13 replies to this topic

[Cooperman]

Yesterday I collected my best friend who lives in Los Angeles from Heathrow Airport.

This morning he & I went to Felixstowe Docks to collect his 1965 Sunbeam Tiger which he has shipped from LA to England for 3 months for the 50th Anniversary of the Sunbeam Tiger celebrations.

What did we find at Felixstowe? The shippers had, this morning, driven a truck into the drivers door causing a large dent.

Then, on the way here we stopped for fuel and my friend put 4 gallons of diesel into the tank before I realised he didn't understand UK fuel pump colour coding (diesel pumps are green in California), We filled it to the brim with petrol, then topped it up again after 70 miles and it seems to be OK now.

So tomorrow it is going into the body-shop of another friend of mine who has offered to repair it within a week in time for the Owners Club Concours in 2 weeks time.

Lucky I have some good friends to help out. The shipping company are paying for the repairs.

Still, he & I will enjoy driving it this Summer as we are going to Cannes on an anniversary run at the end of August and will take it in turns to drive & navigate.

[cal844]

Great result for a rubbish morning, i hope your friend doesnt have any more bad luck!!

[Cooperman]

I hope so too.

He is also a great Mini enthusiast and, in 1961, was the very first person to rally a tartan red Mini with a white roof (well before the 'works' copied us!). In LA he also has a 1963 Cooper 'S' 1071 historic rally car which I built in 1990 and which he came over to drive on the Belgian Historic that year to a good class win & 7th overall. He was always a seriously quick driver in any Mini on National Rallies of the early '60's.

I must say the Sunbeam Tiger with its Mustang V8 engine as standard, is a super car to drive and his is a totally rust-free California car.

[blacktulip]

all adds to the adventure mate, im glad its back on track!

[Carlos W]

I bet it sounds superb

[Cooperman]

I bet it sounds superb

Pure Mustang V8 growl and all in a British sports car with superb styling.

IMHO the Alpine and Tiger look far better than the MG and Triumph sports cars of the same era. Only the Healey 3000 looks better.

I am looking forward to driving & navigating it through the French Alps on those wonderful mountain passes which I have used on international rallies when I was younger.

[Gr4h4m]

Sounds like a great summer!

[Cooperman]

Although not with the Sunbeam, we went to marshal on the East Anglian Classic rally today and just got back. Great fun.

[Tomm]

That most certainly is a series of unfortunate events and I hope he manages to get the damage repaired.

I know all to well the wheeling of filling a car up with the wrong fuel, unfortunately my excuse was not as good, it came down to pure stupidity!

I also caught the "like" button by accident, I am in no way suggesting that I "like" the ordeal you and your friend encountered, it simply comes down to an iPad and fingers that are clearly too fat!

[Carlos W]

That most certainly is a series of unfortunate events and I hope he manages to get the damage repaired.

I know all to well the wheeling of filling a car up with the wrong fuel, unfortunately my excuse was not as good, it came down to pure stupidity!

I also caught the "like" button by accident, I am in no way suggesting that I "like" the ordeal you and your friend encountered, it simply comes down to an iPad and fingers that are clearly too fat!

[Tomm]

Exactly like that!

[Cooperman]

After a bad start to his UK visit, things are improving rapidly. The Tiger repairs are progressing well and it goes into the paint shop on Tuesday morning as the dents have been removed and the surfacing done already. The work is being done by the ace Mini repairer in Chatteris, Cambs, for whom I have the highest respect. If anyone needs Mini bodywork done I'll be pleased to introduce him to you.

Tomorrow the weather looks great and we are going gliding together in one of my gliding club's 2-seat gliders. It is 50 years since we last flew together when we were both young pilots, so it should be a memorable day for both of us, especially if I can catch a few good thermals.

During this coming week we'll take my 1310 cc Cooper 'S' out to play, as my buddy has a 1071 Cooper 'S' in California as well as the Tiger.

[albo]

wow mr coops you do have and have had a very interesting life style, keep it up sir, 

[Cooperman]

I am the first to admit that I have been extremely fortunate in life and have had, and am still having, a super time.

When I was 17 I was awarded an Air Training Corps Flying Scholarship and had my Private Pilot's Licence before I was 18. That opened many doors of opportunity which I rushed through and it also gave me a very 'can do' attitude to life.

I get a lot of pleasure now from having put together and running a successful 'gliding scholarship' programme with out local school where we take several young students from 14 to 17 and teach them to fly up to and including solo completely free of charge. The results are stunning and we have many new young members who are becoming really good pilots. Indeed, two have already bought their own gliders. We now have the youngest age profile of any gliding club in the UK. Encouraging and helping young people is important to me as the younger generation are the future of our nation. They get so much bad press, most of it unjustified, and we are trying to redress this. We get lots of publicity and whenever we get, say, a 14-year old on their first solo we make sure the local community knows about it with press coverage & photos.

I often take my historic rally Cooper 'S' to the club and take the young members for a post-flying 'blast' up our runway and peri-tracks. They love it.

If any of those reading this are interested in gliding and live near Huntingdon, let me know and you can try it. My gliding club (I'm Deputy Chairman) is Nene Valley Gliding Club (Google it).