She's back

Here's a pic of me in the old girl last year. Perhaps travelling over the speed limit? What this picture DOESN'T show is the puff of smoke that was just beginning to rear its ugly head. She's just had a MAJOR engine job done after finding an intolerable oil leak which was spraying oil all over the exhaust. Blue smoke followed me like the hero escaping the bad guys in a bad James Bond movie . It was horrendous.

These early 450SLC s are a great alternative for fans of V8 coupes. Much smoother with some great engineering, pre smog(mines a 74) which means 240+ horsepower at the rear and redline at 6250RPM. Lovely nimble smooth revving motors that come alive when pushed to the upper limits, down low they are good for going into little old lady mode to putter and burble around town. The old ones now are either getting scrapped or restored which means their value is on the up. The good ones have been fairly well looked after by sympathetic owners, the bad ones have been let go by those who can't afford the repairs. Much the same as E-type jags and other classics.

There were actually two seals that required replacing, the rear main seal and the sump gasket which required the motor being pulled out. I asked the mechanic to check the cams and the head whilst the motor was out. The head was skimmed, all valves were replaced and some newer cams. New valve guides and some rust cut out of the firewall. She goes even more like a rocket with the uprated compression and is blissfully smoke free.

First trip down the mountain was in the wet, I'd forgotten some of the little quirks... mainly old rubber window and door seals which require replacing, there's a lot of wind whistling about. The old solution was to turn the stereo up to drown out the wind, the latest solution is going to involve some rubber replacement, including the rear tyres which not able to handle the newfound power in the wet as they are so solid and hard.

It was at the mechanics for about three months. And when I got it back, smelled like the garage. So I've re-dressed all that gorgeous Nappa leather, given it a good vacuum and sprayed the inside with some Jaguar cologne. (yes it's an opponents brand, but its rather good.....lots of cedar and spruce).

Going to have some happy motoring this Spring. Might even go on another road trip and add to my other blog Benz across oz.