I have driven an XK120 roadster 915 km in one day Perth to Balladonia.
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Glad to hear of people driving these cars rather than posing in them. Just had mine out on Cape Cod MA where things are cooling down and more suitable to driving them.
Here are a couple pictures that include the cut-out spats that I promised last week.
John Brady
678462
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Hi Terry,
That’s great!
I know this is not a competition, but I have to say I did over 1270 kms this summer in one day with my son in our E-type roadster from Rättvik in Sweden to Hannover in Germany. No biggie, but I have to admit I was a bit excited the first 500 kms as I had resoldered the other commutor end of the alternator the previous night after midnight in the hotel room in Rättvik Sweden. 
Cheers!
Ps. Last week on our way to Goodwood, it rained in Germany and Belgium all the way.
But fortunately not in Wiesbaden, Germany once we had started from Frankfurt. 
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its a competition! 
Here in Australia if you are doing 30km/hr over the speed limit and max speed in all states except NT is only 110km/hr today they can impound your car an crush it!
But back in 1978 this wasn’t a problem but given I had only finished rebuilding car from T chests a week or so before and we were on one of the most lonely roads in the world with Kangaroos either side we kept the speed to 110km/hr it was a long day!
unfortunately only a instamatic 126 toy camera!
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Thanks Tom,
As far as motorway driving goes, I have an OD fitted behind the original Moss box, and a 3,54 final drive, so high revs is not an issue.
I agree about the right leg lacking support. I sort of let the knee rest on the gearbox tunnel. I am 6ft2 and use a smaller MotoLita steering wheel. The modern? racing seats have a comfortable sest cushion but a thin, back with very little padding, so I use a small pillow.
The exhaust is very loud so I wear a radio headset which reduces the overall noise by 75%.
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Hi Terry,
Sure, we have high penalties for speeding as well, max speed on highways is 120 km/h in the summer and 100 km/h in the winter.
That photo was taken by my son last week and we were driving on the German A3 near Wiesbaden where 200+ km/h is perfectly normal AND legal. And very nuce. 
Cheers!
Ps. Tomorrow we’ll have a short drive with some vintage Jaguars, perhaps not an XK120 but some XK140’s and XK150’s for sure, both OTS and FHC.
Peder,
Tell us some more about how you fitted the OD behind your Moss gearbox on your 120. Major surgery on the chassis cross-member I assume. And what is the pedal box that you used?
John Brady
678462
Great! Nice pic.
Like expected, unfortunately there were no XK120’s with us on today’s small tour (ca 200km) but an XK140 and an XK150.
Cheers!
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To wit… methinks someone should compile the best of these for a calendar, like we once did, years ago.
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Thought this one would be nice for the topic: driving weekend for them today, first the SC gets out for a Saturday stroll to buy beer in La Trappe (tilburg), then the 120 for the heck of it tomorrow.
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Hi LLuis,
Great to hear you are starting your 2023 driving season and I hope you put many miles on your coupe. My season never ended last year as our winter in New England was one of the mildest on record and I drove my coupe regularly. We did not have enough snow to even bother to plow or shovel, and what we had disappeared quickly. Very little salt was used and that was washed away quickly with rain so was not a problem. The longest time that I did not drive my 120 was about two weeks.
Driving these cars in cold weather with the heater going is quite rewarding, having been through 4 cores before I found one that didn’t leak and fog up the windscreen. Also, I sorted out my thermostat last spring so that the engine runs at 165 F in hot or cold weather, which is hot enough to provide adequate heat in the winter, and cool enough in the summer to not be worrying about overheating.
I can start the car easily in 20 F weather using the AED, which I have on a manual switch. Adjusting this was a trial and error proposition and I now have it right. So I put 3000 miles on my coupe last year, including runs to South Jersey and the annual trip to Stowe, VT for the British Invasion in September. I will be taking it to Lime Rock Park in early June to watch friends race their vintage cars in the Empire Cup Races, and will continue to use the car regularly to attend cruise nights and car shows. Once they are sorted these cars are a joy to own and drive.
Tom Brady
I know where it went…
Master: car has been usee ALL winter… just found the picture fun
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The OD behind the Moss was done at Classic Motor Company in the UK and was not major surgery. A small cutout in the cross member sufficed. When next on the lift I will take pictures.
I´ve had my XK120 OTS 52 for a little over 2 years now. The driving experience in this car is hard to describe - It´s just fantastic.
My girlfriend and I took it from Denmark to Le Mans. We went through Belgium / the Ardennes - alot of country side driving and alot of highway driving.
When going home we drove highways mostly for about 10 hours a day in ca 34degrees hot sunny weather - and the car just worked perfect.
When I had my Etype series 1 we went to France as well - but I changed the diff. from a 3:54 to a 2:88 from a XJ6 - and that made a huge difference on the speeds at highways - much more smoothe.
The XK went a little high on the revs at 70mph think somewhere close to the 3.000rev. Think its a 3:54 -
Does any of you have experience with a lower one - fx. 3:31 or lower - it´s a 3,4 with a Moss box - so I´m a little worried to lose power/torque.
All the best
Per Foumashi
Denmark
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Hi Per,
I also changed my E-Type from a 3.54 to a 2.88 and it makes a big difference, because it drops the RPMs to 81% of what they were. However, changing from a 3.54 to a 3.31 only drops the RPMs to 93.5% of what they were before. That means that at 3000 RPM you will be doing 75 MPH instead of 70. It’s up to you to decide whether that small difference is worth the bother of changing the differential. My XK120 has an ENV axle and I’m not sure it’s even possible to change, so I just enjoy it the way it is.
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Hi there,
Same situation. I am aware of only one company doing 2.88 that fit without modification into the 4ha housing, and that is simply performance in the uk.
I think that the offset limit is 3.07 (which already a decent reduction). Dana 2.88, I was told, require some modification of the housing.
To be honest, I would have done it already, but there is no specialist in my area and I more and more considering a 5 speed without modification to the cross member (short getrag 265)…