My Classic Cars
No-one wants to trawl through pages of archives just to find out what the hell the poster is talking about, so here’s a clarification of the classic car side of the blog. I’ve owned two classic Triumphs (three if you count the one in bits in various sheds!), a 1966 2000 and a 1971 Spitfire, as well as a Peugeot 205 GTI and a Jaguar XJ6.
Jaguar XJ6 (XJ40)
A new year and a new car; I’m getting through these far too quickly aren’t I?! Though the Peugeot is a fantastic car to drive, it turned out not to be too well suited for the mundane commute into work each day. I imagined it to be a morning and evening thrash to and from Stafford through the various local rat runs – the perfect scenario for the Pug – but in fact 9 times out of ten turned into a 30mph car train which made driving the GTI more of a chore than a joy. What I needed, ironically, was a car like the 2000; big, comfortable, and relaxing to drive. Enter the Jaguar XJ6.
Though the 4 litre engine certainly drinks more than the Peugeot, the Jaguar is far cheaper to buy and insure, and it’s luxurious leather and pin-droppingly quiet ride should hopefully transport me to work in a state of zen-like calm – a far cry from the frustrated cries of “Why won’t you get out of the way so I can drive this thing properly!” that would leap from my mouth during my morning commutes in the Peugeot.
If you’d like to read more about the changes behind this car’s arrival click here, or go straight to the more concise first entry here.
Peugeot 205 GTI (1.9)
As of late August 2007 I now own another classic – albeit a modern classic! – in the shape of a Peugeot 205 GTI. The most sensible of all the cars I’ve had so far, this little pocket rocket will take over from the 2000 – which took over from the Spitfire – as my daily driver. Complicated isn’t it!? The 205GTI was the top choice from a small list of 80s candidates – Alfa Romeo 33, BMW E30, Honda CRX etc – because of the surprisingly sedate (for a hot hatch 1.9) insurance costs and the fact that I had fell in love with them at the tender age of 8 or 9. My aunty had had an almost exact replica of JHP when I was young, and I thought it was the coolest car I’d ever seen; imagine how broken hearted I was (though possibly not as much as my aunty) when some joyriders stole it and ploughed it into a roundabout, literally bending the car in half and writing it off… As soon as it dawned on me that I could now quite feasibly OWN one of these cars I got rather over exicted, scouring eBay like a madman until JHP turned up in Lincoln. Cue one fidgety drive up there in the A-Class, and one satisfied drive back in my new Peugeot 205 GTI…
If you’d like to jump straight to the first real blog entry for the wee Pug, click here!
Triumph 2000 Mk1 Estate (2.5S)
This is my latest acquisition – bought in November ’06 – and takes over from the Spitfire as my daily driver. After the demise of the Spitfire (see below) I needed a new car and the 2000 fitted all the criteria, especially this particular car. It’s a 1966 estate – tax free driving ftw – and has been fitted with the later 2.5l 2500S engine and the power steering also offered on later cars. Coupled to a 4 speed gearbox with overdrive on 3rd and 4th (so 6 gears) the extra 500cc’s over the usual 2l makes for a nice thumping cruiser which only needs a few tweaks to make it my perfect saloon. You can read about those tweaks in this very blog… Click to be taken to this first entry if you want to know the spec of the car on “arrival”…
Triumph Spitfire MkIV (1500)
My first car and my absolute love. As with the 2000 that I bought since this car was already perfectly “modified”, sporting the slightly cleaner MkIV exterior and interior but having the engine and running gear from the punchy 1500. Unfortunately now in hibernation after terminal rust claimed another victim, it’ll be restored in a few years time so I can go back to hammering round the local lanes in it. It was a fantastic car over the 3 years I had it on the road, and though it was a bit of a shed when I bought it in November ’03, various tweaks including a rebuilt engine, rebuilt gearbox, new springs all round and a Dellorto DHLA 40 carb made it a fantasic car to drive. I always knew I would have to neglect the body for the sake of the mechanicals however, and so the time has now come to put it away for a while. If you’re interested in the spec of this car, you can click here to see the list correct at the time of the entry… though I doubt it will change for the better any time soon!
