This photo was taken at the 2003 Mille Autunno rally/tour. On the very first day we left Marin County, up through the Napa valley, and would our way through hills and along the Sacramento River north towards Chico for lunch. Midmorning we spotted a rally participant in a FRESHLY restored post war British car wounded on the side of the road. We pulled over and it looked as if I saved the day for them by puling out my tools/spares box (the yellow thing on the ground on the left… it is now painted hammertone silver to match my air intake plenum, but I digress!) and producing some spare wire and crimp-on ring terminals. It seemed their generator wiring disintegrated after 100 miles or so.
Once again able to proceed under their own power, they sped off while I played Tetris to get all my bits back into the mail slot that Sir William Lyons laughably called a “boot” on the Jaguar. Unfortunately we caught up to them later, off again on the side of the road, this time with a fatal engine issue. It was a shame as this LBC was in perfect post-restoration shape cosmetically and looked like a hoot to drive. They obviously needed more shake-down cruise time before it would be ready for a 1200 mile tour through the Sierra and NorCal! Oh well.
(As it is far too easy for them, Paul & Roger are disqualified from participation!) Any guesses as to the marque and model of this pretty green car?
DISQUALIFIED? I want my memebership dues back!…;)))
BTW, a friend of mine who owned the same kind of car said the only *proper* hold-up sticks for the bonnet halves are old violin bows, two of which he had in the scuttle-mounted toolbox..;)
They’re a ‘hoot to drive’ for about the first 15 minutes. Once you’ve driven one of these little jewels for about 2 hours, or in winter, or in rain, or on anything but a glass-smooth piece of bitumen, all of a sudden you realize a couple of things:
-How clutch mechanisms can be thought of as ‘binary’;
-Where the term ‘scuttle shake’ originated;
-Why kidney belts are a *good* thing;
-Where Brits learned to make ‘leak-proof’ hoods!
Suuure are fun to look at!
As I heard it said about the model produced just before this one, you definitely can tell when you run over a dime and the really attuned driver can tell whether it’s heads or tails!
I’m reminded of that every time I see a ricer lowered down to within an inch of the ground, with suspensions that have to be just as stiff and non-compliant as the model I’m talking about.
Vrooomie, at least the machine above has independent front suspension, quite a luxury and the cause of much head shaking among their traditional market.
No one has identified the car and I’m keepin’ quiet, since I know! Chuck took away my voting privileges…;))