#1 Opalescent golden dream
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:46 pm
Hello everybody,
I would like to introduce myself today. I am quite a big car enthusiast and for many years I have been buying and rebuilding several cars, for daily use and for the pleasure of seeing them from time to time, sitting in the garage when the work to do is bigger than I had previously planned (e g the first car I bought, a very beautiful white series 2 XJ6 that 15 years later isn't finished...) . Concerning the e type, it's very strange, but as you really don't see a real one very often, and as I had been a little bit disapointed by the xj with which I was really struggling because in those time my equipment wasn't as good as now, i had never considered owning one. Moreover, it's absolutely not a car from my generation, as I just turned 40. But a few years ago I saw a couple of really well equipped series 2 at the rallye monte carlo historical. They were red and looked so good , so out of time, that even in the middle of this incredible car park , surrounded by all those fantastic race cars , I couldn't find a more beautiful car to look at. I was yet convinced that the XK engine is a masterpiece, as I am also so the owner of a very nice XJC ( from 76 I think...) and you can imagine the rest of the story. I put a photograph of a white FHC from ecurie europe , with blue stripes on it on the desk of my computer , gone to the goodwood revival , and little by little, I realised that this fantastic car ticked all the boxes and that it would be so great to add it to my collection . But it had still rise up in price and as we certainly all do, I was one more time checking on the web that it was out of reach when one came out of the blue: a series one convertible from 1962, in opalescent golden sand, coming from a well known dealership in Beverly Hills. Not in concourse condition, of course, but complete and by having spent it's whole life in california, with very very few rust. The car was sold as a project, but seeing the photographs, I was convinced that there was a complete restoration to do, but with very little bodywork to fix. It was to be imported by a french company I had never heard of, but on this saturday afternoon, I said to myself, well you work real hard, it's time to do something a little bit crazy! I phoned a very charming man who had the good idea to buy in the usa and sell in France those gems that we exported from europe several decades ago, porsche, triumph, healey etc... The car was in the boat, and several people had taken appointments to see it in flesh when it would arrive, several weeks later. What could I do ? I thought about it for about an hour and called the man back to make a bank transfer . Several long weeks after,checking from time to time where the boat was on the web, it was delivered a few miles from home. A man got it down a big truck and after I got down of my cloud I finally could get my e type home on my trailer! It was raining a lot, and as I had not finished to put the rear axle from the white xj6 on the car, I had to let the poor e type under a cover , under the rain. No need to say that the next week end, I worked hard with the spanners to get the xj6 out and the e type in ! I then dismantled it completely, seeing that the engine was seized, but that I had had a good feeling concerning the rust. There is some down the battery , in the back of the boot and on the left hand floor and that's it ! So far, no bad surprise. And as part of my pleasure is to do most of the job myself, I enjoy every part of the process. As my wife said, "don't hurry too much doing the restoration ! " I think she is a little bit worried about what could come next... This car is a real pleasure to work on, as I don't have to struggle on every nut being pretty much rust free.
So I am a happy man , and having integrated the e type club and received my first issue of the magazine, I am now aware that there is a lot to enjoy actually driving the car !
Well , I recon it's a long introduction, but I personally like the stories behind the projects, so I decided to share mine!
Bye
Chris
I would like to introduce myself today. I am quite a big car enthusiast and for many years I have been buying and rebuilding several cars, for daily use and for the pleasure of seeing them from time to time, sitting in the garage when the work to do is bigger than I had previously planned (e g the first car I bought, a very beautiful white series 2 XJ6 that 15 years later isn't finished...) . Concerning the e type, it's very strange, but as you really don't see a real one very often, and as I had been a little bit disapointed by the xj with which I was really struggling because in those time my equipment wasn't as good as now, i had never considered owning one. Moreover, it's absolutely not a car from my generation, as I just turned 40. But a few years ago I saw a couple of really well equipped series 2 at the rallye monte carlo historical. They were red and looked so good , so out of time, that even in the middle of this incredible car park , surrounded by all those fantastic race cars , I couldn't find a more beautiful car to look at. I was yet convinced that the XK engine is a masterpiece, as I am also so the owner of a very nice XJC ( from 76 I think...) and you can imagine the rest of the story. I put a photograph of a white FHC from ecurie europe , with blue stripes on it on the desk of my computer , gone to the goodwood revival , and little by little, I realised that this fantastic car ticked all the boxes and that it would be so great to add it to my collection . But it had still rise up in price and as we certainly all do, I was one more time checking on the web that it was out of reach when one came out of the blue: a series one convertible from 1962, in opalescent golden sand, coming from a well known dealership in Beverly Hills. Not in concourse condition, of course, but complete and by having spent it's whole life in california, with very very few rust. The car was sold as a project, but seeing the photographs, I was convinced that there was a complete restoration to do, but with very little bodywork to fix. It was to be imported by a french company I had never heard of, but on this saturday afternoon, I said to myself, well you work real hard, it's time to do something a little bit crazy! I phoned a very charming man who had the good idea to buy in the usa and sell in France those gems that we exported from europe several decades ago, porsche, triumph, healey etc... The car was in the boat, and several people had taken appointments to see it in flesh when it would arrive, several weeks later. What could I do ? I thought about it for about an hour and called the man back to make a bank transfer . Several long weeks after,checking from time to time where the boat was on the web, it was delivered a few miles from home. A man got it down a big truck and after I got down of my cloud I finally could get my e type home on my trailer! It was raining a lot, and as I had not finished to put the rear axle from the white xj6 on the car, I had to let the poor e type under a cover , under the rain. No need to say that the next week end, I worked hard with the spanners to get the xj6 out and the e type in ! I then dismantled it completely, seeing that the engine was seized, but that I had had a good feeling concerning the rust. There is some down the battery , in the back of the boot and on the left hand floor and that's it ! So far, no bad surprise. And as part of my pleasure is to do most of the job myself, I enjoy every part of the process. As my wife said, "don't hurry too much doing the restoration ! " I think she is a little bit worried about what could come next... This car is a real pleasure to work on, as I don't have to struggle on every nut being pretty much rust free.
So I am a happy man , and having integrated the e type club and received my first issue of the magazine, I am now aware that there is a lot to enjoy actually driving the car !
Well , I recon it's a long introduction, but I personally like the stories behind the projects, so I decided to share mine!
Bye
Chris
