Daring feat: just completed 800 mile roadtrip in 470hp V12 E-Type

[PSportoVeloce]

Against my better judgment, I agreed to drive my mother's recently purchased E-Type back to California from Washington state. The 35 year old piece of British Leyland hardware made it back fine though, with no significant mechanical problems or unintended stops!

The trip was a lot of fun, particularly in retrospect now that I know that it turned out with a safe arrival and no mechanical failures.

More picture here: http://www.themotoringenthusiast.com

and here: http://www.themotoringenthusiast.com

[aigel]

Nice pics!

But you cheated. WTF is the hardtop for?

George

[PSportoVeloce]

Originally Posted by aigel

Nice pics!

But you cheated. WTF is the hardtop for?

George

Cheaper than shipping it! That was the only reason, really. I would have preferred it without, except when it rained. The previous owner never had it on the car once in all the time he owned it (he received it in the back of a pickup), and once we get it off the car, there are no plans to ever have it on again either.

[schamp]

Good job. I did that once but from LA to Denver in a 69 Jag XKE. Did it in July as well. When the temp started climbing I stopped in Vegas got a room and didn't leave again until midnight. Cool running after that. What I worried about was the fuel pumps. Those kind of trips you never forget.

[scottmandue]

I would love to have one of those!

[jhynesrockmtn]

You might have the coolest Mom ever. Tell me it's not an automatic.

[Joeaksa]

I just did the same trip, Washington state to Phoenix in a V-12 XJ . Not one hiccup the entire 1900 miles.

People always complain about Jags but they are coming out to be very reliable in the latest surveys.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Sounds like an awesome trip! Stunning car, you have a pretty cool mom.

[Embraer]

The most reliable car I've ever owned has been my XJR. (I'm sure that's an anomaly)

Anyway, it's not as pretty as your mom's XK, but I have one of my TR4's with a V-12 waiting to be shoehorned into it!

Love the E-type

[pwd72s]

I remember when the e types first came out...they set the car enthusiast world on it's ear. A rolling phallic symbol, visually light years ahead of anything else out there.

Thanks for sharing...a great road trip!

[PSportoVeloce]

Originally Posted by schamp

Good job. I did that once but from LA to Denver in a 69 Jag XKE. Did it in July as well. When the temp started climbing I stopped in Vegas got a room and didn't leave again until midnight. Cool running after that. What I worried about was the fuel pumps. Those kind of trips you never forget.

Haha, what a typical Jaguar story. My parents have always had Jags over the years (XK's, E's, early XJ's) and I always get all kinds of interesting lore like this. This one has an American Carter fuel pump that was very reliable, as well as supplementary cooling fans. It never passed the 'M' in NORMAL on the temperature gauge the entire trip.

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

You might have the coolest Mom ever. Tell me it's not an automatic.

Certainly not, it's a 5-speed Tremec T5! She is pretty cool. She bought the 89 Speedster new as well.

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

I just did the same trip, Washington state to Phoenix in a V-12 XJ . Not one hiccup the entire 1900 miles.

People always complain about Jags but they are coming out to be very reliable in the latest surveys.

Yes, the new ones are quite good...the old ones not as much though. My baseline stress level was higher than I would have liked but the car was great overall.

Originally Posted by Embraer

The most reliable car I've ever owned has been my XJR. (I'm sure that's an anomaly)

Anyway, it's not as pretty as your mom's XK, but I have one of my TR4's with a V-12 waiting to be shoehorned into it!

Love the E-type

I don't know that that is an anomoly, my mom has an 8-cylinder XJR and it's proven to be quite reliable as well. I can't wait to see that Triumph project...that will be something!

[mike55]

Beauty! BTW, what was done to it to get 470hp? That's quite a bit over the factory stock version.

[PSportoVeloce]

Originally Posted by mike55

Beauty! BTW, what was done to it to get 470hp? That's quite a bit over the factory stock version.

It is quite a difference; the stock one made 272 emissions controls choked hp. This one has been pretty seriously gone over.

Venolia pistons, Carillo rods, bored out to 6.5 liters (from 5.3), six dual throat 40mm Webers, high compression (over 11:1, needs octane booster), hot cams, ported and polished heads, ceramic coated stainless headers, full stainless exhaust. It was dynoed at 470.6hp and 461 ft-lb. No more smog equipment of course.

11-16mpg if you were wondering.

[Jim Bremner]

GREAT COLOR!


This car needs to be seen & heard.....get it up on youtube!

[URY914]

I had a girlfriend in high school and her mother drove one. It was an automatic....
No, I was not allowed to drive it.

[Tobra]

Dad had a baby blue one of those, '72 4 speed, soft top, did not have to shift out of 1st gear for a 0-60 run. It sounded like an airplane.

Stock carbs though, 4 Strombergs as I recall, you had to unscrew this deal on the top, fill up to level with 10W oil. Rear suspension of that car is beautiful, crawl under there and look.

[slakjaw]

When I was 16 years old Dad and I drove a 64' XKE from CA to NE. Generator failed in salt lake city and we rebuilt it in a hotel room using bushings from a Ford starter rebuild kit. I will never forget that trip.

[slakjaw]

Course ours had the straight 6

[Hugh R]

Very nice cars, the V-12s were front end heavy, I prefer the 6s. But still a very cool car, they're cheap in comparison to the Aston Martin DB4 I sold 18 months ago, but you can actually get parts for the jags. I've judged a lot of them at concours here in SoCal.

[LakeCleElum]

Love the color, thanks for sharing. The worst decision I ever made as selling my 1962Roadster: