Avanti R2, 1963, refresh

[trimacar]

Whew, John, glad to hear you have a pool! When I first read the newest email from Greg, I was trying to imagine (and that was somewhat painful) what, exactly, you were doing "out back" sans protective wear..........

[SeventhSon]

Oh no! Now I have that visual to deal with....hmmm, now what did I do with that Brain Wash?

[trimacar]

Yeah, Chris, some things you can't "un-see", even in your imagination.............

[SeventhSon]

Hehehe...true, true.

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, June 29th. Gong to be hot and hotter over the next few days, over 100 degrees and more. Pool weather.

Had a busy time yesterday. Had to relocate the 28 Buick from the trailer to the garage and then the Avanti to outside storage. Then packed the Suburban with supplies and hooked up the trailer. All ready for Greg's trip next week.

So headed off to Greg's about 4 PM to pick up the Stoddard Dayton. We arrived two hours later, the traffic was terrible. Before I forget the mileage with the trailer empty was 11 mpg, with the car inside, 10 mpg. So the new K/N filter system does save about two miles per gallon. I would image that the mileage will be close to 11 for Greg if he runs on the freeway at about 55 mpg.

Arrived at Rob's garage and Greg immediately ran to the SD and started preparing her for starting. It has been about 8 months since she last ran. Not wanting to get in the way, I looked around Rob's cars. What a great collection. Mostly Chrysler products. Greg also had is Reo and International Harvester there. They are both unrestored and look beautiful with all their patina. I have attached some pics of the collections.

One car I really liked was a 1935 Dodge phaeton that was made in Australia. This body style was not made in the USA. What a great car. It is the green one in the pics.

Rob came home and we all pushed the SD into the sunlight. Rob worked the crank and Greg played with the choke, throttle and advance. The engine roared to life on the first pull of the crank. I could not believe it. I was not ready for it. Did take a short video of the start and running activity.

After visiting for a while we headed back to Greg's place and arrived about 9:45 PM. I parked the truck and to my surprise two gentlemen were at my door helping me out. Boy was I surprised. It was very dark and they were all in black. What!!!!!!!

They spoke quietly and said they were DOD employees running an exercise. Greg seemed to understand and I got back in the truck and pulled the truck and trailer back off the grass runway. They explained that they were practicing infiltration and extraction with a twin prop "Otter". de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So Greg grabbed a couple of chairs and sat in the dark and waited for the plane to come in. And did it come in, over the tree tops, and quiet. No lights. It swooped in and landed, turned around and came back to where it touched down, dropped off a bunch of folks who ran into the woods, and gunned the engine and rolled out back into the night sky. All this and it was pitch black outside. One of the controllers came over and let us look through his night vision goggles. Now that was amazing.

With the activities over we left to let the troops do their thing in the woods and headed home. Long day, but full of adventure.

Edited June 29, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[SeventhSon]

Wow - great pictures of some great cars. And then, clandestine activities in the night! I hope I have as much fun when I retire, John! (if I ever get to!)

[unimogjohn]

I also took a short video of the start up of the 1911 Stoddard Dayton. Greg seems to be very pleased on how easily she started up. He was concerned about the low oil pressure at idle. He had the gauge rebuilt as it was filling with oil and it is now back on. He will warm up the engine in the next day or so to see if he has a better reading for him. He said that it does not need to show much pressure 2 to 3 lbs at idle. Anyway, hope that you enjoy the video.

1911 Stoddard Dayton Speedcar start up - YouTube

And just as we were leaving, Rob gave me a present from his collection. So I present my newest Jaguar XK 120.

Edited June 29, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday, June 30th. Quick update. We had a big storm last night, all power to the area is down, about 1.5 million folks. Our generator kicked on about 9 PM last night as the storm approached. The generator is still humming along this morning. Suppose to be hot again today with more storms in the PM.

Real high winds too, 80 mph. Lots of debris down. Looks to be little damage to our place, but have to get out and walk the fence line.

Got a call this morning that the girl llamas were down the road at our neighbor's farm. The wind had broken the hasp on the gate and blew it open, the great escape was on. Llamas gone wild. Six were wondering the roads. Found them and Alice walked them a half mile home. Glad that they are herd animals, get one following you and they all will come. They were happy to be back home from their little adventure.

