THE only Westminster which Sir David Steel is likely to come near this
week is the old Austin variety. Steel the parliamentarian is currently
fully absorbed in another role which he embraces with total enthusiasm.
Clad in duffel coat and cloth cap he is Steel the classic car rally
driver.
On Sunday the Borders MP and other British enthusiasts crossed the
start line in York and joined hundreds of crews converging on the French
Midi from other start points in Norway, Holland, and Portugal for this
year's Monte Carlo Classic.
It will be Sir David's third Monte but what makes 1994 different is
the car. For the first time he is driving his own, a newly acquired 1966
Rover 3-litre Mark III which headed off from the Steels' Peel Tower home
near Selkirk last weekend in something very close to showroom condition
despite its 28 years.
By tomorrow night, when the Rover and its three-man crew tackle the
hill trials in the mountains behind Monte Carlo, the car's two-tone
juniper green and pine green paintwork may show the signs of 2000 miles
of gruelling motoring over five days, but the working parts will be
reaping the benefit of a loving restoration programme at the Rover plant
in Solihull.
''The car used to belong to the former British Ambassador to Russia,
Sir Geoffrey Harrison,'' said Sir David. ''It was shipped to him in
Moscow brand new from Solihull in 1966 and he continued to run it back
in this country after he retired.''
The Rover was sold by the former ambassador's widow after his death in
the 1980s because it was too big. Sir David tracked it down last year,
laid up minus clutch and exhaust, and bought it for #1000.
Rover agreed to renovate the car as their sponsorship for the rally
and gave the job to Lou Chaffee, a former works engineer in the old
Rover rallying team, who devoted his time to the car in his last months
before retirement.
''He has restored it to prime condition. It is beautiful to drive and
as solid as a tank,'' said Sir David.
He and his co-driver, Edinburgh lighting consultant Andre Tammas, had
a one-day test rally in Wales over New Year after which the Rover went
back to Solihull and Lou Chaffee for more fine-tuning. With rally seats
in the front instead of its former deep leather ''armchairs'', plus
special tripometer for precise rally distance measuring, and an array of
special map-reading lights, the Rover is back in business.
Even with nights of broken sleep and the tension imposed by pinpoint
navigation tests, the journey through Europe will certainly be a more
comfortable experience than last year's Monte for Sir David, Tammas, and
third crew member, Dick Bowdler of Culross, Fife. Then Sir David's team
crammed into a borrowed 1967 Ford Anglia. ''The third man didn't even
have room to stretch his legs and, to add to everything, exhaust fumes
were leaking into the car. We actually ended up first in our class, but
it was a journey to remember,'' said Sir David.
Undeterred, he and Andre tackled the Paris-to-Marrakesh classic rally
last summer in a 1960s three-gear Ford Zephyr which quickly developed
clutch and brake problems. ''Either it wouldn't go or it wouldn't stop.
Apart from that it was fine,'' said Sir David. ''We limped down through
France and managed to get the Zephyr on the ferry. But we had to abandon
it in Tangier and it was eventually shipped home. I had a much easier
return journey in a plane.''
The Steel attraction for ageing cars began with a half share in a 1932
Morris when he was a George Watson's schoolboy working on a Perthshire
farm during the holidays. For #15 he and a friend acquired transport
that had lately been used as a hen coup. It had no glass and the brakes
operated on one wheel only.
At Edinburgh University he graduated to a 1938 Morris 8, followed by a
Rover, and developed a growing skill and enjoyment in DIY maintenance
spurred by a young man's shortage of cash with which to pay garage
bills.
When he married his wife Judy in 1962 he was also lavishing attention
on a Morris 10. ''I don't think Judy has ever quite forgiven me for
spending more money than I could afford on a respray. As a result we
spent our honeymoon in Skye instead of Paris,'' he said.
Since then a classic Alvis has been in and out of the Steel stable and
Judy still uses a 1961 Riley 1.5, registration DS 5121, as a runabout in
the Borders.
Between rallies the latest addition will spend most of its time as the
Steel town car in London. ''It is already much admired at the House of
Commons. Westminster has quite a few car freaks,'' said Sir David.
In Birmingham, the successors of the men who built the car that once
flew the Union Jack in Moscow may be wondering about their future in the
uncertain new world that follows the takeover by the Germans of BMW.
David Steel, inheritor of a slice of the motoring past, regrets the
passing independence of the last major UK volume manufacturer. ''For me
Rover will always seem British,'' he said. And his Rover always will be.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article