Kermit and co - the Pub2Pub TVR, and other steeds.

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

It's a bit of a hero, this car. Since July 2017, it's covered 27,000 miles across 25 different countries on three continents as part of the Pub2Pub Expedition; our journey from the northernmost bar on the planet, to the southernmost.

And it's been quite a trip. On a journey which started further north than the Top Gear Polar Special's highpoint, and finished further south than their Patagonia Special, it's faced all the extremes. It's seen temperatures from below zero to over 50 degrees C. It's travelled from 80m below sea level, to 4,700m above. It's crossed deserts, mountains, dry lake beds and salt flats. It's been drag raced in Texas and driven along the Death Road in Bolivia. In short, it's been put through hell, and came out in surprisingly good order. Not completely unscathed, but in pretty good nick nonetheless.





You can read more about the ownership experience so far here
And find out more about the 27,000 mile drive here

Kermit completed its journey a few weeks ago, but isn't exactly living in retirement, with a series of show appearances and smaller road trips lined up for the rest of the year - and that's what I'll be documenting in this little blog. The process of getting Kermit back up to full health after its 8-month ordeal, and the subsequent adventures of Britain's most-abused TVR.

And when, in the coming weeks, I expand my fleet so I'm no longer daily driving my poor, long-suffering Chimaera, I'll be documenting the ownership experiences of any additional vehicles too, as well as providing potted histories of some of my previous motors.

I hope you find my ramblings of interest...

(Photos by https://www.facebook.com/alvautomotiv/ )

Edited by Pub2Pub_Ben on Wednesday 9th May 18:47

[paulyv]

Chapeau!

You mention bringing the car back to full health. Will it be restored, or shall it retain those battle scars as testament of the the challenge much like the winning Le Mans cars do?

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

paulyv said:

Chapeau!

You mention bringing the car back to full health. Will it be restored, or shall it retain those battle scars as testament of the the challenge much like the winning Le Mans cars do?

Hola!

The bodywork doesn't really need much work, to be fair. The only war wounds are a few scuffs on the rear three-quarter, where it had an argument with a taxi in Nicaragua. I'm going to keep it looking the same, just cleaner. It would really benefit from a proper wash and polish right now...

However what really needs doing is going over the mechanicals - it's just run for 27,000 miles far from its comfort zone with a minimum of TLC, so there's some catching up on general maintenance to be done there. There are also a few other specific jobs on the list. One of the exhaust tips escaped in Patagonia, and needs replacing. There's an 'interesting' bearing noise which I think is possibly some salt in one of the wheel bearings, but will be investigated next week. And with the MOT due next month, a thorough going-over of the whole car is needed...

Oh, and in an ironic twist which you couldn't make up, after all its been through, Kermit suffered its first breakdown last week - a broken throttle cable. I got it home by jamming the throttle open at 3,000rpm, but that's the first job on the list...

[RC1807]

Hey, Ben.... Top marks, sir.

I read about your trip on the BBC news website, and posted about it in this section to someone else who'd just bought a 160k mile Chim.... Cool that you're posting here now, too.

May I ask, "Why?!", and "can you share more pics of your car in exotic or dodgier locations, please?"

Thanks!

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

RC1807 said:

Hey, Ben.... Top marks, sir.

I read about your trip on the BBC news website, and posted about it in this section to someone else who'd just bought a 160k mile Chim.... Cool that you're posting here now, too.

May I ask, "Why?!", and "can you share more pics of your car in exotic or dodgier locations, please?"

Thanks!

Hi!

I guess the answer to 'why?' is the standard 'because it's there'. Ever since completing the mongol Rally many moons ago, long journeys in unusual steeds have been a hobby of mine, and having already riven the length of Africa in a Porsche, and crossed Asia in a Corvette, travelling the Americas in a TVR seemed completely logical.

There are a load more pics and coverage in Pistonhead's coverage of the trip, here:

Pre departure:
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general/phers-pub...
Europe leg:
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/tvr-pistonheads/p...
North America:
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/tvr-news/pub2pub-...
South America:
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general/pub2pubs-...
Mission accomplished:
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/tvr-pistonheads/p...

Enjoy!

