BACKBARROW, Lake District, England — As promised, here is my third and final article on Motor Museums in England.

In addition to those I wrote about previously, my trip with the Morris Minor Registry of North America also visited the Lakeland Motor Museum.

On the day of our visit, the weather was gray and rainy, and we arrived at the Museum the same time as a Brass Era car club. The cars all had hoods (convertible tops), but were completely open on the sides. Think about that the next time you don’t want to drive your classic Mini in the rain! Ford Model Ts were in abundance, and there were several unfamiliar marques including the Scottish-built Arrol-Johnston.

The Museum website states they have over 30,000 exhibits, including 140 cars, trucks and motorbikes. A variety of small airplanes were suspended from the ceiling, and there were several 1960s-era faux storefronts and a 1930s-era car repair shop.

There was an entire gallery of pedal cars, and a bicycle collection dating back to 1870. Costumed mannequins occupied some vehicles, and some interiors contained period products. Every inch of wall space was covered with automobilia. An incongruous advertisement for Exide car batteries showed a picture of a smiling baby playing with a toy car.

Of course there was a focus on British vehicles, but there were also French, Italian, German, Swedish and American cars. British cars included a 1937 SS Jaguar 100, a 1936 Austin Seven, a 1964 Peel P50, a 1965 Peel Trident, a 1957 Austin A35 (with a loose metal child car seat in the back), a 1931 MG M-type Midget, a 1960 MGA Police Specification Roadster, and a 1968 Triumph TR5. The lone classic Mini was a 1990 Mini Cooper Limited Edition.

For motorcycle fans, there was a 1948 Vincent Black Lightning, as well as other historic British marques.

I did a double-take at the huge Smurf collection under the hatchback of a blue Ford Fiesta. Smurfs were very popular in Britain in the late 1970s and ’80s, when petrol stations gave them away as promotions and sold them in their shops. The blue, white and yellow color scheme of one petrol chain matched that of the Smurfs.

I counted four Citroëns — a 1921 Type A 10CV, a 1952 Model 11BL, a 1990 2CV6 Dolly, and a late model DS. American cars included a 1920 Model T Delivery Truck manufactured in Manchester, a Buick and a Corvette. Germany was represented by an Amphicar, a Messerschmitt KR200, and a Trabant.

There were far too many vehicles to list them all, but these were some of the highlights.

It was difficult to pick a single favorite vehicle, though the 1960 MGA Police Roadster was at the top of my list. The car was driven by male and female mannequins wearing police uniforms. There were flashing lights, police signage, and public address megaphones mounted at the front and rear. Controls for these accessories were mounted in the dash where the radio would normally reside. The MGA was a variation of the 1600 Deluxe/Twin Cam specification, with larger battery carriers to handle the extra electrical equipment.

It was amusing to see a Peel P50 and Peel Trident parked next to each other. The P50 holds the record as being the world’s smallest street legal motor vehicle. It weighs only 130 lbs., is powered by a 49cc moped engine, and lacks a reverse gear.

Many readers no doubt have seen the Top Gear episode where Jeremy drives a P50 to work at the BBC, then into the building, into the elevator, and around the office corridors. The Peel Trident is not much bigger. It tips the scale at 198 lbs., uses the same moped engine, and is optionally a two-seater.

The Museum owns about 50 pedal cars, many of which are a good match to their 1:1 scale counterpart. Most had their steering wheel in the center, though a few larger models were right-hand-drive. Marques included Austin, Jaguar, Lotus, MG, Morgan and Land Rover. The Morgan Aero Super Sports 3-wheeler had working headlights and a non-working replica of the V-twin engine.

The most noteworthy bike was a 1930 Tricycle with two front wheels and a single rear wheel. The Tricycle is believed to have been built in Bath and was powered by a front-mounted Micromoteur Propellor two-stroke engine, which the French company Labinal sold to be added to bicycles. According to the Museum, the engine did a fine job keeping the rider cool but did little to reduce the pedaling effort. I have never understood the French fascination with mounting propellers on vehicles other than planes.

Making only slightly more sense than the Tricycle was a 1936 French home-built aeroplane known as Le Pou du Ciel (the Flying Flea). The Museum’s example was fitted with a Scott Flying Squirrel motorcycle engine. The engine had only five working parts, with no valves, valve gear or tappets.

About 120 Flying Fleas were registered to fly in England. However, the designer had a poor knowledge of aerodynamics, and the planes began to fall out of the sky. The British Air Ministry withdrew its permit to fly following three fatal accidents, each involving experienced pilots.

There was a second building that contained replicas of world speed record cars and boats as a tribute to the racing career of Sir Malcolm Campbell and his son Donald Campbell. Adjacent to the Museum was a 1950s-style café featuring local specialties such as sticky toffee pudding.

If your travel plans include the Lake District of England, I recommend allotting a half day to visit the Lakeland Motor Museum. Their website https://www.lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk/ shows a subset of their collection.

