Today was new car collection day. My destination was roughly 160 miles from home, so a nice little run without being too much of a slog.
First order of business was of course fuelling up, for the last time. I'll miss the comedy lack of damping of this gauge. With half a tank the reading could vary between off-scale full or having the warning light on depending on which direction you were turning.
Breakfast was then consumed and we set off. Did take a quick break to grab a drink at Norton Canes Services, and took the opportunity to snap a last photo of the Lada sticking out like a sore thumb in a modern car park.
Little bit later and we found ourselves in an unassuming little back street, where I had a lovely chat with a gent I know from one of the other forums I'm on and handed him the keys to my Lada. Oh, and goodness only knows how many spares that I crammed into the back of it yesterday.
I will definitely miss that car, it definitely will be up there on the list of favourites.
I drove away in something rather different though...in many ways...many, many ways.
Which rather narrows things down doesn't it?
Yep...I've gone and taken leave of my senses!
There were a couple of points of concern. The first was that she hasn't had a decent run in forever, had been sitting in a damp garage for the last three months, and was running on fumes. Thanks to the first few points she was running on what sounded like about seven and a half cylinders. I had a feeling though that she would clear up once warmed up properly and able to clear her throat so to speak.
First step though was to very carefully limp to a fuel station as economically as possible and fuel up.
Turns out I probably wasn't running on fumes as the gauge appears to be a little on the pessimistic side.
My theory that we were facing a combination of fouled up plugs and a damp ignition system seemed to be on the money, as after ten or fifteen minutes once we got onto the motorway she smoothed out. Obviously I'll need to see if that remains so when next started up from cold...but I reckon she'll be fine. Ignition system service will definitely be on the to do list anyhow though.
Back home a few hours and 180 miles later, she was running really sweet.
I also made a quick run round to our local Shell fuell station to throw some V-Power fuel in. Running the numbers from the trip home showed an economy figure of 18.7MPG. Given she was running horribly for a portion of that and we had a fair bit of stop start traffic on the M1 that's actually better than I expected. If I can keep my average in the high teens I'll be very happy...though around here I'm not expecting it! MK is just murder on fuel economy, and there's really not much you can do about it.
Safely home.
Fun fact: Photographing a black car after dark is really hard.
The important details.
Original stereo still fitted which is nice to see, though the speakers have been upgraded at some point.
The lamp which provides illumination of everything aside from the instruments, trip computer and gear selector via fibre optics is obviously in need of replacement as it barely manages to provide a feeble glow - though they're not the most effective at the best of times.
Dash lighting is just fine at least.
Speaking of the instruments...I was surprised to see that the indicator lamp on the dash for the rear window demister is green...know that was quite common back in the 60s and 70s, but surprised to see it on a car from 1985 in green rather than amber.
For all they have their drawbacks it's hard to deny that Jaguar used to make some incredibly inviting interiors...
Also it has to be noted that I love the camera on this phone. That was taken completely freehand.
Observations.
[] Drives far, far better than expected for a 30+ year old Jag which has actually been used rather than pampered every day of its life. Absolutely no knocks or clonks from anywhere in the suspension etc.
[] Judder when braking (noted by former keeper), suspect a flat on the brake discs from when the car was standing around a couple of years back.
[] Electric mirrors refuse to adjust (noted by former keeper), suspect dirty switch contacts.
[] Air conditioning disabled (noted by former keeper) due to the clutch on the compressor pulley failing.
[] Veneer on most of the interior wood needs refinishing (been wanting to try to do that for years!).
[] Cruise control doesn't work.
[] Windscreen wiper blades need replacing as a matter of urgency.
[] Interior is a bit musty courtesy of spending months in a damp garage.
[] Exhaust was knocking against the underbody when we started out, but it cut it out once the misfire sorted itself out.
[] Tyres aren't the best.
[] Needs a thorough clean inside and out.
Very happy. Very, very happy.
Really looking forward to getting stuck into things tomorrow and getting to see if properly in daylight and get to know the car a bit better.
I'd originally been planning this to be a way to scratch the itch for a Jag which has been there since I spent a while driving the dark green one here.
Not really intending it to become a long term resident...however can already see it getting under my skin.
