Central Valley Classic Cars

Its been a crazy week.

Monterey’s Car Week by itself is crazy, and this year I got to attend the Concours d’Elegance for the first time. But I also participated in a little cinematic magic in good old Merced with a 1935 Auburn Speedster (well sort of). Both of these events deserve their own articles and I will be getting them out just as soon as I can. But there’s more insanity. This last week I gave up my Jag.

My pretty blue XK8 coupe belongs to someone else.

I’ve said before that I was crazy, and I’ve said before that the Jag’s days were numbered, but even I didn’t see this coming. Its no secret that I’ve been eying other options to be my official car (aside from my unnamed fun car). I have a list of things I’d like to own in a car in my lifetime. Things like, British (check), mid-engined, a real two seater (none of this useless 2+2 garbage), V-12, etc. Now if I could find a British mid engined V-12 car that I could afford then that would be that. Or it would be until I made up an entirely new list of what I want in a car. The grass is always greener somewhere else.

Like anyone else, I’ve taken some interest in better fuel economy. True, I walk to work most days but I could be commuting in the future and sudden spikes in gas prices reek havoc with my budget and eventually my love for a car. Maybe this wouldn’t be the case if someone would hurry up and give me a Noble M400, a car that isn’t pretty, doesn’t have low end torque, isn’t comfortable, gets bad gas mileage, and yet I don’t care because I loved driving one so much. But I’ll probably never find that out.

Back to the Jag. Its time has been coming for two reasons. One, as I was just saying, I’m crazy and want to try out a different car for a few years. But what has actually cracked the solid love I have for that car is what its doing to me. For three years now, I’ve waxed the car every two weeks, trying to preserver its paint to be as shiny as the day it was delivered to a much wealthier man than I, ten years ago. But despite the care and being kept under a cover, the salty air over here is ripping the clear coat off the roof at an ever accelerating rate. It started with some very minute cracks that I could hide with wax. Now though there’s chips everywhere and a volleyball section that is bare.

Honestly though, I think the car might look good as a bruiser. You know, not all shiny and pristine, but oxidized and mean looking like a racer just off of its third year of running twenty four hours at Le Mans. Maybe you don’t know, but I think it might look good. But there’s another problem. I take care not to park it anywhere where I think it could be harmed. Often this means out by itself at Costco or in a garage downtown. And yet, despite my efforts, every couple months the car picks up a new ding while its parked.

Jag’s are just so achingly beautiful and I’m being forced to watch the best attribute of my car get destroyed. It breaks the heart.

So I’ve decided I want something ugly (if only I could afford a Noble!).

I’ve had ugly cars before. Cars that I hated. Cars that I loved, or at least loved to hate. Its liberating. A car means freedom to so many people and when I’m not so worried about one I love so dearly, I feel free to. “Shall we take it to LA this weekend?” “Sure, I’m not trying to preserve it or keep the miles off, lets go down to Mexico while we’re at it and make it a real trip!”

Okay, I’ll probably never say that in my life but you get the idea.

I recently checked the trade in value on the XK8 and found that with its paint problems I wouldn’t be getting more than $6000 for it in a trade in. I figured then that I’d let everyone know that if anyone wants to give me $6000 for my Jag it would be theirs. But this would have to wait until the end of the year. I have bills to pay and what not and I want to savor the hunt for my next car. So why is the Jag already gone? Its not exactly.

My wife and I have been all over the map trying to decide what kind of car to get her. She gave up her CRX at the beginning of the year and has been riding her bike everywhere ever since. That’s getting a little old. So we’ve been searching and researching. But what’s been bothering me is for the amount of money we’d probably spend, we could end up with a car with mounting problems. More over, as I have been walking to work, my wife has been using the Jag to go to her work and school for the past few weeks. So the obvious solution finally found its way into my thick skull.

I gave her the car (she doesn’t care if a car is ugly, beautiful or if its beauty is fading), and now I only have the nameless car. Any suggestions on what I should replace the Jag with? I’ve already made up my mind but it’d be nice to hear what you all think.