Ghetto wheel arch rolling

RTLKYuubi (AKA Ryan) from Retro Rides popped in to Area 52 on Weds night for a cuppa and a chat. While he was there we decided to break out the wheel arch rolling device and get busy on his car ready for when he lowers it:

1) Bring one Micra along to Area 52

2) Park amongst the surrounding retro wonders

  

3) Stand back and admire your £100 'hi-rider' Micra 

4) Despite the massive altitude, assess how much scrubbage

is occuring on the wider rubber/fully laden interface 

 

5) Take one length of 3" tube (thick walled) and align with rear of arch

6) Get assistant to drive back & forth while you admire

your incredible Uri Geller metal bending technique

 

7) Get car on flatter surface to allow greater use of 'the force'

8) Now that you've mastered the technique, get started on the other side

 

9) To achieve the perfect finish, get assistant to bounce joyfully on rear

bumper while you watch your arches roll back to an ideal position

 

Clearance: Acheived.

Technique: Aprroved.

Stickers

Not for sale (and never will be) - the Area 52 stickers are only given to people who visit the unit. They are free and there is a choice of matt white or matt black.

 

I ran out of the initial batch just after Playday II, so made some more last night. Quite a few people have visited the unit since I ran out, so most of these will be reserved for those who have not yet had any. Obviously with more & more visitors due over the forthcoming Playdays, I need to make sure I keep a stock in at all times.

They are most commonly found on peoples cars. A few examples are Mark's Senator, Chris' Golf and Morgs' Fiesta:

 

 

....but they can often be found in other places as well:

 

There is also a 'Ltd Edition' version of the sticker that was only given out to people who attended the first ever Playday in Sept 09.

"....and how would you like yours?"

Literally hot off the press, here are the official Area 52 mugs. Personalised with your own 'brew details' so that you get your cuppa just how you like it.

 There are three reasons for producing these:

1) 100% of all profits from the sale of the mugs goes towards the Area 52 fund to buy more kit, equipment & materials
2) So that you have your own personal mug - no more wondering who last drank out of it
3) So that anyone can make you a cuppa and you know it should come to you how you prefer it

 

 

 

Each mug is individually printed by myself.

The mugs cost £6.00 each and I take nothing out except the material costs. The rest of the money goes to the Area 52 project fund. By buying one you not only get a unique item (to keep down at the unit for playdays or to keep at home as a souvenir....or both) but you also support the expansion of the unit which benefits everyone. If you want your mug posted as opposed to collecting from Area 52, postage is £3.50 per mug.

If you would like to order a mug or two, please PM me details on Retro Rides and I will get back to you with payment details etc....

EXTRA PLAYDAY!! 30th/31st January

Because there is a 6 week gap between the last playday (6th Jan) and the next one (20th Feb) I have decided to fit in an 'extra' one in order to try and finish off all the jobs on the unit.

Saturday 30th January will be the next playday and very soon (Weds) I'll be putting up a list of all the jobs to complete along with a list of all the things we need to try and source for the day (tools/materials)

In the meantime, here are some more shots of the last playday:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Area 52 group project car #1

Yep, you heard it right.....here is the official unveiling of the first Area 52 ‘group build’ project car.

Some people already know about the car, a few photos have crept out onto Retro Rides, but this is the first time proper details have been published about the cars role down at the unit.

It’s a Hustler Sport which is the open-top low-slung variant of the Hustler Mini based kit car. This particular one is properly registered as a Hustler (as has just been confirmed by the DVLA) and is tax exempt. You can read up more about the Hustler range of cars from this website: Hustler Kit Car Page

Here is the car being collected from its previous owner in Hertfordshire last week

 

 

 The car is now at Area 52 where it will become the focus of the group build playdays very soon. It has not been driven since approx 1988 and therefore will need completely pulling apart and rebuilding.

All the lower bodywork is missing but with the fibreglassing playday on the 20^th February and another Hustler with complete bodywork (see pic at bottom), making moulds and new bodywork should not only be straightforward, but also a good learning experience.

 

The rest of the car is pretty much original Mini running gear/subframes with a lower and upper box section frame sandwiching the fibreglass ‘tub’ which makes up the intererior. All fairly simple to work on and restore hopefully?

The Hustler 6 which will donate its bodywork for making moulds

Wheels on and looking sweet!

The wheels are finally fitted to the Rascal, suspension height has been set and I am very happy.

After also trying the 7" wide rear wheels on, Ben & I concluded that the 6" wide rears looked a lot better and a lot more balanced on the car.

 

New addition to Area 52

Tuesday night saw the annual Retro Rides awards night at the Ace Cafe in London. The perfect time to mett up with & catch up with RR & Area 52 regulars.

I decided to tie in the trip with the collection of a new car for Area 52. I picked up Adam early on Tuesday morning and we headed to Tring in Hertfordshire where we collected and loaded the new car onto the trailer I had borrowed.

Next stop, the Ace Cafe for a slap up meal and long overdue catch-up. You can see the new ride on the trailer. A very unusual and very rare kit car called a Hustler 6....a six wheeled mini based car with lots of glass and mad 70's looks. We were the first to arrive at around 4.30pm...and we stayed until about 10.30pm

Jed wasn't allowed inside the Cafe so we stayed outside all night. Adam kindly brought me food & drink which was consumed in the back of the tat collecting Delica - with Jed supervising every bite.

During the night lots & lots of stuff was brought over to take back to Area 52. Loads & LOADS of technical manuals courtesy of Matt Jones, boxes of magazines from Si, JamesP, Steve and Rian...along with various wheels for me and other Area 52 regulars. The hardest job was loading it all.....but the RR collective came good and helped get everything loaded in the back of the empty Hustler and the rear of the Delica.

The turnout was amazing, especially for such a cold night. The best news; I won three awards. Most notably the RR Forum Person of the Year!!! I put this all down to Area 52 and the support given by everyone in keeping it going, so a big thank you must go out to all of you for helping make it happen.

Here's to 2010.....and thank you all again.