Was that the car imported by Harvey Hingston, I serviced it once when at Shorters in Auckland. No OD high ratio diff great car.
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Was that the car imported by Harvey Hingston, I serviced it once when at Shorters in Auckland. No OD high ratio diff great car.
Thats the one Dave. One of those cars I should never have sold. Harvey specified no O/D. Apparently he distrusted o/d....dont know why. Harvey as you know was HM at Opunaki school and the word is that he used to get the kids to clean the wires as a detention punishment!!!! I bought the car in Oct 74 and sold in Nov 76......too many speeding tickets was my excuse. Sold it to Jerry Clayton for $5,250.....gave the bloody thing away. It went through a number of owners, along the way getting an E type steering wheel, and the present owner Grant Baker has/or is going to instal an O/D. Dont know whether he will retain the high diff. The Shorter boys had it for a while, or David did. Put that terrible white number plate on....67 Jag. It wasn't a bloody 67, it was a 66....he should have known better. I had a scrap with Tony Shelly, who claimed he had the last MKII. After some discussion I pointed out that my car was registered on the 31st of december 1966.....couldn't get much later than that. Harvey had specially ordered the car back in september of that year with the features he wanted. I didnt know you could do that sort of thing. It still has its original paint according to Grant. It had done 75,000 miles when I sold it. As you say GREAT car......Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
ps. Have you found the pic of it on the forum.....might see if I can post it. Or send me your email and I'll foward it.
Dave, check out, 'Yards and Yarns'....page 18....post 344. 'The Black Cat'. God isn't she gorgeous!!!!!
More on the MKII........I said once that I had got more speeding tickets in that car than in ALL the rest put together. The damm cops used to see me coming and give chase. Bloody hell, I was only doing 70'ish!!!! Once when one off these insects was demanding some information from me, I got a bit fresh, and suggested that he climb in behind the wheel and see if HE could keep it below 70. I dont think it did me any good at all, and he probably added a few mph on the bluey he was writing!! The car was my everyday transport back then; towed the caravan to the beach, and collected trailer-loads of fence posts for the farm. She was no pampered primadona kept warm and dry under a dust sheet. I purchased her from John Martin Motors in Hamilton.....John was a keen JDC man, and the chap that traded it at Johns' was a Mr Vincent, who lived in River Road. Paul Tavan was one of the owners after me...one of quite a few in Auckland. Dont know what the present owner paid, but $70,000 plus.......Another NZ Jaguar you have had a hand in, and I'm going to ask you about my 120 shortly as I'm sure you know about it.
Dave, just as a starter on the 120, if you havent already done so check out.....Yards and Yarns....page 5...post 92....the story of the 8 mile chase. And in the meantime get your brain cells going on a chap in ChCh by the name of Penny....maybe Dave/John..cant remember his name....maybe a bit of a dodgy character......maybe a mechanic. It concerns the 120.
My e mail is dsilcock@clear.net.nz. I got the shot of ff52 off here ok. Harvey had a 150 that the overdrive on failed, so he would not have another. Far better car that way the high ratio diff made first gear a lot more usable , madness to change it. Send me your email address and I'll send some photos of the new car. I have heard of this Dave Penny I think he was ex Archibalds mechanic and from memory was involved with some dodgy business with the Ransleys when I worked there and yes he did own an xk120 and later may be an E type
Dave, thanks for that. Will be really interested to see the MKII. Yes Penny was an ex Archibald mechanic, and I heard he was up to no good, but dont know the details. Will tell you more shortly.......my address......bentley6@xtra.co.nz
Now, the XK120C DHC.... was Sherwood green with Suede green interior, mohair lined hood and all original when I owned it. Had a fully louvered bonnet top, which was a pain in the arse when you parked the car in the rain, as the plugs got soaking wet ,and a can of CRC was an essential part of the kit. The car was imported by Ron Barrow....you may know him too....he was a good customer of Archibalds. My Dad owned a '58 MKI 2.4 that Ron had owned. Think it was the first 2.4 that Archibalds sold....I liked it, was a sweet little motor car....not much get up and go but nice to cruize around in. Ron tried his hand at racing the XK at Wigram, but he was so shocked at the tyre wear that he retired virtually on the spot. I purchased the car in 1963 from Des Wild for 625 pounds!!! And the bloke who sold it to Des was the infamous Mr Penny. I had dealings with Mr Penny because the rear springs on the car had sagged and needed resetting, so on Des' advice took it back to Penny to do the job.....which he did. Was only afterwards that I heard he was on the make somewhere, but I think it was to do with footy not cars!!! could be wrong. The engine was C type modified...2in sand-cast carbs etc. and ran very well. It didn't however have the usual cam cover with 'Jaguar C type' on it so don't know what the story was there......maybe a Dave Penny mod. I did all my girl-chasing in that car, and when I eventually got married in 1966 my wife Judith was not very comfortable driving it to the shops, so it had to go. Bought a Morris 1100!!!!! I had a devil of a job getting a buyer for it, and eventually sold it for 500 pounds to some turkey who proceeded to wreck it by pulling it to pieces. Needless to say he gave up and a new owner put it back together....minus all the good bits, and sold it to a guy in Perth. This same Perth resident many years later bought my SSI tourer from me, and I have a photo of both cars on his front lawn.......small world. I mention all this because I'm sure that you with your ear to the ground regarding XK's may have come across it at some stage....a long shot but you never know.
