2012 All British car show

All British car show held in Mead Garden in Winter Park, Florida.

No award for my Jaguar this time (peoples choice awards) not a concours.

I added a couple of Jaguar stickers for a series III XKE V-12. They look like they belong.

Good showing of Morgans.

Mini Coopers

Morgans.

Jaguars.

Brand new 2012 XKRS.

Jaguar luxury sedan.

Lots of E-types.

and XK120, XK140 and XK150s.

Mead garden is a very nice venue for displaying these British cars.

A few Rolls and Bentleys showed up.

Nice MG.

and another nice one.

Austin Healys.

Jaguars.

XKRS with the bonnet up. Super charged, but a devil to maintain yourself.

A lot of cars and people showed up.

Jaguar Club of Florida had a good turnout.

Very nice day to be out to a meeting like this.

Car show swag

Although not getting any of the peoples choice awards, I did manage to capture the "Longevity" award. The car owned by the same family or owner for the longest time.

Picture by Tom Curren

Nobody present could beat 1964. The next closest was 1970. I think some of the Jaguar Club of Florida members could have beat me, but they were not there or with their oldest car, so they lost out on this much coveted award.

Something else to add to the vanity wall is the windshield placard.

A couple of vendors were there, and of course I had to pick up some Jaguar stuff.

Jaguar patch I don't know where it will go, yet.

Nice cap for driving.

Front plate I need to mount on the car so people can identify it without asking.

I had done an early registration for the event, so I also got a T-shirt.

The logo/theme artwork is by Gary Thomas, a JCOF member and renowned artist.
2011 was the year of the Jaguar E-type, and 2012 is the year of the MG (Morris Garages).

Jaguar Project

Received my Jaguar-Daimler Heritage Trust XK120 birth certificate today. Yesterday I got the Insurance papers and proof of insurance cards.

No progress on the car this last week. So we talked about Jaguar-Cosworth cars. Turns out there are not that many. Just a few years of Formula 1 racers. Then Jef broke out the Jaguar-Cosworth wine rack. A blown F1 Cosworth HB engine block with all the cylinder liners removed except for the one with the blown piston. Perfectly good block other than that.
For sale on ebay.

Jaguar project - Cosworth engine

Out of the crate and still on the pallet.

Comparison of Ford-Cosworth vs Jaguar engines...

	Ford-Cosworth	Jaguar
Engine type	60 degree V6 24 valve DOHC 2.9Liter	Straight 6 12 valve DOHC 3.5Liter
Engine weight	400 pounds	1100 pounds
Capacity	179 Cubic Inch / 2935CC	210 Cubic Inch / 3442CC
Compression ratio	9.7:1	8:1 stock 10.5:1 rebuild
Bore	3.66 Inch / 93mm	3.2677 Inch / 83mm
Stroke	2.83 Inch / 72mm	4.1732 Inch / 106mm
Horsepower	195 BHP @ 5750 RPM (143KW)	160 BHP @ 5200 RPM
Torque	203 lbs/ft @ 4250 RPM	195 lbs/ft @ 2500 RPM
Fuel injection system	EEC-IV	Twin SU carburettors
Ignition system	EDIS-6	Mechanical Distributor
Power/Weight	133 HP/ton Scorpio	128 HP/ton
	195 HP/ton Jaguar

Removing Air Conditioning and Power Steering (230BHP), lighter engine/transmission (1100lbs vs 500lbs), Regular Fuel instead of 100 octane, 5 quarts of oil instead of 16, all make for a logical engine exchange decision.

Conservative estimate is 200+BHP per Ton Power/Weight ratio.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Jaguar Wednesday and I actually caught Richard doing some body work on my machine.
It has been a busy week for me:
I joined the facebook Jaguar XK 120/140/150 & E-Type Owners group.
Submitted a request to Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) for the build history.
Registered on XKdata.
Plus a bit of other parts cleanup, sorting, and polishing.

