Not quite hot on the heels of Project Barry, but on the heels nonetheless, comes Project Sydney. For those who don't know and haven't cared up to now, Sydney is a 1973 Austin Mini. I am owner number 8, and have now started the rebuild that will, hopefully, see Sydney restored to something like his former glory.

The main problem at the moment is the floor. Yesterday I started work on stripping the car down to its component parts so that everything can be examined, cleaned, painted, repainted, replaced or whatever else is required. I jacked the car up [at which point my jack decided to act more like a blancmange] and lowered the car onto a pair of axle stands. Unfortunately the car kept creeping towards the floor after the jack was removed. The reason? The floor is knackered - totally inhabited by the evil tin-worm. I had an idea this was the case a while back and so I've purchased a replacement body for the car...

Anyhow, for now I'll stop rambling. The headlines for today are:

• Work has started
• Need a new jack
• The front suspension has been completely removed
• My right hand has a massive bruise and a not insignificant lump on the back of it due to a spanner-slippage incident
• The original end date has slipped and I'm not expecting to join this years London to Brighton run :-(