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AAA Premier has made owning an XK possible. Maybe better if we didn't have? Would have to buy good well maintained cars and have have the usual problems taken care of before starting. My goal is Seattle Washington
to surprise a friend who thinks it's not possible to drive a Jag that far. He's given me grief ever since I bought the car. Can't wait to see the look on his face.
AAA Premier has made owning an XK possible. Maybe better if we didn't have? Would have to buy good well maintained cars and have have the usual problems taken care of before starting. My goal is Seattle Washington
to surprise a friend who thinks it's not possible to drive a Jag that far. He's given me grief ever since I bought the car. Can't wait to see the look on his face.
I know that feeling. In 2018 I think I used all of the free tows. I hope you can prove him wrong! I have faith that you will.
Ok, I've gotten my grades back, and I've passed my first year of grad school. Which means: the road trip is happening. Below is is a rough draw of the map. We'll be leaving in mid June and and returning in late July. Of course, there's stuff we'll miss, but this is about the best we can do given time constraints.
This is of course not literally the route (it's just a drawing), but it's a pretty good representation of where we'll be going. If any generous souls have a driveway to change oil or a floor to sleep on (am I grad student and my co-pilot is a teacher, so our lodging budget is very small), we can provide a six-pack of something cold as a thank you.
Thanks for that warning... my '03 XK8 has 137,000 smooth miles on it and I never looked very closely at those oil cooler lines... that will be my Indie mechanic's next assignment!
Hey everyone, it's been a long time. At some point I'll try to update with photos, but for now I wanted to update. That summer of 2021 was a hell of a trip, and we made it coast to coast and back relatively smoothly. The car went where I imagine no XK8 will ever go again -- some really rough dirt roads on the way to find a place to camp in on bureau of land management land. We did a ton of camping to save money. We got some odd looks pulling into campgrounds parking within sight of people with their massive tents and overland rigs.
All in all, we covered 9894 miles. A rough itinerary of what we ended up doing is here. I did an oil change in a parking garage in San Jose midway through the trip.
List of what went wrong with the car:
- Headlight bulb went out in California
- ECM died in Nashville, got a replacement from ASI next day since we were already in Tennessee. Swapped it in a hotel parking lot. Expensive but easy fix.
- That's it
I've since moved to New York City for grad school, and the car has remained safely tucked away at my parents house in MA. I'm getting it ready to hibernate for the winter. It doesn't see nearly as much action as it used to, but I've still manage to get in a few thousand miles since the trip ended. No mechanical issues to speak of since the trip ended. I'd like to think it's earned some rest.
I'm very grateful that we were able to do a trip like this, and very grateful for the car. It was comfortable, composed, and smooth. I had to manage the AC a bit during the high heat (100+ F) otherwise the engine would get a little hot for my liking, so around town driving wasn't so great sometimes. But it handled everything we threw at it.
I guess the prevailing lesson is: if you take car of your car, it'll take care of you. Drive your cars.
Impressive spreadsheet--and they say that accountants are ****-compulsive. Congrats on the trip. An inspiration to the rest of us to give our Cats some marathon runs, although i would probably skip the dirt road parts. Good luck with your studies.
Impressive spreadsheet--and they say that accountants are ****-compulsive. Congrats on the trip. An inspiration to the rest of us to give our Cats some marathon runs, although i would probably skip the dirt road parts. Good luck with your studies.
The dirt roads were definitely not in the game plan -- and I would absolutely not recommend it -- but we ran into some tough circumstances around wyoming and kind of had to do what we had to do. No cell service, no hotel vacancies, no campground availability, and sun going down quickly. All's well in hindsight, but I was for sure gripping the wheel tightly it crawling down roads that were more closely meant for ATVs and trucks. Was extremely cognizant of the possibility of a bent wheel or undercarriage damage. Slow and steady...
The dirt roads were definitely not in the game plan -- and I would absolutely not recommend it -- but we ran into some tough circumstances around wyoming and kind of had to do what we had to do. No cell service, no hotel vacancies, no campground availability, …”
that brings back some of my e-type memories.
The car and I were in LA for a year circa 1979; the summer heat prompted me to go up to mountains one weekend. Just as you experienced, I ran into a no-campgrounds situation and it was getting dark. I decided to pull off the paved road and park for the night. A wide hiking trail seemed like a decent secluded place where I was unlikely to get rousted by the law. The path wound up the mountain and got more and more narrow with each foot upwards. Finally the car couldn’t go another inch. But the car was well hidden.
Somehow I fell asleep semi reclining cross-ways in both seats. Morning came only too soon, and I found out that backing down that rutted trail in daylight was twice as hard as going up it in the dark.
Luckily the mufflers didn’t get ripped off, but it sure sounded like they were not liking my choices.
