Hi All Just my tuppenceworth. I am still buzzing from the time Verity and I had over this past weekend. For us it was the culmination of weeks of work on "Lex" to get her show-worthy. It really did mean all those jobs that got done in a half-assed way previously HAD to be done properly. Could anyone tell that my rear fascia, just 12 hours before the car went on the stand, had been sitting on my kitchen floor with the lacquer still wet?! To be honest, I had been nervous in the weeks leading up to the show that my baby really wasn't show-worthy, but I caught myself feeling like a proud Dad more than once (sad, I know, but I think I've achieved vindication on buying a "fixer-upper"!). There's still a long way to go on "Lex" but I'm really enjoying the work - and hey, who at the show's going to know my drivers' window doesn't work or that the clutch squeaks! Really the only downers were the rear wheels which badly need repainting (GREY!) and the bonnet which needs rebrushing and getting rid of whatever someone tried writing in it at some point (I don't really think it says "Toss" Mark...). Anyway it's been like that since i've had it. I was a bit peeved that the armrest got broken after having only fixed it a couple of days earlier. Maybe some more money for James & Co :-) The highlight for me would have to be the Saturday night at my mate Al's place in Wolverhampton with Dave, Claire, Rich, Helen and Verity getting up to all sorts of shinanegins (lighting fireworks with a flaming parrafin-soaked bread stick being merely one of them...). Haven't laughed so much in ages, and really dreading seeing Claire's video... Oh and nobody's going to call Dave "Wingnut" any more, are they? Sunday I finally got to say Hi to James Espey, who kindly handed over my nice new fuel tank sender - I look forward to dropping that in! (then Rich can have his back :-P). He was extremely complimentary about my seats - and I didn't even hear Chrispy mumble "unoriginal" once! I gave James my second hand Hammerite Hammered finish black paint can to try out on their stereo brackets (looks great on mine). Someone else I got to meet at the show was Darren Bowker, the cheerful Manchunian Renault30 fanatic, who as luck would have it, was right opposite the DOC stand. He's building my new engine for #4426 and on Sunday, Jason and Terry from the Diesel Centre dropped by to hand the block over as it currently is (block with heads and not a lot else). He was grinning from ear to ear when he finally heard Chrispy's echo-chamber exhaust. For those who don't already know, my car now has a lovely exhaust note thanks to the lack of cat. it also has the positive driving experience of a 6000-mile car should have. But now with Pirellis and PJ Grady's shocks all round, the new seats, the sound-deadened rear and the new stereo and speakers, the driving experience on a long trip is lovely. The trip up to Wolverhampton from Reading was uneventful, but honestly I could drive that thing for a year and not get tired of it! Even on the way home, tired as I was, I relaxed and enjoyed myself all the way. Verity was loving the attention from other drivers :-) So to summarise, I had a terriffic time, and it was a real sense of achievement seeing as 5 years ago, almost to the day since I met my first DeLorean at the very same show, and a year to the week since #1458 got its first MOT. Bugger. I need an MOT. Martin #1458 "Lex" #4426 "Tinny" -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .