#15: Scimitars and black ops

On a beautiful morning in Brighton, I tracked down Steve Kennard on the workshop floor at 1st Class Garage. After discussing a mysterious starter motor issue on a Volkswagen van, I noticed the rear end of an exotic looking Reliant Scimitar – brake cylinder problems. We finished the discussion was a rant from Steve on the way the revenue from car tax is being spent in the UK.

Photo: exfordy

Andy: Hello everyone, I’m standing with Steve Kennard in the forecourt of his wonderful garage, First Class Garage.
Hello Steve how are you today?

Steve: Yes, morning Andy, no fine making the most of this nice weather we’re having. It’s supposed to be getting to sort of 30 degrees today, but I don’t know that we’ll quite reach that down here on the South Coast. But yes, it’s lovely, nice, pleasant good working conditions at the moment.

Andy: Yes, yes it is very. I’m surprised how acoustically quiet it is in here at the moment, why is that Steve? It’s normally very noisy in the work shop. I mean you look busy, there’s loads of cars here.

Steve: Yes, it is, there’s a couple of guys just gone out on a road test. And everything.

Andy:  That’s more like it.

Steve: Yes just on cue, the compressor fires up, you know. But no I mean…

Andy: Now it sounds like a garage.

Steve: Yes, yes I don’t doubt it’ll sound even noisier as it sort of goes on. Someone’s bound to pick up an air tool or something like they usually do, when we’re trying to sort of talk yes.

Andy: Actually it’s very much like that in an operating theatre, some of the tools they use on bones.

Steve: Yes, yes you’re right actually.

Andy: That’s a different story.

Steve: Oh absolutely, you know I mean I guess if you were to see some of the instruments they use you know. Like hacksaws when they’re…

Andy: They’re very similar to garage instruments, they’ve got compressed air power devices.

Steve: Absolutely, and joint splitters, I mean we remember you used joint splitters to sort of split ball joints. It’s no different like in the operating theatres, except that theirs are not covered in dirty grease and road grime, you know.

Andy: You mean you don’t dress up in greens and masks and things?

Steve: Well they say they’re meant to be clean but I don’t know, I’ve got my doubts in some cases.

Andy: So what’s been happening? Because there is lots of cars here. I can see a Volkswagen, a Renault Espace and a Volkswagen Van at the end I recognize from around Brighton, with the thing in the back window I recognize.
What’s going on? I know that that’s got an interesting story, because it’s a starter motor mystery isn’t it?

Steve: Yes, yes it’s one- it came in a couple of weeks ago, it wouldn’t start, we had to go and recover it.

Andy: So it’s a Ford Transit is it?

Steve: No, this is a Volkswagen Caravelle.

Andy: Just testing.

Steve: Yes, okay.

Andy: That’s why it’s got a Volkswagen sticker on the back.

Steve: Obviously you need to go to…

Andy: Specsavers.

Steve: Exactly, I didn’t want to mention it but, you know.

Andy: I was looking at the wrong van, I was looking at the one in front which is a Ford Transit.

Steve: Yes, that’s the Transit, no the Transit’s just in for a knocking noise on the front. We know what that is.
And on the Caravelle, had a starting problem, we recovered it back here. Had a look at it and it’s – there was no – the starter motor itself is dead. There’s power going into the starter motor, nothing happening. So we put a new starter on it. Fine, tried it, road tested it everything was fine, and off it went like, you know.
So here we are again, two weeks down the road, its come back with starting issues. And when we’ve sort of pulled the new starter out, the starter teeth, the gear on the end of the starter is all chewed up. Which is suggesting that the starter’s been staying engaged, or it’s been engaging while the engine’s running.
So when you’ve got a fly wheel spinning, you know and a starter motor trying to go into a spinning fly wheel. It’s like trying to engage- select a gear without putting your foot on the clutch, so you’re running two gears together and they’re just going to grate against each other.
And it looks as though that’s what’s happened here, which we suspect is probably down to, a bit of an intermittent fault on the ignition switch. Because the switch is – must admit feeling not as precise as it should be. You know when you turn the key on a car normally you get – see on cue we get the noise in the background now.