Updates - And The Conversation

Our father passed away in December of 2014 and we have agonized about how to handle this little legacy and project. Sadly, none of us have the savvy to know how to handle this car like he did, as he knew that car so intimately, and had kept it his project for years. We are currently working on presenting it for sale. Meanwhile, I thought it appropriate to share a piece I had written on his blog about the infamous Jaguar XK120 Roadster (seems I have started writing an memoir - book - with stories about life and my father - so this is one of the chapters.) With love Pa, as your birthday approaches...

 ____________________________________________________

The Conversation

I woke up yesterday morning curled up into a ball of deep heaving tears. As I sit to write this I realize today marks exactly 6 months since our father was identified as certifiably dead. Not exactly the easiest or best way to put it, but flat out, it isn’t the day he died, it is the day they identified him as dead. However, I didn’t wake up crying because of the anniversary, but rather the last moments of a very active and visceral dream I’d been having with him.  I have not dreamed of my father up until now.

We were traveling around, as if we were doing errands; shopping, collecting things and shoving items into a vehicle we were in. I vaguely remember my mother being along for all this, nagging her Pito about the things we were collecting. I remember struggling to get some things in, and when pulling things out of the back, feeling as if there was no way we could get all that stuff back in there again. Also my father, in a way that felt like a playful joke, had written on the back of my calves while I was driving, a model number and serial number for something. I recall not having my glasses to clearly see the numbers.

We were not “home” but it felt as if we were staying in some transitional space.

My father opens a door to a “bedroom” and says, “I’ve got some things to get down about the cars, then I am going to bed.” I suddenly feel as if this is my only chance so I tell him, “I have something to talk to you about,” and I follow him in. I feel anxious and timid about even approaching what I am there to talk to him about. He sits at a computer running through an application and asks to see my calves. The serial numbers I feel are related to the Jag. As the program runs, a document is created on the screen and there are signatures inscribed on “sign here” lines; the name Julie something is signed, like a Jane Doe sample, on numerous pages. 

I ask, “So this is something we need if we decide we need to sell the Jag?”

Pa turns to me, puzzled, “Why would you need to sell the Jag?”

“Pa, it’s a huge fiscal responsibility!” I can hear my exasperation with him, and he is looking at me with similar sentiment. “How is that even practical? It’s not like I can make it my primary car, Pa!” For a moment, his face changes as he recognizes that this is so powerfully true.

Then a different transition of expression as his face shifts into a soft, almost childlike expression of wonderment, and he looks out the window in front of us to the Jaguar, “That’s what I get for having a toy that beautiful,” he whispers. (And because he whispered this, I am still not sure exactly how he said it, but “I get,” and “beautiful” were there, and I could feel the energy with which it was expressed.)

“And the color, Pa, that you picked for that car is by far my favorite. It IS beautiful!”

Our eyes meet and I can feel all my guilt and fear well up in me about both his most prized possession AND my responsibility for it. I quiver like a child, like his daughter coming for reassurance. “You won’t be mad at me if we decide to sell it?”  I ask as I begin to feel my lip quiver in the vast space he holds. Tears come as he opens his big arms, and I fall into the crick of his shoulder and neck. I can feel his grey whiskers against my neck, and I can smell his Pito smell, and he holds me in a big embrace as I weep against him.

I wake up, crying. I can’t tell which is real for a few moments, so I keep my eyes closed and cry into the dream as best I can, for as long as I can, because I miss him. I’m afraid I will forget his smell, the way his hugs feel, and the warmth of his body when he has held me close.

The 1952 Jaguar XK120 Roadster has been really hard to figure out. None of us kids really want the responsibility of it, it's just too much “car”. So, my heart has ached about letting go of it, while knowing there really isn’t a lot we can do to make it financially easy to keep. Storing it, the mechanics, gasoline, INSURANCE! It's a huge fiscal responsibility. It will sit in a garage again like it had, and that Roadster really wants to be screaming along roads, roaring and showing itself off. Our father knew that car intimately, involved in every aspect of its renovation. Additionally, he has had it since he was 19, purchasing it from his brother who owned it briefly after acquiring it from the original owner. We have a picture of our Great Grandfather sitting in that Jag. I have faint memories of riding with him in that vehicle down the highway in San Diego when I was young. When he got his dream job in New York, the Jaguar was the last thing they carefully packed in the moving van, and the first thing out.