And thanks for the photo of the MKII. Unfortunately I cannot pick it up in that form on my machine. Is it possible to send it another way....jpg I think it is. I'm bloody hopeless on the computer, thats why I don't/can't post pictures.
500 quid!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh for so
me hinesite
would have looked the part towing the mini, if you had kept it:(
Dave, I hope you don't mind me posting these up for you? I see you're struggling with posting pics. Will do the first four pics, let me know if you're happy for me to post the rest? This car is a work of art, and certainly deserves to be enjoyed by all on here.
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Rogered, you have to remember that these things were just worn-out, old, troublesome, oil-dripping, English sports cars and no one wanted them. The situation with my car was the same as the Jaguar D type that Jim Short used to see on a car yard in Auckland, sitting out in the weather, with a price tag of 1500 quid....and it sat and sat!!!!! It almost beggars belief nowdays, but that is how it was. My XK was only 10 years old when I had it, and still in very nice order, and in the 3 years I owned it hardly spent a penny on it, other than a set of tyres and some spark-plugs. [tyres from Wally Darrell no less]. Was used as an everyday car, and I could park it in the street and know it would be there when I got back. Imagine that today; the likely-lads would have sliced open the top with a box cutter and driven off into the sunset. I have to say that it's performance was pretty average compared to today.....we used to say they pulled like a train, meaning the acceleration was hardly neck-snapping, but compared to what was around at the time was pretty damm good. Mostly it was that glorious exhaust note that was so captivating, and if you had managed to fabricate a pipe that exited out by the passenger door, that was something else!!! Did some long fast trips in the old girl, and even though it's thirst for Super petrol tested the wallet a bit, we didnt realise how cheap in fact fuel was. I agree with your statement when you say it would have looked good towing the Mini......now that would have been a very sharp equip.
Thanks Steve, yes post the rest of them I would like people to see how I think a classic car should be presented, pity about the rollcage buggared a good car.
Here you go folks, enjoy! Congratulations Dave, this is a stunning car!
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Last ones. Thanks for sharing these Dave.
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Wow, certainly brings back memories of how I felt when I saw the old cars, same reaction!
Dave, just a couple of questions. The webers on an angle.... have never seen that before....usually level. Did you have to modify the float chambers at all, or did they work ok as is. The other comment/question......those gorgeous instruments....rev/mph.....are they the original ones refaced and turned......There is some very nice detail in the whole car....is a credit to you. Mind you I didnt expect any less from you, as I said if you can't get it right after 50 years, well your a slow learner!!!!
Another beautiful car Dave, as said before, I new what was coming as your standards are the highest. I will forward these photos to Lyall Martin if that is alright with you along with your email. Lyall would love to catch up. He is still pointing a spray gun occasionally on classics.
The Weber thing is a bit unusual I have to admit, when I worked for the Ransleys they were the agents for them and had a general sort of manual on them which stated that they could be mounted a certain number of degrees in any direction. Trouble is can't remember what the angle was but do remember it was a lot. This car was designed to run Lucas timed injection but switched to Webers to try and save time, which it did not, so the angle was something I was stuck with. I had to forget setting the float level buy the book and do it with a dip stick and reference to a set mounted level. The speedo /tacho were made here buy Parrots from a photo of the real thing I down loaded from E bay!
Yeah Rod that would be fine,thanks for your complements Glad to here Lyall is still creating his magic. He painted my 120 FHC the MK2 and my 3.8 E roadster. I even flew him down to Ch CH to paint out some accident damage on the E. Man he is good!
I think I can remember seeing and admiring that car but no more. Terry Mc Grath's book will have it in it I am sure.
Dave, a couple of shots of Lyall and another bit of magic he did about 5 years back. As you can see he still looks reasonably as he did back then and his skill is the same. Know this is not Jag but Lyall thinks he may have some photos of your cars and he having a look. PS i did a "bit" of rubbing on the 120 along with Robin and Lyall down at Archers Rd way back then. That was a beautiful car when finished, one of my favorites.
