Future Barn Find Graphic

I had a few minutes to spare yesterday so I created this graphic that I think I will print up a few bumper stickers with. I think this would be pretty fun to have on my 87 Wagoneer or the race car.

Also might be inspiration for a new series of posts. We'll see. 

Lime Rock 2010 Vintage Fall Festival Pics

One bonus of attending my bro in law's wedding was getting to spend a few hours on Monday at the Rolex Vintage Fall Festival. I signed some books for the nice folks at Green Mountain, then ran around peeking at cars. Sorry for the low rez pics, I only had my iPhone with me.

Nice grouping of a couple of E30s and a Z3 coupe, the latter for sale, in the parking lot.

Renault R5 Turbo, also in parking lot. Man, I thought I wanted one of these until I saw the type of crowd it drew all day. It looked like a comic book convention there were so many plump, bearded dudes wearing ironic t-shirts pawing it up. No thank you.

A man with style. I snapped this pic as the owner walked back to the lot. He owned both of these. One for him and her, he said. Now that is style.

Yes, this is a pink Jaguar MKII 340. It had white leather. It was metallic. I chalk this up to the hot rod shop sticker in the rear window.

This Bugatti that won its class sported so much patina it looked like Mickey Rourke. But like Mickey, it keeps on winning. Should teach me to not sweat my race car looking so nice.

Couldn't resist this picture of what I think is a Ferrari 275 with a D-type Jaguar behind it. Probably two of the better looking GT rear ends ever.

Fish out of water, this large racer on the tight Lime Rock track. But standing next to it I felt more like standing next to a zoo animal. The thing was massive.

This Allard from 1958 just does not do it for me. If anyone likes this, they can't dis 2+2 Jaguars as they have the same Quasimodo look.

A bad pick of a Lotus Cortina.

Passle of racing Alfas.

I was walking through the paddock just after the mixed Formula class race. The driver was just off to the left of this shot. His mechanics yelled up something. I didn't hear what was broken, I just heard the driver's response. "Awww, F&^%"

A polished aluminum Aston Martin. It is a replica of a 1961 GT Zagato. Stunning. It looked like a Nambe store.

A pretty well prepped Fiat 600. I'd ditch the scallops, but other than that, hot.

TZ Alfa's are just wild. They sport the definitive Kamm tail.

A rather fetching pickup parked in the paddock. No idea what the Falls Village Inn is. Or even if it is real.

So now I am taking pictures of spectators? Although not the Goodwood Revival, some people get into the spirit. This guy had the jeans and T. But most importantly he had a vintage 1966 helmet. Oh, he also had a T-bone steak as a tattoo.

Very dented Lotus for sale.

Care for a Talbot, minus the last T? Well, then maybe a $100,000 replica is for you. It is not for me that is for sure. It's proportions were just too small. Find them here.

Octane Magazine Prize. Christopher Ward Grand Prix Watch

I've just received this morning a payment rather larger than most of my other freelance writing assignments. And it wasn't even for a regular paying assignment.

It was for winning the Octane Magazine letter of the month.

To be honest, I am a huge Octane fan. It is super high quality and really broad ranging in coverage. And if you baulk at the $10.00 price, you are being cheap. For the same price as a movie ticket I get at least 6-10 hours of enjoyment out of each issue. And I can't recall the last movie I wish was longer than 2 hours.

Any who, the Christopher Ward company has created a line of watches that celebrate some of the earliest Grand Prix events. The Watch I won commemorates the 1925 Belgian Grand Prix in which the elder Ascari dominated to an extent that allowed him to have snack and drink during his pitstops.

And as the 2010 Spa Grand Prix was just this past Sunday, the timing for this edition to arrive at my door was clever. Sidebar, I must say that the very fast Spa track and the weather made for an exciting F1 race. Man would I love to blast around Les Combes. If anyone watched, that extra lap Hamilton did on his slicks as the ran came was edge of the seat stuff. And when he went off into the gravel trap, just missing the wall and returning to the track, wow. He saw his lead go from like 12 seconds which would have been unbeatable to about 2 seconds. What a race.