Andy: Someone manoeuvring a large vehicle into a space.

Steve: Yes, that’s a work shop.

Andy: By hand.

Steve: Yes, but you get this sort of turn the key and you get, a defined click for the ignition on. Or the first position on the ignition, another nice defined click for the second where all your lights come up on the dash. And then you turn the key, and you’ve got the spring loaded part of the switch, which operates the starter motor.
But we suspect there’s an internal problem there, which has been engaging the starter, whilst the vehicle’s already been running.

Andy: Steve how does this work? Because I remember when I was a little boy, my dad explained to me how a starter motor worked. And there was this thing called a dog, that flew forward when the starter motor started to go round and engaged in the fly wheel. But it’s different today isn’t it?

Steve: Yes, most starters now, in fact all starters really are called pre engaged starters. They have a solenoid built in, where the old starters you’re talking about, with the starter dogs were the old inertia starters which had a separate solenoid.
They were usually a bit noisier, maybe a little bit more unreliable.

Andy: So how does it work these days? Is it actually a solenoid that pushes that cog into position?

Steve: Yes, it all works the same, the principles and everything still works the same. You know you’ve got a solenoid on a starter motor, which has got a direct feed from the battery. Which is one of the big heavy terminals, goes on to the solenoid.
And on the other side of the solenoid, because there’s two large terminals is you look at the back of a starter. There’s two large terminals, and the other side has a short wire which disappears inside the body of the starter. That’s actually activating the motor.
But the solenoid is basically a heavy duty electrical switch. And there’s normally at least one terminal on the side of the solenoid, by the two large terminals, which receives power from the key.
So you can actually sort of run a normal, sort of 12 volt feed down a standard sized wire that would actually operate the solenoid. Which as I say is like a large electrical switch. Inside there you’ve got like heavy duty terminals where you get this heavy click. That then activates that part of the switch and the solenoid, which then in effect shorts the two terminals, the two large terminals. So you get direct feed from the battery, direct feed going into the motor on the starter.

Andy: Because those things draw a big current don’t they?

Steve: Oh yes, and they all sort of draw differing currents, but they are all large currents. I mean a lot depends on the vehicles themselves, you know it’s obviously something that’s like a diesel which has got heavier compression. This is going to need a bit more power to turn over than let’s say, one of the little three cylinder Corsa’s or the little two cylinder- blimey that’s going back some – the old Citroen umm…

Andy: 2CV?

Steve: 2CV yes, those sort of things. Which are not as heavy duty, so yes I mean the more compression on an engine, diesels etc would take a lot more to turn it. And hence a motor needs to be stronger.

Andy: Now Steve I can see the back end of an interesting looking car sticking out, can we go and have a look at it? I don’t know what it is, see that one over there? What is that? Can we go and have a look?

Steve: That’s a Scimitar.

Andy: Oh it’s a Scimitar?

Steve: Yes.

Andy: What’s the story with the Scimitar?

Steve: This one here is…

Andy: It’s really nice. It’s a classic.

Steve: It is a classic, I mean it’s a customer’s car, spends most of its time in the garage.

Andy: This garage?

Steve: Not in this garage.

Andy: No, no, no his own garage?

Steve: In his own garage yes, parked up.

Interview: And you can tell, it’s in beautiful condition.

Steve: Yes, he took it out last weekend and as he sort of pulled it out of the garage, foot on the break, the break pedal went down to the floor. Which is not good, a couple of pumps of the pedal, and the pedal came back.

This particular car here has got just a single cylinder, master cylinder. Or a single piston I should say. It’s not a tandem system. Tandem system means you’ve got a split brake in front and rear. So if you get a problem with one half of the brake in, pipe blowout or anything like that, you would still in theory have a little bit of brake in going to the other axel.
This one’s only got one cylinder, which operates all four wheels. From the main cylinder, which is connected direct to the pedal, that then feeds hydraulic pressure into an independent servo unit. This has got an independent servo, again it’s a single cylinder.
One of those cylinders is obviously, the seals inside are playing up, collapsing up when it’s left standing. So once you give it a few pumps of the pedal, it would apply the pressure behind the seal. And it tends to open the seal out a little bit, and which then starts working.

