Hob nobbing with the Daimler Lanchester Club

[akku]

I'm well behind with my photos. Anyways, a couple of weeks back was the Daimler-Lanchester Owner's Club International Rally, a 4 or 5 day event which was actually in the East Midlands. So I hoped to get the Conquest Century ready in time, but sadly did not. So I attended in the '71 Ford Galaxie 500 which is largely my daily driver at the moment.

They were all* staying in a local hotel I went to pick up my "rally pack". I knew I was in the right place....















































































Day one was a trip to the Taylor's Bell Foundary in Loughborough, the last surviving full scale bell foundary in the UK. Not car related but I enclose photos showing this as I think a lot of you are pervs for all sorts of ancient manufacturing and engineering

[akku]

Day two was a drive out day with touring in the Leicestershire countryside























We ended the day at the house of one of the members for a little car show in his garden.

















I didn't do day 3 and 4 as I had Dragstalgia and a VSCC event that weekend.

[rattlecan]

Nice pics, did you get honouree membership for being in the ‘Land-Yacht-Chester’ Club 😀 sorry I’ll get my coat 🤦🏼‍♂️

[surprisingskoda]

That foundry looks all sorts of the right kind of grubby. Guaranteed no millenials work there...

I'm sure Daimler owners must get very tired of explaining why their car isn't a Jaguar and no it wasn't used in "Morse".

[akku]

Aug 4, 2023 11:40:47 GMT surprisingskoda said:

That foundry looks all sorts of the right kind of grubby. Guaranteed no millenials work there...

erm, guaranteed they do. And zoomers. They have an apprenticeship scheme. I didn't see anyone much over 50 in the place. Except the tour guide.

[surprisingskoda]

Aug 6, 2023 17:17:10 GMT akku said:

Aug 4, 2023 11:40:47 GMT surprisingskoda said:

That foundry looks all sorts of the right kind of grubby. Guaranteed no millenials work there...

erm, guaranteed they do. And zoomers. They have an apprenticeship scheme.

It was only a tongue in cheek comment anyway, but that's really good to hear. Hate to see old skills die away and apprenticeships are almost a thing of the past.
I also have no idea what a zoomer is (and don't care to know!)

[sonus]

Jul 25, 2023 10:58:18 GMT akku said:

Day two was a drive out day with touring in the Leicestershire countryside


....

We ended the day at the house of one of the members for a little car show in his garden.

....






I didn't do day 3 and 4 as I had Dragstalgia and a VSCC event that weekend.

This Daimler DB18 Drophead Coupe reminds my of my dads beige and blue DB18 DHC. We had numerous family holidays driving from Norway to the UK in it. Me and my sister having to sit in the back with legs folded like buddhas since my dad filled the back of the car with classic car parts to bring back home to Norway. One year he had the entire wooden frame for his MG TD in the rear footweels. Another year we blew the exhaust manifold gasket and dad had to drive very carefully, but he could not help it when a large american barge like yours overtook us. Dad put the pedal to the metal and the driver of the large american car jumped as the old british Daimler roared out much louder than most muscle cars

All very good memories so thanks for posting

[akku]

Aug 7, 2023 9:01:13 GMT surprisingskoda said:

Aug 6, 2023 17:17:10 GMT akku said:

erm, guaranteed they do. And zoomers. They have an apprenticeship scheme.

It was only a tongue in cheek comment anyway, but that's really good to hear. Hate to see old skills die away and apprenticeships are almost a thing of the past.
I also have no idea what a zoomer is (and don't care to know!)

The generation younger than Gen Y (Millenials) is Gen Z (Zoomers). Now we ran out of letters I guess the human race is doomed.

But yeah, its good to see investment in skills. If you run a business like that you need to develop your own skills as I don't think many kids will leave school with a diploma in bell founding...

[jimi]

Apprenticeships are making quite a comeback, loads of them around these days for all sorts of jobs/ages. I hear them advertised on the radio a lot now, certainly much more than 5/10 years ago.

[DarrenW]

Great thread! Mk2 Jags/Daimlers are some of my favourite cars of all time.

[Seth]

Its good that there is a bell foundry keeping the skills alive. Whitechapel Bell Foundry was the country's oldest continually operating business until it shut its doors a few years ago in controversial circumstances and the premises are sadly neglected at the moment. There are hopes for some sort of proper re-birth rather than the boutique hotel that was on the cards.

[MiataMark]

Aug 7, 2023 9:55:09 GMT jimi said:

Apprenticeships are making quite a comeback, loads of them around these days for all sorts of jobs/ages. I hear them advertised on the radio a lot now, certainly much more than 5/10 years ago.

Apprenticeships in all areas not just the traditional/stereotypical areas, such as hairdressing, carpentry, plumbing etc, are increasing all the time as an alternative to university and student loans. Why go to University and end up with a £40K student loan when you can do a Degree Apprenticeship and get paid while you do it and build up work experience. The apprenticeship levy has made a big difference as well (larger organisations are taxed and have to spend the money on apprenticeships).

I work with Digital apprentices, Data Analyst and Cyber Security are big expansion areas as well as the Technical Support, System Admin, Software development areas.