Looks to be a very busy day. Nice this morning, but heat and storms are coming back this PM. Just another adventure.

[trimacar]

Rob is a generous soul, he gave me early Hupp and Cord models....and he has a Pierce Arrow hubcap that is used as an ashtray, which I tried to borrow permanently, but he wants to trade for another hubcap!!

Llosing Llamas is llousy, gllad you were ablle to corrall them again, llots of lloose llimbs and fences in that silllly storm.....

[unimogjohn]

It is Sunday, July 1st. Just got in Greg's weekend report. Looks like he had a tough time in the storm too.

"It began a wild and wooly weekend.

Friday evening we slipped out for dinner and almost didn't make it back in. Bad storm. Worst I've seen here in my twenty years. Winds in the neighborhood of eighty miles per, huge storm pattern with lightning activity on all sides of us. Pouring rain made it difficult to see the road and all secondary roads were blocked with downed trees and powerlines. After we returned to town to wait out the storm in a treeless parking lot, we then tried every back road, all of them closed and out of my hat I pulled an unauthorized shortcut through a neighboring conference center. A maze of roads in itself, every one of them was blocked with a downed tree. When we were finally stopped by one about a quarter mile of our own runway, I hiked back to the shop to get the pickup and my trusy tow rope. I've pulled everything except a car with it and this time it served well to drag that last tree out of the way. Saturday was spent in damage control. Power was off until Saturday evening.

Sunday was spend beginning to prepare the Stoddard for the trip this week. I've been wanting to try balancing the front wheels, so now is the opportunity. We have a lightweight homemade bubble balancer for trueing our hand carved propellers.

I got the idea to modify it to serve my purpose. A centering arbor was cut from a piece of wood to receive the sleeve for the props.

Things were looking like they might actually work out until the great weight of the Stoddard wheel broke the flange of the wooden plug. Plan B was to machine an aluminum washer to support the weight and then watch for the flimsy prop sleeve to fail. But it didn't.

A ball bearing inside the balance fixture allowed me to add weight to the light side as indicated by the bubble level.

I used what junk I had in my pockets to determine how much weight and where. Six ounces on one wheel, three on the other.

Now to find some stick on weights that I hope I can fit in the gap between the felloe and the rim. I marked each wheel and now they are installed on the car.

David Coco says the Model T guys are using some sort of liquid or powder that when introduced to the inner tube will automatically balance the wheel. I don't know anything about it.

Well, I guess there's a lot of cleaning to do, so back to the Dayton.

Ps, With some spare time on his hands (he was at work) I had Coco calucate the MPH per thousand RPM with the new 3.07 axle turning 225/75/15 Michelins on the maroon Avanti. 27 mph/perK

Lately just for grins, I gave him the Stoddard numbers. 36x4 tires on it's 2.6 axle is evidently a tad over 40 Mph/perK of the crankshaft."

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, July 3rd. Another hot one today, and of course our new AC system says that it is sick. It gave up yesterday afternoon. At least it screamed before it died. I still have a little window AC unit so think I will put it back in the bedroom so at least one room will be cool.

And Greg is busy with getting the Stoddard Dayton ready for Milwaukee. He and Barbara leave tomorrow morning early. I told him to take a lot of pics too.

Here is his "getting ready" report from last night.

"Lots to do and time flying by. I found time to track down some wheel weights today. First tire store wouldn't sell any to me. They said try the nearby parts store. I said I already did and they didn't. He said try the one downtown where they get them when they're out. They had them but I'd have to buy a box the size of a brick just to get nine ounces. Then tried the local Firestone store and they came across. Didn't waste any time getting the money out at a dollar an ounce.

This evening I jacked it up, loosened the lugs and pulled the rim out far enough to reveal the channel that runs down the center of the rim. Just right to accept the weights. Did the same on the other side. It would have been a nice evening for a test drive but, I'm keeping the car in our shop/hangar. Any time I run the thing, after squirting fuel into the priming cups, a condition of starting is to tickle the carburetor which sprays fuel on everything. You do this until it runs out the bottom of the carburetor. That is your indication that it is rich enough to start. The excess fuel runs/drips into the belly pan. So what? This gasohol REEKS to high heaven and I work with the most sensitive noses on the planet. They gag, gasp, grab their throats and writhe on the floor like we've been attacked with mustard gas.

