Post by PG on Nov 11, 2019 14:07:27 GMT
I finally got to tick off "drive an E-Type" from my bucket list at the Classic Show on Saturday. I booked a drive through the HERO (Heritage Endurance and Rallying Org.) stand. It was about a 20 minute drive out of the NEC and around local roads. . The car in question was a Series 1, 4.2 fixed head coupe.
Getting in over the high sills was OK. But I think getting out in any sort of demure fashion would take some practice, that I didn't have time to do. I sort of fell out onto my feet, as it were. The seat was able to go back far enough for me to get comfy - 6 footers do fit - but it is set a bit high for the coupe roof, so I did feel as though I needed to duck down a bit. A thin rimmed wooden steering wheel and those lovely Smiths instrument gauges are in front of you and a bank of secondary gauges and switches are in the middle. Yes, it's a cliche, but the cockpit nature of all those dials and switches, narrow windscreen, high sills and tall centre tunnel, plus that long bonnet with power bulge makes you immediately think "Spitfire" and brings a smile to your face.
And so to the drive itself. It was raining, which meant that I was pretty careful as terminally losing the back end could have been exceptionally embarrassing. Being 6 cylinders, NA and old school, it pulled easily from low revs. With the carburettors there is lots of lovely induction noise and the engine feels smooth and throaty. Like performance cars used to sound really - the driver hears the induction noise, the outside world the exhaust noise. The gearbox (4 speed manual) had a beautiful mechanical feel to the change (which I liked). That meant you have to be careful and make each change a collection of positive actions - 2nd to 3rd needed to be a definite up, across then up movement for example. The gearbox had all synchromesh (not all Series 1's do), which did make things a lot easier going back down the box. The clutch was surprisingly light. No power steering, but once on the move that was not an issue as long as you reminded yourself that one hand twirling was right out - it definitely encouraged an IAM "two hands on the thin wooden wheel at quarter to three" driving approach. The brakes are smooth and effective, but compared to modern brakes, they clearly show their age. Brake early and smoothly was the order of the day. In summary, driving became an event again. Something you had to think about and enjoy as an act of mechanical harmony with a piece of complex engineering. I loved it.
Of course, in cars that age, you do notice some things that really have improved over the years in "ease of use". The heating was, well, poor to be generous. And on a rainy November day that meant that apart from changing gear, the one thing you had to take a hand off the wheel for was to demist the windows quite regularly with the cloth kept on the centre console for that purpose. And the triple windscreen wipers (the screen was two short for two wipers) sort of worked. My chaperone confirmed that all series 1's suffer from that as the curvature of the screen is too large to have a decent sweep everywhere on the blade. Finally we may all bang on about how large door mirrors are now, but at least you can see a lot more using with them (and they have heating elements that work).
I think that I now need to add another thing to my bucket list though. Drive an E-Type on a dry day and for a lot longer than 20 minutes. The itch has been scratched, but it is still there for sure.
Getting in over the high sills was OK. But I think getting out in any sort of demure fashion would take some practice, that I didn't have time to do. I sort of fell out onto my feet, as it were. The seat was able to go back far enough for me to get comfy - 6 footers do fit - but it is set a bit high for the coupe roof, so I did feel as though I needed to duck down a bit. A thin rimmed wooden steering wheel and those lovely Smiths instrument gauges are in front of you and a bank of secondary gauges and switches are in the middle. Yes, it's a cliche, but the cockpit nature of all those dials and switches, narrow windscreen, high sills and tall centre tunnel, plus that long bonnet with power bulge makes you immediately think "Spitfire" and brings a smile to your face.
And so to the drive itself. It was raining, which meant that I was pretty careful as terminally losing the back end could have been exceptionally embarrassing. Being 6 cylinders, NA and old school, it pulled easily from low revs. With the carburettors there is lots of lovely induction noise and the engine feels smooth and throaty. Like performance cars used to sound really - the driver hears the induction noise, the outside world the exhaust noise. The gearbox (4 speed manual) had a beautiful mechanical feel to the change (which I liked). That meant you have to be careful and make each change a collection of positive actions - 2nd to 3rd needed to be a definite up, across then up movement for example. The gearbox had all synchromesh (not all Series 1's do), which did make things a lot easier going back down the box. The clutch was surprisingly light. No power steering, but once on the move that was not an issue as long as you reminded yourself that one hand twirling was right out - it definitely encouraged an IAM "two hands on the thin wooden wheel at quarter to three" driving approach. The brakes are smooth and effective, but compared to modern brakes, they clearly show their age. Brake early and smoothly was the order of the day. In summary, driving became an event again. Something you had to think about and enjoy as an act of mechanical harmony with a piece of complex engineering. I loved it.
Of course, in cars that age, you do notice some things that really have improved over the years in "ease of use". The heating was, well, poor to be generous. And on a rainy November day that meant that apart from changing gear, the one thing you had to take a hand off the wheel for was to demist the windows quite regularly with the cloth kept on the centre console for that purpose. And the triple windscreen wipers (the screen was two short for two wipers) sort of worked. My chaperone confirmed that all series 1's suffer from that as the curvature of the screen is too large to have a decent sweep everywhere on the blade. Finally we may all bang on about how large door mirrors are now, but at least you can see a lot more using with them (and they have heating elements that work).
I think that I now need to add another thing to my bucket list though. Drive an E-Type on a dry day and for a lot longer than 20 minutes. The itch has been scratched, but it is still there for sure.