Andy: So what’s the solution, just a new seal?

Steve: Yes, we used to be able to buy seal kits, and I don’t doubt that with some of the classic cars, you can still get seal kits in places. But usually with most master cylinders now it’s just a replacement cylinder.

Andy: And presumably it’s still available, you can get these for the older cars?

Steve: Yes, parts are still around for a lot of these old classics. And you’ve got to remember, most of the old classics, you know you could buy- it was almost a case of one part fits all in a lot of cases. You know go back to the old Fords, and a lot of their stuff on the old Fords was so interchangeable.
Unlike today’s cars, today’s cars you know, you can almost say like through the course of a year it changes – a model changes so much that what fits a January model might not fit a June. And certainly probably wouldn’t fit a December type model.

Andy: They’re a bit like those annoying Lego kits that you get these days aren’t they, where the parts are so specific to the model you’re making. You can’t use them for anything else.

Steve: Yes, cars have got an awful lot like that unfortunately but…

Andy: So what model is this Scimitar?

Steve: That is a bloody good question actually.

Andy: It’s not shown on the back, it just says Scimitar doesn’t it?

Steve: It’s just a three litre. Yes it’s got the Ford V6 engine in.

Andy: So what’s the history of a Scimitar, where do they come from?

Steve: Believe it or not Reliant Scimitar, is what they were. Not totally au fait with them, as to where they originated, or when they produced the first sort of, sports type Scimitar.
But they did do various models, and they were I suppose, a little bit like a sort of a kit car manufacturer, apart from the old Reliant Robins.

Andy: I remember the Reliant Robins, you still see those occasionally don’t you? Very occasionally, on the motorway.

Steve: Yes, very rare, I don’t know whether you caught the ‘Top Gear’ last week…

Andy: No I missed it.

Steve: Yes, Jeremy Clarkson out in a Reliant Robin.

Andy: Did he fit?

Steve: Oh yes, he got in there, every corner he was just taking it a little bit too fast. You know 25 mile an hour in a Reliant Robin, round a corner equals sort of side or roof. And that was it really you know so…

Andy: So what do you think of these latest figures, from the government on the revenue from car tax?

Steve: Yes, they were saying yesterday…

Andy: Here we go, ranting ahead.

Steve: Yes, this is it. Enough of the garage and the motors, this is now politics.

Andy: Well it had to be discussed didn’t it?

Steve: Yes, absolutely you know, we mentioned in a previous episode about the problems we’ve had with broken springs, the condition of the roads. That sort of thing, and someone was doing it on I think it was Tuesday actually. Where they were having a bit of a rant, on the television about the conditions of the roads. And the government has released figures, the latest figures that the government have released. You know you take it with a pinch of salt, but they’re saying that the latest figures show that they took 48 billion pounds in road tax…

Andy: What last year? In one year in the U.K?

Steve: Well that’s the latest figures, so I mean how up to date these figures are I don’t know. Whether that was for last year, or the year before, but it’s their latest figures they’ve produced. And out of the 48 billion that we’re paying, for the privilege of putting our cars on the road, there’s only 10 per cent goes into the upkeep of the roads.

Andy: So approximately 5 billion? 5.8 billion yes.

Steve: Yes, see you’re rounding the figures up, if you’d said 5 billion. That means 43 billion pounds – you know.

Andy: Where’s that going then?

Steve: I’d love to know, you know I mean on that sort of score you could say “Well”. I mean if they were to stop filtering the money away and, use it for the purposes that it was never ever designed for or intended for. It wouldn’t take too long to pay off the national debt would it?

Andy: I know where it’s going, it’s going into black ops.

Steve: Going into black ops?

