So, it’s upon us. The New Year, that is. In fact, it’s rattling past us at a rate of knots. January is already in the rear view mirror, and 2025’s springtime is – hopefully – just around the corner.
ClassicLine’s resident road tripper, Ben Coombs, reflects on this winter’s excellent progress in the garage and reveals what 2025 has in store.
So, how’s everyone doing so far, when it comes to this year’s automotive goals?
Down here in Devon, it’s been a pretty solid start to the year, with plenty of progress on a variety of projects. Firstly, the TVR chassis restoration is finally happening. In the last blog post, you’ll have seen that back in December, we finally removed the body from our long suffering Chimaera’s chassis. Since then, I’ve been busy stripping it down, to the point that by Christmas, there was just the bare chassis left. Everything – the suspension, the engine, the brake and fuel lines, everything – was removed from the scaffolding – the 27-year-old backbone of the car. And so what was the verdict, once the rust no longer had anything to hide behind? Much as expected, luckily. As is traditional with these things, the outriggers were rather rusty and needed replacement. However the rest of the metal was only suffering from a bit of surface rust, which reduces the project’s stress footprint somewhat.
In early January, I loaded the chassis into a rented van and took it from Devon to Stoke-on-Trent, where Sportmotive TVR will be handling the restoration, using their bespoke jig to fit the new outriggers in perfect alignment, before the chassis is sandblasted, and then powdercoated, meaning it should be all set for the next 27 years of adventures. I’ll be collecting it once I’m back from the Arctic in March, and then the task of putting it all back together will begin, hopefully returning it to the road for the summer.
‘Sorry’, I hear you say, ‘what was that about the Arctic?’
A perfectly rational question, about a subject which has been taking up a lot of my time lately. In March, Pub2Pub Adventures’ most ambitious trip yet will be getting under way – a 17-strong drive to the Arctic Circle and back, in search of the northern lights. In contrast to our other tours, the Snowstorm Rally is very much at the ‘adventure’ end of the spectrum – think snow and ice, sub-zero temperatures, the remote wildernesses of Sweden and Norway, and a range of plucky classics, from safari’d Porsches to a selection of homecoming Volvo 240s. It’s been a lot of work making this one happen, but it should be quite a trip – watch this space to hear how it goes.
Naturally, Snowstorm is but one of nine trips we’ll be running this year, and so work has been taking place on a variety of other tours behind the scenes, to ensure our biggest year yet goes smoothly. So, there’s been a lot of time spent at the desk during January, researching the more interesting corners of Europe, and plotting routes through them. But, even with the TVR gone, there’s still been plenty to do in the workshop. Because where Daisy the Mini is concerned, there’s always more work to do.
Recently, that work has been focussed on the little car’s interior. When we built the Mini, our focus was very much on keeping weight down, so it would be as light as possible on the mountain. We didn’t fit any soundproofing, we kept the original 1970s seats to save money, and as a result, the 4,000 mile round trip across South America, to get to and from the mountain, was pretty uncomfortable. Borderline miserable, in fact.
It’s high time this was fixed.
So far, I’ve fitted silent coat vibration and sound deadening to the bulkhead, and then overlaid it with 6mm of foam soundproofing to add to the silencing effect. This has added around 20kg in weight, but is a small price to pay if it means it’s possible to hear oneself think when cruising. Additionally, a set of MX5 seats have been sourced, and the next job on the list is welding up some bespoke subframes so they can be fitted into the Mini, hopefully transforming the driving position from torture to tranquillity.
Once it’s all back together, it will be interesting to see just what a difference it all makes, and hopefully, big overland drives will be somewhat more effortless than before.
Which is just as well, as Daisy the Mini’s adventuring days are far from over.
So, that’s January – plenty of productive days spent laying the groundwork for future motoring adventures. We just need the longer days to return to start reaping the rewards now, as the rest of 2025 is shaping up to be quite the classic…
