Brightwells Modern Classics - March

[Guest]

I've just seen the catalogue for the March sale and they have a couple of MII's .........AND... an XK150!

But I've decided not to go.

Two reasons;

The first being that I would be tempted to bring at least one of them home.

The second is that the First Lady is standing behind me right now.

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

14 hours ago, cubist said:

The second is that the First Lady is standing behind me right now.

Yes, the upcoming sale hadn't escaped our attention and, we suppose, myself and MSO (My Significant Other) have an advantage in that we both think the same way so we sit side by side at the PC screen without furtive over-the-shoulder glances!

We, also, shan't be attending although the Mk2 s are tempting............then again, the problem with Mk2s is that you don't look for how far the rust has gone, you have to look for the standard of restoration.......and, believe us, that varies wildly.

Another sale at Brightwell's Bicester later in March piqued our interest...........a no-reserve sell off of items from the JLR Collection which was purchased from that dentist with a passion for car collecting.    We viewed the collection at JLR Classic at Whitley/Ryton, where it is mostly stored on tiered racks, with some items stored outside.    Sadly, for Jaguar/Daimler enthusiasts, none of the Jaguar/Daimler items are in the upcoming sale.   There are over 200 lots however, ...........Austin A40 Sports, Allegro, Zodiac Estate, Marina Sun-Tor Motorhome anyone??!!    As the sale is no-reserve, there could be some star bargains to be had by suitable enthusiasts (although all items are in need of varying stages of recommissioning) but we don't feel like branching out!!    Take a look at the catalogue on Brightwell's site.......talk about blasts from the past!

R2E was not too far of the mark when he commented about increasing v diluting our Jaguar experience.  As a consequence, Ruby (our XJ8), having received some fine fettling, found her way across the Irish Sea and now resides in N.I.     So we are back to Myfannwy (the XK which definitely stays in the Carcoon at the moment) and Daffers (the S who has acquitted herself quite well in the white stuff, as long as you keep your foot lightly on the loud pedal!).

We are off to the Jaguar Parts Day at Stoneleigh later in March, so don't be surprised if we come back with another plaything, but it would have to be something special.  Hmmmm.

As always, happy growling and don't forget to put the Brightwell's post code in the satnav, just in case!!

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

Another sale at Brightwell's Bicester later in March piqued our interest...........a no-reserve sell off of items from the JLR Collection which was purchased from that dentist with a passion for car collecting.

I suppose its fair, but only if you take into consideration a career spent staring at other people molars or lack of same. Personally speaking even the AM my dentist drives - which I probably bought for him, would not be sufficient compensation.

6 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

nother sale at Brightwell's Bicester later in March piqued our interest...........a no-reserve sell off of items from the JLR Collection which was purchased from that dentist with a passion for car collecting.    We viewed the collection at JLR Classic at Whitley/Ryton, where it is mostly stored on tiered racks, with some items stored outside.

I had a very quick shufty at the Bicester catalogue but was rudely interrupted by one of those 'Not again?' looks - how she makes me aware of such looks when she's standing behind me (I'm the wrong gender for eyes n the back of my head) remains one of those feminine mysteries that this male of the species will never plumb.

6 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

As a consequence, Ruby (our XJ8), having received some fine fettling, found her way across the Irish Sea and now resides in N.I.

Sorry to hear that Ruby took her love to Belfast(?) town but I'm sure she will be making a big impression over the water and finds herself much admired by the new custodian. I'm sure Myfannwy and Daffers will soon find a new playmate.

6 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

Daffers (the S who has acquitted herself quite well in the white stuff, as long as you keep your foot lightly on the loud pedal!).

The other day I was too tempted to take Black Bess for a short trip as we only had a sprinkling of the slippery stuff at the time. A little fishtailing and TCS flashing lights reminded me that I should revert to my old trick of a couple of bags of sand in the boot. I know I can get them in there and, if pushed to back over the rear wheels, they will provide some assistance to keep her moving. That said though, and given advancing years, I'm not too confident I could get them out again. And I'm definitely not ready to hire the strapping male nurse the First Lady keeps on about to help me.

6 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

We are off to the Jaguar Parts Day at Stoneleigh later in March, so don't be surprised if we come back with another plaything, but it would have to be something special.  Hmmmm

Fortunately I'm not in need of any bits right now but who knows? That could change quickly. Ho hum, what adventures to come - I dare not ponder.