[anomaly]

Absolutely awesome trip, love it. Dreaming of one day doing the same thing and one mundane question is about insurance. How do you go about issuing a UK registered car outside the EU? I have struggled previously when I've looked into it.

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

Hi folks, sorry for the radio silence on this thread - it's been one busy summer, and I forgot to update it!

Much of the car-focussed activity over the past few months has involved getting Kermit back to full health following its 27,000 mile adventure. While the car completed its trip with out any real breakdowns (the only real surgery being a clutch change in Nicaragua which, thanks to Powers Performance getting the replacement part to us from the UK in only a week, didn't delay us too much), that's not to say it was completely devoid of issues when it returned to the UK. Here are a few of the problems which needed solving:

The power steering had began to leak in Peru, and the steering felt heavy and uneven.
There was a lot of wheel bearing noise at speed
The tyres were completely shot
one of the exhaust tips was missing
The cooling fans weren't always kicking in
The HT electrics were shot, and keeping it running on 8 cylinders wasn't really happening

Additionally, late one evening, shortly after getting back to the UK, the throttle cable decided to snap, giving the car it's first 'proper' breakdown since we set off. I was able to get the car home by jamming the throttle partly open to give 3,000rpm, then driving back using only the clutch, but obviously, some TLC was definitely required...

Fortunately for me, the TVR community is a friendly and supportive place, and assistance was offered by TVR Parts - the official parts supplier who are now under the TVR Engineering umbrella. In return for the car promoting their business over the coming year, they agreed to help out the high profile patient on the parts front, and it was a pretty impressive stack of components which arrived shortly after Kermit's return...



I'm probably a pretty typical PHer, sitting somewhere between mechanic and idiot when it comes to competence when working on cars, so I agreed that I'd do what I could where it came to getting Kermit back up to full health, while the jobs I couldn't complete would be carried out by TVR Heritage garage Racing Green TVR, in Hampshire. So, with parts and tools in hand, I got to work. And as I did, the effects of 8 months of very high underbonnet temperatures showed themselves. For instance, here's why new HT leads were needed:



And here's what's fitted now - shiny ceramic leads:





Once I'd done what I could, the car was certainly running a lot better. Not perfectly, but better, thanks to new plugs, leads, air filter, accelerator cable, vacuum lines, and other service parts. Next stop was a new set of Toyos, which absolutely transformed the car. The tyres we undertook Pub2Pub on had been on the car since I bought it, which means they were at least 7 years old, and had covered over 40,000 miles. While we managed to complete the entire journey without punctures, suffice to say, they were pretty destroyed by the time the car made it back to the UK, and so a new set of Toyo Proxies turned out to be the best money I've ever spent on a car. Despite this, the lack of power steering and general grumpiness from the steering rack meant Kermit was still some way away from driving how a sports car should.



However, despite the fact the car was only halfway back to being 100%, it needed to hit the road a few weeks after its return for its first official engagement - the launch of Pub2Pub's very own beer - Pub2Pub Expedition IPA. This beer was a means of saying thank you to one of the trip sponsors, without whom Pub2Pub probably wouldn't have happened, and it turned out to be a remarkably pleasant tipple, with its 4.0% APV being a nice little nod to Kermit's 4.0l engine. And let's face it, there are few things cooler than having a beer made in honour of your car. If you get the chance, I wholeheartedly recommend you sample it...





After the beer launch, Kermit went into Racing Green TVR for further TLC. And it turns out, it was necessary, as the garage uncovered a few further issues which needed attention. Firstly, the catalytic converters in the manifolds had broken down, restricting gas flow and choking the engine somewhat, leading to its lack of responsiveness and muted tone. Fortunately, a pair of second-hand but functional mainfolds were sat in the corner of the workshop, and quickly replaced the defective items. Further down the exhaust, one of the tips was missing, due to the fatigue which resulted from grounding out on hundreds of oversized speed bumps on the Pan American Highway. Fortunately, the generosity of the TVR community came to the rescue once again, with ACT Engineering supplying a full cherrybomb exhaust system for the long-suffering steed. Not only did this look fantastic, but it also transformed the sound, giving it a deeper, more characterful note than the standard set-up, and looking great to boot:



Further work at Racing Green included replacing one of the lower front suspension wishbones, swapping out a grumbling wheel bearing, and the biggest task - sorting the steering rack.

