Unforeseen circumstances meant that our annual trip had to be postponed until Sept/Oct, and we spent 10 days in Cornwall instead.
So I won't get to use the Jag on another Euro trip, as we'll have the Discovery Sport by then, which probably won't be worth taking on a long route through the Pyrenees. I think that's more likely to suit sweeping scenic N roads through the centre of France that I haven't taken for nearly a decade.
I think this was 2009. Phone cameras have moved on somewhat -
Part way through the Cornish trip I needed to be back in Leicester for family and work commitments, and leaving my wife with the Jag, the hire car lottery gave me this -
A quick google tells me it's a Fiat Tipo Lounge 1.4. All of those 94 horses fighting to move it along gave me a poor 33mpg on the 600 mile round trip (the Jag will do 24 on the same journey at a faster pace), but the seats were comfortable and sat nav/infotainment did it's job well enough, and it was only £20 a day.
I managed to fit in collecting my Series 3 Land Rover, after giving it to a friend of a friend to do a 3 month chassis swap/refurb about four years ago, which he got 80% through after six months then parked it outside in a farm yard to deteriorate.
I told him that I was coming, but saw him driving in the opposite direction as we were driving to his premises, and unlikely to return that evening, even thought I intended to discuss money with him, as I've not paid him anything to date (I bought the chassis and had it delivered to him), and we haven't talked about a figure for getting it to this unfinished state. His 'employee' had been left to supervise us, and refused to let us leave site without paying for the work.
Given that this was probably me only opportunity to collect it for six months we swiftly agreed on £400 labour plus the receipted parts.
We originally agreed on £1100 labour for the whole job.
Getting it on a tilt bed (rented at short notice from a fairgound community!) with no trailer winch, no brakes, no power and no steering was fun. Pushing it from the back with forklift while towing it with another Land Rover did the trick.
The drivers door came open on the journey (he'd fitted new bolts to to the hinges and keeper plate, had obviously marked up the position with tape, then done an incredibly poor job of tightening it up in that indicated place). The passenger door nearly came crashing to the ground when I went to get inside to tie the drivers door shut, only being held on by a couple of threads on a single loose bolt in the bottom hinge - a lucky find before we got on the dual carriageway!
Rolling it off onto a road and negotiating a narrow alleyway in the centre of Leicester at night was interesting...
I guiltily dumped it at my long suffering mechanic's premises, with a note of apology - I understated the condition it was in, having been lied to by the previous 'engineer'. Peter at Blue Peter Garage is a star for putting up with me, and has generally looked after my older cars for about fifteen years.
I wasn't going to repaint it, but sitting unused in a yard hasn't been kind to it, and I'd forgotten that the lower doors and rear door are tired, so I think it deserves a refresh. I like the traces of its Manchester Met Police past (it was the chief constables car, delivered with a fleet of fast response M62 motorway Range Rovers in 1983) such as the orange safari roof showing under later white paint that is flaking off, additional holes for aerials, lights and rubber bumpers, and special production line coding behind the number plate, so need to consider if/how I retain these.
A picture of one of the Range Rovers (they had sequential number plates, up to A800HND) -