After years degrading in his basement in NY, it was again packaged for its trip to Florida after his retirement, and he started the slow and arduous process of bringing it back to life. Although he never quite shared her name with me, I call it a Jaguarstien, and amalgamation of old and new, and the brainchild of his own hobbyistic “secretly wild-boy” enthusiasm. There have been a few changes to the beast that us kids have cringed at, and one in particular that he never finished (thank god!) after my sneering disapproval (I’d like to think I am responsible for the prevention of foreign headrests). 

Regardless of the purity of his Jag, he joined the Jag club, and I began to attend Jag Rallys, Jag breakfasts, Jag parties, and Jag crawls (though I think they call them “prowls”) because of the length of time getting from point A to point B on any given afternoon among a caravan of enthusiasts. We took pictures of his treasure, and I became part of a tender group of people who were quick to enjoy our father’s humor and playfulness.

The Jag club even made a special award for him, and by the last year or two of his life, he was the active Badge Master, assuring that everyone had their name tags, and brought them to events. He worked to help at every event, and at his “happy hour” celebration, his friends arrived to celebrate him and present an award for being the most involved member (that story has a funny edge to it too!) I am known by the club, and I could never express the depth of gratitude for their arrival during our grief and the loss of our father. Every event was on his calendar (that he kept shared with me, so I also know about appointments, spa day for Gizmo, trash day, target Tuesday, and other regularly scheduled events). 

My favorite thing however, was to ride shotgun with Pa when I would visit. Sure, I attended events and enjoyed the socializing. I loved that I was his date for every January Holiday party with the Jag club. However, he had a sort of zen energy when we took those back road trips, much like we did when I was a teenager. As my hair whipped around my face, and all the grit from the joints and wing vents pelted me on a ride, I would feign the terror of being on a death ride with him. However, inside both of us would be beaming. THIS is one of the ways I could connect with my father. I would joke that I went around with him just so I could be the “eye candy” for all the goats who had to stare at us on the road. He relished that car. 

So I think the conversation with him was really to get him to understand, or for HIM to get ME to understand. Our brains are amazing... that conversation was really so succinct and EXACTLY what I needed. It felt so clearly of him, even when at first I recognized that he didn’t like the idea... then as it made sense he assured me with a big hug that none of his love was wrapped into his feelings for the Jag. The Jag, it was just a vehicle to help us on this plane to connect with each other when he was alive. And this is so important, because NONE of his LOVE is wrapped up in any of the things left behind, but rather in the space in which he holds each of us, and we him, and the ways in which we know each others hearts. His love beats though my blood vessels every moment, and his pride shines from my smile, and his being is all that I am, and more. I honor him when I continue to grow in the world, when I shine my light on others, when I love and live as big and brilliantly as possible. And, that hug, falling into his weight and warmth, just his daughter, just my father, was a reminder that all we have is love.

Jaguar Project

Last two weeks no physical progress at all. The good news is that I do not have a bill to pay. Signed and sent the paperwork for insurance with Hagerty's via a local Allstate agent.

I was wondering if there is another marriage between Jaguar and Cosworth. The only ones I found were in Formula One racing.

I have always had unique possessions from wrist watches to automobiles. I would like to know if there are any other Jaguar-Cosworth cars out there in the wild. I'll keep looking.

In the mean time, on todays visit I took some pictures of the business under the bonnet.


Engine compartment from the top. The hight tension wires may look like a mess, but there should not be a problem with any kind of crossfire as you are exposed to with perfectly parallel cable runs.


Left side of engine is a bit tight due to the steering column. The Ford-Cosworth engine uses wasted spark electronic ignition. There are 3 coil packs that fire one cylinder on the power stroke and the opposite cylinder on the exhaust cycle, burning any unburned fuel.


Front of engine. The only things robbing power are the alternator and the water pump.


Right side of engine. Spark plugs are very accessible.


Large electric fan only. Faster warmups and on demand cooling when forward motion is not enough.

These photos are actually in color and appear black and white due to the gray primer dust covering almost everything.

Jaguar - Paint shop

Visit to the paint shop today. The rear end is primed.

I dropped off a data sheet to remind them of the make and year of the Jaguar for their inquisitive customers.

