Ever willing to follow up an interesting snooting story for your consumption, this roving reporter was sent, under much duress to the sunny islands of Trinidad & Tobago in the West Indies. It seems that a small but enthusiastic branch of the DSG have set up residency on the Islands and are enjoying rather too much of the sunshine. Obviously as chairman it was my duty to address the troops and report back. My mission was to check up on two particular ex pats, an HPF with some history and an HSR whose been abroad so long I had to give her a serious talking to, just to remind her she’s British, What What!

Seriously though, long time member Peter Blincow and his lovely wife Ruth have, in the last couple of years retired to Tobago. Peter and I have been friends for a number of years and worked together closely to set up the VBOA. Peter always reminisced about holidays and Christmas on Tobago, so it became a standing joke that one day I would go and spanner for him when he eventually retired over there. Imagine my excitement when at Billing this year, in the middle of a field of cars, Peter asked, "when are you coming over for a visit?"

Peter had a fairly varied Collection of classics, most of which he has shipped to the island. It is his HPF which was of most interest to me as it has a fair bit of unique history.

Peter’s Snoot is one of the left hand drive examples, used for assessment in the USA when the HPF project was first productionised. 

 She has a few odd bits, a fully trimmed boot and different centre console being examples, but other than a lick of paint she is in fine fettle.

Peter Blincow’s left hand drive development Snoot, now resident in Tobago. Peter is going to write all about his long involvement with Vauxhall and the HPF.  That’s an Editorial prompt Peter.

As Peter has been involved with Snoots for longer than he cares to remember, (he is DSG member No 2), so I won’t say any more and spoil the wonderful article he has promised to write for the DSN. An editor prompt may help here.

Suffice to say my stay with Peter and Ruth, who is just the best host, was wonderful. I managed to work most mornings and beached in the afternoons. The weekend parties were truly amazing and just kept going into the small hours. Fried chicken at 3am is better than a dodgy kebab any day.

From Tobago I took the opportunity to hop across to Trinidad to visit another long term member Toolsie Singh and his HSR, PAM 9775. As a matter of fact PAM is not so much Toolsie’s car as the whole family’s.

This lot, (Susan, Roger, Kevin and Toolsie) are actually the West Indian equivalent of our own Lindsay clan and spread the Vauxhall word as enthusiastically as anyone I know. We may complain about keeping our cars on the road, well I take my hat off to this troop who have owned PAM from new and managed to keep track of and look after this very demanding lady for the past 23 years.

Toolsie’s love of things Vauxhall is much deeper than I thought, having prepared and raced an HB GT for many years prior to owning the R. Apparently the car still exists and now languishes under a palm tree taking in the sun. Toolsie’s son, Kevin informed me that he had tried to buy the car back, but the palm is apparently very attached to it!

The Singh family, L-R, Kevin, PAM, Mrs Singh, Susan and Toolsie.

I spent an afternoon with Kevin as he showed me some of the Island and the treats it has in hiding, notably a one owner ‘E’ model Cresta, brought back in 1956. 

We had a good chat with the owner, a real character, who still had the sales leaflets and colour charts. The only modifications he has made 

were the fitting of a 1957 model grille, because he preferred its look and 13" front wheels so that he could see over the bonnet!

In the yard next door were Jaguars, Triumphs, Healeys, Lancias, MGs and Rolls, all in various states of decay. On Saturday we went into Princes Town, stopping en route to see a racing Lotus Elan, still in competitive use against much newer turbo Jap kit. The owner still had the original spec sheet from Lotus and BRM who rebuilt it as a race car back in the sixties.

Back at Toolsies there was much eating, drinking and reminiscing to get through. I was pleasantly surprised when PAM was eventually revealed to me. She is in one piece and good health. OK a few minor things need doing and a lick of paint wouldn’t go amiss, but I’ve seen much worse in the UK if the truth be told. On Sunday I had a little fiddle and set up the carbs and mixtures for them. A sticking throttle, which would have taken more time than we had to fix brought our fiddling to an end, so we opted for another beer and took some photos.

On the Monday I went back to Tobago for an emotional goodbye from Peter and his family. All in all it was one of the most memorable club events ever. Thank you all for your hospitality.

ARTICLE TAKEN FROM THE DROOP SNOOT NOOS - ISSUE NO. 84 SPRING  2003