Well, it's a lovely color indeed.

 

Cobras and Shelbies are cool cars. But may I ask to keep the thread on topic and about daily drivers for X100 owners or at least about the X100 at all?

I'm sure the web is full with forums for classic Fords tuning.

Thanks.




.

 

Daily driver is a Ford F350 diesel 4x4, four door, short bed Dually.

And that would be "Shelby's", no plural ies after his name.

As to a previous Corvette comment, and being an ex Vette owner, I still belong to a National Corvette organization where my XK8 is very welcome. People in the group drive their cars.

 

Certainly. As mentioned, my current DD is an '02 XKR. I'm averaging 1,450 miles per month Not bad considering I have yet to own it during the spring and summer seasons

My mentions of Fords was only in reference to the ideas being already discussed, i.e. to drive and enjoy that experience, or mothball the "special" cars and keep the mileage down.

I suppose there will always be people that prefer only the eye candy aspect of car ownership, but I find that type of appreciation taken to the extreme to be too constraining, and ultimately a hollow buzzkill.

Z

 

I'm 100% with you about one driving his cars, whatever that may be. I can understand not wanting to drive a 1920 car or something like that all the time. But something you buy new or something from the modern era doesn't make sense not to drive it as often as you can, in my opinion.

 

Thanks for the tip on the name. Yep, I should have known as the rules don't apply to last names. You kind of end up forgetting the car is named after a person.

But for the record it should be Shelbys rather than Shelby's. If surnames, my understanding is that we only add an S to end for the plural form.

 

yes, it is very common where i live to the extent that the Corvette owners joke about it themselves. they also like to describe the miserable suspension.

good luck with your search.

 

 

it spans old and new in my area. they are always very complimentary of my car which is very polite since it is the only one in the area. i think that they are trying to induct me into the cult .

i drove my E Type somewhat similarly with a few logical restrictions. When you get to the rarer or very valuable, there is a logic of risk reduction or issues with less modern underpinnings. to restore or not restore becomes another issue as once you cross that line . . .

 

 

A couple of VWs - Passat and Polo. About to bin the Passat after 10 years of trouble free motoring, for something a little newer. I have a commute of 90 odd miles 3 times pw so it'll have to be another high mpg, reliable German marque. Did have a Triumph Sprint ST 1050cc until it tried to kill me when the rear bearings sized at >60mph. Twas only 18 months old too! Sticking to 4 wheels only now...

 

What Passat do you have? Bought new? I know somebody here who had so many problems with one.

 

I feel fortunate that I was able to thrash my e types, a '67 and a '70, during the years when they were just another nice used sports car. So I had no moral dilemma to solve, as todays collectors might have.

I changed the head gasket in my driveway, then I drove them from Oklahoma to the west coast (more than once), as fast as they would go, when traffic would allow. My best average was 90 mph for the whole 1,400 mile trip. Maybe not fast enough to win the Cannonball, but great fun nevertheless in the late 1970's / early1980's.

Z

 

My '97 XK8 was my Daily Driver until last fall, but spring is almost here:



Then I switched to my Texas Winter Beater Mustang, since it has all of those electronic gyros and software that makes it nearly uncrashable (my high schooler daily drove it, but is now off at college). Here he is running a 1/2 mile event with it:



On the rare chance it snows, I bust out the Snowdrifter/Off Roadster, my "$850 Miata":



If the low temp is above 50 and the high temp is below 80, then I drive the "$1300 Miata". The Top is new and takes 2 people to latch so the forecast has to be zero chance of rain. The 225/45 autocross tires aren't fond of rain, either:



If the weather is good I drive my '86 T-type, but since it has a tank of race gas in it (just in case) I rarely drive it to work. It gets 23 mpg, but race gas is hassle to get in my neighborhood:



I have cars I never drive to work. My '86 Grand Prix drives fine and is very comfortable for long distance, but the 5 point harnesses dig into my neck unless I have on a fire suit and the Detroit Locker makes it a bitch to parallel park:

 

What an eclectic collection Ungn . Nice!

Lovely car. There is something about the original 1996 wheels that is so complementary to the whole style of the X100. I really like them. They fit the retro looking body very nicely. Are they 17"?


Not nearly uncrashable enough, if you go by those bad Mustang drivers videos on Youtube.

 

Some nice drives there Ungn.

 

What a nice slice of memory that shot is. Indeed you are very fortunate to have been around when the E-types were just old used cars. I wonder if I will have the chance to tell the same types of stories to my kids and grand kids about the X100 one day.

 

Certainly different times. Glad you were able to make the most of them.

 

Wonder what Carroll Shelby would have thought of XK8's?? He started racing in 1952 with a "49 MG TC, and switched to a Jaguar XK 120.

And I'm thinking possessive on Shelby's name, not plural. Shelby's cars over the years included a British AC, 3 or 4 different Dodge vehicles to include a pickup, lots of Mustangs and for the Shelby Series 1, he chose an Oldsmobile 4.0L 32 valve V8.

What is your daily driver and what was your first car?

 

sure you will. now, not later, simply take the car out and start having some adventures within parameters that make sense to you and your situation. plan a route across a continent where you wish to go. or see how far you can go and come back within a weekend or day (my MO). if you finally reach the point where natural wear requires a rebuild of the engine or replacement of its rings, do it yourself and take pictures. i could not do these things while young, but now the grown children think that i am nuts in a good way.

could not do as much as i wanted with the E Type due to obligations, but did enjoy it while keeping it nice. a collector was chasing me as it was an excellent condition survivor as i rolled the miles. we stayed friends and he struggled whether to do the full restoration. warned him that things would be very different if he did it. as an excellent specimen, it restored very well but he ended up selling it as it was a piece of jewelry. this is where the value made sense to shift usage, but if I was in a different place, would have kept it as a mileage accumulating survivor. would have been fun to be close to the level of restored specimens with hundreds of thousands of miles and the upgraded cooling system that i added , AC system and the undercarriage paint and rustproofing. remember, restoration often means making something as bad as it once was. i wonder if future xk8 restorers will lose points for Real Gauge, upgraded thermostat housings, oil pressure gauges, rust proofing (oh, sorry, though that i was with the Corvette guys again.)

will one day purchase a Series II to add to the collection and not make the same mistakes twice.