Andy: You know your black ops, you know when these – this is Andy’s theory now.
You know when these big crop circles appear in – not far from here, towards the West Country? And you get those weird blokes, men in black in their helicopters coming to check it out. And guys wearing nuclear suits, taking samples and things. It’s paying those guys.

Steve: Yes, it’s…

Andy: It’s black ops.

Steve: Yes, I suppose…

Andy: We’ve captured U.F.O’s you know? And they’re making military vehicles out of them.

Steve: This is what they’re saying is it? I bet they’re taxing them as well aren’t they?

Andy: Oh yeah, they’ll be taxing them for coming into the earth’s atmosphere.

Steve: I wonder what the road tax would be on a space ship. I don’t know, but I’m sure there would be. Along with the green tax as well, and the various other taxes that you have to pay, for the privilege of using a vehicle.
I don’t know, I mean, it always makes me laugh when they produce these statistics. Because you know the old statistics, statistics and more statistics…

Andy: Did you know that 37.5 per cent of all statistics are incorrect?

Steve: Yes, which means of course we’ve got sort of 63 per cent that are correct, or is it incorrect? I don’t know.
Yes I know, it’s that half empty half full syndrome isn’t it? You know, you’ve got one body that’s being paid ridiculous amounts of money, to produce figures, to make something justifiable, or not depending on which side of the fence you’re producing the figures from. So you can make figures read whatever you like, which is a total waste of money isn’t it?

Andy: There’s a heck of a lot of road works going on in Brighton at the moment aren’t there? There’s roads being dug up left, right and centre? Have you had anyone drive into any holes, recently?

Steve: You know apart from the seafront, which is as I have mentioned previously. We have to use the sea front road, on a regular basis, running to and fro Hove. Along with a lot of people, because they’ve – the council have forced everybody to use the coast road, travelling east-west.
Just at the bottom of Bedford Street, just about 200 yards from us here, you’ve got the gas board again. Now me, I hate the gas board digging the roads the way they do it. That road down there, the bottom of Bedford Street for the last, I think six years it’s probably been dug up a dozen times.
It’s a regular thing. Well they’ve got it dug up again, you know and if you look at the state of the road down there. They’ll come along, dig a hole, cone it off and then they’ll disappear for weeks on end. Then they’ll come back and do a bit, and fill it back in again. And then leave it, for someone else to come along, to put a top dressing on there. And that might take another couple of weeks. And then they’ll leave it again, and it might be another week before someone comes along and takes the cones away. Even though the road’s been finished, but the cones are left there.

Andy: Well it’s like on the motorway, when you’re forced to drive at 50 for miles and miles and miles. And there’s a lane coned off, and there’s nothing happening in there. And it say’s ‘Men at work’, well the men at work are the men laying the cones. That’s what the work is, cone laying.

Steve: Well, you know you’ve got to find jobs for the boys somewhere, haven’t you? I’m a firm believer, we keep on about the condition of the roads, and with the congestion and everything like that. All those sort of works on major routes, should be done overnight. Firm believer that’s how it should be done.
It’s done abroad in many countries, particularly where there is the same sort of thing. You know they recognize they have congestion, over here we know we’ve got congestion. We don’t do anything about it, we just say “Well you know, we’ll just stuff the motorists even more”. Give them more to think about.
I mean, you imagine now, like at the moment the temperatures, being sat in a car in a traffic jam somewhere…

Andy: Overheating problems.

Steve: Yes, yes I mean that’s…

Andy: Keeps you busy though Steve.

Steve: It is, that’s something for another episode, the overheating with this time of year. But yes, it is a – these road works just ah, they really grate on you because it creates more problems all round.
You know we talk about environment and everything and we’ve mentioned it before. If you have a car, sitting idling, it will give out more emissions than any car that’s actually sort of driving along.

You know if you can keep the traffic flowing at 30 mile an hour, because again this 20 mile an hour, I think is a total waste of time. You try and drive a car…

Andy: Whereas, from an environmental stand point as well, the old 20 because it’s so inefficient to drive at 20 isn’t it?

