I haven’t posted in a long time- since when I pretty much finishing my XK120 restoration around 2009 or so, but I’ve been thinking that some of you might be interested in this brief video.
Here’s the story: Every fall my three sons and I take a long weekend Jaguar-driving trip in the nearby mountains. We use my XK120 OTS and a Series 2 E-Type FHC which was formerly mine but now belongs to one of the sons. It’s perfect- four guys and four seats.
For our most recent trip in October '23 one of the sons made a video. He used a 360 degree GoPro type camera which gives some really interesting and unusual views. The video’s been edited down to about 5 minutes and is on YouTube. Go to YouTube and search for 226A. That will turn up a bunch of videos showing trips on the same stretch of road- almost all on motorcycles. Pick the one with the red Jaguar. Also his channel is JWW Knoxes.
Watching one of the motorcycle videos will give you a better sense of what the full length of that section of road is like. We edited out a lot to get a shorter video. You may also notice that the motorcycle guys seem to be going a lot faster than we were. In defense, I want to point out that compared to their modern, high tech machines, I was driving a car that’s 70 years old. And too, I’m older than the car. But I was having as much fun as they were!
Hope you enjoy it, Bruce #674699
Nicely done!!! Isn’t that was these cars are all about? They are GREAT on the road. Great cinematography, editing, and so important; obviously an experienced XK driver. Thanks for taking us along!
Several questions:
– 3-point seatbelts: Can you share some pics re how you secured the shoulder harness portion?
– Shifting: Accomplished. Is this a Moss box or a five speed conversion?
Great to see you using your car, thanks for sharing!
Hi Dave, Yeah, it was a great trip! Glad you enjoyed it.
As to your questions: I don’t know if I can get any pictures of the upper seat belt mount, but I can describe how I did it. Behind the seats on the 120 OTS there’s a tray which is for storage of the side curtains. The curtains fit in the center portion of the tray and on each side there’s a vertical partition of sheet metal which results in a small, maybe 4 or 5 inch wide, box under each side of the tonneau panel. Those boxes are actually a clear passage back to the trunk/boot. So I installed the seat belt inertial reel in that space using a couple of the biggest washers that would fit. I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t meet federal safety standards, but it was the best I could do and I figured that it was better than having no shoulder belt at all and just relying on the lap belt. I did all of this about ten years ago so I’m not sure I’m getting all the details right, but that’s what I remember.
It’s a Moss box- the original one. That’s part of the fun of driving a car like this. Yeah, it’s a bit balky, everything is double clutching and it does make for pretty slow shifts and an occasional crunch, but I like it. I’ve owned and driven the car for over 65 years- somewhere over 100K miles I figure- so I’ve had a lot of practice.
Bruce #674699
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