An Anniversary worth noting and celebrating.

The welcoming highway beckons to me.
This is what my drivers license has delivered.

It's been over Fifty years since I obtained my drivers license. In many ways it was perhaps the best day of my life. 

This anniversary was something that I'd overlooked. For some reason I thought that I was going to turn 66 years of age this year. I'd forgotten that actually I'd turned 66, last year! 

I hadn't really thought about all this until yesterday.

The love affair continues, 
almost fifteen years later.

I was driving my '96 Mustang back home after giving my Daughter a ride to work. I was in no hurry to get home and drove the twenty miles back on surface streets. 

It was a beautiful, clear, high 60's, late Winter day in the Bay Area. I've lived my entire life in the Bay Area, except for those few years that I lived down in Southern California. I've always taken all this beautiful weather for granted. Recent news coverage of the situation in Texas and the Southeastern Coast, reminds me that I live in an environmental anomaly. 

All it takes is the music to bring it all back.

I was listening to music and had selected an early 70's Pop anthology CD. I've collected a few of these 60's and 70's anthologies over the years. I would search the bargain CD displays at big drug stores and supermarkets. I know that CDs are old technology, on line purchasing of digital tracks that are made into custom playlists are the current thing. Except that I don't have a Smart phone to buy and store them on, and then use Bluetooth to play them over my car's stereo system. 

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud, crackling, popping, raucous exhaust note, and I saw a late model black Mustang fastback pass alongside of me in the right hand lane. It was obviously equipped with an aftermarket exhaust system. It was just as obviously a new supercharged four cylinder model. There was a twenty something young woman with bright maroon hair driving. She had some unidentifiable music blasting at a high volume. When she came to a stop in front of a tire store she just let it rip, and wound the motor out, producing a horrible sound. 

This was in direct contrast to the mellow basso profundo notes that emanated from from the tips of my Mustang's FlowMaster exhaust. I had my windows down while listening to some hits of the early 1970's. At a reasonable volume of course.  I left every stoplight on a gentle swell of acceleration. Of course I'm prejudiced, but not many engines sound better than a healthy V8. 

While I respect the performance available from Ford's new supercharged straight four, I think that the exhaust note just doesn't fit in with the Mustang, at least when it has been made overpowering loud. 

I continued my drive enjoying both sources of my own choices of music, the CD player and the Mustang's exhaust. 

Rat Rods led to Rockabilly
led to Big Band and Swing.

While I have grown to appreciate and enjoy Big Band music from the 1940's, it's not something that I grew up with. I don't continue to listen to it, out of nostalgia.  That music was already super old as I was growing up. Grandparents listened to that kind music! It was even too old for the Lawrence Welk show that I watched on TV as I visited my own Grandfolk's house as a kid. Nostalgia for me is Disco! 

I started freshman year of high school in the fall of 1969 and graduated in 1973. 

I was just watching a Netflix movie about the trial of the Chicago Seven following the Chicago Democratic convention of 1969, and was reminded of all the social turbulence of the times that I was growing up in. That was the bad part. There was also the hope that Society could change, for the better. Besides the unrest there was the music. There was such a wide range of music, Pop, Rock, Soul and R&B. It was all free on the AM radio. Like Thomas Murray has written, it provides the link to my memories of the past. 

I received my driving permit at 15 and a half, during the Summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years. I took driver's education classes at a small, cramped, office in a downtown Oakland driving school. I took my "behind the wheel" driver's training class with Mr. Joe Vanni, who would be my PE instructor for my last years of high school. 

                               This song brings back the old days or should I say the "Old Skool!"

The car was equipped with an extra brake pedal for the instructor and only soothing music, like the currently popular Carpenters, was allowed on the radio. One song in particular remains centered in my recollections, even more than "Rainy Days and Mondays." It was by the Five Stair Steps, "Ooh Child..." I must have heard that song a hundred times during those lessons.  I don't blame Joe for controlling the music selection, I imagine that it was already stressful enough being in the car with untrained exuberant teen aged student drivers. After completing this course, it took two trips on the bus back and forth from the DMV to get all my paperwork squared away. 