After running it in the building I have to aim an electric fan on the car for hours until it has dried off. So no road test.

Instead I spent some quality time installing screws that I hadn't, removing some masking tape from the dash that I'd used as an anti-chafe when I put the car together. Also, I guess the left outer seal in the rear axle isn't sealing. Gear oil finds its way to the hub cap and then down a spoke to the tire. A quick and dirty fix will be to put some thread sealant on the hub cap to keep it clean. A good plan thwarted by my lack of thread sealant. That's on my list for tomorrow.

I also cleaned all eight spark plugs. They were sooty, but not bad.

Photos:

* Six ounces of wheel weights for left front.

*Three ounces of wheel weights for right front.

* Casting where the missing screws used to be.

*Left rear hub cap removed to expose axle drive dog and prepare threads for sealing in axle grease.

*Intake side of engine . Four spark plugs to extract.

*Find (Waldo) the spark plugs that need cleaning.

Actually, it is kindof neat to spend some time with the old thing after having it stored away since May last year."

[unimogjohn]

Happy 4th of July. Hope that you are or soon will be enjoying all the fireworks.

Got a note from Greg this morning that he and Barbara were off on their adventure to Milwaukee. Hope that the Suburban does not give them any difficulty. It will take them two days to get there so I do not expect to hear anything until Saturday.

We decided to get out this morning and head to the neighboring little town of Culpeper, VA for their annual car show. There were about 60 some cars there. Mostly hot rods or modified cars. But they look pretty good. Here are a few pics.

Not much else going on, just too hot and humid to do much outside other than to take care of the critters. We make sure they have lots of water and hose down those that want a cool shower.

[unimogjohn]

It is Thursday, July 5th. Did I mention that it is hot and getting hotter in the east? Even the pool is almost too hot to get into. Thinking of adding a couple of ice chunks to cool it down.

But Greg made it at 5:30 PM. Here is his very quick and short report. "Stopped over for the night near Indy and have just made it in to Milwaukee. Reception and cookout tonight and perhaps then we can get our orientation as to what is happening. Radio weather said current temp about 106*. Later."

Edited July 5, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, July 6th, PM. Just in. A report from Greg.

"Awesome day.

Got an early start this morning, had to be ready to line up for a group photo at the Milwaukee Mile track. Sixty cars the earliest being the Blitzen Benz from 1909 (land speed record holder until I think the twenties @ 140something) up to the Indy cars from the sixties.

After a driver's meeting where they announced the track rules, the track time was divided into speed limited segments, the Hot Laps reserved for firesuited and helmeted high speed cars. I was of course in the first group.

This event is a great opportunity to hop rides, so after Barb and I made a few trial laps, I 'd pull into the pits to exchange riders.

Steve Davidson who flew in from the West Coast for his, Lee Stohr from Staunton was on board when after we idled in the pits for a few minutes, took off again. That was when the Stoddard began to go back on me. On the back stretch it began kicking and bucking like it was running out of gas. I pulled into the infield , lifted the hood and found the culprit right away. The GASOHOL was visibly boiling in the glass float bowl. The track trouble truck was on us immediately and with no further need to punish the SD, we accepted a tow back to our parking spot.

That's when I was offered a ride in the 1911 Cutting with Glenn Miller at the wheel. Nothing like big inches, open exhaust and tall axle gears. After sitting for a while with the hood up, the SD was ready for more. Glenn and I took it out for a few more laps and I'm pleased to announce that last summer's steering overhaul and last week's wheel balancing act were well worth the effort.

We've gotten many compliments on the car's looks and how well it sounds as it pounds down the home stretch.

But today my biggest thrill was when watching Bill Evans pour some gas into the Blitzen, he asked me for any advice on why it was running so crappy. Didn't even make it around the track when he tried. Popped, cracked, backfired. I just pointed at the gas can and told him the GASOHOL story.

