When I left Peoria, IL this Spring, I had to leave the ’68 2+2 behind – I was already overloaded! I had planned to have the E-Type picked up by an auto transport company, but plans changed…
About 3 weeks after I returned from the first trip, one of my customers offered me a late Series 1 OTS forward bulkhead, and I just couldn’t turn that down. It was in Youngstown, OH, and I figured I could “swing by” there on a trip up to the River this Summer. But then I started thinking…
Going out to Peoria, IL again from here was kind of ridiculous, but to NOT just keep going and get the 2+2 once I was already halfway there in Ohio was also ridiculous! On top of that, arranging transportation for these inoperable E-types can be a real nightmare, and I knew that with the steepness and trickiness of Steve’s driveway, I could conceivably go through several attempts before someone actually got the job done – that happens – ALOT.
So in the end, I decided to make another trip out west and just get the 2+2 myself – AND the forward bulkhead… It probably would have been later this Summer, but with the move coming up, I wanted to get ALL road rips out of the way as soon as possible, AND – I sold the 2+2 to a gentleman in the UK!
So I’m off! Look through the photos below, and it will be like you came along as my co-pilot! – Chuck
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- This arch and I have gotten really well acquainted over the past couple of years! I’m headed West into Indiana here…
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- This is the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis – I tried to take a photo of this last time I went by it and didn’t catch it… It’s a pretty impressive building.
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- This is the same farm down the road from Steve’s place that I took a photo of a few months ago – looks a little greener now!
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- We got the 2+2 off the jack stands and onto these dollies to roll it out toward the entrance of the building.
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- Here is the first sunlight this car has seen in over a quarter century!
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- Success! The wheels were locked up at first, but with a simple tug of the winch they freed right up, and we made short work of this. Having the trailer pointed downhill helps! The mouth is a little mangled, but with replacement of the complete lower valance, this bonnet just needs a little hammer and dolly work around the nose of the center section and this is going to be a great original bonnet!
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- I also grabbed one more item before leaving Steve’s… This is an original Jaguar dealership sign from the late 1950’s. It is double-sided, enameled steel, inside of a heavy aluminum frame, and it is HEAVY! It is a little over 3 feet high, and designed to be hung from a pole sticking out from a building. Apparently, these are highly sought after – to be honest, I had never even seen one before!
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- After two long days of driving – with the trailer, and then loading up, I was TIRED! And like I told Janie, I did something really smart: I had a big dinner at the same mexican restaurant as last time, a BIG Margarita, and then went to bed for the night at 8:15 local time! This is the sunrise the next morning, after a great night’s sleep, because I have another LONG drive today – 600 miles!
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- Back under the arch!
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- Just motoring along – with my new sign!
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- This song was part of a special Sirius XM countdown of movie songs from the 1960’s – which I did dig – several James Bond tunes, etc…
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- This was I-71 in Ohio, between Columbus and my destination – Youngstown. I had the window down, jamming to the old movie tunes (OK, that doesn’t really make sense…), and I heard something come blowing up past me – I quick grabbed tghe camera and snapped this shot of a replica Cobra as it blew past…
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- …followed by another…
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- …and another! This was right around the exit for Mid-Ohio, and I’m guessing that maybe that is where these guys came from…
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- I was driving non-stop all day so that I could get to my hotel in Youngstown, OH in time to check in and watch the Belmont Stakes. As luck would have it, there was a REALLY nice little restaurant right next to the hotel, where I had a great steak and watched the race. I was EXCITED – and truth be told, I was so overwhelmed that I wept when it was over – I have been waiting my ENTIRE LIFE to see a Triple Crown winner! That was GREAT!!!
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- Bright and early the next moring, I headed over to meet one of my customers. These are their E-types – the one in the foreground belonging to his son, and just recently restored – WITH several Monocoque metalworks panels – that’s great to see!
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- This is a 1967 OTS, and I LOVED the color – a little darker than the factory maroon, and flawless!
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- Here is what brings me to Youngstown this morning – a late ’67 OTS forward bulkhead!
