Breakfast – WrAnTz

Goodwood Breakfast Club – Classic Cars

Sunday was the last Breakfast Club for 2023. As usual, there was a great turnout of both classic cars and spectators.

As usual, I’m posting a few photos from my visit.

First up then is this Gordon-Keeble. A British car marque with a local base, The original concept was conceived in Slough, and construction was in Eastleigh, near Southampton. Build took place between 1964 and 1967.

Oddly, the cars badge features a tortoise. The story goes that a pet tortoise walked into frame at a photo shoot and was chosen as the emblem.

And now for something completely different. Here, we have a Daimler Scout Car, known in service as the Daimler Dingo. It is a British light (3 tonnes), fast four-wheel drive reconnaissance vehicle.

Powered by a 2.5 litre 6 cylinder engine with 5 forward and 5 reverse gears, it was capable of speeds up to 55 mph. Although, speaking to the owner, this would be a noisy experience for the driver and scary, too, as stopping could be an issue. This vehicle only has drum brakes !!

No, this next one isn’t an aircraft carrier. Although it seems big enough. All I know is that it is a Ford

Oh, and 302 CI (cubic inches) equates to around 5 litres.

Next up is a rare beast. It’s a Rover P6 3500 Estoura. It was never a production car with only around 160 conversions having been completed.

Bought new in 1973 for around £2000 the conversion cost was just under £700.

I don’t really know much about this next car. I had to Google it, and this is what I believe it to be.

Austin Seven Mulliners Style Boat Tail 1938

An Austin Seven Mulliners Style Boat tail c1938. Providing a truly minimalist driving experience.

The Citroën 2CV, in French deux chevaux i.e. “two horses.” It was designed with the french farmer in mind to replace the ubiquitous horse and cart. It was literally designed to cross a freshly ploughed field with a basket full of eggs on the passenger’s seat without breaking them. Due, at that time, to a lack of paved roads in France. The 2CV was produced from 1948 to 1990.

A bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Triumph Vitesse looked just like it’s cousin, the Triumph Herald. But under the bonnet, the Vitesse had a straight 6 with twin carburettors.

Available in either a 1600cc or 2000cc version. I was lucky enough to own a 1600 version for a couple of years until the differential failed. Sadly, at the time, I couldn’t afford to pay for it to be repaired, and with no willing buyers, I had to scrap the car.

One of the prettiest sports cars ever produced was the mid-engined Lotus Europa. Produced from the mid 60’s until the mid 70’s, nearly 10,000 cars were produced.

Just look at the beautiful flowing lines of this next example, a classic Jaguar XK120, presented here in racing trim.

Potentially worth in excess of £300,000

Back across the channel to France for another beautiful car. The Citroen Traction Avant.

The Avant was one of the first production cars to incorporate front-wheel drive, a monocoque body construction, and all-round independent suspension.

Here, putting in a rare appearance is Russian GAZ M21 Volga saloon. Produced between 1956 thru 1970

And that is it from the Goodwood Breakfast Clubs for this year. Of course, there were many more vehicles on show. I have barely scratched the surface.

The Breakfast Club events are always good value for money as they are free. Even the car parks are worth strolling around as many more classics are there to be seen

Boiled Eggs

Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

Believe it or not, the humble boiled egg, is the one food that truly transports me back.

When we were kids, there were chickens and geese in our backyard. My dad used to feed them on commercially available feeds, but Mum used to give them all the veggie scraps from the kitchen. Stuff like potato and carrot peelings, trimmings from home grown leeks and the leaves from cabbages and cauliflower.

It’s hard to describe the flavour. The yolk always had a rich taste. Something that your typical supermarket factory produced eggs fails to match. As soon as you crack the shell, lift the lid. You can tell the egg is not going to meet expectations. The colour of the yolk is a dead give away. My childhood eggs all had a rich golden yolk. Today’s supermarket offering tends to be a pale yellow.

Obviously, the birds diet has a lot to do with how the eggs look and taste.

When was the last time that childhood memory was triggered ?

We were on our way down to Central France and had stopped at a B&B. They had chooks roaming around their orchard. The eggs served for breakfast, supplied by those hens, were simply delicious.

We Arrived

So, on Saturday, I posted about setting off to Menorca on our hols.

Surprisingly, given the recent negative news regarding delayed / cancelled flights and huge queues, our transit thru the airport process was trouble free.

We had pre booked Special Assistance, which meant that we were transported on an electric buggy, “the popemobile” and escorted through the security checks and on to the departure gate. We boarded the plane, like celebrities, through an entrance the opposite side away from the jet way. A special vehicle transported us from the gate and lifted us up to the plane.

Good news/bad news. Bad news, our flight was delayed and we departed around thirty minutes late. Good news, the pilot managed to make up the deficit and we arrived at Mahon on time. Whoohoo!!

And so, at 08:55, here we were, on the island of Menorca. Once again Special Assistance were the stars, helping Gerry off the plane, marshaling us through security, to baggage claim and on to the meeting point where we would be collected to go pick up our hire car.

It’s been a couple years since we were on the island but there don’t appear to have been any dramatic changes. It all looked very familiar.

Having obtained and loaded up our hire car, we were soon on our way to the villa, navigating largely on memory we arrived in Son Bou. We decided to make a short detour and stop for a bite to eat. We couldn’t decide if it was breakfast, brunch or lunch. Not that it really mattered, all we knew was that we had been on the go since 07:00 Friday morning and had last eaten some 14 hours ago. We were ravenous.

The Copa Cabana very quickly satisfied our hunger pangs, serving up a small, full English for Gerry, and a burger with egg and bacon for me. Delicious.

There was no sign of Tony, Rico, Lola or Barry Manilow !!!

And then it was on to the villa literally only a few hundred metres away and this fabulous view from the balcony.