When he wanted to try it again, I marveled at the starting proceedure of it's 22 litre four cylinder aero engine, hand crank start of course (and I so admire him for expaining that the car will never have an electric starter added like so many are doing these days) .

It started with a backfire that scared everyone within a twelve block area, then settled down to the sound of four cannons going of in concert. I was glad to help install and buckle the hood and watch him launch, but then he motioned to me to get in and help. I was in it in less than a heartbeat and my job was to man the fuel pressure pump under my seat. By the way, the mech's seat is hardly a foot wide, so you have to sit sideways. In first gear, leaving the pit area he gagged it a little and the torque wanted to take us sideways. As we entered the merge lane he began giving it throttle and slipped it into second (of four) gears. That's when it began popping and cracking. To make sure I wasn't falling behind on my fuel pressure duties, I pumped faster. Although we were flying, he was disappointed that it wasn't running at it's best, claiming while making a hot lap at past Indianapolis festivities, that he'd gotten it to third gear and it lurched just as it had in the pits.

We made it around twice and it wouldn't straighten out, but I'd come to this event just to see and hear it run, and I wound up with two miles in it as crew. How awesome is that. We discussed the fuel problem and we concluded that if he could find some avgas, it might run in these temperatures.

Meanwhile, tonight is the banquet and tomorrow is another day.

Barb has been taking some photos, but they will have to come later.

GREG."

[SeventhSon]

Heck, I'm surprised they don't have any racing fuel laying around that Milwaukee Mile track!

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday, July 7th. Just too hot. Now at 6 PM it is 102 degrees with a heat index of 120 to 125. No outside stuff today. Pool is too warm too.

Thought I would give you a quick update on the 1923 McLaughlin Buick. Ever since we found the 1925 driver's license of Ethel Hickmott of England in the door panel, I have been on the quest to find her. After a three year search I was able to contact the son of the daughter of one of Ethyl's sister. He actually remembered his aunt, and his mom, who is 94, remembered the car. All this was about six months ago. During our discussions I asked if they had any pictures of Ethel. Yesterday I received a reply with a few pics of the family and then one of "Ettie" and her friend, Ethel is on the right. Ethel passed away in 1964. Longfield Court was the family home where she lived most of her entire life.

It was great to finally put a face to the car, and the first owner to boot. It has been a long quest, but worth it. Here are the pics I was sent.

Pictures show- Longfield Court, Kent, England

Uncle Henry, Grandma, Aunt Dodo, Uncle Bert who were Ethel (Ettie) brother's and sister and Mother- although there were 12 of them They are standing by the original stable block which was then used to garage the car.

Picture of Penny (friend) and Ettie on the right in the garden of Longfield.

And have included a pic of the car as she is today.

Edited July 8, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, July 9th, AM. Going out soon to see if we have damage from the storms that hit us last evening about 6 PM and all night long. 2.5 inches of rain out of them too. During the first storm we had one big fir tree come down next to the house. A close call. Looks like I have a lot of chain saw work to do. Here are a couple of pics. I have never seen so much lightening in living here almost 15 years. One good thing is that the temps are down to 72 degrees this morning.

And Greg called this morning and said that they arrived home at midnight to a war zone. Lots of trees down and now power. But they made it home safe and sound. We will get more from Greg later on in the week.

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, July 9th. Walked around the pastures this morning. Had to close one off as we have a lot of downed electric fence. It will take several days of work to get it put back together. So we tackled the downed fir tree. We spent about six hours with the chain saw and finally had it all removed. I was able to get the stump out too and moved it to our wood pile with the tractor. Here are a couple of "after" pics.

And I just received a report from Greg.

"Ok, this will be brief. We arrived Warrenton last night about midnight. Same old story. Looked like ground zero. Another storm had been through taking down large trees, lines, and of course the power.

After hacking our way into the apartment (large tree had crashed the porch), forcing open some windows that had been painted shut, we were done for the night.

This morning we assessed damages, including the large tree that fell on the hangar on the hill which perforated the roof, broke rafters and knocked debris on Seabiscuit. Thankfully no damage.

