up in a dirty TR7. So the evening before the event was used to clean the wheels thoroughly and give the cars body a quick wash.

She looked rather presentable compared to some of the other entrants! The show on the “Patersplak” in the picturesque monastery village of Steyl, and the local tour were rather nice and well organised. With a good turn out of a wide variety of cars spanning almost 100 years of motoring. And all the cars were driven there by their owners. Which meant that the approximately 1500 visitors that only came to admire the cars had plenty to enjoy. A few pictures mostly starring ‘t Kreng 😜 She behaved rather well during the local tour. So it is starting to look promising.

And finally there was ‘t Kreng’s MOT (or Algemene Periodieke Keuring as it called here). Due to the car’s age this test needs to be done every two years. I had a good feeling about it. So it was rather surprising that, immediately when I got out of the car, I was confronted by the inspector with the remark that she had already been rejected. This of course called for further explanation. Which I got! Due to the modernisation of the speed camera network over here in the Netherlands, new rules have been established for the reflectivity of the license plates. And my rear plate was clearly showing signs fading.

But I needn’t have worried. A closer inspection showed that the plate was on the correct side of the limit. Just! And the rest of the car passed without any problems. So I only got a (not noted) advisory to replace the rear licence plate in the near future. But at least before the next MOT. It was also good to see that since the previous test two years ago I covered a rather decent 4444 kilometres. Much better compared to the period before 2024!

There was a small problem though. On the scenic drive home I wanted to reverse into gravel track to take some pictures and the engine died. And it wouldn’t start. After two attempts I decided to switch of all power users and use the master switch to cut all power from the battery. After switching the power on again (including ignition and fuel pump) she started immediately as if nothing had happened. Weird to say the least! Another job to keep an eye on.

Techno Classica Essen 2018 (D)

A few days ago we visited the annual classic car  show "Techno Classica" in Essen, across the border in Germany. It was again a good day out. But also a bit sobering as the (asking) prices for most of the cars on display were rather over the top in my opinion. Looks like the investors have taken over the market again. Maybe this contraption proves my point;

What we have here is a Goggomobil Van prototype, complete with shower type wooden deck flooring. Nice little thing, but it is completely beyond my grasp why this should be worth €110.000,-! But that is also one of the attractions of this show. There is always a wide array of weird and wonderful machines on display spread over the 14 halls and 4 outside areas. A small selection of the machines that were on display;

A rather ratty looking Citroën Traction Avant from 1954,

with a rally history and some (not so) period details:

Lovely factory built Lamborghini Centenario hot rod tractor.

A brilliant machine as long as you ignore the price tag:

The still stylish Alfa Romeo Montreal in a very nice period colour:

One of the many pre-war Bentley's. In this case a straight eight of some sort.

But like most of the others it looked very much like a trailer queen,
that is moved from one show to the other. Sad really:

As for the Triumphs. There were only very few on display.

One Stag and a few separate chassis TR's including this very nice TR-S Le Mans racer.
Actually for an (ex) competition it (again)  looked far to clean and un-used ...

Rétromoteur Ciney 2017 (B)

I visited this rather rural car and motorbike show over the Whitsunday weekend in the Belgian town of Ciney (famous for its similar named beer). A few pictures from the cars in the parking lot ...

Lotus Europa S2:

Rather weird Spanish built Renault Siete (or 7).

It's actually a Renault 5 with a boot:

 Renault 8 Gordini:

 The cars surrounding the Renault 8 Gordini clearly
show the wide variety of cars that were there ...

Porsche 914 in my favourite colour ...

The stylish rear end of a Citroën DS21:

Pretty old Citroën 2CV with a lovely patina:

Absolute gorgeous NSU TTS.
I am probably biased because of its colour!

And finally looking at the stuff some people try to sell!
Really makes you wonder ...

A few firsts for the DHC

This weekend saw the 6th edition of the Belgium Triumph Festival. Having missed a few years and with nothing better to do we decided to give it another go. Another reason to go there was the fact that this year’s edition was held at the rather lovely “Landcommanderij Alden Biesen” which is just over an hour’s drive from where I live.

Although it remained dry all day the weather wasn’t very bright, which probably resulted in many Triumph owners keeping their cars under cover in the garage. Resulting in a car park that could have done with a few more Triumphs. At least we managed to bring 4 cars over (Spitfire Mk IV, Dolomite 1850, Stag and of course my DHC)

It was actually the first official meeting which I attended with the DHC. The car seems to be pretty well know already, as several people came over to talk about the restoration. She indeed managed to attract quite a lot of interest

Luckily there were more interesting and nice cars around to enjoy, like this nice French 1300TC

A very yellow GT6+

An equally yellow Vincent Hurricane with gorgeous period alloys

A rare Herald Courier van

And a very lovely long door TR2

Although some people seemed not to be too impressed

And while preparing the car yesterday I found another first, the first stone chips!

So with a water pump that looks OK, I can safely say that the restoration of the DHC is finished at last. And she should be fit for some proper use 😎 (edit - this turned out to be wishful thinking).