I believe Riley to be one of the more interesting marques of the pre-war period and some cars are especially lovely. Witness the Sprite, current from ’36 through ’38. An example:
You can see this and many Rileys at Rob’s Riley Pictures.
Page 42 of 51
The ’63 MGB has yet another dead 6-volt battery, the third in six years. I think for drivability’s sake I’m going to put in a single twelve volt. I’ll considering going back to twin sixes when I get around to restoring the car. In the meantime, I have no desire to spend $100 for another sixer that will only last two or three years.
As many of my six regular readers know (can an irregularly published blog even have “regular readers?”), I created (and continue to maintain) XKE Data and XK Data, databases of surviving Jaguar sports cars. Overall, it’s been a positive experience–but since I have a podium here, you’re going to have to read about the pluses and minuses of this type of site.
Continue reading
The Vintage Motorcycle Enthusiasts had their almost annual Whidbey Island ride today, and I took the BSA. It was very enjoyable, with beautiful weather and a great selection of people and bikes. The BSA performed well but I am increasingly frustrated over how hard this bike is to start when it’s hot. It makes it not much fun at all to ride, knowing that if you stop for a break or lunch there is a chance you’ll be kicking forever trying to get it going again. I’m going to try and tackle the carb first, and see if that helps. The mag was expensively and professionally rebuilt, but hard starting hot is notoriously a symptom of a bad magneto.
My car project this summer is going to be giving old Fergie a face-lift. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just a bit of a dress-up over her current condition, which is pretty scruffy. I have a new pair of fenders, a new wheel center, and a few bits and bobs…and a couple of cans of paint. New tires, too. The machine will still need a full restoration at some point, but for the short-term this will be great.
So, er, that’s my ’64 MGB. It’s a beauty, eh? This is what happens when you don’t have a garage or shop to store all of your valuable artifacts in. As an aside, humans are weird creatures, aren’t they? Any rational alien would look at something like this and probably have their brains explode just trying to comprehend why, exactly, someone would want to do this.
Dave was kind enough to give me money and an old band saw for my XJ6. It was a decent car but just not my kettle of fish!
How the “mighty” have fallen. I’m seriously considering trading my XJ6, which I really shouldn’t have accepted in the first place, for the Ultimate Blasting Cabinet. I really dislike the little benchtop cabinet I have and I spend a LOT of time during a restoration using the bead blaster to clean things up. Plus it would be large enough to actually hold the entire cage from a Jaguar rear suspension. Hm.
Of course the reason I’m considering this is that there is essentially zero interest in this car–Chuck will be thinking “I told you so!” along with Paul, my wife, the guy who used to own it…everyone but me. Oh, well.
My friend, neighbor and fellow weird car afficianado Paul was kind enough to help me retrieve my ’64 project this evening. We had previously absconded with the parts and tonight we were able to grab the shell. It’s now sitting in my storage bin in front of my ’63…hopefully Reggie the ’63 will be able to pass some good karma to the poor old beast.
When you buy a used old car in our state, the gov’ment expects you to pay sales tax on the “true value” of the car, not what you actually paid. And to determine said value, they use those soft-bound NADA value guides that are about as accurate as my estimates on how long it will take me to restore my E-Type (i.e., very inaccurate).
For example, when I bought the XJR, I paid $7,400. I had to pay sales tax on $13,500, even though the price I paid was exactly the market price! I’m having a difficult time getting anyone interested in my XJ6 for $1,800, yet the price guides say it’s worth $5,000.
And there is no easy recourse. You can get the seller to write you a note, which the state doesn’t have to accept, but by that point the seller frankly never wants to see you again and isn’t going to write a notarized letter. State wins, more money for them. Who would have thought?
Another bad thing about these guides is that it suckers sellers into asking way too much for their cars, and then they never get a buyer. An example: using a price guide (mentioned in their ad, no less), a seller on craigslist has a car worth–maybe–$1,000 priced at $12,000 because the guides say it’s worth that. I can tell you that not a single car of that model has sold for that amount, even in pristine condition–ever!
I’m a pretty liberal guy who believes in good government, but I hate hidden taxes and that is exactly what this is. Bah!
