Driving an XK E Type from PUB 2011 to Australia

[thelews]

Because if the driver were to mess with the seat release while he's driving you wouldn't want the driver to "slide off the rails," so to speak and cause an accident.  Should the passenger do the same, who cares?  Not at the controls and no danger to others.

[Garry]

At least I don't need one in the Jag then,  the brakes aren't good enough to get to get you sliding forward  :

[Tom Colitt]

Hi Everyone.

It sounds like you all have kept your self occupied without me for the past few weeks. I haven't been working steadily on the SMS, since I also had a 1963 Corvette to put together, fix and partially restore. But I have worked on it from time to time, taking breaks to try to answer some question or order parts, heal wounds, sometime eat as well....


Well. The small moving space, which had been surprisingly empty for the past 2-3 months, is slowly becoming more and more crowded again. That’s actually not only a bad thing, because what’s being added into the car are such things like electrical wiring and switches and instruments to help you guess whether you will ever arrive at your next destination. Also, sound and heat insulation (because who in their right minds would ever want to drive 2400 miles, cross-country, in August, in a hot and loud small moving space), lighting, tight, fresh new front suspension bushings and linkages, pedals to make the car stop and go, and even a new assembly should allow me to point the space in the direction I want it to go. It is now on the right side of the car. (No really, it’s on the right side of the car! …..Which used to be the passenger side.) I don’t know if this was Garry, the owner’s, reason for spending so much money on switching sides, but it should definitely help to even out the wear and tear, between the two front seats. Well, the only seats, really…:-)

Since the space, as we will call it for short, now that we’ve all become sort of familiar with one another, will be going to visit the Wizard of Oz in just a few weeks, those amenities are the kinds of things that the people down there like to see operational on a car. Things that don’t seem so important in this country, let alone this State…. P.S. I don’t know definitively, whether the wizard actually hailed from down under?.... That would’ve had to have been one heckuva Tornado storm….:-)

On another note: I finally just figured out the remaining wiring issues after I had gotten this cat to growl for the first time again, a few days ago. The problem was, she wouldn’t stop growling even after I turned off the ignition switch. It appears, the Prince of Darkness, Mr. Lucas himself, was trying to have his fun with me, even from beyond the grave. He was aided by his cohorts from XKs Unlimited and SNG Barratt, but it takes more than a few flickering switches, no instructions, some crumbling wires with no longer recognizable color coding and a wiring diagram in which the letter N (for Brown) is reserved for the wires that carry the highest currents, not those that go to the car’s ground, as I had come to accept for most of my life, until now. Do these Brits purposely do EVERYTHING backwards?... ;-)

Naturally, they apparently also have to be the only ones on their whole continent, who chose to drive on the other side of the road, plus they often connect the positive battery terminal to the body of the car, to annoy auto mechanics around the world (not in the case of the relatively late model car “space”, which already came with negative “earth”.) Maybe this is why they still are using the Brown wire for +, as it used to be the ground?...
Anyway, almost all is good now.... It looks like the ghost of Mr. Lucas past didn’t realize how stubborn a German-born engineer could be….

They may have won the war, but I will not let them outsmart me when it comes to taming cats :-)….

Ta….

[mdsalemi]

...so you'll be shipping Garry's car when???

[Garry]

Now Michael,

That is a very good question but one that is undetermined at this point of time.  If I stop giving Tom additional things to do on the car and the Ghost of Mr Lucus stops being a thorn in his side, and the Kiwi shipping company is good to their word in having a ship depart every week, then very early in the new year the Small Moving Space will be containerised and start on its trek to Oz where getting it registered onto 'club plates' starts for round three of getting it home and into the shed in a bay beside "Pagode"

Garry

[mdsalemi]

Mr. Lucas will always rear his ugly head, unless you hire Herr Bosch to chase him away.  Just let us know when you get the car!

[Garry]

Its a race to see if the small space or the "Pagoda Book" gets here first, maybe I could put the book in the glove box!!
Only problem with that is there is probably no light in there to read it.

[mdsalemi]

While the Pagoda book is out of my hands (and has been for some time) I suspect it might arrive a bit earlier than the Jag.

This much I can tell you--it won't it in any glove box, not even on a Cadillac Escalade.  As for light, if you have a Lucas light, well...

