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Got the car registered and plated. Did a quick spin Monday night and remembered....oh, forgot to install that new expansion tank, (coolant level low light due to gunky old residue). This weekend's project.
So I decided last minute yesterday to take it on a property tour in Rochester, NY from home base. Pouring rain all the way there and back but the streets are desalted by now and it was good to cruise in a heavy down pour knowing my undercarriage was getting power washed.
Car ran like a top but I did notice the AC may need a bit of a charge, but on defrost it cleared up the windshield quickly.
Positive note, my Poland Springs water bottle only fell out of the cup holder once!
Averaged 74-76 on the NYS Thruway in heavy, heavy rain and the car was solid. Cruise worked fine, speedo was spot on compared to Waze.
A bit of a humming drone from rear of car and yeah...with all the other work I had done I chuckled as I never replaced the 13 year old wipers.
A little Rain-x helped, new blades sitting next to me as I type this!
Might need a bit of rear suspension refresh, (remember, this car sat for 12 years), rides a bit harsh in the back end but not jarring.
All in all a great 300 mile shakedown cruise in really nasty conditions, perfect coupe weather!
Back to Rochester this Friday for a weekend stay.
Friends were aghast that "you're putting miles on it????".....yeah darned right I'm putting miles on it. I'm going to drive the wheels off it over the next several years...but it won't be able to catch my '18 S-90 w 160,000 currently....that's going to 250,000!
I'm 71 yrs old and our 2005 XK8 tripped 35000 last week and we plan on driving the wheels off in warm weather with top down as much as possible. No use in letting it rust away like me.
Just gave it a wash and waiting on wife to hope in and were gone again.
She said an hour ago shed be ready in a minute.
I just got back from a quick 36 hour - 1,100 mile round trip down to Austin TX and back for an annual physical. Only about 200 miles in the rain. As expected , the car performed flawlessly, not so much as a hiccup . The mileage was nothing to write home about, but since I kept the speed between 75 and 105 mph for 90%+ of the trip, which was all on seldom used two lane roads, I think nearly 20 mpg was good enough.
This trip came less than a week after a 600 mile trip to get to prime eclipse viewing territory (the clouds parted 100%, right on que. really was just like magic).
so over 1,500 miles in two separate journeys. I felt really fortunate to have the miles whiz by in great fashion.
Z
PS so far the car has 188,900 miles on it. I hope to crack the 200,000 mile barrier before 2025.
Road trip in the rain
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