Now that the watch is in hand, I must say it is a very nice piece. Although I am no expert and only have a couple of other watches to compare it to. My own Porsche chronograph and my wife's automatic Hamilton.

I would say the Ward is better than both. The finish gleams. The band is with a doubt of better quality than either of the above mentioned watches. Soft leather that smells like leather, creme colored stitching and subtle red backing that appears through the perforations.

The action of the buttons and winding arm are very solid. Much more so than my Porsche watch and on par with the Hamilton.

Packing was, as you can see, beautiful and thorough.

What I like best about the watch is the clever positioning of the date in a very small circle below the 3 marker. On lots of watches, the date window is just a big square. This is well done and a testament to the design of the piece.

All in all I am thrilled. Like many luxury items, I would feel a bit guilty buying this for myself, but having won it, I love it to pieces.

Why I am Not Working on My Cars...Kerf

We are replacing the cabinets in our kitchen with some custom units from Kerf Design. They do some amazing stuff, we are utilizing only a small portion of what skills they have.

Kerf offers a complete, done option. Or, what we chose, a DIY kit. They build your cabinets then break them down and ship them. My small kitchen weighed 1,800lbs. Wow. You can see the huge boxes that prevented me from even opening my garage for a few days.

The instructions they provide are pretty good. But there are some things they missed. They say all the braces that need to be 'screw block clamped' are pre drilled. They are not.

Also, none of the bases were labeled. They give no instructions on how to attach cabinets to bases either. It is easy. But, it would be much easier if they just included these few extra steps.

And the drawers, their instructions are super confusing. It is far easier to grab a drawer rail and just put it up to the drawer to see how it works. And, you will see in the above photo there are lots of options for screwing the slider to the cabinet. They do not tell you which one to use. It took a while to figure out it was the rear most top one. At least this proved consistent across all drawers.

All the above are minor annoyances and do not mar my love of the cabinets. It is just that it would have taken Kerf five minutes to explain this stuff. I understand most of the DIY units go to professional contractors who might have a better understanding of cabinets.

It is not quite as easy as just glue and screw as they say. But it is not as hard as replacing the rear suspension on a 944 that is for sure.

A nice touch is the inclusion of plugs to finish off 'screw block clamp' holes. It is this sort of detail and finish that had us spend the extra money for these custom units over those from IKEA. That and they are truly custom and built with solid components.

A Weight off My Shoulders or Finding a Confidant

I know Porsches. How to fix them. Where to go when I know I am beyond my skills. With Jaguars, I am learning to swim all over again.

So, I needed to find a local confidant to help me maintain the MKII. A sounding board for repairs and a place to turn to in tough times. I got some suggestions from local Jaguar club members and settled on Jaguar Denver. I know, it sounds like a dealer name, but it is not a dealer. It is a shop run by a 30 year veteran of vintage Jaguar repair.

I dropped the MKII off this morning for a carb balance and a check over. I wanted to get a project list. The good thing. I do not have much of a list. The owner balanced the carbs in a half hour and pronounced the car good to go. The only suggestion, upgrade the cooling for Denver's thin, dry air. Something I had already thought about doing. Aluminum radiator here I come.

Notice in the pics the solid driver 2+2 XKE. I was contemplating getting one of these as my family classic until I saw the tiny back seat. Makes a 911 seem like a LWB sedan. Also there was a very mean looking RR. They yellow lights glowing like devil eyes. Very bad ass. Or, maybe I have been looking at BaT too much these days...Oh my god, its a black plate car...

My First Jaguar Repair (Bodge)

So, I owned the car one day without trying to fix/improve/modify it. But today was the second day of ownership and I just had to do SOMETHING.

First, I fixed the right rear vent window mechanism. It was too loose and would not hold the window shut when the door was closed. So, I disassembled, inspected and noted that an extra washer would allow me to get the proper tension on the unit. One fix. Free.

