Tuesday 21st March - Gertie2 finally returns home.

 September 17th 2022 was the date that Gertie2 moved into storage in North Essex. Now, due to impending work required and some Club Triumph events coming up, it was time to bring her home. 

I had spoken to Colin Wake (who was the guy storing it) on Friday night and asked him to just check her over over the weekend to see if all was well or if was going to be a problem waking her from her long winter hibernation. To my surprise it turned out that she started straight away and didn't even need a jump start! Not bad for a car that had been sitting out in the open all the time. (Although it was under a car cover)

My next task was to figure out how I was going to get up to Colin's at Frating, north of Colchester tso I was able to bring it home. Various phone calls were made and favours asked and eventually a plan was formed. To cut a long story short, I was collected from my home at around 7.45am by my friend Nick where we then sat in his workshop at Great Baddow, near Chelmsford drinking coffee and eating jaffa cakes. (Strange breakfast!) 

I was then picked up at around 9.45am by another friend, Sally,  who then dropped me off at Colin's as she was working in Colchester for the day. The big challenge in all of this was that I had to be back in Chelmsford for work at 12pm. Colin already had the car uncovered and ready to go when I arrived, so we had time for a quick coffee before I departed. 

I checked the fuel gauge and was pleased to see there was just under half a tank of petrol in there, and then it suddenly dawned on me that the last time I had put petrol in this car was in Rolduc in Holland on the penultimate day of the 10CR. Over six months ago! 

After finishing my coffee I went to start the car, but then disaster. 'Click, click click'. The starter motor wouldn't engage. Luckily, it just turned out to be a loose terminal lead on the battery. God knows how! 

With this sorted, she started no problem and I set out for work. 

I had a trouble free drive and arrived at work with 15 minutes to spare where I parked it in the warehouse. I also had a trouble free drive home after work as well. It was quite low on fuel by the time I got home, but I didn't want to put any more petrol in as I'm going to have to drain the tank anyway so I can remove it and fit the injection tank. All in all, a long but successful day.