FORD CONSUL ZEPHYR ZODIAC

16^th April, Drive to the aces Part 1

 

It was an early start as we did’nt want to get caught in traffic at Birmingham or on the north circular, which is where the Ace Café is situated.

 So it was a 1:00am rise for me to make sandwiches (I call them butties) and a flask of coffee. An half hour drive to Dave’s where Wayne P was meeting us. We were all still half asleep but that soon changed when the banter between us started.

 2:30am off we set in Dave’s Zodiac, the three of us and about eight bags of goodies. Our destination was the Ace Café to meet a film crew and Richard Wilson, who most know as Victor Meldrew from ‘One Foot in the Grave’ and five other classics and their owners/drivers. Its going to be a film/short series/documentary to mark the 50^th anniversary of the motorway network.

 It was a long drive but very enjoyable. We were like three school boys going on a day trip. We had a couple of stops for the usual reasons (me being an old timer) and to check/rest the car.

Just off the north circular we stopped to get our bearings and be sure we knew where the ‘café’ was. As usual Dave got some admiring looks (or was it the car) from passers by and we chatted with one or two of them. One chap was well into Mkll’s and knew nearly all the part numbers of various components. Wayne Rogerson you have competition.

 On arriving at the café, about 7:00am we were the only ones there and it had not opened yet, we looked around and stretched our legs, that didn’t take long for me (little short arse). The doors opened about 8.00am and we went in to sample the coffee/tea. There were lots of pics and interesting stories/news paper cuttings and lots of history about the café itself.

 Eventually other cars turned up. VW camper, TR2, A55 Cambridge, Morris Traveller, Bentley and of course a Zodiac. Most were reasonably local and the owners were shocked that we had driven down from Manchester.

 A look round the cars, a chat with the owners and now time for breakfast.

 Richard Wilson arrived (in a new 6 series BMW). He was introduced to the Film director/crew and not long after the filming started. You will have to watch the programme to get see how it all went. If you have seen any filming taking place before you will know it can take ages just to get a few seconds of film right, lots of takes and retakes.

 A while later Richard was introduced to the drivers and owners of the cars he would be driving during the series. They sat round and spoke about all six of the cars. There were lots questions about the various cars and again everyone amazed when they learned that Dave’s Zodi was used as regular as it is. Dave did the Club proud (no he didn’t start dancin), just said enough but not too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch there was a photo shoot with all the cars lined up in front of the café, very impressive.

That’s when we discovered a pool of petrol under the Zodi. Panic!!! Dave found the flexi pipe to the petrol pump weeping (I think all three of us had a bit of a weep). I went walkabout looking for a motorist shop to buy some rubber tubing and jubilee clips. We only needed a piece 12 inches long but the shop owner wanted to sell me 1 metre (me being a tight northern git talked him round). Back at the ‘Ace’ Dave and Wayne had sorted out the leak on a temporary basis. We now had the bits just in case it started again.

 More photos and more filming, Richard then chose Dave’s Zodiac to drive round the car park and get a feel for driving a REAL car. Even though he never got to third gear he got the hang of the Three on a Tree quickly.