The power came back this evening, but of course the internet is still KIA so I'm timing out at the local library.

A brief wrapup of the past weekend would be that we had a long drive, what I'd call great weather (the ambient temps were noted to be 106 - 109 degrees, hard to tell what it was at the Miller Mile asphalt bowl) and best of all ....NO RAIN!!!

The Stoddard performed flawlessly. It represented the Dayton factory very well. Not only did it give no trouble (other than trying to perform on ethanol, my dumbness), but when given the opportunity I found that with only about 3/4 throttle available (floormat in the way of the gas pedal) I could , when given the chance, hang with the T-head Mercers.

We saw and made friends, hopped a lot of rides and compliment the Harry A Miller club for putting on a unique and first class event.

Photos will follow sometime.

Timer says gotta go."

[John Byrd]

Wow, John, sorry you folks are having such a bad weather time, but sure glad no one got hurt. Living in the "sunny South" is one thing I do not miss at all, but still worry about all our folks there. Perhaps the badness will be over soon and not screw up more stuff. When we bought our land in Alabama, we were still living in Nashville, Tn, and about '96 or so, there were ice storms that covered the south. We had at least one tree on every building we owned in both states, and even one on our Boxer's dog house trapping her. Trees are gorgeous and necessary, but when we built in Alabama, we made sure we were WAY more than a tree length from the closest one. Take care with all that clearing, it's a big and dangerous job. Good luck, John

[unimogjohn]

John, good to hear from you. Glad that you are still enjoying yourselves in the land of the swaying palm trees.

It is Tuesday, July 10th, more clean up for me today. And I am sure for Greg too. But he did send me this short message late last night. And a pic too. I rotated it so everyone does not have to rotate their computer screen.

From Greg, "Photos and video were taken at the Miller Club meet, but they are yet to be processed. Meanwhile, this shot has found it's way in.

Entitled "Mile a minute" by Bill Evans.

No, we weren't upside down at the time, you'll have to flip it because I don't know how."

A good pic of Greg, and by the looks of it, he had the pedal mashed to the floorboards.

[unimogjohn]

It is Wednesday, July 11th, PM early. Well I am back. The forum moderators have opened the thread.

And just in time too. Here is a report from Greg.

"Ok, you wanted pictures, we got pictures. Barbara has been busy all day downloading and sending photos she took at the Miller Meet. I'll forward them and offer a description. This will be in serial form and might take a while.

The event was kicked off with a reception on Thursday night. We were to be at the track and ready for a group photo early Friday morning. These first pics were taken when we found Bill Evans' Blitzen Benz and Issota Fraschini cars alrady staged,

I jumped the lineup to make sure I got a shot of the SD along side the fast crowd.

Otherwise, the crank for the Wright arrived. It looks good, should fit. Today I began the alteration of the plastic copies of the 6-60 rods to visualize how I'm going to make modified copies to suit my needs.

While I have the Stoddard at hand, there's some detail work to be done. The oil level indicator is a sight gauge operated by a sunken float. In order to remove the gauge I needed to loosen the exhaust manifold, pull the #4 magneto spark plug, ignition conduit, piping, etc.

Of course then this morning we got orders to rearrange the aircraft jammed and intertwined in our hangar. That meant putting the SD back together so that I could move it. Never fails.

And...a package arrived. Rechromed R-3 valve and valley covers.

Cut lunch short so that I could be ready to spray the paint on the Granatelli engine block this evening, but I was again detoured.

These are busy times."

Photos: 1 & 2. Fast movers at Milwaukee

3. Wright 8-60 crank

4. Plastic rod alteration

[unimogjohn]

Still Wednesday. Thought you might like some Jaguar projects I am involved in.

First off, I had recorded a TV program a couple of days ago titled "The World's Most Expensive Cars". It was about the Auto Union 1939 type D racing car that was going to auction in Paris. As part of the program they interviewed a several folks who were interested in buying back a Ferrari. In the background I spied a XK 120 drop head couple, and guess what, it was pastel green. The same as ours. I then went to Google to see if the auction house still had information on the car on its web site. They did, and confirmed that it was pastel green with a green leather interior. How cool is that, another green jag. Attached is a pic of the screen where you can see the car.

