Cloud I

[mulliner]

I am in two minds to buy a '59 Cloud I standard steel car. Really impressed how nice it drove. It's the two tone grey one Frankdales. What are these cars like to live with and to use more frequently. Its got lots of history and seems well sorted.

PS changed my name from black996tt to mulliner

[Balmoral Green]

It looks lovely.

I think your new user name would be better with a capital 'M'

[Mulliner]

Here is the link http://www.frankdale.com/carView.php?image=1&c...

[atomicpunk]

That, sir, is beautiful.

[pennrolls]

Nice car. I have a mark 3 and it is pretty easy to live with. No electronic stuff to go wrong.
Isn't this one unusual in that they are normally dark colour over light?

Edited by pennrolls on Saturday 10th October 12:54

[pennrolls]

You need to get the engine nice and hot regularly, meaning at least a 10 mile run every few days (if you're using it for short hops in between). They apparently run better than the V8's and are smoother, so you could have a lovely quiet ride on your hands!
Usual rules apply about not using it on salty roads and preferably keeping in a dehumidified garage. Service regularly and kiss it goodnight, like I do with mine
Frank Dales are a reputable bunch, but that shouldn't stop you getting it checked over by someone else first, in case you can find a lever on price, or something they may have missed when preparing it. Nigel Sandell looks after my cars and is very local to Frank Dale. He is a pal of theirs, but I would certainly trust his impartiality wholeheartedly. He'll give you some good advice on using it regularly too.

Edited by pennrolls on Wednesday 7th October 21:10

[Iain328]

atomicpunk said:

That, sir, is beautiful.

Indeed

My Grandad had a couple of those, brings back many memories.

[Bluebottle911]

Mulliner said:

Here is the link http://www.frankdale.com/carView.php?image=1&c...

They've got my old Continental (S1, not GT!) up for sale, too:

http://www.frankdale.com/carView.php?carID=780

Her Indoors and I went on our honeymoon in that car (on the Claret & Classics) - brings back memories!

Edited by Bluebottle911 on Thursday 8th October 21:33

[pennrolls]

[quote=Bluebottle911
Her Indoors and I went on our honeymoon in that car (on the Claret & Classics) - brings back memories!

Edited by Bluebottle911 on Thursday 8th October 21:33

[/quote]

You're either really mature , or you have a very understanding other half. There's no way (even after 6 years) that my wife is interested in classic cars! She's just about onside to take my shadow to our holiday home in Brittany in 2 weeks time and that was like pulling teeth!
That Continental is beautiful! The radio is positioned in the same place as on my cloud.

Edited by pennrolls on Friday 9th October 11:21

[Balmoral Green]

pennrolls said:

She's just about onside to take my shadow to our holiday home in Brittany in 2 weeks time

We'll be there too as it happens, Oct half term, rental cottage for the week.

[Balmoral Green]

I don't think we will be going in the Bentley, the idea was to have a cheap break, and I could easily spend £500+ in fuel getting there and back and running around, which seems a bit daft when the cottage was only £200 including the ferry (Dover-Calais crossing). We'll probably go in my wife's Panda as it's a fun little car and I like driving it. We'll spend the savings on eating & drinking well

[Bluebottle911]

Good luck with the weather! We're off on a short jaunt round the eastern med. for half-tem - 30 degrees in Athens I understand

Edited by Bluebottle911 on Sunday 11th October 23:00

[Bluebottle911]

pennrolls said:

[quote=Bluebottle911
Her Indoors and I went on our honeymoon in that car (on the Claret & Classics) - brings back memories!

You're either really mature , or you have a very understanding other half. There's no way (even after 6 years) that my wife is interested in classic cars! She's just about onside to take my shadow to our holiday home in Brittany in 2 weeks time and that was like pulling teeth!

When we were first married, my wife and I went on a number of classic car rallies, including an especially good one based in Eperany organised by the Automobile Club de Champagne in my '29 Phantom, but the Claret & Classics was a thoroughly good event. Here is what I wrote in the BDC Review at the time:

"10.00 p.m. on Monday the first of July saw us – Naomi (my wife of ten hours' standing), Napoleon (my Bentley Continental) and I - boarding a ferry at Portsmouth, bound for Le Havre and all points south.

Our destination was Bordeaux, and the start of the tenth "Claret & Classics" rally. This is an annual event, organised by a refugee from1960s Carnaby Street by the name of Roger Deeley, an artist by profession, and a wine and old car enthusiast. It involves fifty cars, ranging from (this year) 1924 to (every year) 1965, together with their owners / drivers / passengers, meeting in Bordeaux on the first Saturday in July. From there, they progress, via various chateaux, parties, picnics, receptions and a little bit of gentle (!) competition (regularity, not racing) over the following week, up through the Bordeaux region, to Cognac, and finally to Saumur.

