Sticky Dipstick

When I was a kid, I remember my dad stepping off the Hollywood Yellow line street car and returning from WWII.
Dad was a bomber pilot in Europe.
He came home to our place on Highland Ave, changed into civilian clothes and threw his medals in the drawer, and that was the last we ever heard or saw of WW II.
I'll get back to that.

Dad never spoke about it, and a guy named Will, one of the Army Air Corp avation mechanics in my dads unit moved near by.

Will and my dad got interested in early new Porches, and I can still remember the neat new car smell of the Porche/VW dealer.
They taught me to adjust valves as a kid, change oil,, always involving me and it was cool.

Will left his job at a Porche dealer, Competition Motors (The starting point of the James Dean tragedy but that's another thread) to take a higher paying job at Holiday motors as Jaguar mechanic.

Jaguar used to pay $35 to a dealer mechanic to go over each car before the customer took delivery. Minimum wage was 90 cents an hour, so $35 was huge, and Will was conscientious and knew what he was looking at.
When the XKE first made it's appearance in the early 60's my dad was the first to buy one. It was a car with character and charm,, and pretty quick for a 6.
Great car except in extreme heat or rain, or if someone hit you.

My dad & Will always said the Brits drink their beer warm because their refrigerators are made by Lucas.

Some time passed, and Jag quit paying for the pre-delivery go over by dealer mechanics,, and it de-generated to wiping the windshield and tooting the horn,, and the car was delivered to the customer in poor condition.
That and other changes with Jag quality sent Will back to Competition Motors and Porche and their new flat 6 911.
Jags reputation slid downhill for the next decade and that was it for them. The Leyland move was the final nail in their coffin.

So today, enter a young family that moved into my neighborhood:
Doug, and his wife are teriffic. Doug is a dealer Jag mechanic, and is "crackerjack" as the old WWII vets used to say. Sharp and absolutely in love with cars. When Doug gets home from work, he spends time with his kids, then starts working on his own cars.
"Jag is as serious as a heart attack to take & keep market share" Doug tells me.
Jag sent he and his family (kids too) to the UK for a full months technical training for the new Aston Martin.

I don't know if you've checked out the new Aston Martin. Just an awsum car sitting there on the showroom floor.
Sales of them is a bit over the top because his dealer has a host bar on the showroom floor,, and really pampers potential customers.
Damfino, it must work. The Ferarri dealer in the new Wynn Hotel charges $15 just to enter the showroom,, and thus sold 18 cars in the past few days.

But, the point of the post, I'm glad to see Jag is back, most (read that; most) their cars retain that old character that set Jag apart, and the company really is serious as a heart attack to keep quality and service up.

Dad is still alive and driving sports cars. It's BMW's now,, and 60 years later, he finally got out his bomber units pix and hung them on the walls of his reloading basement.
This, after I convinced him and Will to visit the Alameda Air Show, and I sprung $100 ea for us to take a demo ride in a restored B24. The old buzzards knew everything about everything about the bomber and every version. It was a real kick for me and my son to have them along.
The crew glad to have them aboard.

That nite, over a bottle of locally grown Pinot Grigio wine on his upstairs deck, the old guy opened up with his WWII stories.
I could write a book on his experiences, or a least another thread, for perhaps a different forum. Brutal stories,, brutal.

I realize now why dad or Will never talked about the war.
But bring up BMW's,,,,,

Mindcore

That was a nice read man

Elistan

Too bad we don't have a national newsletter for stuff like this.

steve c

Huh? They don't produce anything even remotely worth buying for the enthusiast, and second or third tier automobiles in other segments, often for a premium.

The last time they got something right by my book was with the series II E type -- and you could argue they screwed the pooch on that one with added weight and complexity.

oakfloor

Totaly awsome, there will never be a generation of men and women like that again. soon there will be no more WW2 vets left. and the aircraft they flew are still something to behold, lots of pistons, lots of cubic inches of displacement, big propellers, lots of high octane fuel, thousands of horsepower... and the noise they make is unbelievable. anyone who calls themselves a "gear head" needs to go to a airshow and watch these things go. you will be impressed.

CG

Great read!

My Dad still has nightmares every night from WW II. He was wounded more than once and refused to accept the purple heart. He avoids talking about the war also.

paivag

Nice read. We need more like this here on S2ki.

Sticky Dipstick

Thanks to all for the positive comments.

The old guys call the av gas: "Red gas" and the octane was way up there, burn your skin even cold.
The lots of pistons, lots of hp is true. Almost romantic.

Today I race with what is known as "windex",, or light blue racegas, no where near the octane of the old stuff.
The old guys are starting to loosten up with WWII stories,, and like I said brutal.

steve c

. They used tetraethyl lead in the gas to boost the octane to around 145. You *could* do the same today (and some folks do) but there is little point and you create a gas that is horribly bad on the skin.

1000 a day die. Best they don't share those memories.

Silver_S2000

Great read

I look forward to reading your next threads...and your dad sounds like one heck of a good man.