Vintage Car Blog
Welcome to the Heritage Classic Cars blog, where I tell you what is going on at the firm and jot down my random thoughts on topical matters. Hopefully, this will give you an insight into the ups and downs of running a vintage wedding car hire business in the St Albans area and give you a flavour of our relaxed but very professional ethos.
A big dilema
Sunday, February 19th, 2012
My lovely blue Austin is sadly out of favour. It has only two bookings for weddings in 2012 whilst the ivory cars are extremely busy. This is entirely understandable as most brides prefer the traditional look, and blue just isn’t a traditional wedding car colour.
So, what should I do about it? One option is to simply do nothing, but that would mean the car sitting in its garage for long periods which is bad news. Cars need to be used regularly to avoid them seizing up.
Alternatively, I could sell the blue car and just hire out the two ivory cars. When I take a booking for a particular day, I always make sure there is a spare car just in case something should go wrong. So without the blue car as a spare, I could only hire out one ivory car at a time. That restricts the number of bookings I can accept although it does take away the problem of finding drivers.
The final possibility is to spend some money and have the blue car painted ivory. This is quite tempting but the economic argument is weak. Spending £2,000 on a re-spray probably wouldn’t add £2,000 to the car’s value.
This is quite a dilemma. I really don’t want to sell the Austin as it has sentimental attachments. It took my eldest daughter to her wedding two years ago. It has always been a very reliable car and has never let me down, so it would be a real wrench to let it go.
I need to have a long, hard think about this. What do you think? Any suggestions?
New drivers
Sunday, February 12th, 2012
They say you shouldn’t be let loose, unsupervised with a computer after a few drinks, so today’s blog will be short. We spent the afternoon at the Cricketers celebrating Pat’s birthday and a good time was has by all. I was having a good time and enjoying chatting with everyone; then the sambuca shots appeared. I now feel a little the worse for wear, but I am a bit of a lightweight when it comes to drinking.
One interesting suggestion was put forward during the course of the afternoon. Dorothy thought I needed a “unique selling point” to make Heritage Classic Cars stand out from the competition. Her first idea was to recruit some young ladies as chauffeurs and get them to wear revealing, skimpy uniforms. I thought this might not be appreciated by the brides, so her second idea was to recruit some muscular young men, dress them as the Chippendales and have them driving the cars. This, of course, rules me out of driving duties and Bob the mechanic was equally sceptical about his ability to emulate the Chippendales. So, if there are any tanned, athletic young men with bulging muscles out there, who fancy driving my wedding cars perhaps they would give me a call.
Snow, snow, thick thick snow
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
Work on the vintage cars proceeded at the pace of an arthritic snail this week. It was just too cold! I had booked Bob the mechanic to spend Friday working on the New Zealand car. The plan was to get the ignition timing spot on and then to give it a thorough pre-MoT check to ensure the brakes, steering, lights and so on, are all in good order. Sadly, Bob sustained a sports injury in the previous week and phoned to postpone his visit. It was a shame but I was secretly relieved that I wouldn’t have to spend the day battling frostbite and hypothermia in a freezing garage.
I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much. Several of the nurses at the residential home where my Dad lives come from Rumania and they have been telling me that, back home, it was minus 24 degrees. It is somehow reassuring to discover that someone else is worse off than you. Or is that being too unkind?
Continuing the theme of winter weather, the snow hit Redbourn yesterday evening. We sat in the bar of The Cricketers watching the blizzard raging outside. By 9:30pm the decision had been taken to forego the last round and trudge back across the Common, battling stoically against everything the elements could throw at us. This morning the snow-covered landscape was a joy to behold and I couldn’t resist the urge to go outside a make a snowman. Childish perhaps, but great fun nevertheless.
Where did the time go?
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
Have you ever have one of those weeks where you start out, full of good intentions, expecting to achieve so much but eventually fail dismally to get anything done? Well, that was the story of my week. To be honest, the lure of a leisurely lunch on Tuesday and playing with my granddaughter on Wednesday was more than enough to entice me away from the Austins. Frankly, it was too cold to spend very much time shivering in an unheated garage, trying to persuade stubborn nuts to part from their bolts with frozen fingers that had lost all sense of feeling.
In addition to my aversion to frostbite, there are other distractions. The mere sight of a vintage car seems to draw attention from passers-by as moths are drawn to a flame. I will happily chat for hours about old cars but the chatting eats into my available time and, as the short winter days draw to a close, I often look back and wonder why I have achieved so little.
On the positive side, I have made a start on the repainting of the ivory Austin’s wheels. It involves scraping off the old paint, rubbing the wheel smooth with wet-or-dry paper and then painting with two coats of primer, two coats of undercoat and two coats of ‘old English white’ coach enamel. As you have to allow each coat to dry for 24 hours, it takes approximately a week to paint each wheel. I am now working on the second wheel, so the job should be finished by the end of February. Provided, of course, the weather doesn’t get any colder and no offers of leisurely lunches come my way!
What am I bid?
Sunday, January 22nd, 2012
Wednesday evening brought a surprise phone call. “Are you available for a wedding on Saturday”? The diary was empty so I thought “why not”? I usually encourage people to give me as much advance notice as possible but three days is still possible. It was a lady who saw the cars at the Alban Arena wedding fair back in October of last year and was impressed by them. I distinctly remember her because she was accompanied by the lady mayor of St Albans.
