Jaguar

From Wales, 19 posts

XJ6 is ok, had a few of them but nothing special, the XJ12 was an altogether better car. The 4.2 engine was a reasonably decent engine but some of the smaller capacity engines weren't all that good - particularly the s1 2.8Litre.

The XJ8 (4Litre V is better than the XJ6's and the XJR better again - but they do need to be serviced on the dot as they can develop expensive timing problems.

The XK8/ XKR is a beautiful car, again, impressive performance in the XKR but regular servicing required. You can pick nice used XKR's up at auction now for little over £10K!!

Like you, I didn't like the XJS but that was when it was released, it grew on me over the years and I really did like the late versions, got to be the V12 though! The one to have is the XJRS V12 6Litre, there was an absolutely immaculate, low mileage one on ebay recently, 1 owner, fully specced, full factory fitted body-kit & spoilers, always garaged, just used in dry weather, fsh, etc. £7K! This car would have been nearly £70K new in the early '90's which was about the same as going out to spend £100K+ now.
0-60mph in about 5secs, top speed 170mph+ They go like jets & sound like them too - where else are you going to get so much car for so little money?

You can go out, buy a perfectly decent, unabused late V12 XJS 5.3Litre for about £3K, (£5K for the convertible), insure it cheaply on a classic car policy and keep it for car shows & fine day motoring. Downside is servicing & spares costs & obviously fuel consumption (but hey, all this global warming is keeping my heating bills down!)
The early XJS's are absolute money-pits, it would be difficult to find a decent one, they rot, there's always something going wrong with them mechanically so steer well clear unless you can buy one that's had a full recent restoration at a good price.

From Cumbria, 1 post

Favourites:
XJ6
XKR

Worst:
XJS

From Wales, 19 posts

And if you're into 'pimped' Robin Reliants, watch Top Gear this weekend, they've sellotaped a Robin to something resembling Saturn 5!!!

From Wales, 19 posts

MG Rover was pretty dire anyway, so I'm not going to have a celebration if they start pumping out awful cars again. The only one I was remotely interested in was the Rover 75, I thought it was quite a handsome car when it was released, nice interior detailing as well. Also liked the estate version. I've heard a lot of horror stories about the 75 engines though, a guy I know had a brand new 75 as a company car and got through about 3 or 4 engines in the 1st year, one replacement engine only lasted 500 miles.



Your Fiat sportscar has a very high insurance group and is only available in lhd. It's pretty but all Fiats are rotboxes and the engineering quality was never hot. I liked the old 500, amazing little cars.



I'd buy a Reliant Scimitar, they're pretty cheap for a nippy, useable classic - same engine as my Dad's Gilbern. The Robin & the Kitten are affronts to my automotive sensibilities! My Mum did once have a Bond Bug, my Dad resprayed it in JPS colours, it was fun but she span on ice and wouldn't drive it after that. A few years after we sold it we discovered it was number 1 off the production line/ possibly even the prototype.



I can remember being told years ago that the Japanese had a 50cc event where bikes were exceeding 100mph, the engines were so highly tuned and stressed that they only lasted 1 race.

I wonder if there are any of those SS50's still in use?

From London Bridge, 37 posts

I had a SS50 moped as well mine was a four speed it once it 53 mph I have also had a CB200 that once hit 70mph. The fastest moped was the Fantic GT it was capable it was said of hitting 70mph.



I have been watching a Robin Reliant on U tube doing a quarter mile in 14.5 seconds hitting 100mph and Morris MInors are well represented as well. In India a Robin was made with its engine in the boot it was not a success as two door cars are illegal in India.



The MG is making a come back as it is now a Chinese car at least it should be cheap.

From Wales, 19 posts

My apologies, thought you were referring to the later Magnette saloon. Just looked up the K3.



Have you seen this painting?

K3 Magnette - race painting

From Wales, 19 posts

Hi



I liked the MG Magnette a bit, (which is unusual for me because I don't like much that wore the MG badge - the classic car equivalent of beans on toast). One of my Dad's mates had about 30 of them at the same time, mostly beyond repair - I don't know what he wanted them for.



My Dad's Mk VI is pretty well known, although it doesn't have any competition provenence that we're aware of, it was featured in 'Restoring Classic Cars' Feb '89 and the pictures from that article have been regurgitated in several classic car books since. It was a total rebuild from a 'field find', it had literally been rotting into a field for a decade or so and only the spaceframe and 1 or 2 panels were useable - but importantly he got the logbook. He has won concours competitions with the car. We were told that there were 130-150 of these manufactured and when my Dad got his back on the road after a 10yr resto we were told that there were 30 roadworthy examples at the time, quite a few in Japan and a few in the US. Technically this car isn't a Mk VI it's a Mk VI½. Lotus was well into the production run of the Mk VII s1 when they found they had about 20 spaceframes for the Mk VI which hadn't been made up into cars so they completed these with some Mk VII panels - they looked more like the Mk VI as they used the longer nosecone. I may have been wrong about the hp, it is 1172, was that the 10hp?