My driver's permit held even greater meaning for me since it meant that I could ride a motorcycle on my own! I didn't need anybody else along with me. In fact, I was expressly forbidden from carrying any passengers. The old Honda 50 that my Dad had bought several years ago was still sitting in the garage. It could barely haul me around, let alone another person. 

It occurred to me that listening to this 70's music marked me as someone that is getting to be pretty old. High School was almost fifty years ago, then I realized that I've been driving for over fifty years! 

This was the event that I had been dreaming of for so long. I had spent my entire childhood with an overpowering fascination with cars and motorcycles. I would fantasize about fixing up an old car and using it to escape the boring confines of my childhood. 

It was one of the Modern American rites of passage to adulthood. After this would follow high school graduation. After that, who knows? The presence of the War and the draft still loomed ahead in an uncertain future. 

But driving was the thing that would open up the greatest opportunities of freedom. 

Looking back over those fifty years, did I expect too much? Did having my license provide me with the kind of experiences that I had hoped for?

The answer is an unequivocal,  yes! 

We all have to start somewhere.

My association with motorcycles provided me with an extra measure of freedom. At a young age I owned my own machine. It was economical enough that I could afford to spend hours riding around, exploring the Bay Area back roads. Later I would move on to much bigger and more powerful motorcycles, and I rode them all over the Country, and beyond. 

Cars were never forgotten, and I owned several, that are fondly remembered today. But it wasn't until I was older and married with a family, that I took long road trips in a car. I had done all my earlier long hauling on two wheels. 

I even depended on my driver's license for my livelihood. But this only added to my enjoyment and love of driving.

So, is it the driving or is it the vehicle?

I think that it's both.

The vehicle is analogous to the instrument to the musician. It's the means of creating the act of expression. I know that this sounds pretty pretentious. The commuter stuck in miles and hours of bumper to bumper traffic probably doesn't share my highfalutin opinion of being behind the wheel. 

There is no driving without a vehicle. Theoretically all those miles could have been experienced as a passenger. 

But that wouldn't have been driving. Maybe it's not that bad being the passenger. I know that my Wife prefers that status. 

Time is passing, it seems too rapidly. Some awful day I'm not going to be able to drive anymore. 

As Peter Egan once wrote, "There are only so many Summers left." 

I don't plan on wasting any of them.

 The Next Big Thing?

I found this video featured in a comment this morning on Curbside Classics. The comment that the video was included as part of, concerned an article that displayed a storage yard and three decrepit looking XJS' and an equally decrepit looking Lincoln Mark IV. The article stated that the XJS (s) and the Lincoln had served similar purposes for similar buyers. I didn't quite agree with that, and posted my own my opposing comment. Essentially my point was that the Jaguar was meant for high speed travel on the Continent. While the Mark IV was built for high speed cruising on this continent. Different conditions, different driving environment, therefore different machinery. While the Jaguar could fulfill the role of silent, comfortable, high speed travel on both continents, the Lincoln was built to perform under typical American conditions of straight highways and typically lower speeds. It would be out of place on the Autobahn and other high speed European motorways. 

The video is a Haggerty production featuring Magnus Walker who opines on what he thinks that the next big collector opportunity might be. 

Watching this video, seeing two Jaguars being driven through a night time downtown LA cityscape and out in the open country was refreshing. The XJS is not a car commonly seen in enthusiast media. It's nice to be reminded how impressive these cars look in motion.

The video closes with predictions that the XJS will soon start to appreciate in value. I've been hearing this for years.

Media like this helps to develop and maintain energy and enthusiasm among the faithful. It helps me to remember that I've already got one of these cars in sitting in my garage. 

