Hello all

As our 90's cars become more and more rare as time goes on then the basket cases get taken off the road and only the good ones remain. So now it becomes very difficult to compete (sorry I meant keep up). I have spent so much time and effort and money keeping her perfect and rust free (especially in the UK). I see other perfect examples and start to feel a bit despondent as I can never achieve that. Apart from having a delivery mileage 96 XK with serial number in the 1st 20 cars and keeping it under a cover in a heated garage, it just seems a bit pointless to get too OCD. But I still have a list of all these little jobs I want to do.
I don't want a museum piece, just want to get my XKR the best I can.
Does anyone else suffer from this affliction?
Thanks 🥰🥰😜👍👍

 

I just want to keep my car road worthy and dependable, as it’s my daily driver / only car. Fortunately, driving it all the time has kept it in good working order without the need for constant maintenance.

Letting these cars sit unused or barely used is about the worse way to keep them in tip-top shape. They will deteriorate just sitting there.

Z

 

Yes agreed, with the ridiculous petrol price now I am using her less and less. I have a little Golf TDI as a DD. I think a compromise and balance for me now needs to happen with the XKR to keep it running right. Take her out once a week up the coast on a Sunday when the roads are clear and on a dry day. Do a good run of about 30 to 40 miles and put her back in the garage after a wash and polish.

 

How much is gas in the US now? We are still having to fork out £8.50 per gallon in the UK for Super Unleaded even after the recent price drop. UK has the highest priced and highest taxed petrol in the world. Almost HALF of that is tax!
Bah humbug ! 🤯🤯

 

Thats $10 a gallon. Would you guys put up with that??

 

But Imperial gallon?

 

40 miles is a marginal amount of time to burn off the condensation in the oil. An hour or two twice a week would be my recommendation. I’ve had many cars and motorcycles that were a joy to look at. But the real pleasure came from driving them.

Of course I would.

In the early 1970’s I paid about $8.00 per gallon adjusted for inflation. I sold my ‘69 VW bug straight across for a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 convertible. Muscle cars were going cheap with the high price of gas, and I took advantage.


These days I’ll pay whatever the going rate is for gasoline as long as I have rice and pinto beans to keep my body going. When my eyesight and coordination are shot so badly I can’t drive anymore, I don’t want to have only memories of looking at my car sitting in a garage. I want to remember burning up the open road, with my last dollar if need be.

Z

 

My XKR is my daily car so it needs to be 100% reliable, the best thing you can do with these cars is to drive them and the worst thing you could do with these cars is to leave them sitting for a long time. When anything crops up get it sorted ASAP otherwise they can start to add up. Also get all the big maintenance jobs done when they really should, mostly just engine oil and transmission oil. The problem I have is that because it's a daily car I can only really get thigns sorted once a year or ona holiday so my annual service is normally pretty expensive because I get a bunch of other stuff sorted at the same time. It will have to come off the road at some point in the next few years to get some rust sorted out but I am dreading what the car will run like after not running for some time. I just hope the bodyshop can get it sorted out quickly and done right so I can start driving her again. Fuel prices are crap in the UK but there isn't much I can do about that, better to drive it and pay it then let the car sit and not run.

 

Zray I couldn't agree with you more. Mine is my daily driver / toy during the spring / summer months and I get real antsy to get the car on the road around the beginning of May. I put around 5000 km on it each year before I have to park it in the end of October. Mine is a '97 coupe and it "sleeps" in an unheated garage at -40C with only a battery tender and fires right up every spring with no problems. Whether on a moon light cruise with the old lady or roping through the windy mountain roads the car performs great and it will do 180 kmh+ all day long. These cars are meant to be driven and I drive the bags off mine. As these cars get older parts are becoming harder to find and I have started quite a collection of spare parts from various wreckers (and the engine I blew when it gets back from the rebuilders) since I plan to keep the car as long as I can drive. Since we're doing the gas price thing I pay $1.81 per L for 94 octane .

 

Why does the campfire scene from Blazing Saddles come to mind...?

 

Not sure, it's all liters now in UK to make it seem less expensive. I just multiplied the liter cost x 4.54

 

Yes agreed. And you are right, it needs to be run otherwise there is no point in keeping it. I will run it for about a 50 mile trip once a week and try to just enjoy again.... then at least I can keep it running OK without the petrol prices at the moment costing me too much.

 

The double skinned lower rear arches are a bugger. They trap moisture and the only way to fix is to cut and weld the rot. I have had both sides done.
Garaged up, never taken it out on salted roads recently and always hose down the rear underside.
Yes, true...we can't control the expense apart from use our cars a bit less (but enjoy more) 😉 😀 👍 😎

 

Ha ha, Top Gear once did a scene about if you could run a car on liquidised methane from cow poo, and IT WORKED! But human farts? You might need a lot of Cowboys 🤣🤣👍