Why the obsession with originality of classics?
Discussion
Lucky person with a choice of Jaguars! Both admirable cars I imagine. I posted a week or two back on originality as opposed to useability, citing among other things my own XK120. It's on painted wires as that's what it came with when I bought it around 8 years ago. Like many other contributors, I don't like chrome wires at all and I do like the look of XKs on steel wheels, but I can't afford to change back and when my car was restored back in the 80s, the rear wings were fitted with the beading around the rear arches to go with wires....
I admire the scholarship that goes into originality - the XK magazine ran articles on toolkits and jacks a while back which I found in some senses monumentally boring yet fascinating. My own toolkit, such as it is, is in a 1950s leather bag bought at an autojumble some years before I bought the Jaguar. I have some old copies of "Practical Motorist" and found an ad. for my toolbag, so I can say it's "period"! I'm also thinking about bucket seats to replace the scruffy original type seats - the actual originals are long gone- and either sell or store the old ones. My car is also on radial tyres - sort of period style narrow Michelins (other brands are of course available) which improved the driving no end. I'd "kind of" got used to it grabbing at white lines and seams in the road surface in the same way that I was happy enough with the Moss gearbox. The latter failed quite badly and the tyres came virtually new from another enthusiast. Since the box was wrecked I now have a modern 5 speed which seemed to be the most trouble free solution - the very reputable people I bought the box from would not guarantee a mended one and suggested I use the old one as a boat anchor!
To sum up, I suppose what I'm saying is that there is space for enthusiasts and pedants of all kinds.
Also to Louisee with the Lynx SS - my Jaguar was a pain for years with plug fouling after every few excursions. Research revealed that the carb. needles were the richest available and really only worked if you floored it in every gear, so I experimented and looked at graphs and it runs pretty well on needles three steps down. (Starting to get expensive on needles but I could pretty much strip carbs. blindfold!) Good luck!
I admire the scholarship that goes into originality - the XK magazine ran articles on toolkits and jacks a while back which I found in some senses monumentally boring yet fascinating. My own toolkit, such as it is, is in a 1950s leather bag bought at an autojumble some years before I bought the Jaguar. I have some old copies of "Practical Motorist" and found an ad. for my toolbag, so I can say it's "period"! I'm also thinking about bucket seats to replace the scruffy original type seats - the actual originals are long gone- and either sell or store the old ones. My car is also on radial tyres - sort of period style narrow Michelins (other brands are of course available) which improved the driving no end. I'd "kind of" got used to it grabbing at white lines and seams in the road surface in the same way that I was happy enough with the Moss gearbox. The latter failed quite badly and the tyres came virtually new from another enthusiast. Since the box was wrecked I now have a modern 5 speed which seemed to be the most trouble free solution - the very reputable people I bought the box from would not guarantee a mended one and suggested I use the old one as a boat anchor!
To sum up, I suppose what I'm saying is that there is space for enthusiasts and pedants of all kinds.
Also to Louisee with the Lynx SS - my Jaguar was a pain for years with plug fouling after every few excursions. Research revealed that the carb. needles were the richest available and really only worked if you floored it in every gear, so I experimented and looked at graphs and it runs pretty well on needles three steps down. (Starting to get expensive on needles but I could pretty much strip carbs. blindfold!) Good luck!
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