I know it sounds somewhat terrible to admit this, but I just don't get too excited thinking about driving around in the XJS. It doesn't deliver much of an experience. The exhaust note doesn't sound like anything special, and it's not like it's got tremendous acceleration off the line. I don't find driving it any more exciting than driving my Ford V6 truck. 

The XJS doesn't start to feel interesting until it's traveling faster than 80 mph. Then the performance comes from the engine winding out as it achieves high speeds. If you never drive the car over 70 mph. you'd never see anything special about it. My car needs suspension work so I seldom drive it faster than 65-70 mph. occasionally on the freeway and only for a short distance.

The XJS is fast enough, but I haven't experienced any kind of visceral thrill from it yet. I know that it won the Brock Yates Cannonball Run once, cruising at speeds of 130 mph. 

On the other hand, I find that my Mustang GT is a hoot to drive. Mostly because of the great sounding FlowMaster exhaust. I love stepping smoothly into the throttle and listening to the engine rumble and roar as revs rise before it shifts gears. Sound and feel are important.  I rode Harley Davidsons for over twenty five years. HDs are all about the experience; the look, the sound, and the stability. They are plenty fast enough, as long as you aren't trying to race somebody!

My GT is much the same, It's plenty fast enough. I don't have any particular desire to replace it with a quicker car, just to have a quicker car.

My '07 Mustang V6 coupe is a triumph of gearing over power. I'm pretty sure that it's as quick as my old GT. It's rated at 15 hp less, but the superb five speed automatic puts all of it's power down, just where and when it's needed. Truthfully my '96 V8 GT is pretty poorly geared, too tall overall and it needs to kicked down to gain any real acceleration. But it cruises just fine, and the fuel economy is pretty good. The V6 beats the V8 by a few miles per gallon. Like a Harley, the GT has it over the 2007 V6 for the total experience. 

Lately I've been looking for a 2005 to 2009 GT convertible. I prefer the retro styling of this model. The GT will not deliver as good mileage as my '96, I think it's only rated at 22 mpg. freeway as opposed to the V6 which is rated at 24 mpg. but I've achieved over 27 mpg. with my own '07.  I expect that I might be able to exceed the EPA estimate. My '96 is rated at only 22 mpg. highway also, but I regularly get 25 mpg. or more. Maybe it's the FlowMasters? 

The 2011 to 2015 3.7 V6 Mustang is the real champ. It delivers 305 hp and 29-30 highway estimate mileage. So it should deliver earlier GT type performance, combined with much better mileage. Perhaps this would be a better choice. The 2011 and newer cars come with factory dual exhaust. I can't say that I especially like the styling better. The front end is okay but that high rear bumper doesn't impress me. However the interior was substantially improved in both styling and quality. 

I've read that Mustang sales have been down for years. I'm not surprised, they've gotten to be pretty expensive. I checked out some '20 models at the dealer and they were close to 40 grand for what I wanted. My '07 was only listed at 23 grand and was marked down three or four grand for an end of the year clearance. It is a Pony model with leather seats, Kicker stereo with multi disc CD and ABS.

I started out talking about the Jaguar and now I'm going on and on about Mustangs. They are two different things. One is elite and one is plebeian. One is unnecessarily complicated and finicky. The other is straightforward and reliable. At this point in time I'm beginning to prefer the simpler option.

It's almost enough to get me moving. But if I do get to work, I won't be working on the XJS. The Explorer comes first. 

 Spinning my Wheels. 

photo source: depositphotos.com.
Vainly trying to gain traction.

             

I find myself in a familiar position, standing still when I would like to move forward. For much of this time I haven't been putting any power to the wheels, I've just kind of letting it sit where it is, and settle into the muck! I've just let things sit for the most part. It's time to try to make a little forward progress. 

Life is crowding in, draining my energy and my gumption.

Not just life, but other my interests and other responsibilities.

