'Moose'

The Delivery and Blenheim Palace
5-7 June 1998

After flying into London from Germany the night before, we made our way to West Clandon, Kent, 45 minutes by train from Paddington station. We met Alan Hill, from Over the Hill Motor Company, outside the station where he picked us up in our new Trav. Gleaming Snowberry White, 'Moose' burbled down the hill to stop in front of us. What a lovely sight - our very own Traveller!

We delivered Alan back to his workshop and paid the bill for the tidyup work and suspension modifications that he had done. We had intended getting Alan to fit a Fiat 2 Litre Twin Cam engine before we picked up the car, but unfortunately he couldn't find a suitable engine in time to have it all ready for us. Probably just as well, because at the Blenheim Palace show we found a much more suitable and modern conversion. More on that here.

What we did get Alan to do though was to fit adjustable telescopic shocks front and rear, and a front anti-roll bar. We will be doing a lot of miles in this car, and probably with a lot of weight in it, so we want the ride to be both comfortable and safe.

We made our way out to Oxford, a few miles away from Blenheim Palace where the show was being held the next day. We spent the next few hours, until the evening dark settled in, cleaning out the interior which was to put it politely, filthy. We originally thought that the carpets were in desperate need of replacement. As it turned out, they are in excellent condition. They just needed 5 years worth of filth vacuumed off them!

The 50th Birthday weekend at Blenheim Palace was simply awesome! Moose was parked amongst thousands of other Minors whilst we wandered around the trade stands, buying everything we could. There were scale models, new and used parts, modification kits, pictures, carpets, car covers, Traveller wood, cars for sale, throw rugs, pens, signs, etc etc. In the carpark there were row upon row upon row of Saloons, Tourers, Vans, Utes and Travellers, some standard, some mind-bogglingly customised. And they just kept on arriving throughout the whole weekend. Moose was suitably humbled.