Steve: Absolutely, I don’t know what planet they’re on coming up with this. I can see…

Andy: But it would be okay if the cars were all electric? But for a petrol car, or a diesel car…

Steve: Absolutely, I can see the sense around the schools, those sort of areas it’s fine. But to actually try and implement a 20, you drive any car at 20 mile an hour, you’ve got to be going in second gear.

Andy: Second or third gear, yes, tops.

Steve: So which means, you’re actually revving the engine more. So you’re revving the engine more, you’re using more fuel. You’re using more fuel you’re putting more emissions into the air. What planet are these people on, and how do they come by this thinking, that 20 mile an hour is good for everything?

Andy: Well their argument is, that it will cut down on accidents. But I don’t know what the proof is.

Steve: Exactly, proof, show us the proof. But you know, it’s like the speed cameras, they keep saying about the speed cameras – actually they don’t call them speed cameras. They’re safety cameras, they call them now, but statistically…

Andy: They’re called Revenue cameras aren’t they?

Steve: Yes, more money makers. It is, that’s all they’re there for, because there is no real hard evidence to actually prove that it’s reduced accidents.
Originally, when the cameras were put up, they put them up in what they called the accident black spots. Now you tell me, down on the seafront, again on the top here down on Madeira Drive, there is a camera. It’s 30 along there, the cameras set at 34, you go along there 33 you’ll probably get away with it, 34 you’re going to get zapped.
That’s not an accident black spot. If you go along the end to St Dunstan’s, the camera on the left hand side there, it’s 50 going along there. You’ll get away with going through there at about 50-55. Anything over, you’re going to get zapped. Think of it as a 10 per cent rule.
That’s not an accident black spot. And wherever you see the cameras, down on the main London Road going out of Brighton. How many cameras going up that stretch?
They’re not accident black spots. So the cameras have not been put up where accident spots are. They’ve been put up, for no more than to make money.
`I don’t care what people say, it’s a revenue maker. It’s – cars of today you’ve got to remember, all the stopping distances on the Highway Code and that, were actually originally done when the Highway Code was originally written. And that was, I think it was 1948.
That was when we had cars out there with drum brakes. This was long before disc brakes, probably long before Servo units. And in a lot of cases, it was cables and rods where it probably would take you like half a mile to stop at 20 mile an hour.
But now the cars, with the ABS systems and the way that the cars are nowadays, these cars will stop far quicker. And at the end of the day when they say speed kills, that’s not quite true, is it?
It’s not the speed that’s killing, it’s the obstacle or the car. If the car hits someone, it doesn’t matter what sort of speed it can kill you at five mile an hour, it can kill you at 50 mile per hour. But it’s not the speed that’s killing you is it?

Andy: I think there is a statistic that says that there’s like a watershed of 30 miles an hour. And I believe that this is why they have it, that if it’s below 30 miles an hour, suddenly the chances of you surviving go up to 80 per cent. But if it’s over, it goes down to 20 per cent very quickly, there’s a big sort of dip at around about 30.
But that’s just pure impact at those speeds.

Steve: Absolutely, so that’s at 30? So where does the 20 come in?

Andy: I don’t know.

Steve: So why are they saying like “Reduce it to 20”.

Andy: Yes, I suppose they just want to be well within that sort of shelf.

Steve: No, no, no, next it’ll be ten, and then it’ll be back to horse and cart.

Andy: Horse and carts. That’d be green though, that’d be really cool.

Steve: Well you know, the problem there you see horse and carts…

Andy: You’ll have horses in the garage Steve.

Steve: They’re more dangerous. A horse kicks out, a horse thinks for itself.

Andy: I think you should think about that, I think you should have a part of the garage especially for horses.

Steve: Turn it back to stables, yes maybe so.

Andy: Anyway look Steve I could talk all day about this, I think we better stop it there. Thanks for talking to me, and remember everybody come to First Class Garage in Kemptown, Brighton, UK for all your motoring needs.
Steve thanks for talking to us.

Steve: Thanks a lot Andy..