Your right Rod the old bugger looks good, dose he not , when I come up to race the blue car we will have to have a reunion would 'nt that be a hoot?
Yea, be great to catch up after all these years. Lyall is keen to come out. will keep intouch with you.
Dave, you say....'when I come UP to race the blue car'. Are you planning to attend the Denny Hulme festival in January 13? Am really looking forward to seeing and hearing it. Are you going to keep calling it the 'blue car', or perhaps you will dream up some exotic name for it!!
You can bet it will never be the Millen car as the other one is now called!!
Yes Gerald I am planning to do the NI starting at Manfield in Nov and move on up.I am only about what I enjoy, and Manfield is my favorite track followed by Pukekohe. I have ridden around HD courtesy of some ones video on U tube and I'm sure I'll like that as well. You have to under stand that the cylinder head on this car, is the cars only reason for being, and is very experimental. Reliability is not a given till tested . If you and Jim play your cards right you may get a drive in it, I have no problem with your age, I'm in my 70th year myself.,and still doing the mechanic thing 40 hours a week. And I think it will always be the blue car, now I'd better go and see why we have water in No 1 cylinder our you won't get to drive it.
Woops, dont like the sound of that Dave. That head you have designed and constructed is certainly rather special, but as you say reliability is what is needed now. As you know Angus has built this very exotic, well exotic for a Mini, engine incorporating the original Arden 8 port head that was on the car in 1972. He and Lyn Rogers have spent countless hours welding, fixing,machining, etc etc etc, and here we are dealing with old alloy, which is a problem in itself. The engine, like yours is now putting out DOUBLE it's original horse-power, and with a 13:1+ compression ratio, she is stressed to within an inch of it's life. These things take time and some testing, and I hope you can get a few hours on the track to sort things out. Meantime I might attend some gym classes to get myself fit and able to get behind the wheel!!!!! And Jim, no more cheeky wines for you.
Gee Amco after reading about shaky leg ect.I never would have guessed.I think you would enjoy a larger car with pow. steer. I mean 130mph in a little front drive brick cant be easy,perhaps if you had a trailor on the back its not that hard to do I beleive.As to the wine used to be a ladies drink once. then in the early 80s I had my E Type down at the country gents wigram and met a real hard case friend of Daves refusing to let some yuppy trying to enter his Lambo? after entries had closed but its a Lambo he said over and over I dont give a f///k you cant run!!.Wow hes my sort of chap old mate.He was a conersure conersure? real man and he drank wine even gave a book on the stuff to Dave who in turn passed on to me.and my leg doesent shake anymore.plus the Italians drank it during pit stpsin the 50s. as to your eyes I had that with one eye the left one at bay park only in the porsche .man that thing was quick and the cure was in the end was to block of half the visor so that eye could not see .never had any more trouble
The right one was too busy looking in the mirror Jim. Lucky you were just quicker than us or you would have been looking out the front with tears in them.
Gee Rod I forgot about that those Escort did fume a lot when driven hard
Now having re-read your bit about the left eye at Bay Park, this was in a left hand drive car on a left hand corner track (except one) and you had the left half of visor blocked out. I always thought "christ Jim's blocking again and got some strange lines driving around the middle of the turns" but it was all part of the plan Jim. Always the crafty one ah.
My poor old girl never got to fume Jim, it was either up there or only one cough and reasonable puff and then the dreaded noise around your feet.
You know Rod I think the laughs I get of here there might somrthing wrong with me. but apart from the bulls//t I had 5good yrs in that class .Bay park thanks to the vidio its still there.I pity these ST no fun unless they hit each other.and here we are nealy 30yrs. later still enjoying it.looks like I will be in the red Juno next yr.!!!??
Sorry meant to mention when my eyes and tears that was from the fumes??
Jim, I always knew you were 'one-eyed', but if we dont get focused again on the subject of this thread...Dave and his Jags, things will all turn to custard, and we wont get that drive which you and I so desire.
hey dont include me in your desires
Yea sorry to diverse maybe 'yards and yarns"
Back to Jaguars
Now here is one for you Jaguar boy's to work out. This photo was in a collection given to me by Robin Irving and he said it was along time ago and he can only remember it came from a family (he thinks name Foster) had an engineering business in South Auckland. Apparently it is the car that Angus Hyslop raced (then white) and the family had it for ages stored away. Robin thinks it went to Southerby's and was sold.
You guy's will know more.
Boys, I think, in fact I know, that Jim from Tok will be able to give you 'chapter and verse' on that car, and yes it did go back to the UK.