When we’re not writing about kit cars, we can often be found working on our own cars
- and occasionally even driving them! Here’s the latest progress from inside the garages
of the CKC team. Well, some of the CKC team, at least...
OUR CARS
86 September 2019 http://www.completekitcar.co.ukWhen we’re not writing about kit cars, we can often be found working on our own cars
- and occasionally even driving them! Here’s the latest progress from inside the garages
of the CKC team. Well, some of the CKC team, at least...
OUR CARS
Tangerine parking zone drew in a well tuned Simca.The Mini distributor didn’t enjoy its yearly bath.A rare non-breakdown related roadside snap.Get off the roof!Breakdown buddies.Tiny Midas looks silly amongst modern cars.Another month, another issue and another x for the Midas as Jack tries to
get more use out of the car. But it’s not all doom and gloom.
MEETS AND MALFUNCTIONS
A
fter getting the Midas through its MoT last
month, I’ve been determined to get it out and
use it as often as I can, and what better excuse is
there for a blast than a local car run? And better
yet, one that is a rare opportunity to have a cheeky
morning skive away from work?
When I heard that our sister title MotorPunk magazine were
heading over to Blyton Park in support of a mid-week Frank Hall
Charity Trackday, I just had to go and have a look. I didn’t feel too
guilty, anyway, as editor Adam also saw this as an opportunity to
give his dad’s Lotus Europa a good run.
Heading to the meet wasn’t going to be a problem for me as
Blyton is not too far from my house and, since getting the yearly
Ministry of Transport thumbs-up, I haven’t been quite so nervous
around the silly orange baby coupé. In fact, I was so proud of
the thing I decided to treat it to a rare jet wash, only to suddenly
remember why I don’t do car washes. e distributor! A well
known weak point in Minis, and therefore in the Midas as well,
which is famously not too fond of the wet stu . Still, with the sun
beating down it wasn’t long before it cut the protest short and o
I went to look at some unusual track cars. e journey to Blyton
went as expected, without a hitch, and I soon caught up withMotorPunk’s co-editors Darryl and Rich, as well as Adam. e
event was a good laugh, with many unusual – often self-built –
track creations in attendance and we were all set for our return to
the o ce that afternoon. e trip began with yet another starting
issue which, this time, thankfully wasn’t mine. e Europa needed
a little push to get it going, but soon we had our little British
breglass convoy in motion. On the open Lincolnshire roads the
Midas seemed to be loving the run. Conversely, on the not so open
Lincoln roads it was quite the opposite. e tra c, heat and one
particularly steep hill all mixed into a cocktail that ended in an
inopportune cut-out at a set of tra c lights. How embarrassing!
I’m pretty good at tempting the grumpy A-series into life, but
this occurrence was enough to knock all my con dence in the
car’s ability to get me to work and, more importantly, back home
again. I needn’t have worried as the glitch proved to be a one-o
occurrence, but it didn’t half make me scratch my head. I hate
issues that are seemingly not repeatable as you never know if, or
when, they’ll show themselves again. As always I went for the
simplest possible x, which was replacing the HT leads and, ngers
crossed, I haven’t had any trouble since. In fact, it managed to make
it through the monsoon which was our open day without any issue.
Here’s hoping the electrical system is nally happy!JACK
WOOD
Projects:
Midas Mk2
This month:
Electrical gremlins try
and mostly fail to stop
play for the Midas.Tangerine parking zone drew in a well tuned Simca.086 Our Cars.indd 86 01/08/2019 12:49 pm