Some people take the competitive element immensely seriously. There is no doubt that, if you are a fan of that sort of thing, this rally can really test your mettle. If you are more than a few seconds out, after maybe an hour's driving, someone will have beaten you. Not only is the navigation very testing - there is no indication of the distance between successive instructions, which can be anything from a few hundred yards to up to thirty miles apart - but also a section ends without any prior indication or warning. One minute, you are bowling along, enjoying sunshine and scenery, with hardly a care in the world. The next, you round a corner to find someone standing in the middle of the road with a stopwatch and clipboard.

We had been warned that, in Cognac, Deeley has the status of a rain god. Every year so far, as soon as the rally had approached the city limits, the heavens had opened. Without fail. Leaving Le Havre (after spending our wedding night in a truck-driver's cabin in the bowels of the ship) in the early hours of a grey Friday morning and a light drizzle, we appreciated the truth of this warning - and Cognac was still several hundred miles away! By midday, however, the skies had cleared and we saw no more rain until after we had returned safely to England. This was the year that Deeley broke his duck.

Friday night was spent in a delightful, if extraordinarily decorated, chateau owned by an expatriate non-conformist near Chinon, with a handful of other competitors. We all had to hide our cars in a barn, and generally pretend that we were not there, as the establishment had been closed the previous week by order of the local Mayor (they are all-powerful in France), who did not share our host's "liberal" views.

We arrived safely in Bordeaux the following afternoon for "scrutineering" - checking that our cars had four wheels (no Reliant Robins!), and that we were not closet teetotallers. En route, we had visited the superb museum at Le Mans, as well as driving the approximately seven-eighths of the circuit which is comprised of public roads - have you ever driven a Bentley at Le Mans?! Shades of Tim Birkin and Woolf Barnato.

The week which followed was a mixture of many wonderful things: of bonhomie, cameraderie and glorious sunshine; of fine French food, fine French wine and fine French hospitality; and of beautiful old cars, stunning chateaux, and traffic-free roads, winding through delightful countryside.

We visited the Chateaux de Malle and Beycheville, and saw many of the great names of Bordeaux, such as Margaux and Palmer. We were treated to fine Cognacs at Maison Frapin, the largest single estate in Grande Champagne. There resides an 1896 Panhard et Levassor, which has been in the family since new - 97 years ago, and still in full working order! We all sat down to an al-fresco lunch with the Mayor of Cognac, during which we arrested his Chief of Police - he went quietly, handcuffed to two "policemen" in borrowed St. John's Ambulance uniforms and a Daimler Dart patrol car. We picnicked in the grounds of Martell, by the river, on a glorious summer evening. We were regally entertained by the Mayor and Corporation of La Rochelle in their 16th. century Hotel de Ville. Later the same evening, we were confronted, on the quayside, by trestle tables literally groaning under the weight of more oysters than either the Walrus, or the Carpenter, could possibly have imagined in their wildest dreams. This was by courtesy of local restaurateur and old car fan, "Andre", at whose excellent establishment a number of us subsequently dined in great style .

The rally culminated on Friday evening, after a civic reception in Saumur (getting a bit blase about civic receptions by now, we arrived very late!), in a prize-giving and dinner / dance at the Maison du Bouvet-Ladubay. The latter took place in their caves - which needed no translation, as they really were hewn out of the rock on which the place stands. B-L make a variety of Champagne-style sparkling white wines, which are quite as good as the real thing. Seven different vintages of this were served with each of a corresponding number of courses - starting with more Foie Gras than I could possibly manage at one sitting.

Much to our surprise, we collected prizes for being part of the winning team - having the rally winner among us, successfully counterbalanced our miserable performance. We were also given a jeroboam of Bouvet for Napoleon - judged the car he would most like to own by our host that evening. We may give him a little help in the drinking of it!

Nursing far less of two hangovers than we deserved on Saturday morning, still in brilliant sunshine, we headed back for Le Havre, and England. We had enjoyed one of the most memorable and pleasurable motoring events of our lives. Napoleon performed impeccably throughout the 1500 mile journey, averaging over 16 m.p.g., and consuming only three pints of oil. He fully justified the sobriquet "Continental", proving to be a fine long-distance tourer in the grand style. He was at his happiest cruising quietly down the autoroute at 100 m.p.h. - a true Grande Routier."

Edited by Bluebottle911 on Sunday 11th October 22:59

[2708420018]

My wife and I have done quite a few Regularity rallies. We have not done a Claret and Classics but did a couple of Basque Classics with Roger Deeley. One of lifes great characters. I have never taken my Continental R on one but have been in a Ferrari 400i, a Gilbern Genie, An XJ12 coupe and a 1973 BMW 2002 which I still have.
It can provoke a lot of marital discord when things are not going well but is a great holiday and highly social event.

Paul

[cardigankid]

Those cars are stunningly gorgeous, both of them.