Steve,

I'm in Greenville - Michelin/BMW town. I have a cousin in Charleston(had to look that up) and I was stationed there in the Navy. Came down for Michelin in 1980 from VA.

I just sold my 04 XJR a couple months ago with 174k miles on it. A preemptive strike. But, I replaced it with the SV8 and XKR which give me plenty to do. I went the coilover route on the XJR. Don't know what I might do on the SV8 should issues arise.

Got my first ride in an XJ when I was a bag boy at the local grocery. 71-72 or so. High School. Knew I had to have one one day. First, an 01 XJR in 2006, followed by 6 more including the 2 I have now. Wonder how many of us of an "era" are still working on our cars? We are the warranty for sure.

Best regards,
Dale

 

'Wonder how many of us....'

Welll... from a ..... meah .......perhaps ten year [1] deeper yet vantage point?

Chose to wait until we knew we:

(A) no longer had a "day job" or similar need to commute with it as a 'daily driver',

(B) could afford to own or rent a substitute...
... when, not IF, our JLR 'perpetual project cars' .. were hors d' combat ...

given the understanding beforehand that we would HAVE to do our own maintenance to be able to afford them at all..

..and then acquiring them so we COULD DO.... rather than watch 'tee vee', paint dry, grass grow, measure the mold on our **** ...

[1]
(Roosevelt was still President when I came in the door... Franklin. Not Theodore. And I'm still buying new tools to make stuff easier.)

 

@Thermite So true, Bill. Great post!
And I'm actually from Southwest VA, Max Meadows, where 81 and 77 intersect. Mr. Eisenhower had just become President when I arrived on the scene.
Dale

 

I've 'driven past it..'. Or "not noticed it from the air".. "DAN" about the closest. "49I" - named for a War I relative - is about as close as I get to the family homes, 1762 onward.

"Diffrent strokes..." Literally. Some folk wrench. Other folk golf.

Golf ***** not having pissed me off enough to earn beating on them with a club whilst ruining a nice walk, I'd rather turn a wrench... then take the car for yet-another 'road test'...

"Funny part.." is that for any serious "grand touring'.. the Americas, Europe, Aus, NZ, I nearly always RENT a NEW car, and 'premium'... from a 'major' agency.. one that can simply furnish a replacement and 'immediately'... if anything goes pear-shaped. ELSE.. hire a vehicle with driver. Some countries, (many, actually, Asia, Africa, ME, South America.....) you do NOT want to be the 'driver' yerself.

So our OWN "grand touring" vehicles get more messing about with than challenging road use.

Ah, well..... "JLR ****", hands-on ....or in the forum.. is surely more socially acceptable than ..... n'er mind.....not sure I even remember the "other thing".. ?

Anyway... "JLR ****" is still "keeping me out of pubs and brothels..."

No TIME for it.. even if there was any money.. or energy... left spare!!!

 

Bill, great posts! I'm still chuckling about your ditty about the Healy exhaust you posted on another thread. I left resonators all over the streets of Charleston back in the day. Folks could hear me coming a mile away. I think I had the only 3000 in town. At a party, I was once asked what I was doing at Big John's, a popular pub, at 2 in the afternoon on Monday. To which I responded: "Because that's when the beer is coldest!"

Small world, Dale. While I have spent only a little time in Greenville, I was there to play golf when BMW was opening. Our host had been involved in wooing BMW. I recall going to a club near the interstate for a sumptuosus dinner and there were super-polished BMW SUVs on pedistals all over the place. I actually met one of the senior BMW guys. Greenville is a beautiful place and has always been a bit more advanced in many ways than the rest of that wonderful state.

Best,

Steve S.

 

I've begun to think along the lines of renting myself, Bill. But, the vehicle is so much a part of the trip. A Jaguar makes it an event. Most others just make it a trip. Still, may eventually be the smart thing. Then buy a 69 Chevelle SS or the restomod 454 67 Camaro that was on Hagerty last week for a toy. Something I could actually fix! There's still time.

I did have a relative in Northern VA long ago, 1700s. Johan Peter Salling(Salley), an explorer. The first European to discover or at least write about Natural Bridge. His home still stands there in Glasgow. First to discover coal in WV. Probably be in jail for that these days.....

Enjoyed your posts. And yours, Steve.
Dale

 

All the rentals "made it an event" as well. Chosen for the route. An Audi "TT" coupe when I was Thalwil-based but had a fast round-trip to make to look at property in Campione d' Italia... an Alfa 75/Milano winter Xmas/New Years recce, Northern Italy, Lakes, Milano, Schweiz, Venetzia.... San Marino... Rome, Ostia / Fuimicino.

51 Countries, 27 by owned, (BMW 520) leased, (Renault Laguna) or rented "many!!!" - motorcar,

I'd LIKE a late 1940's Hudson 3/4T "Big Boy" pickup. I'll probably SETTLE for a late 1980's Dodge. I had owned 79 for many years & 198,000+ trouble-free miles, downsized to a GMC S15.

PITA taking recycling or trash out in an X350, and even the L320 sucks at hauling a sheet of plywood, lumber, insulation, drywall, gravels, potting soil, etc..

First humans as knew about fire "discovered" . and made use-of - coal in WV.
And all around the world, wherever there were hills cut by watersheds.

The upper deposits are cut away by fluvial-cycle erosion, chunks can be gleaned from the streams as erode them, the rest look you right in the face out of the surviving embankments. Your explorer had encountered an "oil shale" known as "candle coal".

Our Lewis County "bank mine" dig, handy for blacksmithing, not much else, given we had gas wells and the prunings of a multi-thousand tree orchard, more renewable wood than enough.. was a seam of the "Waynesburg Coal", (Bituminous) high up on the hillsides.

It had been commerclally mined for many years near ta da Waynesburg, PA & Uniontown, well to the North, where the 'strike' of the deposit had kept it from being washed away..

About fifty feet below the 'bottom land' and flood plain we owned the "Redstone coal" - two parallel seams - but the shattered rocky overburden made it impossible to safely deep-mine and with more rock than coal, uneconomic to strip-mine. It had been tried, just over the hill, Murphy's Creek..