The Skeoch project

Continuing from last month the donor steering column shroud was welded to the bulkhead mounting plate and to maintain alignment extra stays were bolted between the bulkhead and the front chassis.

The project received a welcome increase in liquidity with a donation from the Bert & Ruth Dunn Trust, plus proceeds from the resale of the unwanted Model T Ford front axle, allowing us to settle outstanding supplier invoices and buy a Ford Model A handbrake lever.

The month was largely spent wrangling controls to clear existing components such as the steering column, exhaust and cockpit floor. Fitting the dashboard, cab and seat floors has allowed us to clear most of the control/component fouls and has made the chassis more car-like. Next month we will need to remove the floor and seat bases to fit access hatches top underfloor controls.

We ended last month fitting final controls to the Beardmore Precision engine, and sorting transmission access hatches. The countershaft hatch under the seat was cut, but the cab floor had to be re-cut in its entirety to accommodate moving the gear lever and handbrake further outboard, to give better access to the footbrake pedal. Procuring and fitting the missing AMAL carb parts allowed us to complete the engine controls ready to coax the engine into life.

A slow start to the year due to the festive break and member’s holidays, however work continued on fabrication the starting mechanism which will allow a handle start via a chain driven sprocket on the engine flywheel, early February.

The build really began to gather pace in February after significant injections of cash from the sale of the last Riley 9 parts donated by Archie & Betty Sinclair, and a very generous cash donation from one of our new Shedders – thank you Tony. The resulting purchases included a pair of vintage Auteroche Phares acetylene lamps, upholstery materials, and covered car transporter.

In March the Shed was locked down and progress halted. The lock-down had a huge impact on all the Shedders, who missed their project work and social interaction. Tom, one of key members of the Skeoch team, has lived with Parkinson’s for 17 years. He suffered a relapse at the beginning of lockdown, and recovering from his hospital procedures took a huge toll on his mobility and wellbeing. By early June Tom needed a practical interest, so the Skeoch was moved from within the Shed to a private workshop where Tom could tinker and interact with other individuals whilst observing social distancing.

Good old-fashioned fabrication skills resolved two of the our ongoing build difficulties – a new hand built starting handle & support bracket is now robust enough for repeated use; and a process of hand beating long louvres into bonnet side panels was developed using a profiled concave die machined by Donald. Coachwork progressed with the fabrication of rear wings and front wings (inner and outer). Work started on the upholstery, rubber flooring and windscreen support frame.

With the coachwork moving to completion, this month’s efforts were largely expended on resolving a couple of drive issues. The engine was removed to find an oil leak source, which lead to a complete engine strip down.

This month saw many of the workfaces complete, the wheels came back from powder-coating looking good and were re-fitted; fitting the seat squab completed the upholstery and trim items such as the boot and bonnet catches, the radiator badge, number plates and makers plate were fitted. Although the Skeoch team will continue to rework some of the mechanics to improve robustness, the car runs well and is ready for the paint-shop.

The car is now essentially complete mechanically, and ready for the paintshop, final details such as the hood and radiator badge will be fitted after painting. Discussions with Fiona Armstrong, Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries, in her role as President of the 2020/21 Royal Highland Agricultural Show regarding displaying the finished Skeoch at the RHAS in June 2021 are positive, and in her role as a television journalist, Fiona spent several hours filming in Dalbeattie and Palnackie for a Border Life piece on Shed life during Covid lockdown. The film is planned to broadcast on ITV Border in November.

With the Skeoch now ready for paint, it has been loaded into our display trailer where it sits waiting for space in the paintshop. Meanwhile thoughts turn to post completion displays as our original plan to unveil the Skeoch at the 2021 Scottish Motor Show [100 years after its first exhibition] has, like Burns said of many plans, “gang aft agley”. Even without the restrictions of lockdown the Scottish Motor Show has not run for several years and is not planned for 2021 too.

The Skeoch is now being prepped for painting, starting with the driver’s side being flatted down.

Tighter lockdown due to new variant COVID knocks confidence in public events; centennial plans to display and publicise the finished Skeoch are scrubbed.

A superb paint job at Sanderson Auto Repair – thanks Sany – and the Skeoch is ready to return to storage pending a few wee tweaks and lockdown easing sufficiently to arrange public unveiling(s).

After 16 months closed The Shed was re-opened on Monday 5th July with restricted numbers attending, under protocols compliant with Covid Protection Level 1.

Following the successful exhibition of the Skeoch car in Dalbeattie and points west in July, in August the car exhibits were to the east. On Saturday 28th August we were invited to exhibit the car at Annandale Distillery. This event was particularly poignant because Fiona Sinclair had arranged the visit with Professor David Thomson to allow the car to be driven around his distillery, and by bringing her parents to the event we achieved one of the principal project milestones – drive the Skeoch with Betty Sinclair, daughter the original Skeoch designer and builder, as passenger.