[Tom Colitt]

Garry and Machael

Everything will have to go quite smoothly from here on out to be done by early January. I was hoping for mid-January?...
Maybe tomorrow The Space will stretch its legs a bit and learn how to roll again. Mr. Lucas will probably come along for the ride, but he'll have to hang on tight as it will be without the windshield and passenger seat (old driver seat)....

Cheers...

[Garry]

Tom,

A photo of that I would love to see, will scare the pants off me.

Garry

[Tom Colitt]

Hi GArry

Yes, I think it would have scared you :-) I drove the space for the first time today for longer than a minute, coolant filled, oil changed, my aviator goggles on. I forgot how good that car feels, even with the steering rod ends only adjusted according to pie times my thumb (a German saying), the car tracked very straight, engine runs great although the idle speed was high. After all that heat insulation work, the car was not nearly as hot as it had been. Of course that could also have something to do with the fact that is was only about 10 to 12 degrees C and the convertible top was down and the windshield was missing....:-)

I felt confidant in my space and all the gauges (except tachometer!) worked. I only had front brakes as I'm still waiting for the rear brake line from SNG, but who needs rear brakes anyway...

[Tom Colitt]

I thought you'd want to see the space as we drove it from the paint shop today. I think it looks a lot nicer without the side lights. Well worth it. Trying to get that darn wiper motor to park in the right spot now.

[mdsalemi]

Well, since I have the first advance copy of the book in hand, and the rest of them are on a truck on the way here, I suspect that the books will beat the car to Australia.  However, as Garry is my friend Tom, don't try and speed anything up on the count of this...do what you plan on doing in the time and budget allotted.

[Garry]

Please note that the steering wheel is now on the right side of the small space and that the car is drivable but a bit more yet to do.

We decided to take the side lights off the car.  The US cars like the Pagoda had to have side markers fitted. They blemish the lines and so Tom arranged to have the lights removed and the holes welded up and the fenders both front and rear repainted.

Planning is actually now occurring for a shipping date to Australia. Just in time for a summer drive

Michael, may even be on a boat in a couple of weeks.  It will be a close call between the book and the car

[bogeyman]

I especially like the goggles - gives it that real vintage feel.

Could have smiled a little wider so we could see the bugs on your teeth...

[Tom Colitt]

Merry Christmas to everyone!

While I was doing a few things to the space today, whole listening to Christmas songs on the radio, I recalled this variation of the Jingle-Bells tune:

Driving in the Sun,
in a 265 horse open space
O’er pot-holed streets we go,
fearful all the way…

Do we still have brakes,
Will they slow us down,
Will the steering work to turn,
this open space around?

Oh, let’s hope so, let’s hope so,
let’s hope it’s alright,
oh what fun it is to ride,
in a 265 horse open space.

Windshield wipers work,
Although there is no glass,
Engine’s running well,
Yes, it is a blast
I think I’m getting cold,
It must be Christmas now,
or maybe I forgot to hook,
the heater up last night.

Oh, let’s hope no, let’s hope no,
let’s hope it’s alright,
oh what fun it is to ride,
in a 265 horse open space….

[Larry & Norma]

 

[Garry]

Well the car, sorry Tom, the Small Moving Space, is now in RH Drive thanks to Tom and all his efforts.  Tom has got over the Christmas spirit and down to work and has the car ready to go. Well almost.

There have been lots of minor problems with unexpected things such as odd wiring layouts not to spec, seat belt mountings, tacho not going, radios not working or fitting properly, funny noises from the Front Left and some knocking underneath but with Toms persistence, everything is nearly there.  We thought it might have been moved today ready for shipping but there appears to be a delay of a week or so, thus a bit more time for Tom to do a couple of other items like change the seat belts to retractable ones.

The shipping time will be around four weeks, then I have to pay some taxes, (10% of cost for Goods and Services Tax) but no imports as it is over 20 years old. I then have to get a roadworthy certificate before I can get it registered on Club Plates that allows me to drive it 90 times per year for a fraction of normal registration.

