Again lots of car talk and pics on this page!. 

The E-type without rear suspension

Last year the E-type was not on the road because of problems with the breaks, but Kees spent a week or two on his back under the bottom of the silver cat (no greater pleasure than that, and also a good opportunity to see that the car, having spent its entire life in sunny California, absolutely has no rust what so ever, while embarrassing little rust prevention was done by the factory or the previous owners), and the car passed with no problems first time through the MoT. Victory of mind over matter!  The garage did though change a rubber near the front wheel and by doing so spoiled the geometry of the front suspension. This incompetency made that hundreds of euros of rubber were worn off the tires in a matter of days.  On top of that it turned out the same garage performed with comparable stupidity last year by reassembling the oil filter incorrectly of our other Jaguar, resulting in us having toured through the entire Pyrenees without effective oil filter.  Thank God the Jaguar engines are as strong as a Rhino, but what a pathetic mechanical skills of a certified workshop

 

 

These, as later turned out historical, torrential rains in the Pyrenees were no problem for more than thirty year old Jaguar and the more recent hood kept easily most of the water out; but I had preferred sunshine instead.

Kees traveled via a phenomenal route back to Narbonne to catch the Auto sleeper back to Den Bosch. The E-type obviously draws much attention and the rather agressive alarm scared to death many an innocent father and son by already sounding an ear piercing noise while only peeking inside the cabin (to see how fast the speedometer could read!).

 

Foto: Laura Goudswaaard

 

 

 

 

 

 

This village we remembered from decades ago. The same violet flowers were blooming in the fields, but this time it was not raining.  While these villages were rather poor and backward twenty years ago, now most are prosperous and benfitting from tourism. The older the village, the more it is reconstructed and the more tourists crowd the street.  No more traditional handicraft like pottery, instead, every house, stable or henhouse is restored and turned into a postcard shop, pizzeria or outlet for souvenirs made in Bali. Progress and globalisation.