Opening the Bonnet, A 1st Challenge

Once we got back from British Sports Cars we really wanted to get the car project started but were quite busy. Additionally we had, and still have a garage that is packed with stuff. Some stuff is inefficiently packed in and some things we don’t need at all; however, it is quite a job to make a space and then build a workbench.

Dale with some of his car magazine and book collection

But even more pressing was the fact that Dale could not open the hood, more properly know as the bonnet. He spent several days trying to push this and pull that. Then he actually opened the bonnet only to close it and of course it was stuck again.

What he found was the anchor for the cable on the movable latch was very loose and the anchor for the cable sheath on the body of the car was also worthlessly loose. Needless to say that with most British Cars, removing these two anchors involves removing quite a bit of sheet metal. So for now the bonnet will stay open pending remediation of the latch and cable anchors. 

A Jaguar Roars Again

Why British Sports Cars you might ask, when it is so far away? Well we had an amazing thing happen to us. A couple of years ago Rafe Saber from Canada, the guy who put us in touch with BSC started a face book page for Jaguar owners. He has since started several other pages for various Jag owners. So Rafe loves his Jags and has enjoyed making the connections between people, events and Jag restoration companies. People post Jaguar related events and companies will post the Jaguar related items for sale or services offered.  One such company on the site is British Sports Cars.

Unbeknownst to us, Rafe and Justin from British Sports Cars spoke via facebook and came up with the idea of starting our car and videotaping the whole event. Their thought was that the video could be seen throughout the world as a “Rip Van Winkle” car. Rafe sent me a message via facebook about their idea and we in turn sent a message to Justin via facebook. We then actually spoke by phone and, of course, met in person.

We actually had sent messages to Justin about 1 year ago inquiring about their services after Justin posted photos of their service garage. So you see we all met on facebook, never knew of each other until we joined the facebook club, the true power of social media.

What was amazing to us is that Rafe and Justin afforded us the opportunity to have our car inspected and then the event without charging us anything. For this one simple act we will be forever grateful because we would have likely not gotten started with any restoration for some time to come. Starting a project like this is daunting at best but with their push we have quickly gotten excited about getting our baby on the road.

So back to the big

event; we got into San Luis Obispo about 10a.m. but were unsure where to park. Now we have a big crew cab truck with a long bed and we were pulling this car trailer. There was no place to park in front of the shop so we put the blinkers on, parked in the left hand lane on the one way street and I went in to get some instructions. A crowd quickly gathered along the sidewalk, people looking and pointing at our car. A woman asked me what model it was as I walked into the BCS shop. It was so exciting to see the reaction from so many people as they all were ooh’ing and awe’ing.

Justin soon came and along with his father guided us to the rear of the shop.

After getting the car off the trailer Justin got to work adjusting this and that. The lights worked fine but other electrical items need work. With 3 of the BCS people the car started with a roar! We didn’t remember it being so loud! It was a tremendous sound to us. Justin was unable to drive it because the fuel pump does not work but that will be fixed in good time. 

And just a side note, British Sports Cars had the car Amelia Earhart drove sitting in their shop. I was thrilled to not only get to see her car up close and personal but got to sit in the very driver’s seat that she sat in!!!

A day to be remembered!

Alink to a better quality video of the Jag starting is on U-Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmkldSmFdVo

It Takes a Neighborhood To Move a Jag

To get the Jaguar on the trailer we needed wheels that would turn and roll the car, not a novel idea. But we had tires that were flat, flatter than pancakes, not great for getting the car around.

Fortunately our tires have inner tubes and we were hoping that they would not be full of cracks like the tires. We filled the inner tube inside the 35 year old tires and believe it or not they held air! We did promise to buy new tires next but to get the car on the trailer in a hurry we had to make do.

We had a big plan to get the car onto the trailer, just the 2 of us. But as these things go; we needed a new wench, needed fuel for trip, and on and on. So it was getting to be late afternoon before we could start.

We backed the trailer up onto our driveway but realized that we did need a little help. One neighbor was home and came over, then another came home and came over. Soon we had 2 more helpers plus moms and sisters with the cameras, grandkids running amuck and dogs on leashes to help protect us. It took a neighborhood to get the car up onto the trailer.

We had a glass of wine to help settle us at night before our early morning to British Sport Cars.