Quite the correct storage behavior, of course. Would work if I didn’t drive it at least once a day…rain permitting…and always with the top down.
Born British I am very fortunate to now live in California, though now Northern-ish (25 miles South of San Francisco) rather than the Southern (Newport Beach, Irvine, etc.) in which I found myself upon arriving on these shores in 1992. Growing up on the south coast of England (Portsmouth/Southsea) we would spot any small patch of blue/lighter grey sky coming in amongst the black clouds over the Solent and ride our bikes as fast as we could either east or west along the Prom(enade) to make sure we made the best of those few minutes, sometimes seconds, of relative sunshine as it passed overhead.
“It’s brightening up, look!” is a quintessentially, if hopeful, English phrase. I smile every time I hear it when I’m home.
Back in the late 70’s/early 80’s my Dad worked for the Southern Electricity Board and (since he was an accountant) would save up his mileage allowance in order go to the local British Leyland dealership and buy an Austin Maxi, Princess, Ambassador, Maestro, etc. (happily never a Morris Marina/ Ital!) and while he did his paperwork, or (more likely) booked it into Service, I would creep up the other end of the dealership and try to sneak into the Jags without the salesperson noticing. I remember to this day the “thunk” the door of an XJS made compared to the “ting!” of the cars my Dad was buying at the other end.
But even then, though I was sitting in a new XJS I still was looking at the picture of an E-Type I could see on the wall through the windscreen.
“One day”, I thought, “one day” I shall have that car that shoots past all the grey/brown cars on the motorway like a red spaceship at twice the speed. I honestly never actually thought I would have one, but I did dream.
Dreaming wasn’t something us Brits were encouraged to do back then. “Just be thankful for what you’ve got, there’s a war on you know. Here’s an egg, make it last a week”. Even in 1976…
Now I live where it only rains some of the time instead of all of the time, I honestly never put the top up except to wash it. Actually with the E-Type I don’t even put it up then, I’m just careful with the water. Since jumping the pond to The Colonies I’ve been lucky enough to have owned convertibles, in chronological order: (firstly, filling the dream) an XJS, Audi TT, Lotus Elise, Aston Martin DB9, Maserati and now (alongside the Maserati) the E-type.
The E is obviously my favorite, it’s the only one you can drive without everyone loving the car but secretly (or not so secretly) hating the driver (me).
But I need to find a workable strategy to keep the top down without it shrinking, since that’s where it will stay 99.99% of the time.
Or maybe I don’t. Perhaps I should just buy a waterproof car cover for when I need to leave it out somewhere overnight…? The window gaps don’t exist when the top is down…
