A Visit To Hadleigh Show 2023
May 22, 2023
This past weekend, I spent some time at the 184th Hadleigh Show with my family. Although Bridge Classic Cars weren’t in attendance, I couldn’t help
May 22, 2023
Turning A Corner With Sideways Driving
May 22, 2023
Hyundai has recently made a prototype Ioniq 5 that demonstrates a rather interesting feature – the ability to drive sideways! Coming from Hyundai Mobis, the
A Day At The Rickinghall Classic Car Show
May 22, 2023
We arrived at 9.30 am at the Ricknghall Car Show to be greeted by the lovely Geoff Short, on behalf of the Jaguar Car Club,
Ready For Sandblasting
May 22, 2023
Our Ford Transit MKII has been with classic car technicians Steve and Lydia recently as the strip-down continues. Lydia took the covers and foams off
A New Starter For Our Sunbeam
May 22, 2023
Classic car technician Jon has been working on our 1980 Talbot Lotus Sunbeam which has recently returned to the Bridge Classic Cars workshop. Jon’s main
A Visit To Hadleigh Show 2023
May 22, 2023
This past weekend, I spent some time at the 184th Hadleigh Show with my family. Although Bridge Classic Cars weren’t in attendance, I couldn’t help but be drawn to some of the vintage and classical farm machinery and vehicles.
From tractors, quadbikes, diggers, and alike, it was great to see so many vehicles that would have been heavily used in the region over the decades.
As well as the range of classical working vehicles, I was particularly drawn to the 2023 Isuzu D-Max painted in a personal favourite of Matte Black that was on display on the brand’s stand.
While the vehicles were obviously able to hold my attention for much of my time at the show, the animals were a big hit for me and the family too! The Shetland Grand National definitely seemed to be the highlight of the day for many in attendance.
More than 15 thousand people visited the Hadleigh Show this year and it was a great day out for us all.
A good friend of Bridge Classic Cars, Luke, also attended the Hadleigh Show and took some photos of his own…
Turning A Corner With Sideways Driving
May 22, 2023
Hyundai has recently made a prototype Ioniq 5 that demonstrates a rather interesting feature – the ability to drive sideways!
Coming from Hyundai Mobis, the division of the brand that focuses on parts and developing autonomous driving, the e-Corner system was installed in the special Ioniq 5 to showcase its capabilities. The system involves each wheel having its own electric motor, electronic damper, and brake and steer-by-wire controls. All of this allows each wheel to drive, stop, and turn independently. It also means that the wheel modules can be freely fitted to different body styles without taking up space in the rest of the vehicle.
As each wheel can turn and drive independently, the e-Corner system allows the vehicle to drive in some very interesting ways. For example, all the wheels can turn 90 degrees which means you can move your vehicle sideways, in and out of a space that would usually require parallel parking. The system also allows you to turn your car on the spot by swivelling the wheels outward before driving them in opposite directions.
An Improved But Not Entirely New Technology
The e-Corner technology isn’t completely new as there have been other manufacturers that have experimented with using individual wheel motors in the past. However, this is the first time that full 90-degree steering is possible.
There still aren’t too many details available for this potentially industry-changing system. So far, Hyundai has said that it could be available around 2025 but there are still some obstacles to overcome before this becomes a reality. Getting the same levels of performance that are currently offered by existing EV technology seems to be a big focus.
Something else to consider is that drivers have been able to get by with a lot less complicated systems than this. While parallel parking would, undoubtedly, be made easier, some will see the e-Corner system as nothing more than a gimmick. That being said, the turning capabilities could certainly make driving on busy or narrow roads a whole lot easier.
A Day At The Rickinghall Classic Car Show
May 22, 2023
We arrived at 9.30 am at the Ricknghall Car Show to be greeted by the lovely Geoff Short, on behalf of the Jaguar Car Club, who had organised the day. The day was sunny and breezy with about 200 cars in attendance of varying makes, marks, models and eras, everything from our 2009 Porsche Caymen to a classic Mini and even vintage tractors.
Molly and I had a wander about the show and were lucky enough to be able to meet some of the owners of the exhibiting vehicles. A gentleman called Mike talked us through his leaf-green Austin Healey Frog-eye Sprite which he has restored from scratch over the last 20 years, another couple talked us through their Austin Seven which ran very well and had a lovely vintage suitcase strapped to the back. Molly fell in love with a beautifully cared-for Fiat, her owner Heidi keeps her pride and joy well polished!
As well as the cars on display there was also a craft fair filled with lots of homemade items including fudge!
We welcomed Freddie to the team this weekend, he fitted in like part of the furniture and was able to talk to members of the public about our Porsche and also the 1980 Saab Turbo that we took over with us.
All in all a lovely day was had by all and marked the start of the car show season for us.
Ready For Sandblasting
May 22, 2023
Our Ford Transit MKII has been with classic car technicians Steve and Lydia recently as the strip-down continues.
Lydia took the covers and foams off the frames before taking the frames apart and sandblasting them. This was in preparation for Chris in the Bridge Classic Cars paintshop to paint the frames. Lydia also took the covers apart as new vinyl is wanted which is being sewn to the original fabric faces.
While Lydia was working on the seats of our Transit, Steve carried on stripping the main body of the vehicle. A tool had to be made in order to remove the steering Pittman arm.
An adapted trolley was used to move the stripped Transit ready for it to be taken to the sandblasters.
A New Starter For Our Sunbeam
May 22, 2023
Classic car technician Jon has been working on our 1980 Talbot Lotus Sunbeam which has recently returned to the Bridge Classic Cars workshop.
Jon’s main focus was to replace the starter. To do this, he started by stripping the wires from the main terminal of the starter and labelled them. There were 5 connections here, plus a start connection from the solenoid to the starter – this was not required for the new starter. Jon removed the starter and installed the new one.
Once the new starter was in the car, only 2 of the 5 wires reached the connection. Jon made a short connector wire to run the power connections that were on the old starter. He used a small bolt to secure the connections together and then taped this up to cover. The loom was then fixed securely back into place.