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

1 hour ago, cubist said:

Sorry to hear that Ruby took her love to Belfast(?) town but I'm sure she will be making a big impression over the water and finds herself much admired by the new custodian. I'm sure Myfannwy and Daffers will soon find a new playmate.

Yes, we did have to give the matter some thought, but found the X308 strangely uninvolving.  A supremely comfortable ride, and we did have good fun carrying out the fettling, but not the involvement (dare we say excitement) of the XK and, to a lesser extent, the S.  We were pleased that the gent who purchased her is a definite Jaguar enthusiast who has owned several, so a good home has been found.

We shall have to see what comes up next..........there are always a number of cars for sale at the Jag Spares day and we were quite tempted, initially, by a Mk2 last time.....until very close inspection revealed that the restoration work carried out thus far wasn't. maybe, the best!

With regard to the James Hull Collection, we were originally under the impression that a condition of sale was that the collection should not be broken up, although we couldn't quite see how that would be enforceable.  As it happens, the condition was that if JLR wanted the Jaguar/Daimler/Land-Rover items, then they had to buy the whole collection.  Thus it is that a large amount of non-JLR items are coming up for sale.     We saw the JLR vehicles whilst at JLR Classic and there are some absolute corkers in the collection.

You could always inform the first lady that the catalogue doubles as a quiz to see how many models you can identify correctly, thereupon enabling entry into a Versace handbag competition.  Then again.......

A recent return visit (again!!) to Gaydon resulted in 4 hours (of the 9 spent there) being within the Jaguar Heritage Collection; there has been some re-arrangement and some good new presentation boards.  It was very quiet and so a friendly custodian/guide invited us to try the TWR XJS racer, the  Le-Mans car and some others.....sit in, that is, not go for a drive...dribble dribble.  Bit of an event getting in the Le Mans racer, it has to be said......very elegant (NOT!).

We think another visit to JLR Classic might be called for now that the production of the final D-types is about to start, although sadly we shan't be tempted as the piggy bank has run away and hidden having noticed our perusal of the relevant pages in Jaguar World!

Happy growling, wherever you are  

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

As always, Ron, food for thought.  New members to the forum will think "what a strange lot" so will have to have a trawl through past threads to discover where we are coming from.!!!

Interestingly, whilst looking through the catalogue mentioned by Steve (Cubist) for Modern Classics, we noticed that quite a number of entries are from the stock list of a certain Midlands purveyor of classic cars (including a XJ8) and some of them arrived there via the same saleroom.  They have been at this particular showroom for upwards of 6 months and this"turnaround" seems to be a regular occurrence, indicator, maybe, that the market is not all it could be; or that cars were not bought wisely in the first place.   

On a slightly different topic, both MOH and I sympathise with regard to car parking issues.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on outlook) we both have blue badges and so are able to park either the XK or the S in the extra wide bays where there is no chance of door dinging.  However, we never cease to be amazed with the incidents of !Removed! abandon (can we say that?!) in normal car parking spaces that we have spied from afar.   Problem seems to be that there are more and more larger vehicles (SUVs etc) whilst the normal parking spaces are getting narrower.

There is an interesting article in this month's edition of Jaguar World about a Daimler Sovereign (similar to the Jaguar 420) which had received an update and makeover from well-known Mk2 specialists Vicarage.  It expressed surprise that quite a lot of Mk2s (with live rear axle and rear leaf springs) had received the Vicarage treatment but that the (for some) superior original S-type (with E-type style IRS) had not.  The aforementioned Sovereign had, of course, said IRS.    Having read that the grey matter started to whirr into action.    Oh dear, here we go again.

As always, happy growling, and whilst you enjoy your single malt, we shall enjoy another cup of PG.    Yes, that's tea!!  What a pair of boring old f...s we are, MOH and I!

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Aha, fancy me falling foul of the "naughty" key words system!!     In case you are wondering the !Removed! word in the last post begins with g, ends in y, and has three letters.    Mr Emery would have been very puzzled.

Onwards and upwards

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Well said, Ron.     Don't know where this leaves Sunday's child who is bonny and blithe and good and ....OOPS here I go again!!

I suppose we ought to keep abreast of the times.............WOA.....have I been removed again.       So what if our hearse driver says the ECU is as DEAD as a dodo??!!

Ah well, as Long John Silver said to Captain Pugwash "where's yer buccaneers, under yer buccan'at?"        And don't get started on Seaman Staines and Master Bates, not to mention the Cabin Boy.

