Have you realized any life long dreams lately? Or more specifically, any Jaguar related dreams? I imagine we all have high hopes of Jaguar adventures swirling around in our heads from time to time. Taking a nice trip, adding performance improvements, racing, restoration, or maybe just plain getting the car on the road? It probably doesn't matter what the dream is. The fun part is actually seeing the dream come true. Mine did!
About 25 years ago my wife Gwen and I were on a vacation in Montana. Those were pre-Jaguar days. At the time, I was involved very deeply in British cars. I had an MG back in Minnesota, but this particular outing was a drive with some relatives in a conversion van. Nice mountainous scenery…..but let's get real with the machinery here!
As I silently lamented leaving my MG back in Minnesota (pass that "Cheeze Whiz" back here please!) I looked starboard. Low and behold, passing us was a yellow Jag E-Type roadster, top down of course. As it passed I felt a certain gravitational body pull towards the E-Type cockpit. I did my best in visualizing myself being "beamed over" to the driver's seat, but to no avail. My body was glued to the captain's chair in the GMC. The next exit bid adieux to the canary roadster, its gleaming chrome exhaust pipes whispering a distant good-bye. I then vowed to someday drive an E-Type through the mountains out west.
Fast forward about 24 1/2 years to the winter of 2001……I never did forget that day seeing the yellow E-Type. I was lucky enough to now own an E-Type, but never had a good opportunity to do the mountain trek. However, things now started to silently fall in place. I had the car, Gwen rented a house for a week vacation in August in Red Lodge, Montana, and the kids were no longer living at home. One was working nearby and the other in college. Everything looked to be a go. One possible problem though….will my 68 E-Jag make a 2000 plus mile trip without wrecker assistance? Looking at the E-Type's condition, I was skeptical. Wobbly steering, inconsistent starter, bad brakes, no lights, 5 years without any maintenance to speak of….not exactly a picture of health. Ugh.
Minnesota Jaguar Club to the rescue! It just so happened that Jeff Flynn was willing to perform a front end rebuild on an E-Type during a January tech session at Mike Lynch's house. All he needed was an E-Type. I volunteered. That took care of my steering problems as well as getting help with installing a rebuilt starter. Then Peter Griffin was looking for a Weber carbureted car for a dyno-tune demonstration at the L'Cars event in Cameron, Wisconsin. I volunteered again. This inspired me to perform a complete tune-up prior to the dyno-tune adjustment. All that needed attention now was the brake cylinders and a rebuilt light switch. I removed the front brake cylinders, had them rebuilt by G.T. Cars, then I reassembled them on the car. I also removed and rebuilt the light switch. The anticipation of mountainous driving was approaching red line now!
On a hot August morning my son Todd and I started our journey to the mountains
with the "voluminous" E-Types trunk packed with as many tools as possible.
Leaving muggy Minnesota at 5AM wearing T-shirts, shorts, and sandals (top down,
of course) all was well. Our newly installed CD player was alternatively blasting
with my stuff (geezer rock) and his stuff (I don't know what it's called), happily
cruising at a very windy 80 mph. Soon the weather started to turn on us. Somehow
we managed to drive through an unusual August cold front. Every stop left us
adding layers of clothing (no heater in this Jag). Soon the cold became pretty
much unbearable. We had to stop in Dickinson, North Dakota to attach the top.
The cold weather, in midsummer, was too cold for top down driving…..Rats!
Pressing on with the help of our good friends petrol and crude, we reached our
destination in Red Lodge in a mere 15 hours! Cool.
After a night's sleep and
a much-needed car wash, we were ready to get into some serious altitudes. I
felt like a teenager again as we headed towards the summit of the Beartooth
Highway, nearly 11,000 feet high. Charles Kuralt in "Travels with Charley"
called the Beartooth Highway the most scenic drive in America. I think the Jag
felt the excitement too, as it seemed to beckon to me….c'mon, faster,
faster! Chirp my tires! Smoke those mini vans! Let me show you what I've got!
I was in sensory overload, trying to maneuver the hairpin turns like a rallye
driver. The views were immense and never ending. The steep drop offs only a
few feet from the car were downright scary. As we climbed to the top we could
feel the air getting thinner and colder. Approaching the summit, I just had
to insert Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" in the CD player….and
crank it up a bit, too!
At the top of the Beartooth Pass, elevation 10, 947 feet high, we got out of
the car, savoring the moment that I had been imagining for 25 years! Simply
awesome.
All in all it was a great trip. We spent a week cruising around the surrounding
area, enjoying the spectacular scenery. The round trip totaled 2600 miles with
only one flat tire and one torrential downpour. Heck, we even drew a crowd of
interested Harley riders whenever we stopped. The area was filled with Harleys
and their drivers, all converging on the Black Hills for their annual motorcycle
ralley. " You drove THAT all the way from Minnesota?", or " I
used to have a Jag, but now I ride something dependable". Yeah, right!
Those black leather clad weekend warriors (accountants in real life!) were just
plain jealous.
So……..what is your Jaguar dream?
Glenn Nickleski
Jaguar Club of Minnesota