Working on The Great Collector's fleet, I often wonder why designers sometimes made things more difficult than they needed to be. I suppose the modern equivalent is the complexity of procedures we have to endure simply logging in to sites on our computers - one wag pointed out the irony of robots asking if we were human.

Oil pipe unions can be frustrating to reconnect when the threads don't want to align - a bit more pipe to play with would have helped.

Awkward came along to supervise the tuning of the Alvis, and once the jets and controls had been properly set and adjusted, it was running very well.

When I first started up the Morris 6 engine in the Hillman Special, I wasn't aware that it was essential to prime the oil system as its convoluted route from pump to head was inclined to encourage air locks. It took almost a minute and a half to register pressure on the gauge - worrying moments. Mr Holmes recommends turning the engine over - plugs removed - and feeding oil into the gallery along the bottom of the block until it comes back at you. I can't now get an oil can in the right position to do that job, so Mr Holmes has sent me a spare plug into which I've introduced a feed pipe.

I'm hoping that this adapter will also make the process less messy. The plug is easy on the thread, so once the system is filled it shouldn't be too much trouble to put the original blanking plug back in.

Staying with pipes, I finally got around to completing the fuel line. It wasn't an easy job and I messed up some of the bending - 90° in the wrong direction isn't helpful - but the addition of the bulkhead connector which shares the same bracket with the rear brake pipe union, helped with rigidity. The chassis clips are 70's Ford products.

Headlamps have been on my mind of late, and I've always admired Awkward's 1928 Model A Ford lamps that adorn his Avon Special. The bowls are quite sharply gathered at the rear making them much less flabby than the more traditional tub. I've acquired a kit of parts and because the bonnet will be fully articulating, I envisage mounting them on the radiator shell.

The Sunbeam wheel well was an opportunity to use both my new-to-me bending brake, the bead roller and small slip roller. Machines make life easy. There was still a lot of handwork with hammer and dolly to shrink the curved flange. The well will need some adjustment to fit - ruler gremlins - but it was good to get some practice.

I was messing about with the formers for the cabin area and seeing how it was going to shape up - so to speak - when I noticed something wrong.

For some reason, the gap between the top of the wing and the tyre is four inches too big. This error compounds itself down to the back of the body. I'm confident that the tubular spine is at the right height as that was bent around the central former, but something's not right somewhere. I've dismantled it all for the time being and shall concentrate on getting the car moving under its own steam before readdressing the bodywork.

What I think I have got right is the style of the steering wheel.