To the Tower with her and don't spare the horses (but don't forget the black plumes).

Nuff said, mind how you go

[Guest]

17 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

ou could always inform the first lady that the catalogue doubles as a quiz to see how many models you can identify correctly, thereupon enabling entry into a Versace handbag competition.  Then again.......

Nah; she has used that ploy with me too often concerning her shoe collection - LeBouton, Jimmy Chew, et al. Most of which reside in her shiny new S3, about the same size as a shoe box come to think of it, as the path twixt house and garage is better suited to Wellies - oops, sorry Hunters!

[Guest]

On 3/4/2018 at 9:27 AM, R2e said:

I must admit to being amused by this sort of politically correct censorship. Only the other day I had to change a word with the same first four letters to 'Blooming', the original being hardly a swear word but also referring to anything covered in blood. I feel sure that !Removed! !Removed! !Removed! will be changed to incomprehensible translation, when it simply means a male feline in a relationship with another male feline who has been in a fight.

At least the censorship serves an obvious valuable (to some) if sometimes confounding purpose. What really gets up my nose is the Predictive Text function. Many of us will have had respect for the Queens English hammered, thumped and whacked into us by a long line of teachers going back to our earliest remembered years. Being one of those oft accused of not paying sufficient in class maybe I got more of that than most, but come what may with the aid of smarting or sore bits and headaches I ultimately achieved a level of competence in spelling, choice of words and their meanings - and to a lesser extent grammar - more than sufficient to my personal and professional needs.

To have a scrap of software, written by some acne scabbed, be-sandalled oik in Silicon Valley, vetting my words and making unasked for alterations without my notice while I'm doing my usual 'hunt and peck' across the keyboard has often been enough to drive me to drink. Now I know that some of you will be thinking - 'Well that does not take a lot anyway' - but nevertheless I really, really cannot overstate how !Removed! annoying it is. I am fundamentally, a precisionist perfectionist and absolutely independent to boot so the drip, drip, suggestions of what words and what spellings makes me think the sporty visaged, sandal wearing, oik (thats twice its changed oik to Oil - three times!) believes we're all a bunch of morons.

Please Mr Moderator tell me where the off button is for this useless !Removed! feature?

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Well said, Steve.  MOH, like you, is constantly annoyed by such as TV presenters and the like who can't use the Queen's English, and as for text speak and Predictive Text............grrrrrr!!!!!!!!      "I mean, like, I was totes amazeballs, you know, like OMG" doesn't really figure in the language for the likes of MOH and myself.  Call us old f....s (no !Removed&#33 for us....see what we did there?!) if you like but we prefer to use the Queen's English as it was meant to be, and spherical objects to Silicon valley and larger spherical objects to silly-billy political correctness.

Ah well, looks like another night in the Tower............pass the Jaguar World and the Horlicks.

[Guest]

An Englishman, A Scotsman and a Welsh Lady went into a bar. Two single malts, Islay if you would landlord, and a Horlicks please?

Doesn't scan really does it?

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

However, a white horse went into the same bar and asked for a drink.  The landlord, who was still busy stirring the Horlicks (leave it!), said to the white horse "we've got a whiskey here named after you".      "What", said the white horse, "Dobbin"?

MOH points out that, in fact, he is the Welsh half of our partnership (as witness the daffodil-patterned socks); me, I'm plain Olde English with a penchant for all things Welsh........like leeks (other than the roof kind), Gilberns (look it up), rugby, dragons (get down, Claude), and pointy hats.

Reference the Horlicks, perhaps we should change our preference to Ovaltine, although the frothy layer of Horlicks has a certain attraction.   Aagh, have we narrowly avoided another &#33Removed&#33 or are we getting touchy.   No pun intended.   Oh, alright then.

Yachi dda, two day returns to Barry's Island plez

[Guest]

Dammit, apologies for the misunderstanding, assumptions makes asses of us all at times (just in case the spotty geek intercepted it, the removed text refers to cousins of the mule - oops not Muffin - did he get that one too?). 

Never mind, Nationality is just an accident is what I always say, but some are indeed unfortunate.

Since you have previously acquainted me with Gilberns I think I have a handle on all the rest but still can't figure the appeal of pointy hats! Does your Jag collection boast sun-roofs I wonder so the hast can double as plumes?

[Old Peter]

On 05/03/2018 at 5:45 PM, cubist said:

 

 

 

Please Mr Moderator tell me where the off button is for this useless !Removed! feature?

