John at Autosport Seattle hosted a “tech session” for the local Jaguar club today, featuring the tear-down and examination of an XK engine. The engine chosen was the one from the infamous Rusty Heaps “imaginary car.” So this counts as, gasp, some progress on the E-Type restoration!
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It’s been a couple of weeks (!) Since the Isle of Vashon ride. I’ve got to dig through my photos and see if I got anything decent…but someone else (user DoctorWatson on flickr) took this shot of my bike parked up on the main street. It was a good day out, and we didn’t even get rained on!

Spotted this ad on craigslist tonight–someone selling their Daytona…but the photos of “their” bike are straight from this website. Sad thing is that anyone in the know would recognize the slight of hand, as the bike they’re selling would have a different rear suspension than mine. *Facepalm*

On a semi-serious note, though: when looking at CL ads, it’s not all that uncommon to discover that the photos in the ad are NOT of the car or bike you end up poking at when you go to see it. My Miata was sold that way: the car shown in the ad was very clearly not the one I ended up buying. I asked the seller about it a couple of times and she insisted the photos were recent ones of my car, despite a number of major differences.

It’s not the end of the world to use a “representative sample” in an ad, just let people know. And if you’re going to grab someone’s photos, maybe ask permission?

Went over to watch the Flying Heritage Collection’s Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fly on their “Battle of Britain” day last Saturday. It was just spitting (appropriate weather for the occasion), but I took the Triumph anyway, to make short work of the long summer ferry lines (motorcycles are allowed to bypass the queue). This proved to be a soggy decision when the skies opened in earnest on the ride back. (“Bah, I won’t need rain gear” was my thought before departing the house. Oops.)
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Sigh…still no shop (or even a garage) and many, many things with wheels (not all pictured). I’m thinking of selling the Ferguson–it seems pretty unlikely at this point that I’ll have a use for it…and it’s overkill for even an acre of lawn. Especially one you don’t want field-tire tracks in.

I did a tremendous amount of work on the GT today…well, OK, I got the license plate lamps working. I took a few minutes afterwards to drive the old girl outside and take some photos, including this one with the BSA. (More after the jump.)
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Last week, Goldie started emitting horrible noises from the front end under braking, and you could feel a shudder in the brake pedal. I suspected I was running on low pads, but surely they weren’t all that bad, eh? Oops, they were completely worn out! Rebuilding the front discs was an interesting exercise.
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I took the BSA up to the Vancouver All British Field Meet at Van Dusen Gardens on Friday. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I suspect the combo above might just be a bit too much gold, like seeing an older couple wearing matching outfits.
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The “new” side-stand isn’t absolutely correct, but is works and looks far better than the old one, which was from a B40. As a bonus, the bike isn’t in danger of tipping over when on it! Pictured with my prize for winning a BSA photo contest on the seat–a can of BSA engine oil.

I’m taking the BSA up to Vancouver on Friday for the All British Field Meet, drop by and say hello if you end up at Van Dusen.

You may recall this photo, taken last summer down the road from the house here. My friends at the BSA A7 & A10 Forum have chosen it as the best photo of 2009. I’m honored as all get out–and look forward to my prize: a can of BSA-brand engine oil!