Its a long drive to Australia from PUB and Blacklick. Fuel costs are enormous

Garry

[280SE Guy]

According to Google maps it's 15,734 miles, travel time is 55 days 23 hours. This route has tolls. This route includes a ferry. This route crosses through Japan.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Blacklick,+Jefferson,+OH&daddr=Melbourne,+Victoria,+Australia&hl=en&sll=5.35535,-157.333105&sspn=129.498508,226.054688&geocode=FeNIYgIdamYQ-yl5QpTNomY4iDH-B16LkqjcEg%3BFT0Ev_0dpPWjCCmB_REPr0LWajHg54whdVYEBQ&oq=melborne,+australia&vpsrc=0&mra=ltm&t=h&z=2

 

Regards,

280SE Guy

[Garry]

The Small Moving Space is still in LA.

We were delayed a week and with the extra time Tom was going to fit  some retractable seat belts and fix a few other gremlins.

Now you all know how it goes, start something and the next thing you know you are doing more of a restoration rather than just a fix of this or that.
Well each morning or evening, depending on which side of the big blue water the sun is on, I usually get an email from Tom on whats been happening.
 
I had been getting a couple of emails headed 'Seat Belts' late last week keeping me informed on the hows and whens of getting them and fitting them, but then I got the email with two more words added to the heading, "Seat Belts and Rust".

Now Tom has sent me a loverly photo of the under floor bolting for the seat belt and there in the corner of the sill is rust.

After a flurry of emails we decide that Tom will cut it open and have a look at how bad it is in there.  On a Jag there is only an outer sill, welded in place that makes up part of a box section to the floor pan from behind the front wheel to forward of the rear wheel. The panels are readily available, if you want to cut the whole sill out

Fingers crossed it has not spread too far. however its not heading out of the USA this week!

[mdsalemi]

OK Garry, the clock starts ticking on Monday 23-January.  That's when your Pagoda Style books should be handed over from the broker to the USPS and be en route to Melbourne.  Which will arrive first?  SMS, or Books? 

[mdsalemi]

Guess the book won the race to Australia.

Where's the small moving space now???

[Garry]

I was waiting for that post Michael.  

The Small Moving Space is still in Los Angeles.  It did get within days of being on the move again but unfortunately, the dreaded "Rust" headed email arrived on my computer one morning, not the "car is on the boat" that I had been hoping for.  Whilst fitting some retracting seat belts, Tom noticed that, horror upon horror, a few bubbles in the paint under one of the sills.

 Now having removed the US style side lights we had a bit of paint left over and the question was, do you want me to patch over them so that it can just pass the Roadworthy Inspection that it will have to have on arrival in Australia or open the sill and have a look.

No, said I, as though not having learnt my lesson from the Pagoda,' lets take off the paint and see what the problem really is. '

Now Tom, who had previously demonstrated his ability to photograph inside the sills of a Pagoda at 2011 PUB as those that attended can recall, cut a small square hole in the sill and sent me some photos from inside (see attached) that immediately sent me to the bank to seek more money. There was rust inside both sills that whilst not major, was enough to require treatment with waxoyl and some additional metal that had rusted away inside. Luckily Tom was able to cut into the sills to treat it.  A decision was made to go for a fix rather than replace as the whole sill is a welded box section that would require major repair to replace.

Thus the next episode of the SmS travels to Australia has been delayed whilst the sills were opened and the rust inspected, repaired and waxoiled.

The last email I have got from Tom was headed "Rust, Waxoyl and Fire"  


Thats for the next episode of the story

[mdsalemi]

Well Garry, you are making the right decisions.  Don't accept shipment of the car until everyone is satisfied and the work is done top-notch.  Some say don't go looking for trouble, but now is the time to find it!

At least you have a book to read while you wait...

[66andBlue]

Hi Garry & Tom,
I stumbled across this photo of your car at  the Chicago 1963 car show.  Same year the Pagoda was introduced.  This is the text for the photo:
Despite a large Chrysler sign at the top of this photo, the scene is at the adjoining Jaguar exhibit space. In the left foreground is a Jaguar XK-E (E-Type) coupe. An XK-E convertible is in the right foreground, and a Mark X sedan is in the center. Farther back, on the right, the front end of a Daimler SP250 roadster can be seen. Introduced for 1960, the SP250 had a small (153-cid) V-8 engine.

Who built better cars in those days, Chrysler or Jaguar?