Anyway, our Jag was sold at a RM auction in 2004. In the description of the car it mentioned that it had been selected for and shown at the Meadow Brook Hall Concours in Michigan in 1990 and 1995. It also noted that it had won a couple of awards. Nothing I received with the car had any documentation of this sort. So I am on a search for the documentation. I found a poster advertising the 1990 event, which featured the Jaguar mark, but have not found a program. So I bought the poster. But I did find a program for 1995 event so bought that, and it should arrive here at home in a few days. Here is a pic of the 1990 poster. If I can be certain that the car was in the 95 event (the program will give me that data), I will contact the organizers to see if they can give me any information.

I was also told by a Jag judge that the dampers on the SU carbs of my engine are incorrect. They have a plastic top of the later XKE model carbs. They should have a pair of brass chrome plated dampers that are stamped with "oil reservoir" on top. Just so happened that I was on Ebay and a pair came up. So got them a a very good price. One has a longer rod than the other, but will compare them to the ones on the car now. Not great quality, but they are correct for the engine. Worse case I can use them when the car is being shown rather than when the engine is running. Here is a pic.

I will update you when I get the 1995 program. Oh, and I did do a Google search for the show results, but could find nothing going back that far.

Edited July 11, 2012 by unimogjohn
new damper pic (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

Still Wednesday, but PM. I would like to thank the forum moderators for allowing this little thread to continue. I appreciate everyone going to bat for it to continue. So with that said, here is Greg's report on his trip. I am sure we will be getting little snippets over the next few days as he collects his thoughts of what he has seen and heard. Also, here is a link to the Blitzen Benz on Wikipedia. Blitzen Benz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"I'm going to jump to a couple of Barb's photos to answer a question received concerning the Blitzen (Lightning) Benz. What's the deal? It doesn't look so big.

Built for one purpose, land speed record work, Benz installed an aero engine in one of their chain drive chassis. One of their two hundred horsepower, twenty-two litre ones. That's about thirteen hundred cubic inches of displacement (that's about a 327 Chevy in each cylinder).

Drive sprockets the size of manhole covers, might even be overdriven in fourth gear, I don't know.

Aerodynamic bodywork, the thing was held to over one hundred forty miles per hour in 1914.

So no, compared to the Stoddard, it isn't very big. Until you remove the hood.

Awesome.

[unimogjohn]

More from Greg.

"During our trip to Milwaukee we were flattered by the company of the Davisons. Stoddard owners themselves, they made the trip in from the West Coast just to pit crew for us. Here are a few shots when he got in a few laps."

[unimogjohn]

And one last one for today.

"We met Staunton, Va. resident Lee Stohr, the Christie front drive specialist. Here's a shot taken during his laps of the track. He was filming, and it was during his ride that we encountered the vapor locking."

[Scotts_DG8]

John,

I now can go to bed tonight and get some proper rest knowing that your update will continue on. I true enjoy your posts on your cars and adventures and of course really do enjoy Greg's updates too that you pass along. Scott...

[unimogjohn]

FYI. Lots of discussion and pics on the HAMB web forum of the show. Here is a link History Auto racing 1894-1944 - Page 404 - THE H.A.M.B.

[Guest Killerbunny]

FYI. Lots of discussion and pics on the HAMB web forum of the show. Here is a link History Auto racing 1894-1944 - Page 404 - THE H.A.M.B.

Thanks for link..Looks very interesting...<object width="1" height="1" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="undefined" value="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed width="1" height="1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" undefined="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" allowScriptAccess="always" allowscriptaccess="always" /></object>

[unimogjohn]

It was just too hot to work outside so spent a couple of hours doing more searches on the Jag in the 1990 Meadow Brook Hall concours. To my surprise I found a set of pics of several years of the concours. They were on Flicker under the user name of carphotosbyrichard. He has done almost all years beginning with 1990. And I found the Jag in his pictures. The link is below. If you go to his main page on Flicker you can see all his albums. The color does not look like pastel green, but pastel grey/blue. I think that the color pallet is off. I did not see any pics of the Jag in his 1995 album.

