Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
terically over the glass, utterly panicked at the fact there's water falling from the sky onto
the car, there's no air-conditioning or electric windows (though there is power-assisted
steering and it does have upgraded, servoed brakes), however it is the proud possessor
of an electrically operated overdrive, a dash-mounted starter button, a handbrake on the
wrong side and, best of all, a foot-controlled dip switch.
I think this is my favourite Jag eccentricity; to dip the lights at night you have to tap
with your shoe a stubby metal button mounted on the floor to the left of the clutch. I am
just about old enough to remember foot-operated dip switches from when there was noth-
ing especially unusual about such an arrangement, however I still find this hilarious.
Less amusing but more heartening is that when you drive an old car (and in some
ways here, the older the better) you drive surrounded by smiles and general good humour.
In an old car, unless you drive like an utter imbecile, you can generally forget about road
rage. People grin when they see you, they smile, they stop and look and sometimes they
wave, and if they make a digital gesture, it's a thumbs-up, not a finger.
Part of this may be that an old car is seen as less of a threat, less of a declared, fully
paid-up competitor in the day-to-day competition for road space and the battle to reduce
one's own journey time. But part of it, I suppose, is a kind of veneration we feel for the old
in general, a feeling that they deserve credit for the fact they've made it to here through all
the trials, challenges and vicissitudes that might have ended their existence earlier and so
should be indulged and given peace in a gentle retirement. (Arguably nowadays, people
feel this more towards old cars than they do to old people, which is sad, even shaming.)
Now that so many roads are so crowded, and speed cameras seem to be everywhere
- when there is, in other words, not much point in having a car that goes faster than any-
body else's - this is a serious argument for driving a classic vehicle. You really do feel
like you're living in a sunnier, more pleasant, more relaxed and stress-free world.
Well, at least you do until they break down, which is one thing that classic cars are
also very good at. This is when you realise that for all the blandness, homogeneity and
supposed boringness of the modern motor vehicle in general and the family hatchback in
particular, they represent a vast improvement in reliability as well as fuel efficiency, com-
pared to their automotive forebears. Even so, modern cars have bits fall off and they grind
spluttering to a stop too; it's just that as a rule they do it much less often. Somehow it's
easier to forgive an old car for breaking down, plus - if you have any mechanical aptitude
at all - it will generally be easier to effect a running repair to a classic.
Modern cars - and especially modern engines - are binary, digital; they tend to work
either perfectly or not at all, and you'll only be able to fix one if you happen to have 30
grand's worth of electronic diagnostic equipment with you and a sealed unit to replace
whatever black-box gizmo has just gone belly up. Classic cars are analogue; when they
go wrong they'll often sort of half-work, at least for a while, enough to get you home
