I have the ’87 XJ6 on craigslist just to gauge if there’s any interest. I still have a few things to do to it but really really need to move it along. I shouldn’t have accepted the car and now find myself in my usual situation of essentially giving it away. Oh, well. Lesson learned.
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Actually, most of an engine. A gentleman in Gig Harbor advertised a free XK 140 3.4 engine, and I grabbed it. It’s a decent condition block, crank and a few pieces. No head, sump or pistons/rods. It also included an XK140 steering rack. I’m 2% of the way to owning an XK! Or not.
The “free” XJ6 runs! Turns out that some idiot (me) didn’t have the coil hooked up right. Drove it about five miles, and it seems fine. Worried a bit by some smoking under load, but that’s OK for the time being.
Or the car is a hole. I got the head back on the “free” XJ6 and on, and now it won’t fire. I’m fairly certain it’s something to do with the fuel injectors…that, or one of the many sealed little electronic gizmos that control them. Sigh. Give me SU carbs any day of the week!
Taken on Tax Day 2006, in the bed of my truck is the last few possessions we have–an old steel cable and a bunch of half-rotted pallets–on their way to the Internal Revenue Service office in lieu of payment of our debt…
My friend and neighbor Paul was kind enough to help me retrieve the “pile of parts” part of the 1964 MGB today. The various debris filled both our old Fords, and created quite a heap in my storage bin. Found some absolutely huge spiders in the wire wheel stack, too.
Looks like it may not be all that bad in some ways. Lots of mechanical parts to play with. The 3-main engine is stuck but doesn’t look like scrap, and between the two of every other component, there may be a decent car waiting to be put back together.
Hopefully we’ll retrieve the shell in a couple of weeks, and that is where the main misery lies. I hope to paint this car Iris Blue, as shown in the photo…very definitely not this car!
I’m hopeless.
A neighbor was selling this car (what car?) and I had to step in and save it. It’s actually a bodyshell and most of two separate pull-handle cars, including a title for the shell. The shell looks horrible and has no floors, but it’s no worse than other MGBs I’ve seen. And the parts stash includes two of everything (except only a single motor) you’d find on an MGB. This goes into my storage bin for the time being, but the idea will be to use this as an exercise in learning to weld and learning to paint.
I’m a bit skeptical that this is really a ’62, as I think it’s actually a few thousand car numbers later than Reggie.
[Edit: It’s really a ’64]
The new viscous clutch for the engine fan arrived, and it has made the car reasonably quiet again. And, as you can see, the rear bumper has been replaced with a “new” used item that’s actually straight. I was probably the only person who noticed the dent and bend in the old one, but it drove me nuts every time I saw it. Unfortunately, the chrome bumper is a 1998 LSE-only thing, so they’re hard to come by and over $1200 new; this was a fraction of that and is as nice as anything else on the car.
Disco is awaiting some parts for repair…the fan clutch has siezed. The fan now spins all of the time, which makes the car sound like a turbine. More to the point, the fan isn’t designed to spin at high speeds, which is what the clutch normally prevents. I’ve got the parts on order from Atlantic British and hopefully Disco will be back in action within a week or so.
My “new” truck–a wonderful time capsule, and I like the copper color more every time I see it. “Goldie” is a 1968 F250 Camper Special, very similar to my previous one, except that this machine has led a quiet, well-cared-for life, and it shows. The interior is immaculate and while the paint has seen better days, it’s still reasonable considering it is 38 years old!