My six years of producing this blog has been a training ground for me to improve my writing skills. I have really enjoyed writing this blog, and my stable of cars had provided me with a lot of available content. I enjoy sharing my perspectives, memories, and experiences with my readers. I have gained a lot of confidence and that has started me in a new direction. 

I've decided to write a book.

The last three and a half months have consisted of long hours working on the manuscript. This has become one of the priorities in managing my time.  It has been a very interesting and challenging proposition. It's a lot of work, but it is an economical pastime, just paper, pens, and some three ring binders! I've almost finished the initial draft of the manuscript and the process of typing and printing out the first draft. Then the laborious rewriting will commence. This process will consume the greater  part of the rest of the year. At least.

The topic of this book has nothing to do with cars. I don't think that it will be something that will ever see publication, but my kids can read it. If they're curious after I'm dead and gone. 

I've also got a long range project of fixing up my house for my retirement.  Some work has been done on the interior, but the exterior needs to be repainted, and the yards both need a lot of work. I've given myself three years to complete the project. I've still got almost two years left. I'm not one to add unnecessary pressure to my life. I'll just do a little bit at a time. 

This also encompasses the need to clear a lot of stuff out. We've lived in our house for over thirty years, so things have built up. I'll let my Wife handle her things, and I'll take care of mine. My areas of responsibility are the cars, the garage, and my den. 

First the easy part. 

I've got some stuff that I need to get rid of. Maybe not that easy.

I've got my XJS's old transmission is just taking up space on the floor of my garage. It's good rebuildable core. I'm planning to offer it for free on the Jaguar forum, as long as they pick it up in person. I've also got that old Jaguar head lying around  on my patio. I thought that this would make a nice collectible for some enthusiast. They can have that for free also. 

I think that the '51 Jaguar also has to go. Definitely not that easy. 

While I like the car, and think that it's well worth saving, the lack of available and affordable parts to restore the braking system has caused everything to grind to a halt. Fabricating a new brake system is beyond my abilities and the cost of having it done is beyond my available resources. The best course is to pass it along to a new owner. It will probably will have more value as a donor vehicle for the engine and transmission. 

Getting rid of this car won't net me much money or even free up any space in my garage, driveway, or at my curb, since it's behind a gate in my side yard. However it may free up some psychic space. 

After that, I'll have to answer some hard questions about the XJ6. That will not be easy at all. 

I'd always read automotive magazine articles where a car's owner got bogged down because "life" got in the way. The car then will sit for five, ten, twenty, or more years. 

I never thought that it would happen to me.

I'd had some misguided notion that I could be a "poor man's" Jay Leno. Even Jay Leno wasn't Jay Leno when he was first starting out. At least in regards to being a car collector. It wasn't until he had achieved the kind of success that gave him the financial freedom to expand his automotive hobby. Then he became famous as a car guy. That doesn't work for everyone, I think that I'm too old to start a career in stand up! I made the mistake of thinking that there was some way around that poor man status. It seems that I might have somewhat deluded myself, with a potent brew of wishful thinking. 

I made the mistake of thinking that just acquiring all these different cars was a way of moving forward. Just like those crazy car washes where your car is actually sitting still, but the rollers moving back and forth convince you that you are moving. It's just an illusion. I generally avoid those type of car washes, they always leave me feeling a little dizzy.

I've still got lots of little projects to do on my cars and I'll document my progress. I mentioned the dwindling of my supply of gumption, combine that with the rainy weather that has finally arrived, and things have not been getting done. Honestly, I just haven't felt much like turning wrenches. While I can put some projects off, they really do need to get done. 

Of course I always distract myself by thinking about and searching the web, looking for my next automotive purchase. Looking is the best part, it only costs me my time. 

I know that I don't need to buy anything else right now. I just need to pare down my "accumulation." 

It's about time to change out that serpentine belt on the Explorer. 

Sometimes you just have to do the work.