That I do not know, Steve. It is an automatic function.

I do get a bit annoyed with predictive text thought, --  is also doesn't know the difference between whisky and whiskey, the latter being either Irish or Bourbon, plus Tennessee Sour Mash which goes under the name of jack Daniels.

[Guest]

Good and bad news in there Peter. I won't labour the bad but anyone than can distinguish between the the various true 'real things', without the aid of specs - and albeit glasses too can be optional - is man after my own heart.

In the past I have been a frequent visitor to the USA and acquired a taste for many of their fine distillers products. Sadly, I have had to dispense with those pleasures since they elected that bloke you should never get in a lift (elevator) with. Much more sadly still though he constantly finds other ways to Take My Breath Away.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, cubist said:

hast

Whaaaaaaat? hats you spotty moronic geek!

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

On 06/03/2018 at 6:49 PM, cubist said:

Whaaaaaaat? hats you spotty moronic geek!

 

Aaha Steve, we can often be seen plying the local bye-ways with our pointy hast, primarily because the aforementioned sandal-sporting, a.s scratching, spotty moronic jerk geek can't find us so easily on his Homeland security version of Google Earth, unlike when we sport our pointy hats.

For info, the black pointy hat is part of the Welsh national costume.....it basically looks like a traffic cone finished in shiney black. Quite appropriate, really, as we use the black and white striped version to ensure that folk don't park up where the cortege needs to be.  Claude is, of course, always close to hand armed with his bright red pencil and book of FPN tickets which happen to have a 10% off voucher on the reverse.  We thought BOGOF offers were stretching it a bit?!

On a different topic, we note that the lovely XK150 at today's Leominster sale went for a very reasonable £50K.  It was part of a deceased estate; we think that if that were not the case, the selling price might have been considerably higher.  Of the two Mk2s, one went for £17K whilst the other remained unsold.

Ah well, off to the viewing room for another edition of "For the Love of Cars" and the evening Horlicks...................leave it.     Should WE partake of a glass of the above mentioned JD, single malt etc., then we should be found prone on the lounge floor in the morning.    No change there then.

Sospan fach and yah booh sucks to Italy on Sunday.....what's occurring.

On 06/03/2018 at 6:49 PM, cubist said:

 

 

 

 

 

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

We suppose a deceased estate could be an X-type station wagon with terminal DSG problems?

On the topic of Muffin the Mule, we have consulted with the donkeys on Barry beach who reliably inform us that we should now realise why they always stand in a circle looking out, as is the case with the Welsh sheep, according to their spokesperson Shaun (Shaun the Sheep).      

Our case comes up next Wednesday.  Mind how you go.  Time for another Horlicks...yum yum.

 

[Guest]

22 hours ago, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

On a different topic, we note that the lovely XK150 at today's Leominster sale went for a very reasonable £50K.  It was part of a deceased estate; we think that if that were not the case, the selling price might have been considerably higher. 

A twofold missed opportunity there I think.

[Guest]

21 hours ago, R2e said:

Please note that Muffin the Mule is an illegal activity and WILL result in criminal charges! Even in Wales despite rumours to the contrary, Mules will not be considered on a par with sheep.

A couple of years ago a couple of ramblers came across one of our local farmers grunting and cursing whilst astride a young, and obviously distressed, ewe. A somewhat undignified verbal melee ensued in which accusations of cruel and unusual/perverse behaviour were hurled and drawing equally vociferous, but unintelligible - a straw between your teeth will always do that - ripostes from said farmer. For some extraordinary reason he did not have to hand his trusty Browning 410, the waving of which device he favours for greeting all visitors to the locality, and had to rely on a mixture of yokel Anglo Saxon and angry gestures. These unfortunately led to the alpha rambler (the lady of the pair), probably through a failure to understand a single word spoken by the aforementioned farmer, and, outraged as she was, to approach the small hedge to better batter the farmer with one of those silly ski sticks such people tend to sport. Only at this point did she discern that the head of the ewe in question was caught in a wire stock fence just beyond the hedge and the farmer was merely trying to release it. Red faces for the ramblers ensued and a hasty retreat was made.

The moral of this tale is that sheep are stupid and can get you arrested if not firmly thrashed by a vigilante rambler.

Since witnessing this event I have always been cautious about going to the assistance of distressed live-stock and will never, ever, approach a sheep that felt the grass was greener on the other side. I am not a cruel person but I like my contacts with such limited to those where I wield a knife and fork and maybe a little mint sauce.