All sizes | 1953 Jaguar XK120 coupe | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I sent Richard a note to see if he has any pics that he did not publish of the 90 and 95 events. Will let you know if he responds.

Update: About an hour or so after I sent a note to Richard, he responded that he would look through his files for additional pics.

Edited July 13, 2012 by unimogjohn
received a message from Richard (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, July 13th. Rain in the forecast today. We need some.

I played a bit with the Jag yesterday. The pooch and I went out for a long ride. Oh, she runs and sounds so good. But we are on country roads, so we can only make third gear. When we got back I decided to check the new, correct style, damper rods with the ones in the engine. Well, one of the new ones is about a quarter of an inch shorter than the ones in the car. I have a SU repair book, think I will take a look to see what the one really does fit. But for now I am leaving the ones on the carbs on. If I ever go to a show that requires the correct cap, then I can always slide them in. A two minute job.

And for your morning coffee, here is a Greg report.

"Tonight's photo recollection: In the pits.

While driving toward Milwaukee in the Fesermobile with trailer, I had time to think of things I hadn't done.

I hadn't had the Stoddard out since the Indy Celebration over a year ago. Oil pressure gauge repairs hadn't been tested, and another issue I hadn't yet addressed was a compression thing. It had always had two cylinders that when hand cranking it, felt softer than the other two. I'd been meaning to check compression, but kindof hard to do by myself with a rubber tipped gauge to hold in the plug hole while you hand cranked with the other.

What to do? I called Glenn Miller. He was going to attend, and I could enlist his help. When I called he was doing what he must do most of the summer. Had his face in a slice of watermellon. Anyway, when we decided to do the test, he'd brought a tester, part of which he had welded up at five in the morning before he had gotten on the road.

I think it was quite appropriate that we did this while in the pits at the Miller Mile.

Test results? #1 50 psi #2 60 psi #3 65 psi #4 65 psi.

Yep, the front two cylinders are a bit weak, especially the first. We had considered doing the Bon Ami trick that might help seat

any piston rings that weren't, but we opted to put the plugs back in and go out to play instead.

Otherwise, back to another project. The Granatelli Avanti engine assembly.

I had planned to get the cylinder block painted last Monday evening. Power outage, etc had gotten in my way until I finally got it sprayed during today's lunch. Now to start hanging parts as I get them ready. (I asked Greg what he had planned for this engine since the engine for the black Avanti was done. He said "display" for now." He wants to use up performance parts that he had collected for years into "complete things" versus just things.)

Photos of the great Compression Test. Glenn seems to be enjoying himself. Didn't realize he wasn't going to get paid.

In the background is his son Dan. It's really neat to see that he enjoys this old iron.

And Glenn, have a slice of watermellon on me (so to speak)."

[unimogjohn]

Still Friday, but after the PM mail delivery.

Received the 1995 Meadow Brook Hall Concours d'Elegance program, all 152 glossy pages. A very impressive publication. I turned to the entrant page and found our Jaguar. After quickly going through the program, I realized that the 1994 awards and pictures were highlighted. So I returned to Ebay and found a 1996 program, which I promptly bought. While I was on the hunt I looked for a 1991 program and found one, bought that one too. So here are pics of the 95 program and the car's entrant information. I will see if I can get any information on Mr. Miller Beurmann and see if I can contact him.

I also decided to obtain a Jaguar Heritage Certificate for the car. So I completed the application with the required documentation and pictures, and sent that in. It will take four to six weeks to get the cert. Why am I doing all of this? Well, I enjoy the hunt, and I also want to document the history of the car. I know that I am only a caretaker of the car and want to be able to pass along its history at some point.

[unimogjohn]

It is still Friday. Her name is "Beatrice". I found the name, address, and phone number of Miller and Barbara on the WWW white pages. So I gave them a call and Barbara answered. We had a great conversation. She remembered all about the car and its history, and informed me that a complete history/diary of the car was given to the previous owner when he bought the car at auction, which included notes and pictures from all of the previous owners. So I have contacted the broker to see if he can find the copy.

