Yellow puddle

Thought it was about time I checked the fluids. Oil is fine, water needed about a pint, which isn’t bad after a month.

Checking the oil I noticed a small pool of bright yellow/green coolant sitting at the bottom of the block near the sump/bellhousing joints. I wiped it clean and started the engine. A brief trickle ran down the side of the block and then stopped as the engine warmed up. I suspect a leaking core plug that re-seals when it heats up. It’s hard to see it because of the exhaust manifold.

Bike tomorrow if it’s dry. Have a look at the weekend.

Bad timing

Overdrive switch on the top of the gearknob packed up this morning. I now have two wires poking up out of the stick and if I push them together when in fourth gear, the overdrive still kicks in. So it is the switch and I saw one of those at Beaulieu last week. Damn!

Showing off

Nothing to do with the Jaguar, really, but tonight I won the Emap Automotive Editor of the Year award for my work on Classic Cars. Cool.

Here come the excuses!

Sorry about this, but I got the Triumph Speed Triple taxed and tested today. The Jaguar might be taking it a bit easier for a while. A 750cc motorbike takes me a lot further on £20 than a 4.2-litre saloon!

Bare-foot driving

Left the Jaguar at Beaulieu overnight so Ben and I drove in in the Golf Gti. Some New Forest half-wit in a Land Rover tried to run us off the road, but otherwise the drive down from Lyndhurst was enjoyable.

Hot. Got burned. Bloke with all my Jaguar parts had gone home! Resumed search and only ended up with a single switch and a cheap oil filter. Beaulieu is tough if your list is all one model and very specific. I bet I looked through a dozen boxes of light lenses. A Jaguar Spares Day at Stoneleigh or Farnham is much more fun for me.

Left for home in hot sunshine. Driving in my bare feet and shorts. I love doing that. I have this theory that driving feels sort of sexier, the fewer clothes you’re wearing. I’ve only explored this theory as far as shorts and bare feet, you’ll be pleased to hear. But with hot summer nights around the corner…

Left after Ben but caught up with him at the end of the Newbury bypass. He’d broken down. The AA man recognised my Jaguar. Hi Mike.

Beaulieu disco car

Washed and polished the Jaguar on the stand, wound down the windows and set my camp Seventies disco CD on repeat play. Surprise of the day was an elderly, very distinguished gent who peered inside the car. I expected him to turn up his nose at Sister Sledge but instead he started to dance! He also bought a subscription.

Set out around the autojumble with a list: oil filler cap with good rubber seal; set of centre console switches; driver’s side interior light lens; viscous-coupling for cooling fan; vacuum-operated fresh air vent actuator and anything else that might one day fail on a short wheelbase, light blue, manual gearbox, 4.2-litre, Series 1.

I found the switches, a filler cap, a good hubcap and an as new steering wheel all at the one stand. I’ll go back tomorrow and drive a harder bargain in the afternoon.

Off to Beaulieu

Friday night, heading for Beaulieu where the Jaguar will feature on the Practical Classics stand at the Spring Autojumble.

I left it late to allow the Friday evening rush hour time to disperse. Set off from Peterborough around 7.30pm. Fabulous warm evening for a long drive south.

Ten minutes out of Peterborough on the A1(M) I smelled burning oil and the cabin took on that misty appearance that you might normally associate with Benson & Hedges. I pulled off onto the hard shoulder and the smell got stronger. So it was definitely me then.

A pool of oil had formed on the exhaust manifold (the guard is missing) and it was bubbling and smoking away merrily. Two years ago I fitted a very oil oil filler cap that had ‘JAGUAR’ cast into it. The rubber seal had perished so I fashioned a temporary gasket out of cardboard. It was leaking like a stuck pig, as they say in Yorkshire.

I gently removed the cardboard ring, replaced it the other way round and tightened the cap as hard as I could. I checked it twice before Beaulieu and it wasn’t leaking anymore.

Met news editor Nigel and deputy editor Ben in the Passage to India restaurant in Lyndhurst at 11pm. Very late for chillies that hot!

Racing south

Enjoyed driving home down the A1 accompanied by work colleagues in their various modern cars and motorbikes. The Jaguar gives a good account of herself up to about 85-90mph but I don’t like to sit at that speed too long.

Photo shoot

Went out to Thorney to photograph a nice white Midget for an advertisement feature about the Nikon D70 in Classic Cars magazine. I think the old boys in the garage were impressed with the Jaguar.

Drove up to Grantham for an Emap Automotive conference at the Belton Woods Hotel.

Will it start?

First day back at work today after a week's holiday. The car has stood for well over a week and seen some rain. Faint deposits of Dinitrol from inside the doors have streaked the sills where the rain has run from the drain holes.

Electric clock has kept perfect time. Turn the key and listen for the ticking of the fuel pump. Turn again and it starts first time, instantaneous. Runs sweet as a nut.I shouldn't be surprised, really, but I am pleased.

Grudge

I'm not the kind of bloke who carries a grudge... but... Sigh. One year ago today I parked the Jaguar outside Tesco in Peterborough. As I was checking that the boot was locked, a woman opened the passenger door of a Renault Sport Clio V6 and whacked it against my door, creating a horrid little dent smack, bang in the middle of an otherwise perfect panel.

I contained my fury and pointed out the damage. To my horror she denied it, despite the fact that I watched her do it! I showed her how the door matched the dent but she remained unconvinced. I asked for her phone number and she reluctantly gave it so I was left with that, her first name and the car registration number (Sally, WK02 EOB).

Over the next few weeks she failed to return my calls. When I finally got to speak with her, she again denied denting the car, refused to provide details of her insurance and then hung up. I've given up now, of course. But I'm reminded of that hideous woman every time I get in the car. There's one dent in my car and she made it. Terrible that I'm still angry with her 12 months on, isn't it?