The other fix was mounting the main ashtray lid to the the base. The previous owner had installed a complete new interior and even redid the leather on the ashtray. Nice. But, I see why he did not reattach the lid. Originally riveted on with really, really small rivets it was a fiddly job. As I do not own a micro-riveter. I went to my local hardware store and bought some very small stainless nuts and bolts. I installed the lid with them, then Dremeled the ends off to make a smooth, almost rivet-like appearance. Not quite a bodge. Not quite concours. See the above pic. Not too shabby. And it is in an ashtray for God's Nightgown. (That last curse courtesy of Gone with the Wind.)

And does anyone else wonder why the words 'curse' and 'courtesy' are so close in sound but so far apart in meaning?

I loved driving the car today. Until it overheated when I got home. it was 94 degrees in Denver today and all I did was drive in stop and go traffic. Must be looked into...

New Cat Now at My Home & Classic Car Transport

After just 8 days, my 1962 MKII is now in my possession.

First Jaguar question, is it MKII or MK2(like on the bootlid) or Mark 2? Anyway.

I used classiccartransport.com. And I had a very good experience. My rep Lindsey was super nice. Even after I had to cancel a shipment last month when my deal fell through on the 420. My driver, Danny was accommodating, even driving his huge tandem trailer into my residential neighborhood. And even the unknown guy I spoke to in dispatch got back to me in five minutes when I called about my arrival date. All in all, well done. I have used the big boys before, Intercity, etc. And although the trailer was not as shiny looking, the car got to me on time, undamaged and for $400 less than their quotes. So yes, I highly recommend them.

Now, the car. I got it at 7am and drove to work around 7:30 having got my temp plates yesterday. Hmm, that moss box will take some time getting used to. But the car pulls great. Has a nice balance of restored and patina. I love it already.

First upgrade will be a Kenlowe fan to take care of the rising temperature when not moving. At speed the temp is fine, but I am worried if I get stuck in traffic. And with the American Recovery Act there is always traffic these days.

Side note, the rest of the trailers were filled with Corvettes, a 442, Porsche and T-bird going to Monterey for the auction next week. I for one, will not be buying anything soon. Much broke now that the car is here. But, the debt is worth it.

New Cat at Home.

After a long, tortuous and intense search for a family classic car I finally found one.

I thought I was priced out of MKII Jaguars, but was able to find one for sale in Mass. that fit the bill. And am over the moon about it. Even though I have not even seen it in the flesh. My brother taking care of the transaction as I am in Colorado.

It is a 3.8 manual with overdrive. Restored over the past decade. New interior from BAS. New wiring, motor overhauled, etc. All done to nice driver standards, not concours standards. It seemed that all the other MKIIs that I looked at were rusty piles or over-restored show cars. I didn't want a project and I didn't have $50,000. Or more, for something from the MKII gods JD Classics.

In opalescent blue with blue interior it looks the part. Like a boxer in a suit. Much, much more to come on this.

Meals and Wheels Another Porsche and Food blog...

The above photo is from a German blog titled Mealsandwheels.com

It is the work of a female 911 driver and racer who is also a food nut like myself. Most of the posts are in English so you can read about her and her hot schnitzel photography.

Worth checking out.

When Toyo RA-1 Start Getting Fast

Just raced on July 3rd at PPIR. We raced it backwards so we were all rookies on this track.

I don't know if it was confidence in the car, the even playing field or what, but I did very well. Was in the top 4 of the RM SPEC 944 group all day. Was nice to be up front and competing for FTOD and the win. 

But what I do know, is that my tires are just coming into their sweet spot. No one ever showed me what RA-1s should look like when they start being fast. But the above pic shows them just getting there. I am about 18 heat cycles in. All the tread blocks are just worn down. What a difference. They are now so much stickier and more progressive. I think they will be great for me for the last two races on my calendar.