2011 Ottawa Concours D'Elegance

I went to the Jaguar Concours today at the Aviation Museum. Sadly I wasn't able to take my Jag along. I had deferred getting the Jag ready for the season because I was rebuilding the 560. Eventually I gave in to compromise and sent the Jag out to have the starter changed. Had it changed but then found some sort of ignition problem. I am getting spark to the distributor cap but not to the spark plugs. Its probably just a bad rotor arm, but in any case I wasn't able to take my Jag to the show. Sad because there weren't any Series 1s or Series 2 XJs there.

Didn't really take many photos. E-Types bore me these days. There were a lot of things going on at the Aviation Museum other than the Concours. There was an air show, a general car show (MBCA had a few cars on show, and the entire Mustang club was there), and a few military vehicles. The Ottawa Jaguar dealer was there as usual.

That new XJ is really growing on me. The short wheel base has much better head room in the back. I got a chance to look over the white XJ the dealer brought over. I have only two gripes with it; 1) the interior is a bit tinsely - too much fake chrome 2) the instrument cluster is replaced with a hideous LCD screen. But if I had $90k to spend on a saloon, I'd buy a new XJ.

Two cars I particularly liked this year was a 1995 XJR6 and a Mark IX. Both in absolutely stunning condition. I'd love to have a Mark IX as a daily driver.

































One of the last 100 VDPs. Black cherry.

Bent Piston Award

At this year's Ottawa Jaguar Club - Annual General Meeting I was awarded the highly prestigious Bent Piston Award. The award is given in recognition to those among us who have ventured into the shores of British car hell and have lived to share our experiences. It is given to only the bravest of warriors. To those who have walked through the valley of the shadow of rust and have battled with Lucas, the Prince of darkness. And to those who recite the Jag Lover's Prayer each morning. I am deeply humbled to join the ranks of so many great warriors.

Fall Colours Drive - Ottawa Valley Triumph Club

I decided to join the Ottawa Valley Triumph Club (OVTC) on their fall colours drive with the Jag. Absolutely amazing drive. Amazing country and amazing roads. Throwing the big V12 around the twisties was thrilling. The steep and quick inclination changes and twisty roads added an element of dan.. umm excitement, yes that's it, to the drive because cars coming round the bend/crest were not visible until they were 50ft away. Two lane countryside roads barely wide enough for the big cat added to the excitement. About an hour or so into the trip my co-pilot started smelling burning rubber from the Jag. Pulled over and found the A/C belt was melting. Thought it might be rubbing against the coolant filler neck, I dabbed a bit of oil around on the belt. The burning smell stopped but about 10mins later we saw smoke coming from under the hood. Pulled over and found that the smoke was coming out of the A/C pulley itself. I think the A/C pulley was seizing up. After realising the belt was only driving the A/C (which has always been non-functional) and the air pump, I cut the belt off with a haxsaw blade (thanks Paul). It was smooth sailing once again.
We stopped at Cedar Cove restaurant on White Lake for lunch and turned back for home. Averaged about 14mpg with the Jag. Incredible considering how bad the valve clearances, timing and mixture have become. OVTC hospitality was once again at its best. A big thanks to Don LeBlanc for putting the event together and for the superb routes.

Ooh Ahh Jag-u-ar

Not much to write any more these days. Reached a point in the restoration where the remaining work is quite expensive and cannot really be done at home (well most of it at least).

Mechanical work remaining:

• Machine cylinder heads (valve job, adjustment, guides etc...)
• Needs new exhaust. I'm most likely going to get a Stebro stainless system when I can afford it
• A proper carb tuning. Or better still a set of SUs all round would be nice. Six double barrel down draft Webers would be ever nicer
  
• Need new front and rear windscreen seals - damn thing leaks!

Aesthetic work remaining:

• Needs a full down-to-metal paint job. The car was originally BRG but I think it'll just be easier to stick to black at the moment. A thick piano glossy black is what I want.
• Redye the biscuit interior
  
• A nice new suede headliner won't hurt either
• Need new chrome bumpers. The chrome is starting to bubble and peal in places and this car really deserves to have the original European bumpers anyways.

All that should make her as good as new, but it'll easily rack up a cool $10,000. I can't afford to dump that kind of money in the Jag all at once, but I don't mind taking my time and doing the remaining jobs one by one as my finances permit.

Speaking of which, I'm really broke these days. Really need to get a job in January (Graduating M.Eng in December). I can do anything from restoring V12 Jags to writing computer software, so hire me already!

I suppose I will be keeping the V8 Bruiser Benz blog updated more often than the Jag one from now on. The 560SEL is a proper garage queen and a fussy one at that. Needs lots of small things done. Should be doing the fuel pumps and ACC mono-valve soon.

Over and out for now.

Truly Insatiable

There is something beautiful and at the same time simply sinister, about driving a V12 Jaguar in the night. You're bathed in this warm phosphorous green glow of the instruments, the sound of 12 cylinders a blaze, taunting you to go faster, and together with the cool night's breeze fools you into thinking you're flying a World War 2 fighter, its truly insatiable.

Hazeldean British Invasion

I'm not crazy about American cars, so I just snapped one photo for the sake of it. Once you've seen one American car, you've seen them all. The design is the same across the board, $1,000,000.00 R&D budget for the engine and then 10c on everything else.

I'm not particularly crazy about BMWs either. Over the last two decades, they've just become overly obnoxious, overweight and expensive. However I did spot this gem among all the E46 M3s. It's a E32 735i with a 5 speed manual and a 4.27 differential. Its wearing period correct BBS wheels and some sort of body kit. I think I want one.

1976 Jaguar commercial!

I stumbled across this commercial on youtube while searching for the "Claws" X-Type commercial (still looking, send me a link if you have it). Looks like an original 1976 Jaguar XJ French commercial featuring a Series 2 XJ. Enjoy!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYCC6OEYbcY