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- There is surface rust, and a few small issues below the windshield posts, but otherwise, this piece is ROCK solid, and I was tickled to get my hands on it!
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- But this storage area was also home to several of my customer’s other toys! Here is a restored XK-140 FHC, and a Ferrari Dino.
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- Quite a contrast of color!
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- The XK-140 had disc wheels – you almost never see that anymore – it seems like everyone converts over to wires nowadays – so it’s nice to see one restored to it’s original state.
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- The engine was meticulously restored as well.
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- This is a new hardtop from one of the “usual suppliers”. It is a new offering by them, and intended to be a lower cost solution instead of the more expansive units that more closely resemble the real thing. This one was a bit lighter, and some poetic license had been taken with the various trim pieces, but overall, for the price, I thought this was a great alternative for a E-Type that is being driven and enjoyed!
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- THIS is what is left of the monocoque body shell of the customer’s 1961 flat-floor OTS… YIKES!
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- Wrecked – AND rusted beyond repair, this one was just too far gone for restoration to be economically feasible… And unless it’s William Lyons personal car or something, you really just have to walk away from a shell that is this bad…
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- Rust like this in the forward bulkhead is really “the kiss of death”… And since this shell was so bad, the customer elected to purchase a completely new shell from a supplier in the UK. Hang tight – we are going to look at that in a few minutes!
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- This is the restored “pumpkin-head” 1961 E-type engine.
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- Complete with the early “three-eared” throttle linkage and air balance tube. It is different than most other, later 3.8 E-Types, which only have two ears and one long throttle linkage shaft between them.
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- High up on pallet racks was the restored early style IRS.
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- Further down on the shelves of parts was this section of a SEries 1 E-Type bonnet. This was neat, and I guess it would look interesting fitted into the corner of a room somewhere, but I hate to see a once great E-type, with all of it’s stories and adventures, reduced to this… I would restore them all if I could…
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- The restored, 1961 “smooth-top” fuel tank, without strengthening rib pressed into the top surface.
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- These were the owner’s two favorite cars – a daily driver MGB, and a 1969 Aston Martin (DBS?…)
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- This was a really neat car! It was like a cross between a British car and an American muscle car from the 60’s!
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- The car is in very original condition, with something like 18,000 miles on the clock!
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- And under the bonnet is Aston Martin’s take on the DOHC straight six!
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- This was really cool – it was like an E-Type engine from the “bizzaro world” – check out the width of the head, setting the cam covers MUCH farther apart than an E-Type! This engine is 4.0-liter displacement.
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- I liked the LeMans style oild filler cap at the front of the head – just one of the features that let you know this engine – and car, are at a trim and quality level several notches above Jaguar… The crossover was reminiscent of a 1968 emissions E-Type engine.
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- And – this being a 1969, it does have the same emissions Zenith-Stromberg carbs as a later E-Type – but they stuck with three when Jaguar reduced the number to two!
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- The interior was MIND-BLOWING! For starters, it was in great shape, and PLUSH! I’m not kidding, I don’t think I have EVER sat in a more comfortable seat – E_V_E_R!!!!!! It was unreal… But also, the SMELL of this interior was something to be experienced – sweet vintage leather!
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- Next, we headed over to the customer’s home to check out their new E-Type shell from the UK. I had my choice of riding in the red ’69 E-Type OTS, or the Aston Martin. Even though it was a BEAUTIFUL Summer moring, and PERFECT for a ride in an E-Type roadster, AND that would have looked great on the blog… I chose the Aston Martin instead. I’ve never ridden in one before, and I just couldn’t resist!
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- And the Aston did not dissapoint – what a car!
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- The interior had a very strange feel – stuck somewhere between British sports car and a Mustang almost!
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- But those seats! They hugged your body like nothing I’ve ever felt before (inanimate that is…) – and the back seat looked just as comfy!