Some Jaguar trinkets.

Made a mounting bracket for the right front bumper for the JCOF badge.
Purchased this card holder at the JCOF Concours d'elegance show in Lakeland May 15th. Holds my JCNA membership card and JCOF name tag.

Jaguar project paint shop

Jaguar Wednesday on Thursday, post on Friday.
Wednesday was a travel day back to Orlando, Florida from San Diego, California Christmas vacation.


This is still all primer and filler. The boot (trunk) lid was rebuilt from the original and a donor.


The blue-green is a guide coat. More sanding and a sealer coat will be next.



Headlights, grill, Jaguar badge and bumpers will fill all these holes eventually.


Steering wheel, wheels and tires are still the roll around and not the final items.

Resolved: This WILL be the year she gets back on the road!

Easter Sunday Jag

Beautiful Easter Sunday. I took my daughter, Evelyn, for a Jag ride around Lake Apopka. We ended up, like most Jaguar joy rides, in Mount Dora at Jeramiah's for lunch. We joined  one of Evelyn's teacher friends from grade school, that just happened to be there, for lunch.

As we were leaving, some bikers who were also enjoying the wonderful afternoon, were also getting ready to leave.

One of them yelled, "What year is it?"
I replied, "2012".
Then he asked, "Is that a Porche?"
So I backed up a bit so he could see the front of the car, and said, "No, it is a 1952 Jaguar XK120!"

Front plate and slalom helmet.

During the previous week, Gizmo and I went to a bunch of auto stores looking for a front licence mounting bracket. They were all out except the last place we visited. They had one, but it was plastic, five dollars and would not serve my purpose.
We ended up at Lowes and found some heavy duty straps for rafters that were just the thing to weld together and drill some holes for mounting the Jaguar plate. People will no longer have to stalk me to find out what marque the car is. But, I am afraid they still will to get a close up look and more details.

Jaguar - Dashboard

I have been looking at the dashboard on top of my bookcase for months now, and it just did not look right some how.

This is before the change I made today.


and this is after.

I case you did not detect it, I changed the original fuel gauge for a Autometer Cobalt gauge that matches the rest of the gauges.

The dashboard is now totally modernized.

Electric tachometer, the mechanical one had no place to connect.
Electric water temperature replacing the unreliable bourdon tube Smiths original.
Electric fuel level that can be calibrated with an empty/full tank procedure.
Mechanical oil pressure same as the original.
Electronic speedometer with hall effect sensor. Procedure to calibrate by holding the dual trip odometer reset button while turning on the ignition, driving a measured two miles, stopping and pressing the button again. This solves the problem of different tire diameters.

I attended the Jaguar Club of Florida meeting last night. I got to Cricketer's Arms restaurant about an hour early so I walked the Festival Bay mall and found a little shop where I scored the Jaguar key fob.

Jaguar project - Cosworth engine

Just got back from 5K Mile trip out to California and back to Florida. Went to visit my Jaguar to see how it is coming along. Wiring is complete, and it starts from the key.


Jaguar Engine fired up. A bit too loud, like 20db over the threshold of pain :-)
Going to replace straight through mufflers (in name only) with ones with baffles. Cosworth engines without catalytic converters need a bit of back pressure to get better gas mileage, and I want to be able to drive on the street without blowing out ear drums.

Jaguar - Paint shop

Another Jaguar Wednesday. Still filling and sanding.






Also ordered a kit of all the rubber trim parts for when it gets all put back together when the paint is dry.

Jaguar project - progress

Visited the old Jaguar today. In the process of sandblasting the engine compartment. Next step is painting the compartment, and bolting in the engine/transmission. I have all the chrome back from the platers, and storing in my garage.

Jaguar project rear axle

Jaguar Wednesday visit to my parts at the axle shop.

Rear axle housing all cleaned up and painted.

Now it is just a matter of getting all the parts back in.

A few things early Jaguars never had that I have added behind the seats. Lock box and beverage holders.

I checked all kinds of places in the cockpit to mount these, and almost every location would interfere with arms, legs or equipment. Very easy to reach back in between the seats to get to my coffee.