CL Scam or great son?

Michael_Oldak · July 27, 2018, 1:49pm

A guy in VA advertised in Craig’s List for a drive in a red XKE for his 78 year old mother who just had a stroke 5 weeks ago. Apparently when she was married in Europe, she and her new husband drove off from the wedding in a red XKE. While in the hospital, she saw a picture of an XKE on the cover of Hemmings and it lit up her face and her day. Her son decided to see if he could replicate the experience for his mother.

This Saturday I will be driving his mother around the DC area and wanted to know if anyone in the area would like to join us.

If so, contract me at Mike@oldaks.com or 202 262 5188.

Wiggles · July 27, 2018, 1:51pm

That is MOST EXCELLENT!

Video and full report, please!

Alan_Grossman · July 27, 2018, 2:19pm

What a great way to enjoy your car! (I’m usually indulging enthusiastic
little ones)

Cheers, Alan

69Cat · July 27, 2018, 2:37pm

When she waxes about the beautiful sound the V12 makes, just nod your head.

Michael_Oldak · July 27, 2018, 3:22pm

Sorry 6 cylinder, but it still sounds great. Will probably have a few E’s so at least stereo

69Cat · July 27, 2018, 3:26pm

…that’s my point!..

mgordon · July 29, 2018, 12:19pm

Mike will probably be too modest to post this link so I will. This story just illustrates how kind and generous most everyone in the classic car community is. One of my neighbors is an officer in the local Triumph club, the Capitol Triumph Registery. (He owns a TR 250 that was his dad’s and has been in his family since new.) Anyway, Christopher contacted me a few weeks ago, asking if I knew anyone in the area who had a red OTS of about '67-69 vintage who would be willing to take the lady for a ride down memory lane. My cream '67 OTS was close, but no cigar. I contacted Mike with the info and he didn’t hesitate for an instant which is characteristic of Mike; very generous and considerate of others. Here’s the link to, as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story.”
https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/wan/d/jaguar-xke-red-convertible-go/6651411910.html

Wiggles · July 29, 2018, 12:55pm

Not afraid or ashamed to admit, that brought tears.

WTG, Mike!

872XKE · July 29, 2018, 1:19pm

This is a cool story! It reminds me of my mother. Two years ago she died while In long-term hospice care. I had purchased my series 3 a couple of years before. She had seen it but never asked for a ride. I never imagined she had any interest because she was frail and not very mobile. Three days before she died, she informed her very large family the she was “going to be with Jesus.” The next day she rallied, kind of like an engine rev’ing on fumes. She requested a ride in my little red e-type. I humored her and drove “Lucy” to her house. When I arrived she had the hospice nurse get her robe and help her prepare for a drive. I was not certain this was a wise activity, but I was not going to deny her request. It turn out to be a great day. She died two days later.

x

Michael_Oldak · July 29, 2018, 2:52pm

Maybe a different outcome than with Joe’s mother, but we had a great ride up the Clara Barton Parkway along the Potomac River. Alyce is recovering from a stroke, but she was very able to talk with only a few word retrieval issues.

Apparently a red jaguar was so important to her, that her son had an artist create a “cartooned model” of one which looked GREAT! I’m going to get the name of the artist (along with prices) and post it. Interestingly, as you can see from the pictures, I do not have rear view mirrors as i decided that the bullet mirror on the doors didn’t work very well and want to mount them in a different place. I’ve been thinking about mounting them on the cowl which is exactly where they were on the model!

I enjoyed sharing the ride with a great lady!

Mike

Wiggles · July 29, 2018, 3:16pm

Pat, for sure, but danged true: there is NO time like the present.

Loooong story, made short: my mom and I were, simultaneously, too much the same, and world’s different, and often were at loggerheads.

In her last year, she had been particularly obstreperous, and we were quite estranged.

A few months before she died, she suddenly got nice, and asked me if I would be willing to take her for a few hot laps in my old Datsun racer: like the dutiful son, I dragged it out of the weeds, tossed a quick service and paint job on it (wanted to sell it, anyway) bolted in a passenger seat, and some belts, and took her and it to a local track.

It was a BALL! It was the first time she’d been in a race car, since she had last driven the Silverstone Jag, in 1965. All the previous poison that existed between my mom and me, seemed to drain out of the exhaust pipe of Flop (The Tragic Wagon),

Mom and I were on relatively decent terms, again.

It was a sublime and propitious detente… and she died a month later.

That is a time and effort I will never regret, and I am at turns, envious, and very proud, of you JLers who did this with your Jags!