Two months before Christmas , I looked at hiring an exotic car , the prices were varied and the excess costs for Astons, Ferrari's were into the +1000 range , Then I Thought about Classics ?
and found this little beauty
from vintage classics in Melksham Wiltshire.
http://www.vintage-classics.co.uk/etype.htmlThe car is of course an E type series 1 3.8 coupe from 1964 with original Moss box in Carmen Red.
Arriving from Dorset on a crisp New Years Eve afternoon with a fair amount of Frost in the air and the temperature touching a tad below freezing , we arrived at our destination in Melksham .
We were met by the Proprietors
Phil and Nicola , Who gave us a great welcome
The E type was sat low and gleaming resplendent with bright Carmen red paintwork , polished Chrome wire wheels and classic ageless lines with chrome fittings. The attention to detail of the original series 1 , stand out from the later models , There are no Door or wing mirrors to spoil the lines. ....later this would prove a bit of a disadvantage in traffic!!
The interior was all black and old leather (this E type had the later series 2 seats)and were very comfortable.
After a Short informative instruction on the layout of the various toggle switches we were let loose to enjoy 3 days driving in rural Dorset with 900 allowable miles !!. in one of my all time Dream cars
It took a bit of time to get used to the Moss box , trying to be exact with shift changes to avoid crunching the gears , ( no synchromesh on first ). However the gearing was excellent and tractable in traffic ,
We soon discovered we were let out easily from side roads , even a slow get away from the traffic lights after I inadvertently selected reverse gear ( it sits very close to first ) did not result from any anger from other drivers.
Turning off the A350 to the fast B road Melbury Abbas - Blandford gave us our chance to stretch the cars legs , dropping her into third we accelerated and left the Eurobox on our tail behind. The brakes were good but you have to read the road and anticipate bends and give greater allowance for stopping distance .
As Dusk fell , we discovered two idiosyncrasies , the lights either full or dipped were akin to candle power , the interior dash lighting was so dim the only way to identify your exact speed was when illuminated from overhead street lamps , in open country forget it ............There is a wind up torch included in the Hire inventory !!. Which proved ideal for this
The Heater was on full all the time, however this only had enough power to demist the front wind screen....we soon realised the rear windscreen would fog up and render the interior rear view mirror useless , which made overtaking interesting .
We aimed to drive from Bournemouth to Windsor stay at Oakley court for New year then drive to my brothers in Wokingham the following day. Once on the M3 the car drove like a dream and surprised a few people with our pace ....(trying desperately not to attract attention from BIB)we arrived with no fatigue , and looking forward to driving the car in the morning.
Overall we drove over 500 miles in the 3 days , it would have been more but for the amount of time visiting friends and family.
driving the E type for all its idiosyncrasies was a fantastic experience and I would recommend Vintage Classics to anyone interested in driving one.
