Today noticed a thin film of spray on the windscreen. Not unusual for North West England I hear you say! I’d agree but it wasn’t raining & the spray was driver side only of the screen. It can only be coming out of the engine via the bonnet vent (nostril?). The ‘taste test’ was inconclusive but I don’t think it’s fuel, so probably coolant. Couldn’t see anything obvious around the radiator, lose jubilee clips etc so may be (another) garage job. In the meantime loving the autumnal sunshine in September. One of my favourite times of year to be out in the Mantis with hood down feeling that slightly crisp edge to the weather which says summer is over. Wonderful.
Monthly Archives: September 2016
Windsor Castle
Today was the Concours of Elegance at Windsor Castle, & the Marcos Owners Club were one of the clubs providing the backdrop to some very nice (& expensive!) cars displayed within the castle itself. Over 20 Marcos left thw hotel in convoy for the 10 minute drive to Windsor Great Park where we were marshalled on to the Long Walk to park up. There were over 30 Marcos including a Mantis owner, Berrisford, who I hadn’t met before with a lovely black Mantis. He only lived a few hundred yards away from the Castle (nice!) & had had the car about as long as me. I thought I knew all the Mantis owners but apparently not! Weather was cloudy with a bit of drizzle early on but unlike some I held my nerve & the hood stayed down!
Journey back to Cheshire in convoy with Andrew’s Mantis again was uneventful… Oh, apart from noticing low oil pressure & when I dipped it at the motorway petrol station… no oil! Having pinched all the spare oil Mr Peers was carrying with no affect on the dipstick I then had to purchase three 1L containers of 5/30W at over sixty quid! 😕 I will be hacked off if the oil leak is back again after it was fixed by Redline about three months ago. Got home in good time though having had a great Marcos-themed weekend which will be the last car event for me this year I think.
The day before…
So today’s the day before the Concours of Elegance at Windsor Castle. Bertie & I travelled down in convoy with Andrew Peers & his daughter – his supercharged Mantis sounded awesome as usual! The weather coming down was wet. Pretty wet. Wet enough to fill up the nearside door pocket with water (again). Son Bertie was very patient however & did a superb job of mopping up inside & wedging the ubiquitous towel in the biggest gap between door & hood (HHGTTG anyone?).
Anyway got to the hotel & parked up with at least another 20 Marcos of all vintages, shapes & colours. The place was huge – could have driven to the room! We killed a couple of hours in the room then hit the bar to catch up with the other Marcos owners before a decent buffet evening meal. Son tolerant of a lot of very boring car talk – thank god for books! Hopefully the weather tomorrow for the Windsor Castle event will be much better.