Wow! Excellent thread! Gus, I know you are dead right, and I thank the Lord daily for all the gifts which I am lucky enough to enjoy. Today was a beautiful day, and this evening a couple of friends came over, and we drove in an Ace Bristol and Mk IV Cobra about 10 miles down country lanes to the pub for dinner. Even at 10.30pm on the way home we didn't need a jacket, and could smell the damp grass and the woods as we passed. It would have been lovely in any open car, but a brace of ACs can't be beat! I was also thinking about Keith's words about us being custodians, and I agree completely. The funny thing is that our cars have risen in value relatively recently. Before the hike, we were not custodians, but silly old gits playing with equally old cars. Go back 20 years and I bought my first Ace Bristol for 24k pounds. Five years ago you could have picked up any 428 Frua for 25k pounds, and about the same for a Mk IV Cobra. The Aceca Bristols were grossly undervalued too, which is now equalling out. Those with grey hair may remember the late 60s and early 70s when the AC Factory couldn't give Cobras away. Trevor knows better than me, but I seem to remember 2k being the going rate for a new one straight out of the showroom at the height of the Fuel Crisis. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and money always spoils the game. I was talking to Bill Bridges at the AC pub gathering at Runfold the other Sunday, and marvelling at his purchase of the Hairy Canary before the Classic Car world went mad. It has given him such a lot of pleasure, and good on him. Now where is that cocoa?