tucking her up

i have been mostly focused on body work over the last few months; i had some rust removed - the worst bit being on the left-hand pillar behind the passenger seat, which was starting to look pretty ugly, and at the bottom of that door & round the wheel arch. that's all been done now, & so i turned my attention to the floor. lifting up the rubber at the front was scary because i know it leaks into the passenger side - & sure enough, there was quite a bit of rust there. also in the spare tyre well in the boot. so i've applied blackguard to those areas & hopefully that will at least slow it down.

& now i'm off to europe for 6 months so she will be garaged again. the solar panel for the battery worked really well last time, which was 5 months, so i'll put that on again. this time i'm also planning to put her on blocks, to relieve the pressure on the tyres sitting in one spot for 6 months.

& no progress at all with electrification. too much else going on!

i just read in the AA magazine about rex nowland, in nelson, who has converted his 1971 VW beetle to be totally electric. surfing for rex also led me to the DIY electric car site - american of course but looks like lots of useful information & local links as well. rex's conversion cost him over US$11,000 - is not that much more than gav's which came in at just over US$9000. apparently rex's beetle's batteries, which cost around $3000, have a life of 3-5 years - that's quite a big cost every few years. maybe not if you're spending a lot on maintenance of a combustion engine, but the valiant costs me so little to keep on the road that the idea of having to put aside a grand every year towards batteries seems like a lot. anyway, right now i have NO money at all towards it - i'd put aside some to get the rust fixed, but that's all been swallowed up by a rot problem in my house.

first make sure the house won't fall down, then make sure the car won't fall apart, THEN think about converting her to electric (& somewhere in there i'd like to buy a scooter ... )

the valiant rocks

yesterday i came home after four & a half months overseas. i'd left lucy the valiant tucked up in the garage, under her silver blanket, and with the battery hooked up to a little solar panel that i left in the window of the garage. despite wellington having extremely bad weather during the last couple of months and lots of rain (i.e. very little actual sunshine) the solar panel has done the trick and this morning the car roared into life on the first try : ) i've just gone out to put petrol in the tank and air in the tyres, and it's almost as if i drove her yesterday. tomorrow she goes in for some mechanical loving - a service and lube and whatever she needs for her warrant of fitness, which expired some time ago.

while away, i'd been thinking about the rust which needs to be attended to - the left side is the worst, with spots appearing at the bottom of the rear passenger door, around the rear wheel arch and the rear column which i know is a tricky and crucial place to repair. from a distance (and hearing about the general wetness of wellington) i'd been imagining the rust running rampant, erupting orange through her smooth grey flanks. but today i'm happy to say that it's not as bad as i expected. the boot is starting to bubble a bit so i'll need to look at getting all of it done pretty soon, but generally she looks grand.

for a 44 year old car that's been sitting unused for four and a half months, she's fantastic! : )

Today I visited the Southward Car Museum; this is a fantastic collection of cars and various other bits & pieces, including some of the NZ's earliest wheeled conveyances and also some special pieces such as a car once owned by Marlene Dietrich, and another that belonged to a gangster (friend of Al Capone), complete with bullet holes. There are a couple of 1970s Valiants - but not one like this one!


The museum is in stark contrast to the old car museum in Havana, perhaps partly because most of Havana's old cars are still on the road but also in terms of restoration, lighting and display. There are about 30 exhibits in the dimly lit space, mostly visible from the street but I wanted to contribute my two convertible pesos - apparently a new improved museum is in the (very long) pipeline.

Traffic fleets of the world #1 - Cuba

The traffic in Cuba is really great - you can see almost anything on the road, from horse-drawn vehicles, coco-taxis and motorbikes with sidecars to truck buses, tourist buses and late model cars; and yes, there are lots of classic cars. One of the highlights of my trip was a ride in a 1959 Chevrolet Impala. As for the environment, well, I really couldn't comment! But the Solar Taxi, which hails from Switzerland, has recently visited Wellington ... a purpose built solar car driving around the world with no petrol. If he can do it ...

Back to this other life

I arrived back in Wellington at the weekend, having been away for four & a half months this time. Before I left, I took the battery lead off and covered the Valiant with her silver blanket. Yesterday I uncovered her, put the battery lead back on, & turned on the key ... but no knocking noise from the electric petrol pump told me the battery was flat. With the help of Lilicherie's car, she started easily, however the battery (now 5 years old) was really really dead & as soon as I stopped it there was nothing again. So this morning I called the AA who confirmed that the battery is on its way out. After a charge from the AA & a drive around the beautiful southern bays (unfortunately too overcast to see the Kaikouras looming out of the South Island) there is now enough charge to start her.

I called by my mechanics, the great guys at Newtown Auto Electrical, to book her in for her warrant of fitness & a new battery, and asked them what they thought of my electrifying project. Not surprisingly, Glenn and Rob were horrified. They've worked lovingly on this vehicle for many years now so the idea of tampering with such a classic beauty is sacreligious, scandalous and downright silly, in their eyes. Glenn assured me that it's possible to run a combustion engine on fuels other than petrol, such as water, for example. So I've challenged him to find out how I can do that. He's concerned that anyone who knows how to do it, mysteriously disappears off the face of the earth. Perhaps it will have to be a Secret Project.

Another Kiwi Converter

My co-conspirator in this project, Peter, has sent me the link of another kiwi converter, Gavin; Gavin's a lot further ahead than me - in fact, he's almost on the road - and his site is a treasure trove of useful information. Thanks, Gavin! It makes the whole idea seem much more doable, knowing that there's someone else out there who's already done it. It's daunting to see how much it's cost, but also good to be prepared; donations are welcome!

Gavin imported his motor (and various other bits) from the USA; I wonder whether there is a manufacturer in New Zealand who is considering building electric vehicle motors?