As the 2024 driving season progressed, I noticed the brakes in my 1968 Mini Traveller were becoming less effective. When I first depressed the pedal, it went down much lower than usual. Initially, pumping it once or twice restored pressure and normal braking. But the issue got worse and by the fall, three pumps were required. I tried adjusting the brakes but was unable to get one front and one rear wheel to lock up. Bleeding the brakes didn’t help, either, despite the expert assistance of my wife Betty.

Many brake components in my car were replaced between 2012 and 2016, with the exception of the left rear wheel cylinder. Removing all four wheels and drums showed significant, and uneven, brake shoe wear to all four front shoes, with some under 2 mm. There were no external fluid leaks, though there was a small amount of fluid inside two front wheel cylinder boots and the left rear boot, so there were minor leaks around the seals.

It was clear that a brake job was in order.

Of course, on closer inspection, additional issues cropped up. The handbrake rubber gators on the rear backplates were dried out and cracked, about half of the left handbrake cable threads were broken, the rear brake adjusters and tappets were worn down, bolts were used in place of clevis pins, and some steel lines and fittings were very rusty.

The biggest surprise was when I gave both rear hubs a firm spin. The left hub rotated several full revolutions, but the right hub only moved a few inches. Add replacing the right rear wheel bearing to the list.

I put together a large parts order for Mini Spares in the U.K., selecting genuine parts when available. This included AP Lockheed brake cylinders all around, AP rear brake adjuster and tappet kits, and a Timkin tapered roller bearing kit for the right rear wheel. The genuine brake cylinders are more than twice the price of aftermarket parts, but are hopefully of better quality.

Originally, only the Mini Cooper S was equipped with Timkin tapered roller bearings. Other models had ball bearings held in cages or inner races. Tapered roller bearings are stronger than ball bearings and can easily be removed and re-packed with grease. Eventually, all classic Minis had tapered rear roller bearings, and that is the only style now available.

It was mid-November when all the parts arrived. My garage is not heated, but I figured there was time to replace the rear wheel bearing before it got too cold. The brakes will wait until early spring.

I did an on-line search for “Classic Mini rear wheel bearing replacement” and found a lot of videos, articles, and newsgroup posts. The video quality varied quite a bit and there was some contradictory information. The procedure varies slightly — depending on whether you have early bearings that used a spacer, bearings with a built-in spacer, early rear hubs, or later hubs produced by Rover. My Mini is an Mk2 with early hubs that may be original to the car. They are stamped MOWOG and there are BMC part numbers in the castings. Later Rover hubs require a paper-thin shim and may take a small O-ring on the stub axle.

To access the hub, you must first remove the brake drum (after loosening the brake adjusters). The hub bearings are covered by a grease cap. Early caps like mine have a small hole in the center intended to reduce pressure when installing the cap. There was a lot of grease around the outside of the cap and on the face of the hub, which is not something you want to get on the brake shoes. I used a large flat-bladed screwdriver and worked my way around the hub lip, gently prying up. The cover popped off and it was full of black grease.

The next step was to remove the split pin, castle nut, and large hub nut washer. Note that the right castle nut is right-hand thread, and the left is left-hand thread. I expected the nut to be very tight since it was supposed have been torqued to 60 lbs. It came off rather easily, though I needed to use a small pry tool to remove the washer.

This exposed the ball bearings and a lot more black grease. With low expectations I pulled hard on the hub and it slid right off the stub axle. This was a pleasant surprise since I thought I would need to borrow a hub puller. One bearing cage had disintegrated — the ball bearings were loose, and several fell out. This was clearly the cause of the hub binding.

The hardest part of the procedure was removing the old ball bearing cages (inner races) and the outer races. The rear grease seal needed to be removed from the hub first. There are special tools for this purpose, but I used a screwdriver and small pry bar.

I don’t own a large enough vise to hold the hub, so I placed thick cardboard on the garage floor. My bearings had built-in spacers, and I used a ball peen hammer and steel drift to drive out the old bearings. (A brass drift is preferable and less likely to scratch the inside of the hub.) Starting with the back of the hub on the cardboard, wheel studs facing up, I worked around in a circle, tapping on the edge of the rear cage to drive it out. I then flipped the hub over and drove out the front cage.

There are two slots cast inside the hub that provide access for removing the outer races. I placed the drift on the edge of each slot and tapped two or three times with a ball peen hammer, alternating between the slots until the outer race fell out. I repeated this process on the other side. I was careful not to score the inside of the hub with the drift.

I wore a pair of heavy-duty disposable gloves and used a lot of rags and shop towels to clean the old grease off the hub, hub cap and castle nut. A spray with brake cleaner removed the residual grease. The old split pin and grease seal should not be reused. The roller bearing kit comes with new parts. I also bought a new hub nut washer since the old one had a deep groove in it.

The videos showed two different methods for installing new outer races. First you insert the new race in the hub with the narrower diameter side facing down. You then place the old outer race on top of it, and moving in a circle, tap the new race into place. The other method used a bearing race driver, which is a metal disk with a metal handle bolted to the center.

A professional mechanic friend loaned me a bearing race driver, as this seemed like the better method. After bolting on a disk that matched the larger diameter of the outer race, I tapped on the handle to drive the race into the hub.

