Classic & Sports Car UK – September 2019

OURCLASSICS

198 Classic & Sports Car September 2019

supported by

goingtohavetopushthepedal.

It wasa classicsymptomofairin

thebrakes,soI tooktheCloudover

to specialistHillierHillwhileI met

bossRayHillierforthismonth’s

feature(p132).Comparedtoa

standardCloud,mineis slightly

differentbecauseit hasfrontdiscs

anda conventional(ratherthan

gearbox-driven)servo,soHHhad

to bleedthesystemwiththeengine

runningtogeta goodpedal.Ray

alsotoldmethattherearshoeshad

beenoverheated(almostcertainly

whenthehandbrakewaslefton),

buttheystillhadplentyof lifeleft.

Apartfroman oilandfilter

changeit didn’tneedanythingelse.

I’mstartingtothinkthat,other

thanitsthirstforfuel,thiscaris one

ofthecheapestclassicsI’veowned

in termsof runningcosts.

JonWillsatCotswoldClassic

CarRestorationsrustproofedthe

undersideof theCloudin February,

whichis somethingI havebeen

meaningtodoforages.Theother

newsis thefittingof frontseatbelts

byouroldfriendStuartQuickat

QuickfitSafetyBeltServicesin

Stanmore.Therewere S-type

Continentalsingettingthesame

treatment,andevena mid-’60s

RamblerClassic.I selectedXY071

beltsinbeigetomatchtheleather.

Itis notasstraightforwarda job

asyoumightthinkif thecarhas

neverhadbeltsbeforeandinvolves

takingoutthefrontbench.

I havehadnorepeatofthefuel

vaporisationproblemsreportedin

mypreviousupdate.I thinkthey

werefreakoccurrences,buta kind

S2Continental-owningreader(I’m

sorry,butI can’ttellyouhisname

becauseI can’treadmyscribbleon

thenote)gavemea calltosaythat

thesolutionis to useShellV-Power

witha doseof TetraBoost.

Somethingaboutthiscarseems

tomakemy wifebecome very

prescriptiveaboutparkingspots,

tothepointwhereinstructionsare

issuedfromthepassengerseat.In

short,shethinkstheyhavetobe

‘special’,eitherintermsofbeing

apartfrom‘normal’cars,orin

proximitytootherclassics.For

example,the otherdayatour

annualoutingtothepolo(which

makesmefeellikea sell-out,social-

climbing,10-bobmillionairefraud

at thebestoftimes),whena yellow

2+2E-typewasspottedas wedrove

in,veryseparatefromtheother

cars,withaninviting,Cloud-sized

spacenexttoit.It probablywould

havemadea nicephotographbut

I refused,preferringtoparkwith

the‘normals’unlessotherwiseoffi-

ciallyinvited.A Rolls-Royceis not

a carforlife’sshrinkingviolets,

butI dofeelself-consciousinit at

times.Later,a Morgan3 Wheeler

appearedalongsidetotheJaguar,

somaybeshewasright.

Thenextmajoroutingforthe

SilverCloudis theRolls-Royce

Enthusiasts’ClubAnnualRally,

whichis alwaysa gooddo.Mean-

whileI haveboughtmywifea

RenaultCaravelle,whichmay

featureinfutureOurclassicspages.

I onlymentionit atthismoment

becauseit seemsto ‘go’sowellwith

theCloud– or,asonemateputit:

“Perfecthis’n’hersglamour.”

THANKSTO

∆QuickfitSafetyBeltServices: 020

8206 0101;www.quickfitsbs.com

∆HillierHill: 01234 713871;

http://www.hillierhill.co.uk

∆CotswoldClassicCarRestorations:

01793 752195;www.cotswold

classiccarrestorations.co.uk

We finally got the original number-
plate – 54 AGF – back on the Silver
Cloud in April. This has been a
blight on my enjoyment of the car
since buying it in 2016, mainly
because the number (not an espe-
cially valuable one) is part of its
history and identity, particularly
with the connection to Sir Dennis-
toun Burney, the first owner, who
bought it in 1960. The longer
it went on, the more determined
I was to get it sorted, despite the
endless meetings and pointless
waffle that never got me anywhere.
I won’t go into details, but the
application of the right pressure in
the right places on the company
that sold me the car finally
extracted the money (I had been
dealing with the wrong person
from the beginning), which meant
I could buy the plate back from the
previous owner, who turned out to
be a perfectly nice man. He told me
he had bought the number because
he could get free parking outside
the Dorchester on Park Lane!
It was beginning to dawn on me
that the brakes weren’t quite right,
particularly after an incident last
Christmas Day morning. In a way,
the car pulled itself up impressively
given the speed and the weight in
that tyre-smoking, buttock-clench-
ing moment, but it was more the
inconsistent feel that meant you
never knew quite how far you were

RUNBYMartinBuckley
OWNEDSINCEAugust 2016
PREVIOUS REPORT May 2018

ROLLS-ROYCE

SILVER CLOUD II

A Cloud II can’t just be parked anywhereBuckley preferred beige belts to gaudy redSeatbelt fitment was a very involved task

The Rolls-Royce has at

last been reunited with

its original numberplate.

Left: glamour duo, as

Cloud lines up alongside

Mrs Buckley’s new toy