 Now that the Holidays have passed it's time to get back to work.

Serpentine belt and pulleys.

My Explorer has been making a low moaning sound upon start up for quite a while now. It's intermittent and usually goes away after it warms up. It hasn't gotten any worse so it'd been pretty easy to ignore. I made an inspection of the serpentine belt and pulleys and didn't see any noticeable wear. 

I went to the Rock Auto website to check out the needed parts. They had a well priced belt drive kit. Not only the belt but both the idler and tensioner pulley. I've had some experience replacing only the top idler pulley on a couple of my cars. 

The belt kit arrived in only a few days. I haven't even opened the box yet. It shouldn't be too big a job. I was kind of surprised to see that the motor still has a fan mounted to the water pump instead of the now ubiquitous electric radiator fan. I much prefer the electric fan as it really opens up the space at the front of the motor. I don't know if I'll have to remove the fan to facilitate changing the belts and pulleys. 

I'll check out some YouTube videos to get some tips. 

I'm just not feeling the desire to work on cars. At least I did that tune up on the '96 Mustang a couple of months back. 

One of the biggest problems I'm facing now is with my parking situation. All my parking spots are shaded by large trees. That means lots of branches overhanging my cars.

Lot's of branches means lots of birds, It's easy to finish the solution of the equation. 

I've been keeping the cars covered up which has been a bit of a challenge with the high winds that we've been experiencing. I use a couple of spring clamps to secure the covers to the underside of the bumpers. I use cheap Budge covers, but they've held up for several years. I even washed a couple in the home washing machine with good results. It removed a lot of the dirt from the fabric. The dirt would transfer itself onto the car when exposed to rain. I noticed that they've stayed cleaner. Every little bit helps. 

With less work taking place on my cars, my blog posts have become more about my memories and opinions. I think that these are not as popular as my task related posts. 

Mt. Konocti at Clear Lake Calif.

Last month my Wife and I spent a few days up in Clear Lake. We drove up the day after the "atmospheric river" dumped a couple of inches of snow on the mountain tops around Lake County, not to mention the Sierra.  Since we waited until a day afterwards, all we had to contend with was a lot of rain at the start of the trip. We took a less used alternative for us, driving on northbound US101 north past Ukiah and Hopland. I wasn't going to chance going through Middletown area right after the storm. We found that the snow plows had cleared Highway 20 of the snow and noticed it piled along the sides of the road.  The drive up was very pleasant. The traffic was light, the air was clear, and the views were beautiful. We spent a several days up there relaxing and working on our individual projects, one of which is this blog. 

The drive home was even better, driving along the eastern edge of the lake through Middletown and over the summit. The road had been cleared of debris and landslides and again the views were satisfying. Driving through Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford, and the vineyards that surround Napa. No matter how many times I've made this drive I've always enjoyed it. This is the first time in almost four years that we've visited Lake County since the devastating wildfires. It was good to be back. 

My vehicle for this trip was my F150, with the bed filled to the brim, with my Wife's art/craft projects, and other luggage. This was the same vehicle that I drove to Big Bear Lake in the beginning of last November. It is a very comfortable road trip vehicle. The V6 gives adequate performance and very good fuel economy. I made the entire 400 mile round trip on one tank of gas! It usually averages 20-21 mpg. at legal speeds. 

I mentioned to my Wife how it is strange that as an enthusiast I always want more from my vehicles.  More power, more speed, more sex appeal, especially if it is to be one of my "hobby cars." Yet I find myself traveling all over the West in a low spec, run of the mill, work truck. And I love it! 

Why? Because it is always the journey that matters. That's what counts. Anything that allows me to enjoy the trip is valuable. Whether it's a rented Dodge Grand Caravan or my old Explorer. 

Driving back from Clear Lake I was reminded that If I have to choose between driving or wrenching, I'm always going to choose the driving. 

I don't know that this attitude bodes well for my old car hobby plans.