Sadev’s e-mail with the message that our switch box could be picked up was a perfect excuse for us to go out again. Since, as always, we think first of all about our madams, we quickly came up with the idea of taking them for a day of shopping in London.
The first stop was Wenham Colchester which was a good 75 miles on the left from London. We had to search for Unit 15 Notley Ent Park Raydon Rd for a while because this turned out to be an immense ex-military domain, colored completely white on the GPS.
That the UK is a motorsport minded country was abundantly clear there, all the sheds in this area were occupied by all companies that had to do with cars or motorsport. This was far from civilization which was also noticeable by the countless “donuts” on the concrete. The ideal test track.
Eventually we arrived at our destination, a small warehouse with numerous CNC machines and racks full of cylinder heads, engine blocks, turbos,…. pretty impressive.
The driving force behind this workshop, a very friendly man, immediately took us – when he heard that we were renovating an E30 – to a warehouse nearby and what we saw there almost bordered on the impossible. The promising name “Bavarian Beauties” was really well liked. If you search for this on google, you will understand why we left our women in London.
But this company specialized in only BMW E30s and the arsenal of spare parts and cars that were gathered there is hard to describe. We bought a quarter M3 on the spot (literally an E30 greenhouse cut into 4) because we still needed a piece of flank. Given the dimensions, we could of course not take that with us, but that good man had quickly calculated the transport cost which came down to 25GBP. Luc and I had the biggest doubts about that amount, but the man was already diligently collecting bubble plastic and a pallet. It was all so unlikely that we really thought: “This is never going to get to Belgium and they are going to laugh that we are so foolish to believe them.”
Monday morning, 2 days after the facts, a UPS van with a very large package stops at my door (in Belgium!) , with a quarter of a BMW M3 …. incredible
In the meantime it was already afternoon and we still had to go get our gearbox in Harlow Essex, a 60 mile back to London.
This time not in the middle of a military domain but it was certainly no less impressive.
We have always had a very good feeling, in terms of professionalism of these people and it was just a confirmation. A very neat workshop with mechanics who knew exactly what they were doing and gave us explanations down to the smallest details. It was amazing how many different gearboxes were on display there.
We left there with a very good feeling.
High time to pick up the ladies and quickly eat something in London city, and then go back to the boat.
Despite the fact that we did our utmost, we did not manage to get to Dover in time. Result 2 hours extra waiting for the next boat. Very tiring after a day of shopping.