She said that the car was a special order car by a judge in Ames, IA., then at his estate auction it was sold to the Arthur Murray Dance HQ in FL, then made it back to Bloomsfield Hill, MI and finally, Howard, MI. They were the ones who sold the car at the R/M auction in 2004. She said that the car had won several first place, concours level, awards in MI to include best in show. She said that Miller keeps notes on all his cars (they still have six Jags) and would try to find them for us.

So it was great to talk to Barbara. She said that they are still involved in the Jag community and have a large circle of car friends. She is 70 and Miller is 80 and still both going strong.

So the Jaguar's name is Beatrice, and in our care we will continue that name.

[MCHinson]

John,

I am happy to be able to catch up on your discussion. They were finally able to fix the technical glitch that has prevented me (and I assume many others) from viewing this particular discussion since the software upgrade. It is good to be able to read your posts again.

[unimogjohn]

Matthew, glad I am back. I had a note from the administrators that it is or was a technical glitch. Glad they did, as everything seems to be OK now. So I guess Greg and I will press ahead. We are still getting 200 to 300 hits a day on the thread. When no one reads us any more that will be the time for us to quit, but until then we have decided to just press ahead with our little snippets. Thanks for your support.

[Guest Corvanti]

count me in on your "hits" at least daily when physically able, Mr. F, since '09!!!

[Guest pfloro]

IMHO, there is a friendly & honest quality to John Feser's 'Avanti, etc.' thread. John writes well and he shares wonderful knowledge & daily experiences. His pictures add to the adventure.

I too look forward to reading John's thread and learning about his cars as well as Greg's work...

Thank You, John...

Paul

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, July 16th. It has been a couple of hot days and getting hotter over the next couple of days. Llamas tolerate some heat, but love fans blowing on them in the shade. And of course a couple of big fans just had issues. Fixed one, but one has a broken fan belt. So off to find a replacement.

But Greg has sent us some more pics of the Blitzen, and himself as the co-driver, mechanic. Just like the old days.

[unimogjohn]

And for your Monday morning coffee, here is Greg's report for the weekend.

"Friday's mail contained a foam carburetor float , what it fits I don't know, but I cut and shaped it to fit the oil level gauge on the Dayton. When it fit correctly, I gave it a coat of Caswell Fuel Tank Epoxy to seal it.

Now the float is working again. That's the only way of checking the 12 quart level in the engine.

Then, back to the Granatelli display engine. I was about out of the custom matched and mixed red, so it was a road trip to Winchester to get another quart.

The cylinder heads being the next to get ready. Nasty job, but I got them cleaned and then painted. While they dry I need to make some bridge supports to secure the engine to the stand. I don't trust all that weight to four coarse thread bell housing bolts through the stand's bracket.

And Saturday evening we enjoyed being invited to celebrate Frank Gable's birthday. Being a professional baseball player must have been good for him. Hard to believe he's seventy! Doesn't look or act it. Another I'm pleased to call a friend."

[unimogjohn]

Just an update on the Jaguar documentation. I have contacted the previous owner via the broker, and they will see if they have the "diary" from the car. Also receive a note from Barbara that if the previous owner (Greg) does not have the diary, then they would check their information on the car and see what they have for me. Also Barbara sent us a pic of their current driver. I believe it to be a XK 140 roadster.

Since I was on a roll I decided to see if I could find out any information on the Jags reported first owner. Got to poking around the web and found the obituaries for both the husband and wife. He passed in 1986 and she in 2011. But it was reported that they had a son who is active in the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg automobile club. So I found an email address for him on their forum site and sent him a note. So we will see if he responds and let you all know. It would be great to find the original owner and may even a pic of the car and him together.

Edited July 16, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

Still Monday, hot and humid, about 95, waiting for the storms to come in.

Got the afternoon mail. Don't believe everything you read unless you have the proof, in writing. It was documented in the 2004 RM auction brochure that the Jag was selected for the 1990 Meadow Brook Hall Concours event. Today, I received the 1991 program where the 1990 participants and winners were acknowledged. Well, our Jaguar is not there. So much for oral history.

At least I know that it was entered in 1995 as shown in the program, and the 1996 program is on its way. Now that will be proof.