The 'E' Type Forum

So, Do you drive your cars in the rain? I don't, and I won't. Now don't get me wrong here. My car is a driver, not a garage queen. But it is a very nice condition driver. It still gets lots of attention at shows and cruise in's I will drive it anywhere. I raced it for yrs, and wooped the crap out of it. I will go to the grocery store and run errands. My old driveway was 700' of gravel. who cares. But as an old body and paint guy, I don't want to get it wet. classic cars and water = rust. Especially Jags. I won't even wash it with a garden hose. The water gets in where you can't dry it. I have worked on too many rusty cars. Mine won't end up like that. I have had my jag for 40 yrs. and still no rust. You UK drivers might be the exception. What do you get, Like 3 days a year without rain...LOL just kidding. So am I nuts and alone on this subject?... Jim

You're definitely nuts. Sadly, on this forum, you're not alone.

The wipers actually make visibility worse, so I avoid rain.

I actually removed my wiper arms from my car. Don't need em, and car looks better without them. I do have rainx on windshield for bugs and emergency use.

I must be nuts too, don't want to get it wet, want to keep it nice, don't want water marks on polished aliminium covers, mud & grit in wheel arches a pain to clean off.

Same nuts here.
Especially on an old, preserved, non rust/treated car where rust will run inside seams and cavities (thinking especially of my 61 spot welded bonnet flanges).
Would be different on a nuts and bolts restored car where steel has been correctfully protected everywhere.

I try to avoid heavy rain where possible, but on a weekend away (or even harder a two week trip) you can’t avoid rain so it doesn’t bother me. If you want to drive lots in the U.K., you have to put up with rain

Agreed. If you discounted all the days in the UK when it either rains, or simply that the roads are wet, you'd never go out. Even on a beautiful hot sunny day, with no rain forecast, Sod's Law says a thunderstorm gets triggered off and you get caught in a torrential downpour (ask me how I know....). And even on those ultra rare times when there hasn't been rain for days, it goes without saying that you'll go round a corner and discover that the road is flooded because of a pipe-burst

It's not too bad though. The sight of rain beading over an E-type's bonnet is one of life's great pleasures, and the clean-down required afterwards gives you an excuse to get intimately acquainted with all the components that go to make up your pride and joy.

The only problem is the rain water drips through the bonnet louvers onto the hot manifolds and ruins the ceramic coating on them.

I’ve quoted this before but let’s include it again Denis Jenks Jenkinson was known to say that any car with enamel still on the manifold reflected a driver who wasn’t driving the car positively enough. This from a man who regarded 4000 as a good cruise RPM and who regularly took them up to and over 5000

Rain-x does a fine job, and remembering our first drive when we collected our car included a long drive in heavy rain the wipers did a decent job.
And agreeing with Simon P, water beading off the bonnet is a great reminder to look at that long bonnet ahead of you and appreciate why we love the E so much.

Geoff

I would have thought someone would come up with a solution to deflect the dripping away from the manifold in the shape of some sort of stainless shield....maybe running to the length of the engine above the manifold with brackets bolting to the valve cover acorns....

Or get rid of the louvres

Yup, my car goes out in the rain, but never on salty roads. And the car gets wet, sometimes very wet. My wipers work, new rubbers when they get hard helps a lot. The screen de mister works even though the fan is OE, and the rear window de mister also works. And I always carry a towel in the car, just in case it rains.

The screen leaks a bit, water dribbles from the passenger side bottom corner. The doors leak a bit leaving a trail of water along the sills. Both these sources of water are dealt with while driving using the towel. The rear window used to leak, but I’ve sealed it with some mastic. And water gets through the bonnet louvres onto my usually highly polished cam covers and carbs, leaving marks when the water dries off. Water also dribbles down the headlamp covers and into the sugar scoops.

After a run in the wet, the car is always ragged off before being put to bed. Outer paint surface, and water in the door openings, and under the bonnet. I may also spray a little WD40 (other brands are available) around the wire wheels. Sometime over the following day or so I’ll clean the wheels, maybe off the car, maybe on. I’ll polish the paint work, and the alloy under the bonnet. If the wet run has been long, I may have to lift the carpets and underlay and let them dry out.

The tracks of water under the headlamp covers and on the sugar scoops is usually only dealt with if I am going to show the car. And any dirt under the wheel arches if left until just before I apply the car’s annual coat of waxoyl (again other brands are available).

Definitely not if i can avoid it. My s1.5 ots has been stuck inside since the start of December, i like to drive it every 2-3 weeks over winter, but its been poor run of wet weather here in Berkshire in UK…hopefully get her out soon.

You must be running a water re-cycling plant back there

Why are your carpets & underlays getting wet?

Afraid my car has no idea what rain is.

Allrand wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 21, 2023 9:41 am

Why are your carpets & underlays getting wet?

Because I drive it in the rain? Rain is something of a fact of life here in Blighty.

As for the car, there are holes through which water gets. I know it shouldn’t be, but there are holes. Miss-aligned panels and doors, crumbling seals etc, all contribute.

I’m sure if I had the car stripped and de-rusted, I could rebuild the body such that all the panels and the doors lined up correctly, and with new rubbers everywhere that rain water could be kept out of the cabin at all times. But I won’t, not yet, and not while I still enjoy driving this ancient, poorly cared for (in its early years), ugly sister of an E-Type. I’ll live with its rattles and shakes, its slightly ill-fitting doors, its perished seals. I’ll live with it for at least one more year.

Chris

I fully agree. I have an OTS with a new hood fitted five years ago by a well known company. Despite returning it for adjustments, it leaks badly. I drive the car all year round and was out on christmas eve and new years day in it. Courtesy of Moss Jaguar, I have heated MX5 seats, wrap up warm and drive it in any weather. My only no-no is salt on the road.

It's old, use it and enjoy it. So many others out there enjoy seeing it. Why lock it wawy like a trailer queen, I didn;t buy it as one.

John

I prefer not to take my S1 out in the rain, but having taken it to S.Africa twice, USA three times, Canada and virtually all over Europe, I (we, wife included) have experienced our fair share of rain!

It does leak - under the doors but mainly through the hood/windscreen join and no matter how it is adjusted and various different rubber seals used, it still leaks.
My remedy -- wide sellotape across the top of the screen and the chrome finisher on the front of the hood frame - works a treat!! (I have a roll of it permanently in the boot!). The rain makes quite a noise when it hits the stretched sellotape! Its invisible to onlookers (who may be out in the rain!) and easily stripped off when not needed.