It just feels exceedingly special...
First order of business was of course fuelling up, for the last time. I'll miss the comedy lack of damping of this gauge. With half a tank the reading could vary between off-scale full or having the warning light on depending on which direction you were turning.
Breakfast was then consumed and we set off. Did take a quick break to grab a drink at Norton Canes Services, and took the opportunity to snap a last photo of the Lada sticking out like a sore thumb in a modern car park.
Little bit later and we found ourselves in an unassuming little back street, where I had a lovely chat with a gent I know from one of the other forums I'm on and handed him the keys to my Lada. Oh, and goodness only knows how many spares that I crammed into the back of it yesterday.
I will definitely miss that car, it definitely will be up there on the list of favourites.
I drove away in something rather different though...in many ways...many, many ways.
Which rather narrows things down doesn't it?
Yep...I've gone and taken leave of my senses!
There were a couple of points of concern. The first was that she hasn't had a decent run in forever, had been sitting in a damp garage for the last three months, and was running on fumes. Thanks to the first few points she was running on what sounded like about seven and a half cylinders. I had a feeling though that she would clear up once warmed up properly and able to clear her throat so to speak.
First step though was to very carefully limp to a fuel station as economically as possible and fuel up.
Turns out I probably wasn't running on fumes as the gauge appears to be a little on the pessimistic side.
My theory that we were facing a combination of fouled up plugs and a damp ignition system seemed to be on the money, as after ten or fifteen minutes once we got onto the motorway she smoothed out. Obviously I'll need to see if that remains so when next started up from cold...but I reckon she'll be fine. Ignition system service will definitely be on the to do list anyhow though.
Back home a few hours and 180 miles later, she was running really sweet.
I also made a quick run round to our local Shell fuell station to throw some V-Power fuel in. Running the numbers from the trip home showed an economy figure of 18.7MPG. Given she was running horribly for a portion of that and we had a fair bit of stop start traffic on the M1 that's actually better than I expected. If I can keep my average in the high teens I'll be very happy...though around here I'm not expecting it! MK is just murder on fuel economy, and there's really not much you can do about it.
Safely home.
Fun fact: Photographing a black car after dark is really hard.
The important details.
Original stereo still fitted which is nice to see, though the speakers have been upgraded at some point.
The lamp which provides illumination of everything aside from the instruments, trip computer and gear selector via fibre optics is obviously in need of replacement as it barely manages to provide a feeble glow - though they're not the most effective at the best of times.
Dash lighting is just fine at least.
Speaking of the instruments...I was surprised to see that the indicator lamp on the dash for the rear window demister is green...know that was quite common back in the 60s and 70s, but surprised to see it on a car from 1985 in green rather than amber.
For all they have their drawbacks it's hard to deny that Jaguar used to make some incredibly inviting interiors...
Also it has to be noted that I love the camera on this phone. That was taken completely freehand.
Observations.
[] Drives far, far better than expected for a 30+ year old Jag which has actually been used rather than pampered every day of its life. Absolutely no knocks or clonks from anywhere in the suspension etc.
[] Judder when braking (noted by former keeper), suspect a flat on the brake discs from when the car was standing around a couple of years back.
[] Electric mirrors refuse to adjust (noted by former keeper), suspect dirty switch contacts.
[] Air conditioning disabled (noted by former keeper) due to the clutch on the compressor pulley failing.
[] Veneer on most of the interior wood needs refinishing (been wanting to try to do that for years!).
[] Cruise control doesn't work.
[] Windscreen wiper blades need replacing as a matter of urgency.
[] Interior is a bit musty courtesy of spending months in a damp garage.
[] Exhaust was knocking against the underbody when we started out, but it cut it out once the misfire sorted itself out.
[] Tyres aren't the best.
[] Needs a thorough clean inside and out.
Very happy. Very, very happy.
Really looking forward to getting stuck into things tomorrow and getting to see if properly in daylight and get to know the car a bit better.
I'd originally been planning this to be a way to scratch the itch for a Jag which has been there since I spent a while driving the dark green one here.
Not really intending it to become a long term resident...however can already see it getting under my skin.
It just feels exceedingly special...