It was a straightforward job for me as we didn’t stray outside St Albans. They were great customers; friendly and chatty and I enjoyed the afternoon. The only downside was the cold. The Austin has no heater and after two hours I was frozen!
The mayor was a guest and we had a chat before she was whisked away to be photographed with the bride and groom. I volunteered to donate a trip in one of the vintage cars as part of a charity auction lot. So, if you should happen to be at one of the mayor’s fundraising functions and you get the chance to bid for a ride in a vintage car, please do dig deep and be generous. You can be sure it will be in a very good cause!
Chauffeur needed
Sunday, January 15th, 2012
It has been a busy weekend. After a very quiet time in November and December, the New Year has brought a veritable flood of enquiries for wedding cars. Yesterday, there were two viewings followed by another today. One of yesterday’s couples returned unexpectedly a few hours later brandishing a completed booking form and a cheque for their deposit. Thursday brings yet another viewing and finally there is another next Sunday. In addition to all of this, there have been emails asking for details and prices from other interested couples.
Whilst it is heartening to suddenly be the object of so much attention, it does bring its own problems. Finding extra drivers is becoming a priority. I can call in favours from Bob and Karl but it is unfair to ask them to give up too many Saturdays. So I would love to hear from anyone who has experience of driving vintage cars with “crash” gearboxes and would be happy to become a chauffeur on occasions during the summer months.
The MoT man cometh
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
The festivities of recent weeks seem a distant memory and most people are now back at work. At Heritage Classic Cars, things are slowly getting back to normal after the traditionally quiet December. There was an enquiry yesterday about availability for the Easter weekend and the day before that I arranged a viewing for a couple getting married later in the year. That is all well and good but another matter is now demanding my attention. One of the ivory cars has an appointment with the MoT tester at the end of January; the other one comes under scrutiny in February and the blue car follows in March. The cars all seem ok to me but there is always that tiny nagging doubt at the back of my mind that the tester may find something I have missed.
I usually take the cars to Guildford Road Motors in St Albans for their MoT tests as they have a good knowledge of vintage cars. To be honest, VOSA take a sensible and sympathetic approach when it comes to testing old vehicles and they are exempted from some of the tests applied to modern cars. For example, the emissions tests do not apply to vintage cars and the lack of indicators do not mean an automatic failure. Nevertheless, I shall spend a few days checking the cars and tinkering with brakes and checking for wear in the king pin bushes and in the steering joints.
Do you remember an earlier blog when I told you about the lady who sent me her deposit money but neglected to complete a booking form so I was unable to contact her? Thankfully, she phoned me last week and I now have all of the necessary details. That’s a relief! So all’s well that ends well, but no thanks to Lloyds TSB. I discovered that they are the customer’s bankers and I sent a letter to her branch asking them to forward a letter to her. I didn’t request any personal data and I even put a first class stamp on the letter that I was asking to be sent on to her. It would have taken only a moment or two for them to put her address on the envelope and pop it in the post but did they bother? Did they care in the slightest that their customer's wedding might be spoiled? Of course not! I imagine the letter was unceremoniously consigned to the waste bin. So much for customer service! The reputation of the banks for being uncaring, selfish and money-grubbing is being jealously protected by Lloyds TSB.
Happy New Year!!!
Sunday, January 1st, 2012
With all the Christmas and New Year festivities, maintenance work on the vintage cars has ground to a halt and everyone has been too preoccupied to think about hiring wedding cars. So, in the absence of newsworthy events, I shall keep it short this week.
In fact I shall simply wish everyone a very, very happy new year and invite you to pop back to the blog from time to time in 2012.
Our newest recruit
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
Here at Heritage Classic Cars we are always keen to strengthen our team of professionals whenever the opportunity arises. In 2011, we were very fortunate to be able to recruit Karl Boucher as a chauffeur and some of you will be meeting him in 2012. Yesterday, another bright prospect appeared on the scene and I am proud to announce the recruitment of Joseph Kordel to our line-up. I confidently expect him to be driving for us as soon as he passes his driving test; sometime early in 2029.
Joseph is a great little fellow who made his entry into the world just after 6:30am on Boxing Day. He seems to have inherited his handsome good looks from his proud grandfather but let’s hope he doesn’t also inherit the worst of his delusional traits.
In my last blog of 2011, it just remains for me to say that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish everyone a happy New Year!
Merry Christmas!!
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
Have you got into the Christmas spirit yet? Have you been swept along by a tide of festive celebrations and rejoicing? Or is “ bah, humbug” your standard response to seasonal greetings?
For weeks now, it has always been something in the background to me; something just over the horizon that is inexorably approaching but has yet to appear on the radar. That all suddenly changed yesterday with two events that brought Christmas roaring onto the scene. Firstly, the Christmas tree complete with bright coloured lights, gaudy baubles and anorexic fairy, made its annual appearance in the sitting room. Then, on the way to the Cricketers last night, we met Santa Claus. He was riding on the back of a lorry festooned with flashing lights and he was blasting out Christmas carols on his sound system which was set at a volume designed to make the ears of passers-by bleed. As he made his raucous way along Harpenden Lane, an army of helpers rattled collecting tins and groups of youngsters excitedly waved to the jolly old fellow.
The volunteers from the St Albans Round Table have been escorting Santa on his tour of the village for years. To me, his visit is the harbinger of Christmas; a sure sign the festive season is well and truly upon us.
So, to all past and future customers of Heritage Classic Cars and to all readers of this blog, it just remains for me to wish you all a very Happy Christmas!! Have fun!!