Here’s a super cool 1960 Jaguar MK IV, a solid car owned by the same family from new. It’s been sitting since the late 90’s and is in nice condition  but it has a horrible smelling interior. All of the mechanical components need to be overhauled but Who cares how well the car drives when you the musty smell overwhelms your senses and some odd fungus grows in your mucus membranes.  This interior is made up of all natural fibers such as a wool headliner, leather seats,  latex foam and wood trim which hold fast to these nasty odors.  In order to move forward, we will least have to replace the headliner and shampoo the carpets, hopefully it the rest of the upholstery can be cleaned.

Click and Clack, the Car Talk guys suggest placing coffee beans throughout the interior making the claim that the beans not only absorb the smell, but they give off a nice fragrance, not a bad deal. I was thinking of pressure washing it with tomato juice like we do with dogs that have been “skunked”.

Jaguar 4 door MK

Jaguar Interior 1960

As we’ve been traveling through the Canadian Rockies on Route 1, the Trans Canada Highway, Route 93 and other roads,  another group in Pre-War cars has been mixing it up with our group of sports cars. To see a 1911 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost “floating” along at 70 MPH is a sight to behold because it looks so effortless and elegant with the huge wheels and locomotive styling. This group is staying at the Banff Springs Hotel as we are so I am passing cards out to see if I can work on any of these icons. Sure, it would be great to see more of the inner workings on a Silver Cloud or on this Peugeot but  I’m more interested in getting some tips!

Peugeot Pre-War

Silver Ghost, Wrath, Cloud?

Rear suspension 1935 Ford Amilcar

While Steve and Nate are at Northwest Passage; both the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb and the historic Mt. Washington Hillclimb are all going on simultaneously. The vintage cars at Mt. Washington are rich with ARCA history. They are the reason the Climb to the Clouds is a prestigious event. I, Bill, am at Mt. Washington and have taken just a few pics with my iPhone while walking through the pits.

Take a look at the gallery here on the Climb to the Clouds Facebook page.

Here are some photos that Nate and I took of the Canadian Rockies on the Northwest Passage event. The mountains are so jagged and rugged, is it possible to hike them? I may go for a hike today as we aren’t driving anywhere and we don’t have much to work on.

Alberta, Banff

Lake Louise, CA, Alberta, Canada CA

Nate and I are on the Northwest Passage Rally with Vintage Rallies. (www.vintagerallies.com) Rich and Jean Taylor organize this event along with others such as the New England 1000, the Texas 1000 and the Mountain Mille. Nate and I are the support crew so we follow along in the two car transporter full of tools to keep everyone running and if their car breaks to where we cannot fix it, we wheel out a brand new Porsche 911 C/4 S or Cayman S and load up the broken car.
Here is our first “victim” a Lotus Esprit S/4S. SpritS4S. The owner was alarmed by a major coolant leak on the ground which was hard to locate since the engine is on a slant and you cannot see under the intake manifold. Nate and I decided to rip and tear and realized that a tiny water pump that circulated coolant through the inter-cooler was seized up and leaking like crazy.
This water pump hasn’t been turning for a long time so it’s odd that it started leaking at the beginning of the event but we decided to let him run the event without the pump working. The intake manifold gasket ripped a little but we put a heavy smear of RTV Silicone and the car runs perfectly, has completed the last 3 days like a champ!

Lotus Esprit

Esprit Lotus S/4 S

Intercooler Water pump

I don’t offer much helpful information on this blog but want to share some photos of the font and progression of transmission, engine, and axle number stampings on Ferrari castings. From now on, i’m going to photograph stamps on Ferrari castings as I have the ability, the transmission stamps are hard to photograph because the interior has to come out for access. These are all photographs of Transmissions from 250’s and 330’s.  As things progress, I will post photos of Engines, axles and trans-axles.

Numbers from early 330 with Overdrive

Series II PF Cab, late production

Early production GTE Ferrari

Transmission Ferrari Lusso 2505-speed 2 mount engine

What are the flames supposed to identify, is this James Bonds Aston Martin DB-5 where flicking this switch scorches the assailant behind you?  Maybe there is a flame broiler under the back seat for grilling little shrimp, a guppie grille. It draws about 10 amps. It kind of looks like a grease fire in a pan.

The next switch is a little icon that looks like a LEGO man, it zips down a blue tint to the windshield like the LEGO pilots have on their helmets. It also reminds me of a musical instrument, a tuba perhaps, close this switch when driving the car in the Memorial Day parade.

How about that complex image on the switch way to the left, is that supposed to be cars funneling into a tunnel or a cow branding iron for a ranch in Montana? It could be called the “Holland Tunnel Ranch”. When I flicked this switch the other day, the ammeter went into 40 amps of discharge and I smelled burning flesh.

Don’t just sit there, let me know what these switches do and extra points for whoever guesses what make and model car they are in.

Switch for Legos

**GT-R is posted to Restoration & Performance Motorcars site. Click here. **

Have a look at this cool car, a 2008 Nissan Skyline GTR. 6 Speed dual clutch transmission, all wheel drive, tons of power. It’s for sale and once I get it cleaned up, I will post it on the website and get you some more information. These cars are selling for about $75K which we feel is a fair ask for this car in excellent condition.

Nissan Skyline photo

Here is an early production MG, the model PA and one of the last of the “cycle fender” style cars, the MG TF 1500. These cars are a blast to own and live with because they are so easy to drive, cheap to keep up and have a great look. We did a drag race with these two cars but couldn’t see who was faster because of the insane amounts of tire smoke.

MG PA and TF

PA, TF, TD, TC, MG