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- Over at the house, I set to work looking over the new shell. Overall, I was impressed, and it was a nice piece. Some details were a little lacking, but I think they were so minor that only a super E-Type nerd like me would even notice – and really, after the car is painted and assembled, those minor details would be inconsequential, if not completely hidden altogther.
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- Prep of the panels was a little lacking, and really, the shell should be stripped and sprayed with a quality 2-part epoxy before moving forward in my opinion – which I’m sure is planned.
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- It was interesting to see stickers on every part – you could feel the assembly process of guys just pulling parts off the shelf and welding them together.
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- This is a partial, internal body shell assembly, and then also included a “kit” of the outer panels as well.
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- Overall, I was more impressed than I thought I would be. There was a little sloppiness here and there in the assembly itself, but really, that is no different than the factory shells we have taken apart!
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- It made me laugh to see the hand-formed nature of this litle recess for the early-style 3.8 pedal box. We make these here – and also have to do it by hand, it it is a real PAIN! It was interesting to see the evidence of somone on the other side of the atlantic solving some of the same problems as us, in the same way!
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- But I had alot more driving ahead of me to get home, and so the customer dropped me back off at the first site.
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- Here is the Aston Martin headed back home for what I can only assume was a fun Sunday of driving adventures in the hills of Ohio!
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- I fired up my truck and trailer and headed back out, but before I got to the highway, I had to get something to eat – I was STARVING now! I saw a kind of beat p place called “Plaza Donuts” in the corner of an old shopping center, and decided to give it a shot – mostly because they were right next to a large parking lot I could easily maneuver the trailer in, but also because it occurred to me that it has been a LONG time since I have seen a donut shop that was not a Dunkin Donuts or a Tim Horton’s! Well, imagine my surprise when I walked into this TIME WARP!
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- This place IMMEDIATELY took me back to my youth – VERY YOUNG – like under 10… I guess I forgot that donut places USED TO look like this – but they DID! OMG – it seemed so familiar to me! And I LOVED IT – and especially the simplicity of it! They had DONUTS, and COFFEE – PERIOD! It was GREAT! I have to tell you, I’m slowly but surely turning into an old man, and when I walk into a donut shop to get a cup of coffee and one donut, it drives me CRAZY when the person in front of me spends 5 minutes ordering some crazy complicated drink and a flatbread sandwich!
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- I was really glad I stopped in here – I’m getting better and better as I get older at slowing things down a bit and checking out places like this. I SHOULD have sat down at this counter and ate my donut, but I didn’t… There’s still room for improvement.
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- Instead, I hit the road again, adn was quickly out of Ohio and into Pennsylvania at the top of the state on I-80.
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- Adn as luck would have it, the same 1960’s movie song countdown was on satelliter radio again, and I listened to that again while trucking along…
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- I always take I-76 – the PA turnpike – though PA, but it always shows I-80 as an alternate route. Howvere, getting down from I-80 to Harrisburg always seems “sketchy” on the map, so I don’t go that way. This time I did because I was already up at I-80 – how bad could it be?…
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- Well, I found out! The next thing you know, I am on this STEEP road, with lots of switchbacks, where the truck speed limit is 20 MPH!
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- And the tight turns just went on…
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- …and on…
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- …and ON!
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- And the signs just kept getting more and more ominous!
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- Thanksfully, I didn’t end up in here! Let me tll you, the road looks flat in this photo – IT WASN’T – it was STEEP!!!
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- Eventually, it was over and I ended up going through the quaint little town. Phew!
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- But we were on smaller roads now, going slower, and this last stretch of the trip just DRAGGED ON – and I was TIRED!
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- Finally, I was close to home, and coming back down the familiar 896 through Amish country. And as a final hurdle for this trip, I guess because it was early Sunday evening, the roads were FILLED with Amish buggies of young Amish couples (I guess they were all coming home from their parents’ houses for Sunday dinner?) – and they are TOUGH to pass when you are towing a trailer!
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- Home Sweet Home at Last! Here is my new sign leaning up against a tree in the front yard. It’s in such good shape that it looks like a new reproduction! Another E-Type adventure safely completed – thanks for tagging along!
