he December issue of Take Off is out. This is the last of 2011, and those of you counting will note that it is only the fifth and not, as we'd normally expect, the sixth to appear. Well, I fell behind in April and, well, anyway, there's five this year, OK?

However, if we just indulge in a little more counting and this time tot up the pages of the 2011 volume you will find we come in at a pretty decent 96, only 8 down on a `normal' years' total of 104, so not too shabby in the end.

As usual members can download a copy here.

hile trawling around a North London auto-jumble in boiling hot sunshine (if you can remember such a day) with my Bond T-shirt on, I got into conversation with a stallholder (as you do)! The stallholder seemed to be sizing me up for a sale. Well, he was — he wanted to sell me a bubblecar that he had bought to rebuild some time previous. He had not had time to start the rebuild and during that time the engine was stored safely in the bedroom. Came the day that his wife tripped over the engine and he was given strict instructions to either build it or sell it but to get the engine out of the bedroom! He decided he could not rebuild it himself due to ill health so he decided to try to sell it at the auto-jumble.

he National Microcar Rally was hosted by the Bug Club and returned to the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum in Calne in Wiltshire, and with the weather around much of the rest of the country being, in Met Office-speak `changeable', was impressively dry and pleasant — indeed I'm told that Friday was positively hot.

y wife Wendy and I hosted MicroNorth on June 17, 18 and 18th. MicroNorth is a car meet 'For any unusual vehicle with a special emphasis on Microcars'. The weather was perfect all weekend and we had a record number of vehicles in attendance. We had a total of 30 vehicles and we were joined for a short while by twelve Amphicars on Saturday morning, making a total of 42 vehicles, which is a record number of cars. We never know who or what to expect as there is no registration and no awards, so it is always interesting to see what new vehicles show up.

nthusiasts from Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire teamed up their microcars with somewhat larger vehicles at the St Helens-based North West Museum of Road Transport in the summer (July 2011) parking alongside veteran double-decker buses, fire engines and a fascinating mixed bag of old commercial vehicles, including a classic milk float.

The event was one of a series of year-round special displays staged to attract visitors to the museum which is run entirely by volunteers. "It was a great day out and convenient for most of the microcar owners that we currently know about in the North West," said Alan Town, Multi Micro Owner Club member, who organised the team run-out comprising of Isetta, Trojan and Messerschmitts (TG500 and KR200) to St Helens.

It doesn't look pretty: but it seems like it's all there... until you go looking underneath

t was a car that Wynford Jones dragged out of a garden somewhere in the West Country. It was clearly parked up complete but carrying an unknown injury. There it stayed until it was obtained by Wynford. By this time the floor and nose floor had disintergrated and much of the other paneling suffered from weathering. The engine has disappeared, maybe in Wynford's shed or before he ever saw it; I do not know. Suprisingly the wings are pretty good as is the door. On the downside the tub is poor with metal termites having attacked the tube frame.

It may be that a new monocoque will be used. The nose requires repair including the inverted curve for the wing flange at the front. Not an easy repaiar for the amateur. Most parts are present and while better ones will be bought if they are suitable the basis is there to restore. I believe the engine might be a Yamaha Twin but various options seem to be in the frame, as it were. All in all a pretty extensive restoration but from a car that even a few years ago would have been scrapped into parts I suspect.

New stock: Rubber floor mats

he MEC now has a new stock of rubber mats. These can posted to most countries or collected from 72 Emmbrook Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 1HG. The cost of the mat is £99.00 plus £12.00 post if in the UK.

When enquiring from outside the UK please give the country to which it is being delivered and means of payment (PayPal, IBAN, Cheque drawn on a UK bank). If paying by Paypal you need to add 5% to the total, if by IBAN £7.00 for their UK charges.

Monocoque Jig

ome years ago Russell Church looked at making up new monocoque frames having at the time a KR200 in bits with a rotted out frame. Being Russell this expanded into the construction of a jig to ensure the frame would be identical to original and I became involved by the loan and supply of various test bits. Another jig featuring a ram to bend the monocoque tubing to the correct shape joined the main jig. The side tube is not as you would expect a perfect curve but actually a straight bit, curve and then a straight bit.The side tube is not as you would expect a perfect curve but actually a straight bit, curve and then a straight bit. Then a further jig was required to put in the bend to horizontal where the box section fitted on down to the pedal mounts. The pedal mount itself required a tool to be created and tested in a press to get the required finished shape replicating the original. This done the formed cut frames could be put in the large jig to be welded together with a box section/crossmember.