It seems that the old rack's seals had failed somewhere on the trip, as on removal, the rack was found to be full of the dirtiest, fowlest smelling gunk imaginable, which probably contributed to the heavy, uneven steering feel the car had developed when crossing South America. The rack was sent away for a rebuild, and came back as good as new, albeit with some Tuscan components swapped in where the Chimaera parts were unavailable, and with the steering back on point, the new tyres, the improved exhaust sound and all the other attention which had been lavished on the car, it felt like a sports car once again, for the first time in quite a while.

I'd like to extend my thanks to the TVR Car Club, TVR Parts, Racing Green TVR, ACT Performance, Gaz shocks, Powers Performance and Classicline Insurance for their assistance both during and after the trip, in making this possible.



After several weeks in the workshop, I collected a transformed Kermit from Racing Green on one balmy Wednesday in June, and set off on Kermit's next adventure - Le Mans. But that's an adventure which I'll cover in the next update...

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

So, Le Mans.

When TVR give you a call and invite your car-of-the-moment Chimaera to take part in the pre-race Driver’s Parade, it doesn’t take you long to decide. You’re there like a shot, and the resulting 84 hours on the continent formed my first-ever visit to this most famous of races, as well as a trip to the Pistonheads Friday Service at the Great British Welcome car meet, at Saint Saturnin. A few photos from the weekend are below, while for the full story, here's a write-up I made about the rather memorable trip:

https://www.autoclassics.com/posts/reviews/le-mans...

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

When you spend a long time with a car, relying on it, asking much of it, you develop an affinity for it. A kind of two-way understanding, if you were.

During and after the 27,000 miles I completed with my TVR on the Pub2Pub Expedition, the overwhelming sensation I developed was that it wouldn't let me down. It may develop niggles, it may need a more pro-active approach to maintenance than a modern lease-steed, but it wouldn't let me down. There was a feeling during those eight months on the road that the TVR was going to make it to the finish, whatever happened. Even when driving alone on remote dirt tracks in Patagonia or the Bolivian Altoplano, I never worried, despite the almost total lack of tools and spare parts I had with me.

Kermit the TVR showed itself to be a trooper - it simply didn't consider failure.

And this is just as well, because last week, Kermit faced its biggest challenge since the Pub2Pub Expedition, and one it unequivocally couldn't fail on. Kermit was to lead the first organised roadtrip to take place under the 'Pub2Pub Adventures' banner: The Eagle Rally. So what did this entail? Well basically, we're talking a 9 day, 2,500 mile round trip to one of Europe's most dramatic bars - The Eagle's Nest. Here's a bit more on Kermit's destination:

'In southern Germany, there is a mountain six thousand feet high. And on the summit of the mountain, there is a bar. To reach the bar, you must first negotiate the steepest road in Germany. From the top of this road, a tunnel takes you deep into the mountain, where brass elevator awaits. Powered by a U-boat engine, this elevator lifts you 400 feet through the heart of the mountain, to one of the most dramatic bars in all of Europe: the legendary Kehlsteinhaus. Better known as The Eagle’s Nest, this heady destination was first built as a fiftieth birthday present to none other than Adolf Hitler. Its marble fireplace was a gift from Mussolini, its walls eluded the bombs of the RAF’s Dambusters, and its slopes were finally stormed by the US 101st airborne division. It’s not only a spectacular spot to enjoy a beer. It’s a place of history.



So, a 2,500 mile, hard-driving blast across Europe to a bar on the summit of a mountain, then home again, in the company of a fine selection of other TVRs, Porsches, Jags and other sporty beasts. That's the sort of journey for which Kermit would require a full check-over before setting off, right? Wrong. The efforts required to get everything in place before our convoy's departure meant I didn't even have time to open the bonnet before we hit the road to Bavaria. However deep down, I knew Kermit wouldn't let me down - it thrives on this sort of use.

