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I have just bought the ex Danny Nelson, ex Pete Nolan, ex Danny Nelson, ex Peter Morris Maya Gold BMW engine Cabrio FF04 AVU (hereafter called Fifi by my wife) - previously registered as M99 RLN and H 539 NRX!
This has been a two year search with two trips to Stoneleigh and constant monitoring of the internet and thanks to Danny I now own one of the nicest and best built kit cars I've come across. This will be my fourth 'special' having built a Mallock U2 Mk8b in my youth and then once the family had flown the nest I rebuilt an NG TA and then a Calvy Mitchel MkII with a 3.5 Rover V8 which we toured around Europe. After nine years living on a houseboat and doing a lot of sailing, we're back into bricks and mortar with a garage so we just had to have another car.... I've always liked the classic 1930s/1940s look but it needed to have more modern mechanicals if it was to be used properly on our modern motorways and trunk roads - and also across Europe. It also needed a lockable boot to keep valuables whilst we might be in a restaurant somewhere....
The Marlin certainly looked the best bet and Danny assured me that a LWB Cabrio would do the job. However I'd never driven one before and when I went to view 'Fifi' the weather was most inclement and I didn't think I'd find Danny's lock-up again if I went too far away so I only drove a few hundred yards.
The car was beautifully built though and the gold colour does grow on you (!) so having paid my money, we planned to collect the car and drive at least some of the way home to Hampshire in the light. No chance of that! A upturned lorry full of cooking fat on the motorway held us up for a couple of hours so we didn't get away from Birmingham until after dark. Strange car, strange place, hood up and in the dark - still it was dry and the trip went with no hitches and Fifi was introduced to her new garage where she has stayed, thanks to foul weather - until yesterday.
Wow! (and wow again - if that's allowed?) - the sun shone for a couple of hours, so the hood came down and I managed my first blast across the South Downs. This car is just great - smooth with its straight 6, compliant - the roads aren't the best round these lanes, surprisingly little scuttle shake - nothing like my old MG TD and looks like being capable of chewing up a lot of miles without too much fatigue.
You never quite know when you buy a new (used) car what you are getting. It was quite a lot of money - money that would have bought a Merc SLK or possibly a Honda S2000 but it is nice to have something different and to be part of a very special group. I hope to be able to bring Fifi to Stoneleigh again next year and meet some of you - perhaps even the previous owners and thank them for the nice job they did.
This has been a two year search with two trips to Stoneleigh and constant monitoring of the internet and thanks to Danny I now own one of the nicest and best built kit cars I've come across. This will be my fourth 'special' having built a Mallock U2 Mk8b in my youth and then once the family had flown the nest I rebuilt an NG TA and then a Calvy Mitchel MkII with a 3.5 Rover V8 which we toured around Europe. After nine years living on a houseboat and doing a lot of sailing, we're back into bricks and mortar with a garage so we just had to have another car.... I've always liked the classic 1930s/1940s look but it needed to have more modern mechanicals if it was to be used properly on our modern motorways and trunk roads - and also across Europe. It also needed a lockable boot to keep valuables whilst we might be in a restaurant somewhere....
The Marlin certainly looked the best bet and Danny assured me that a LWB Cabrio would do the job. However I'd never driven one before and when I went to view 'Fifi' the weather was most inclement and I didn't think I'd find Danny's lock-up again if I went too far away so I only drove a few hundred yards.
The car was beautifully built though and the gold colour does grow on you (!) so having paid my money, we planned to collect the car and drive at least some of the way home to Hampshire in the light. No chance of that! A upturned lorry full of cooking fat on the motorway held us up for a couple of hours so we didn't get away from Birmingham until after dark. Strange car, strange place, hood up and in the dark - still it was dry and the trip went with no hitches and Fifi was introduced to her new garage where she has stayed, thanks to foul weather - until yesterday.
Wow! (and wow again - if that's allowed?) - the sun shone for a couple of hours, so the hood came down and I managed my first blast across the South Downs. This car is just great - smooth with its straight 6, compliant - the roads aren't the best round these lanes, surprisingly little scuttle shake - nothing like my old MG TD and looks like being capable of chewing up a lot of miles without too much fatigue.
You never quite know when you buy a new (used) car what you are getting. It was quite a lot of money - money that would have bought a Merc SLK or possibly a Honda S2000 but it is nice to have something different and to be part of a very special group. I hope to be able to bring Fifi to Stoneleigh again next year and meet some of you - perhaps even the previous owners and thank them for the nice job they did.
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