I wanted his XK140 so bad it wasn't funny. The car was very solid, all original, and could have gone a while with just a good "freshening".
Unfortunately, I was newly married, a starving student, and an apartment dweller. And had no money. My Dad had a friend back in the day who did a lot of SCCA racing. He took my Dad for a ride in an XK140 that ended up with them outrunning the police.... Dan Sent from my iPhone On Jan 11, 2012, at 11:18 PM, Rich Thomas <richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> wrote: > I like those XJs too. > > My neighbor had a 56 XK140MC, all original black with red interior, missing > only the driver's inner door panel (which he had taken out to fix something, > leaned it against a garbage can in the garage, and the garbage men took it > along with the trash in the barrel). He parked it in his garage in 1963 and > about 1993 or so pumped up the tires and had it brought to the house next > door where he was living with the woman (our neighbor). He was too old to > deal with it, offered it to me for $10k which at the time was a good deal, he > really wanted me to have it but needed some cash too. Alas other things > got in the way but I lusted after that car, he sold it for $12k. He had > fitted luggage he had made for it too, it all fit in the boot very nicely. A > bit of cleaning up and some rubber bits and it would have been ready to go. > We washed it one day and the paint actually looked quite good for having sat > for 30yr, a bit of wax would have done wonders for it but I didn't want to > fool with it more. > > He said it would do over 100mph quite easily, probably 120 or so and maybe a > bit more. I loved that rounded styling of the coupe. > > --R > > On 1/11/12 10:04 PM, Dan Penoff wrote: >> The guy I worked for at the time was a Jag nut, and had 7-8 Jags at any >> given time. >> >> A typical count would be: >> >> 195x XK140 (all original, needed restoration) >> 2 - late 50s/early 60s Mark IVs >> 1967 XKE 4.2 litre >> 2 - mid 70s XJ6s >> 1978 XJ12 >> >> The nice thing about this was that I got to drive any of them I wanted home >> in the evenings or on the weekends, if they were at the shop. I was in my >> late teens at the time - can you imagine being 18-19 years old and driving >> an XKE or an XJ12? >> >> The XKE was a bit of a beater, so I usually drove the XJ12 when I could. >> Only bad thing about that car was the lousy fuel mileage. I seem to recall >> it having some really archaic transmission in it, like a Ford FMX, that >> shifted out of first gear at about 7 mph. >> >> The XJ12 was a real beauty, and I probably spent most of my time keeping it >> up. Since it was normally aspirated, keeping the carbs balanced and the >> engine tuned was a full time job. It was shoehorned in the engine >> compartment so tightly you could barely stick your hand in between the >> engine and side of the compartment. >> >> I remember putting a water pump on it once - I recall that we had to >> disassemble the front clip to get to it. >> >> The one thing that was really amazing about that car was the ability to go >> down the road at 80 or 100 mph, and you would swear you were doing 30 mph, >> it rode so nicely. >> >> Dan >> >> >> On Jan 11, 2012, at 9:05 PM, M G wrote: >> >>> I don't think you would like a V-12, that is unless you can strip off all >>> the anti pollution junk on it. It is a nightmare to work on. >>> >>> As far as 8 hours for a valve adjustment, could be book time but I remember >>> doing a complete valve job on my 63 3.8l e-type. Started right after work >>> at 5 and got done about 2 AM. Drove it home slept and was back at work at 7 >>> the next morning. Course trip time was only about 10 min. Was only about 23 >>> at the time so had a lot more energy and didn't run down as fast as now. >>> AH! Those were the days. >>> >>> Manfred >>> >>> Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:48:11 -0500 >>> From: Rich Thomas<richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> >>> To: Mercedes Discussion List<mercedes@okiebenz.com> >>> Subject: Re: [MBZ] Mercedes-Benz SL Returns to Its Lightweight Roots >>> >>> I liked those 70s Ford Granadas, just like a Mercedes! >>> >>> I would take a nice E-Type, maybe a V12.... >>> >>> --R >>> >>> _______________________________________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
