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.
THIS IS the story of life with a classic car. I drive a 1972 Jaguar XJ6 and write about it here. I'm Martyn Moore, former editor of Classic Cars magazine. This is a two-year story about the roller coaster ride of classic car ownership. The most recent entries come from a classic car rally in 2005, the last journey I made in the car before putting it into storage. Use links on the right for earlier entries.
