Richard Casady wrote:
On Wed, 3 Jun 2009 06:28:53 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
Then GM tried with
the Vega,
There were five thousand with four valves per cylinder, DOHC. Only
Lotus and Jensen-Healy offered that. My brother had a Jensen.. Called
it the road oiler. Bought it in 72 and it rusted while he spent years
on a flattop. Then he got home, we stripped it down to the frame, more
or less, and chased the rust. He has probably put an thousand miles on
it since.
Casady
Ahhhh...British sports cars.
My introduction to them came in junior high. One of my buds was one of
three sons of a fairly wealthy lawyer. His two older brothers were given
Austin-Healeys for their 16th birthdays, and we got to wash them and sit
in them and drive them around the circular driveway when we were about
13. When my friend turned 16, his dad bought him a new Jag XK150. I fell
in love with that car. We even took it up to Lime Rock once and ran the
track on a non race day. Great fun.
After I finished my junior year in college, I got a summer job at a
newspaper and used my practically non-existent salary to buy a pretty
MG-A. I loved that car, but it was completely unreliable in every aspect
possible.
But I loved driving it when it would start! Then I bought a new
TR4-IRS, and that became my favorite sports car. It wasn't as pretty as
the MG, but it was rock solid reliable. It was followed by a Lotus
Cortina, which was an English Ford with an engine "worked on" by Lotus.
Well, that should have done it for me, because it, too, was a P.O.S.
While in Florida, I bought an unrestored, original and near-perfect Jag
XK150-S with, incredibly, just under 9,000 original miles. I drove it a
little on dry, windless days, but mostly it lived in a good solid
garage, under a soft bedsheet. It stayed in Florida when we moved to
Maryland. A friend took care of the car for me in between my visits.
Sold the car last year with 11,000 miles on it. The new owner had to
supply his own battery. I really liked the car, and still think the
XK150 and the original XKE's that followed were the high point of
British sports car design. I never like the Lotuses much.
There's a firm in England remanufacturing XKE's, and from what I have
read they do a fabulous job. They have original, cleaned up E-types, but
what really interests me are the fully modernized, remanufactured XKE's.
Oh...the buddy...he cracked up the XK150 and the next week, his dad
bought him a new "E" type.