For both methods, when the outer race is tapped into place there will be a change in pitch when it reaches the bottom. I checked to make sure it was fully seated and gave an extra tap or two to be safe. Then I repeated the process for the other side.

Most videos demonstrated the old-school “scooping” approach to packing the new bearing with grease. I used Timkin brand red bearing grease, though any good quality brand from an auto parts store should be fine. I wore disposable gloves, and put a large blob of grease in my left palm. Using my right hand, I pushed the large end of the bearing cone assembly into the grease. This forced the grease into the rollers, cage and cone.

I rotated the entire bearing assembly in a circle, repeating the scooping process. Excess grease that was forced out the small end was scraped back into my palm. I also smeared extra grease on the outside of the bearing assembly and made sure all the voids inside and outside of the rollers were filled.

After the first bearing was packed, I placed it narrow-diameter side down in the rear side of the hub (the side opposite the wheel studs). I put a little grease on the lip of the grease seal and installed the seal with the groove side facing in.

I used a seal driver to seat the seal, which is the bearing driver with the plate flipped around so the larger side is on the seal. Alternatively, you can lightly tap the seal with a hammer moving in a circle around the seal. The installed seal should be flush with edge of hub.

I packed the second bearing using the above method, and then it was time to re-install the hub on the car. After sliding the hub onto the stub axle, I inserted the second bearing into the front of the hub with the narrow-diameter side facing in. The bearing washer may have a curved edge and a completely flat edge, in which case the flat edge side should be against the bearing. (New washers are flat on both edges.) I tightened the castle nut by hand and verified the hub turned freely.

The Workshop Manual says to torque the nut to 60 lbs. I did so, then backed the nut off by one flat and a little more as needed to fit the new split pin through the holes in the nut. I then installed the split pin, bent over both sides, and installed the hub grease cap (without filling it with grease.)

Finally, I gave the hub a firm spin. No more bearing drag! First project complete.

PUTNAM, Conn. — The NEMO Holiday Party was held on Saturday, December 7th, at the Black Dog Bar & Grille in Putnam.

I got a ride down from Framingham, Mass., with Ken Lemoine. We arrived a little before 12 noon and the restaurant was already crowded. Two or three other groups were also holding holiday parties. This year we were on a sun porch at the far end of the building. It was a good thing we waited for the maitre d’ to show us to the room or we would have crashed a different party.

The cocktail hour lasted for about an hour and most NEMO members trickled in by 1 p.m. Everyone was busy chatting and it took quite a while for people to be seated so we could order off the menu.

There were 22 people in attendance, including new member Sebastien Geerens and his father-in-law Mike Bailey. Sebastien is at the young end of NEMO’s demographic and owns a 1991 Rover Mini 1000 Checkmate (black body, white roof) he imported from Belgium. Fran and Dave Brown were also present. We haven’t seen them since Mini was the Featured Marque at British by the Sea in 2019.

After lunch we held a business meeting. Dave Black provided details on NEMO finances and the Hrach Fund, both of which are healthy. There are 47 members in the club, with couples counted as a single member. We discussed renewing our adoption of Morris Mini-Minor Number One at the British Motor Museum in the U.K., as well as making a donation to the British Transportation Museum in Ohio.

Yours truly led a discussion on options for communicating with NEMO members after the final issue of British Marque is published in May, 2025. I recommended modernizing the website, getting a NEMO Constant Contact account for sending group e-mail, and updating the Facebook page more often. Sebastien suggested creating a NEMO Instagram Page as a better alternative for communicating with younger members and offered to help set one up.

Ken Lemoine provided an update on the upcoming Bay State Motor Festival, which will have a dedicated British car area. The Festival will take place on June 8th, at Cushing Memorial Park in Framingham. Not only did Ken get a commitment for the date, but I heard the Framingham Mayor announce the Festival at a fall town meeting. See the event calendar for details.

The last item of business was the “Mini Enthusiast of the Year” presentation. Faith and Bruce have given this award at irregular intervals to people in the club they felt deserved recognition. It is not an official NEMO award, but a personal award that Faith and Bruce announce at the Holiday Party.

Dave and Barbara Newman were the 2024 recipients due to Dave’s many Mini-related posts to the NEMO Google group, Barbara’s inventiveness in coming up with costumes to wear at the British Invasion, and their ownership of multiple Minis. The Newmans will soon be moving to Florida so this could be the last opportunity to recognize them in front of the NEMO membership. The award was a model of a Mini mounted on an engraved stand.

Nuala Barker picked a microwavable Scottish Highland Cow heating pad and the shortbread. She kept the cow, but the biscuits were stolen. A pewter wall-hanging Mini bottle opener changed hands a couple of times.

The highlight of the day, though, was the handcrafted gift that Sebastien brought — a MINI sign etched on glass in a wooden frame, complete with remote control to control the color. It, of course, changed hands multiple times, but Derick Karabec managed to take it home.

Several people wore holiday themed sweaters, shirts or entire outfits. Derick and Lorine Karabec went all out and could have moonlighted as Santa’s helpers at a mall. Be sure to check the NEMO website and Facebook page for color photos of the guests and the Yankee Swap.