I have now fallen in love with my car

This was a seminal weekend for me and the TVR. A nice long three days off with reasonable weather and much to do. Over the weekend I visited two car shows, received hundreds of compliments and spent good bonding time with my little one who now appears to have changed her mind about Daddy's noisy car.

The first show was Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe. A small show but a good turn out of fifty cars including everything from a 1930s Roller to hot rods, Aston Racers and MGBs. The Chimaera was more modern than most of the kit there - it's closest rival being a 1980s Sierra Sapphire Cosworth in mint condition. However, it held it's own well and saw an awful lot of attention. This was split between the adults coming over to start with the line "I used to have one of these..." and the young lads who loved the detailed engine bay and interior. It was by no means the star of the show but plenty lusted after it and wanted to know more. Which made me happy.

What I did find interesting was that no matter how well groomed I though my Chim was, next to concours material, it looks almost the less loved brother. But then the blokes who run these flawless machines every weekend spend more time polishing their chrome than enjoying their motor so good luck to them. I did notice a small rubber bung had been ripped from the front left side of the interior engine bay bodywork, exposing a bit of the fire glass and leaving a nasty hole through which rain could percolate into the innards. A bit of sealant has delivered a quick fix but I need to work out what it did so i can find another one.

The second was the much larger and considerably more established 'Cars on the Green' at Croxley Green run by the local Watford and District Classic Vehicle Club. It's a well know event that happens on May and August Bank Holidays and usually attracts a couple of hundred cars. Very well organised and a good spread. There was a huge variety there, all parked in reasonably obvious categories so you can compare similar vehicles next to each other. There were two other Chims there - no Cerbies or Griff which was a surprise. The first was the clean but not entirely inspiring red 450 below. It was nice but a bit stock for me.

The other was a more interesting 400 in Ash Green (I really love that colour) with a turned alloy dash and an aftermarket grill that added to the car's presence. It looked like it had aftermarket suspension too but the owner was off looking at other stuff so I couldn't ask him.

What struck me most about the show was that the best cars in terms of attention and quality were the late 70s, eighties and even nineties cars. People are clearly really starting to show love and attention to pristine models from these eras and good ones are starting to look rather special. Check out the brand new look on this Golf GTi 16v, the perfect Calibra below, a really lovely Fiat Coupe, and my personal star of the show this immaculate BMW M5. Just beautiful and there are so few of these about that aren't just M535i's.

Again - the Chim got lots of attention and it was nice to have a car there that people seemed genuinely interested in. There were plenty of rarer cars but the subtle modifications to my little beast obviously drew the same attention from others at as it did from me six months ago. Nice to know it's considered worthy of attention. Not quite as much as this bonkers Merc SEC. God know what engine it's running but the twin sets of quad side exit exhausts hint at the monster within.

The car's attention had made the little one think twice about her hatred of the car. And being able to clamber all over it whilst others can only look (see below) but not touch made her feel special. So Daddy's car is back in the good books, for now.

But it was none of the above that made me decide to keep this car for a bit. It was something much simpler. It was Shell V power. My god what a difference that fuel makes to this car!! I was told by my trusty mechanic that an older engine like this won't see a lot of benefit from a higher RON fuel. Time to find a new mechanic. It's a totally different car. The pick up from low revs is much stronger, it's smoother all round, it moves through traffic with less grumble and it starts like it should. The drives from place to place this weekend were a dream - so much so that I starting to wonder what about this car had not clicked with me so far. Perhaps it was just trying to tell me it wanted steak not gruel.

Where previously I have been unsure, today I am a Tiv owner reformed. Never again will garbage fuel enter it's tank.

My wife still hates it though. Frankly, I don't care. It stays.