The restored front panels - fastened in place on 31st December 1998. This was the last thing we did before putting the first book through.

Far left: The windchest had deteriorated beyond repair and a new one was built by Brian Wells and Andrew Whitehead using the old windchest as a pattern.

Right: Saxaphone pipes being refinished.

Far left: The finished pipework.

Right: Andrew Whitehead checking the position of pipes on the top of the main windchest.

Above: The partially restored front - showing 50% salvaged components.

Above: Brian Wells sanding the pouches on the relay.

Chris, Helen and Kate Wells repainting the front.

One of the four "dancer" panels before and after restoration.

With the exception of the "dancer" panels, most of the paintwork had deteriorated beyond repair. The front panels and decorative scrolls were sanded back to wood and then painstakingly hand painted in the original colours.

The Gavioli is mounted in a model 68GX ERF, supplied new to S and E Johnson, Corn Merchants, Derbyshire. She spent many years travelling to and from Liverpool Docks and in the surrounding dales. After having one working life she then passed to John Scarrott and sons, showmen, of Woodford Halse. She spent many years carrying their rides around their fun fairs in Northamptonshire, before being laid up in the open for seven years. The Wells family found her just before she was to be cut up for scrap. Restoration followed over a period of several years, culminating in the building of the original style body that now protects the Gavioli.

During 1999, 2002 and 2005 the Wells' and some good friends made the marathon journey to the Organ Festival in Waldkirch, Germany; each trip being a journey of 1200 miles. We also travelled to Paris in 2005 and Brussels and Essen in 2006 to take part in their respective transport festivals. Not bad for a vehicle of over 40 years old that has been retired twice already! Each trip was completed with only minor incidents - a couple of punctures, and a warning for (lack of) speeding on the French motorways, where we apparently going too slow!

After preservation work was carried out

The Minneapolis Moline before preservation.

With this in mind, i would like to tell you why we are about to embark on the restoration of a care no doubt some of you sent to the scrap yard without a second thought. We are the proud owners of a 1972 Hillman Avenger 1250cc!

Perhaps I have misjudged you and you can quite understand why it was an exciting moment when James returned from an amble round the car line-up at Kettering rally to report that there was an Avenger in the line - and what was more - it was for sale! On the other hand, perhaps I was right to predict that this enthusiasm might require further explanation. The first car I can remember my family owning was a sky blue Avenger Estate, though this is just a hazy memory owing to the fact that I can only have been about five at the time. The second and third cars were both white Avengers, but it is the third which stands out most in my memory and which is responsible for the current contents of our garage.

This formidable piece of machinery had done the equivalent of a couple of circuits of the globe by the time it expired, had towed far greater weights than I can ever believe it was designed to do and had withstood the ravages of two growing children. Chrysler Avenger CLW521T eventually turned grey (as is so often the case after a hard working life) in order to match the 'fleet' of vans run by the firm. She ran for what seemed like years on unleaded fuel without having undergone any major surgery to make this possible, and even did her bit for the preservation of her predecessors in the transport world by fetching the mudguards for our ERF 133URB from up North. (She didn't do this on her own, mind you; there were limits to her talents). I recall getting up at 4am to accompany Dad on this great adventure, which was added to by the fact that he made me promise not to tell Mum we had done 100mph on the motorway!

Her interior was top-of-the-range shiny vinyl, which had tendency to remove a layer of skin from the backs of your legs in hot weather, and her ceiling was of a spotty pattern that may or may not have actually been holes. Years of poking children's fingers failed to solve the mystery. She sported two lines along her sides, which I am happy to note are also a feature of our current project, as is the vinyl interior, which is less of a cause for celebration! Sadly, CLW521T had to be laid to rest eventually and was succeeded by a range of vans and cars which failed to achieve the same status for me.

Perhaps you have similar fond feelings for an old piece of metal, and I would guess that many of you are reading this because you do. Whether or not it really makes sense to be so sentimental is neither here nor there. What it means in reality is that CNL809K now has a new loving home, and practically, that we can look forward (and I do mean look forward) to many chilly nights in a dimly lit garage, many (many) cups of coffee and no doubt many pieces of unidentifiable Avengerbits distributed around the house (well.... if past experience is anything to go by!)

Helen Wells and James Need....

The Italian company of Moto Guzzi was founded by Carlo Guzzi, Giorgio Parodi and Giovanni Ravelli who were Air Corps friends. After Ravelli was killed in a flying accident the company adopted the air corps eagle symbol in his honour. They first produced motorcycles towards the end of the First World War and went on to become Italy's largest manufactures of motorcycles.

The California was first produced in 1971 as a special version of the Moto Guzzi V70, and California's are still being made today.

JJU 71V was first registered in April 1980 and has the 844cc T3 V Twin engine. It is a mark 1 California, known as a 'Cali 1'.

I purchased the machine at the end of August 2003 after it had been standing in the previous owners garage since the last road tax ran out in September 1999.

On the good side, a month before being laid up Cali had received a major service and with only a few miles added the oil would be reasonably clean. On the bad side, the headlight was not working and several of the idiot lights only worked when they felt like it! Although the engine would start it would only turn over when it was in a good mood. The rubber brake hoses were also beyond safe use. The original panniers had been removed from the machine a long time before the last owner had purchased it and he had made the metal panniers which came with Cali when i got her.

The first job was to get the electrics working properly. Italian electrics are supposed to be really bad but with mainly Bosch components which are very reliable - there should be no problem. The faulty headlight was traced to a bad connection and after replacing all the connectors and a couple of bulbs - and after hours of frustrating fiddling, the electrics were sorted - all of which sounds a lot easier than it was!

Then next job was the brakes. Cali has a linked braking system where the foot brake operates the front left disc and also the rear brake. The handlebar lever operates the right front disc only. The original rubber hoses were beyond safe use and so i purchased a set of Goodridge Stainless Stesl hoses which once fitted would give  a much better feel and braking than the original rubber ones. At the same time the brake fluid was also changed for the brown much that was in the system.

I ordered a sump gasket and oil filter from the Moto Guzzi dealers - my next task was to change the oil filter. When Cali has been serviced, the oil they used was a semi-synthetic - degrading to teh same amount as normal mineral oil would have. There is a car type cartridge filter which for some reason is fitted inside the sump - so after draining the oil and removing a dozen or so Allen head screws the sump was removed to show nothing bad and no nasty congealed oil. After a clean, the new filter was added and the sump was replaced before being filled with fresh semi-synthetic oil.

After a good check all round and the insurance was sorted I booked Cali into a motorcycle garage for an MOT at the end of February 2004. I am glad to say she passed with no problems at all.

Since then i have done over 500 trouble free miles. I have also improved the cosmetics by replacing the steel exhaust pipes which were very rusted and pitted ,with stainless steel ones. I have also made lids for the pannier boxes which include locks. Finally, I added some white stipes to make it look more like they belonged to the machine. I was also lucky to find a brand new original pair of Voxbel horns which i have also fitted.

The pictures above show the finished machine - ready to cruise.

Bernard Robinson, 9/5/2004

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