Detroit Rock City

So that's one more trip under the old XJ's belt. We drove up to Detroit, Michigan for the 2010 International Auto Show and the Jag continues to perform flawlessly. Prior to the trip, I had to do away with the 64 calorie patch, as it had given all it could give and I luckily found a Euro y-pipe at Worldpac for 50 bob. Faithful Charlie and myself set about R&R'ing the pipe on Friday evening and after about two hours of air hammering and cussing, got the pipe fitted to the car. Ok, so a couple of Yuengling cans did find their way onto the rear section of exhaust, but hey, the car now sounds more like a proper Jag. Well, I can at least hear myself think, and carry on somewhat of a civilized conversation when we're underway...

Next came the obligatory topping-off of the car's vital fluids, which in this case meant 1.5 quarts of Castrol GTX 10W-40 (not bad given I'd driven the car 1,500 miles since the last oil change, averaging 80mph on the interstate, give or take), and also a topping off of the washer fluid and we were set to go.

One of the photos in this post shows the odometer reading 122K miles. That equates to 6K miles since acquisition, and still more proof that with just basic attention, a Jaguar XJ6 can be a pretty good mileage-maker. And of course, the car does it in such comfort that it's hard to believe the design [of the Series III] is now 30 years old.

Finally, the second purpose of the Detroit trip was a 30 minute detour to Bloomfield Hills to check out a Bentley Mulsanne S, which I've been trying to view in person forever. The car was about what I expected of a daily-driven specimen, and the price was right, so an email to the seller confirmed purchase. But no, don't expect to see more of that car on this blog. We're dedicating this bandwidth to s/n 426288! Besides, I'd surely be crucified if a beer can found its way onto a Bentley exhaust, although fortunately, the boys at Crewe decided to fit stainless steel systems from the factory....perhaps to ensure a 64 calorie patch would never happen on one of their steeds.