By a quirk of fate, 3 Lotus Mk VI ended up in Porthcawl which is a small Welsh seaside town about 25 miles West of Cardiff, (my parents hometown), a chap my father knew bought 2 to restore and I think is still working on them about 30 yrs later...



I can email pic of the Mk VI if you let me have an email addy, (I don't have the luxury of a website to refer you to I'm afraid).



Do you ever go up to the Castle Combe Classic & Sports-car race day, we generally go up en-mass and usually take the Lotus if it's dry.



There's a cracking s1 E-type 4.2 on ebay today (dealer) - top $ though.

17 posts

Hi, do you have any pictures of the VI? They're very scarce and really quite valuable - especially prized by Japanese collectors who love a genuine Hornsey Lotus. Actually, you could probably swop it for just about anything you fancied.



Yes, I know the Ford sidevalves well, they're really budget engines with pre-war roots, basic even then compared, say to the Morris 8 and that 3-speed gearbox is a real cheapo throwback. I suspect yours is the E93A, where you had to grind the valve stems to adjust the clearances!



But it's in the Lotus because of the 750 motor club, Chapman's roots, where you could then race in either the Austin Seven or Ford 10 engined classes. I raced with them nearly 20 years after Chapman did and the Austin sidevalve had been replaced by the little Aluminium Reliant OHV, but you could then still choose the 1172 Ford if you wanted, but by then you could supercharge it. Actually, if you had a Reliant-engined car, racing with at most 50bhp in a six hundredweight-ish car was quite fun!



Now, for a real fantasy motor, i think I'd like to go way back. Not too big, definitely not luxury saloon, Seriously sporting, but a road car.



K3 Magnette would do nicely. If you can't find the Birkin car, the old Nuvolari Mille Miglia one will do. I'll even pay the full original price - £795, i think

From Wales, 19 posts

Motorbikes frighten me to death I'm afraid. I've seen too many biker being scraped up after accidents with their heads facing the wrong way - and it doesn't have to be the bikers fault, they're still going to come off worst! My Dad used to race in the 60's, he about 17 bikes before he had an accident & spent 18mths on crutches. As a teenager I had a Honda FF50 moped which was pretty decent, did 40+mph downhill with the wind behind you. My brother had a Honda SS50 moped, which looked just like a light motorbike, with 5 gears it did 70mph which is pretty good for a 50cc bike particularly when you think that it was secondhand and that was 24yrs ago..



It is surprising what a little engine will do, years ago my Dad had a VW Derby 1.2 (like the Polo but with a boot). When most cars just had the 4 forward gears. We went down to the South of England one day for a run, early, nothing else on the Motorways and it did 95 uphill and 105 downhill all the way there.



I do like the looks on the old 'sit up & beg' type Ford Pop's, we had one in the drive for a year which we dismantled for parts - my Dad's Lotus VI has a lot of Ford components. It was a shame as it was a complete car without any rust. He found it in a garage in the South Wales valleys, the garage owner said someone put it in for repairs years earlier & it was never collected and he didn't have any contact details - so we had it for a song. The Lotus is a horrid car to drive actually because of the Ford mechanicals, I just can't drive it as the footwell is so narrow I press all 3 pedals down at once. Reverse gear is where 1st gear usually is so you've got to be really careful, just 3 forward gears without synchromesh so double declutching needed, drum brakes all round so you stop with a prayer and with the Ford 1172 sidevalve 8hp engine even in tweaked form you're lucky to reach 80mph downhill! Still she's pretty.



The fastest carI've ever been in may sound mundane - mk 3 VW Golf GTI. My Landlord was a salesman with Paramount Jaguar and the GTI was the 'incentive car' for the months top sales. Sizzling acceleration and power!

I loved the VW Golf s1, had a 1500 and it was a stunning little engine. Bought a s2 1800 and hated it. Wouldn't mind getting a s1 GTI if I could find a nice one sometime. So many cars, so little time....

From London Bridge, 37 posts

Some cars really have a high top speed a Vauxhall Senator would reach 137 mph a Granada 127 mph but 100 mph out of a moggie minor with a 40hp engine out dragging a 2.0 Cavalier that is amazing. It must have been like Harry Potters Anglia as it could fly. I had 100 out of a Ford Escort 1.1 and was amazed. 40hp is just about enough to get a motorcycle to 100 I have found. Although a Suzuki X7 would hit it with a claimed 30hp but a Honda 250 would not get near it with 27hp wierd.



Morris Minors are favourites with hot roders whom also like Ford Populars but they have died out now when production cars are so powerful like my brothers M3 a race car on the road. The fastest machine I have driven was a Yamaha FJ1200 its acceleration was mind warping a real adrenalin pump.



I have seen tuned up Jag E types on the internet they are expensive nowadays once they were real bargains.