We hit the road on the last Saturday in September, from the Neil Garner Performance Engineering show, where about 100 TVRs had gathered in the glorious sunshine. However, we couldn't linger, as we had a date at Gatton Manor that afternoon, for the first ever Pub2Pub car Meet - a shame, as it looked like Neil Garner had laid on a fantastic event. Here are some photos from our time there:












From Neil Garner's base near Swindon, a few hours of winding tarmac across the North Downs took us to the Pub2Pub meet at Gatton Manor, which was already in full swing when we arrived. The turnout was excellent, with around 50-60 classic and performance cars, the buffet lunch was great, and the jewel in the crown of the meet was provided by Les Edgar, who dropped by for a chat, and brought along the new TVR Griffith for all to see - the first time it had been displayed with the rear spoiler retracted. Quite a coup for our first meet, which sets an intimidatingly high bar for our future events. Here are a few photos from Gatton Manor, starting with the 14 cars - including Kermit - which make up the Eagle Rally, on the start line, next to the new Griff:














As you can see, it was certainly a memorable afternoon in the company of fine automobiles and people, but for Kermit and the Eagle Ralliers, it was only a brief stop on the dash to the Eurotunnel, and as the sun began to drop, we hit the road for the continent, and ultimately, the Eagle's Nest, on the far side of Germany.

And I'll tell the story of the drive there in the next update...

[amc_adam]

This is brilliant, and the most unlikely car i would have thought to use on road trips, probably why its so entertaining to to read! Hats off to you, Trevor has done you proud.
And what a destination to end up at, the Eagles Nest is on my list of places to go (think i may have accidentally drove past it on the way to Worthersee a few years ago, stupid boy.)
Keep the updates coming in, i blinkin' love a good road trip story!

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

amc_adam said:

This is brilliant, and the most unlikely car i would have thought to use on road trips, probably why its so entertaining to to read! Hats off to you, Trevor has done you proud.
And what a destination to end up at, the Eagles Nest is on my list of places to go (think i may have accidentally drove past it on the way to Worthersee a few years ago, stupid boy.)
Keep the updates coming in, i blinkin' love a good road trip story!

Thanks Adam,

Yeah, the TVR is might be an unusual choice for the kind of use I've been subjecting it to (we're talking 32,000 miles across 26 countries on 3 continents in the last 15 months... and counting!), however the more you think about these '90s TVRs, the more they make sense. Everything about them is pretty simple - Rover V8 drivetrain, basic electrics with a minimum of fancy ECUs, tubular steel chassis, there's not much on them you can't bodge to keep going if you need to, and thanks to the Land Rover-based motor, there are independent garages all over the world who can work on them (for instance on Pub2Pub, the only two garages we visited were both LR independents, in Nicaragua and Peru.)


Another benefit of the TVR is its light weight. Most other overlanders we met on Pub2Pub were driving ostensibly tougher vehicles; however these vehicles would generally weigh over 2.5 tonnes, and hence put a huge strain on things like suspension components. At just over a tonne and with cushioning, high profile tyres, the TVR puts very little stress on such moving parts, and so is strangely very well suited to covering long distances on the sort of rough roads we encountered in Latin America.

Anyhow, thanks for the interest, I'll get the post about the trip to the Eagle's Nest up soon - it's a great place to drive to, by the way

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

I've just noticed it's been a while since I updated this, so without any further ado...

Since the last time I posted, on the TVR's return from the inaugural Eagle Rally last Autumn, things have been pretty busy. Firstly, there was the small matter of three days spent on the TVR Car club's stand at the NEC Classic Motor Show last November:



We kinda went to town with the display, setting up the full camping arrangement from the Pub2Pub Expedition next to the car, complete with tent, camping stove, sleeping bag and a load of rocks scattered around the front of the car, giving a visual approximation of some of the under-wheel conditions we faced in South America.

The display went down well, and it was great that so many people recognised the car from the coverage Kermit's trip had received on Pistonheads, and in other places, even if the beautiful paintwork on display elsewhere on the TVR stand did make it's scruffiness stand out somewhat.



After the NEC, the TVR was SORN'ed for the winter. And fittingly, given it has became a bit of a standard bearer for the message that old cars can be just as reliable as new ones provided they're used regularly, this SORNing had unexpected consequences.

After being left for a month, a bodged attempt at a start flooded it, and it was another few weeks before I got new plugs fitted and fired up the V8. This led to a pearcing scream from the motor and a column of smoke rising from the aux drivebelt. The reason? The Alternator had seized solid, with the belt squealing over the non-spinning pully.


Why would an alternator seize like that? Simple.



A year earlier, I'd driven the car across the world's largest salt flats, which were flooded at the time. The whole car, including the engine bay, had been soaked in salty water and while the first thing we'd done after leaving the salt flat was to wash it very thoroughly underneath, evidently this hadn't been enough for the alternator, which had taken the opportunity to set solid over the month of non-use.

Fortunately, the alternator was the only issue which the winter of inactivity had coaxed out of the long-suffering TVR, and so with a new one fitted its first trip of the year beckoned - a 2-week camping trip to Fontainebleau, in France. And being a camping trip in a sports car, that means I was packing light, right? Wrong.





I'm forever amazed by just how practical this car is, and Easter's France trip was a case in point, as it carried two people, a 4m diameter bell tent, woodburning stove, chimney, furniture and climbing gear to France and back, and proved to be the perfect holiday wheels while there. This practicality is one of the things which attracted me to the Chimaera when I bought it 8 years ago, and to me, it remains one of it's biggest draws. Such underrated cars...

On the way home from the trip to France, I detoured via an event which doesn't generally see many TVRs - the Overland Adventure Show, at Stratford upon Avon. Here, Kermit rubbed shoulders with several hundred expedition-prepped vehicles, ranging from converted soviet missile launchers to jeeps, and despite its rather modest appearance, turned out to be better-travelled than the vast majority of them. For context, the Land Rovers on the opposite pitch had just came back from a trip to the Pyrenees...



And so, after two days at the show, where I gave several talks about overlanding in unusual steeds (one on the Pub2Pub/TVR trip, and another about crossing Africa in a Porsche 944) we were properly into spring, from which point I'll bring the story of Kermit's post-trip adventures up to date later in the week...

[ECG1000]

More updates please!

Thoroughly enjoying reading about all the fascinating adventures.

[G111MDS]

lovely car, and fascinating story. Really like the wood burner too

[TR4man]

You packed a wood burning stove into a Chimaera??

Wow

[Andy665]

For anyone enjoying the thread you really do need to get the book, got my copy on day of publication and read it within a couple of days. It's a great read

[Pub2Pub_Ben]

Andy665 said:

For anyone enjoying the thread you really do need to get the book, got my copy on day of publication and read it within a couple of days. It's a great read

Thanks Andy, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was slightly nervous that by including the mental health sub-story I might alienate some of the readership, who may have been expecting more of a swashbucklingly heroic road trip yarn, but the subject needs all the airtime it can get and the feedback so far seems to be positive, so I'm glad I did.

TR4man said:

You packed a wood burning stove into a Chimaera??

Wow

I did indeed, though it's actually not so big an achievement as it seems, as with the legs and flue removed the stove itself packs down into a box 40cm square, which goes in the boot easily. The bigger challenge is the tent itself, which weighs 25kg and even when packed, is still pushing 3ft long - fortunately if fits into the Chim's parcel shelf area just fine, with space above for the stove flue and the bell tent's gargantuan poles. In fact, the biggest challenge of the camping trip was getting the bouldering crash pad home; our solution may have restricted our motorway speed somewhat...



ECG100 and G11MDS, I'll be more on it with this thread in future - promise!

[Fishy Dave]

Book ordered, enjoyed the first one, fully expecting this one to be just as great.

[Andy665]

Pub2Pub_Ben said:

Thanks Andy, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was slightly nervous that by including the mental health sub-story I might alienate some of the readership, who may have been expecting more of a swashbucklingly heroic road trip yarn, but the subject needs all the airtime it can get and the feedback so far seems to be positive, so I'm glad

As someone who has had his own struggles with mental health I found it insightful and positive that you did include it - your thoughts / feelings resonated with me a lot

In no longer ashamed of admitting I have struggled (And continue to battle the demons from time to time) and the more it's brought out in to the open the better

[bolidemichael]

Hi there, you didn't include any posts or pics from the trip to the Eagle's Nest which seemed quite interesting! Please do share if you find a moment and keep up the adventuring!