This tale may ‘‘amuse’’ the sadists over the Christmas season.
Yesterday I went to start up the XJ40 and clear the windows of
frost before driving to work.
I opened the front door, leant in and started the car engine,
raised the heat control to max, fan to demist, switched on the rear
window de-frost and must have inadvertently knocked ‘‘on’’ the
Central Locking switch adjacent to the rear window heater. The door
was open at the time.
I then leaned back out of the car and swung the door closed to
preserve the heating. I then spent 5 minutes scraping the windows
clear and then returned to the drivers door to climb in and enjoy a
nice warm car during the drive to work.
Lo and behold, I found the engine ticking over, heaters on but all
four doors locked. Inside the car was my coat and car key. Outside
was me, dressed in a thin suit jacket and the temperature at zero
to 2 degs Celsius with a slight breeze at 07:30 am in the morning.
Luckily I had my mobile phone with me and after calling the
Emergency service I was given a possible eta of 2 hrs. It finally
arrived 2-1/2 hrs later to find me in the early stages of
hypothermia, the deep shakes and teeth nearly shattered from
clenching them to stop them chattering.
During the wait I was given some very strange looks by passers-by,
seeing a man dressed in a very thin suit in the freezing cold,
standing by a perfectly good, running Jag, trying to stay in a very
thin shaft of sunlight as it slowly moved across the area instead
of waiting in a nice warm car.
It took about 1 minute for the mechanic to open the door for me and
let me collapse into a beautifully warm car, which at least proved
that the heater was working well.
It cost me 3 hours late to work and 1/4 of a tank of petrol.
Moral: Make sure which switch you are pressing when it’s early in
the morning and that you keep your overcoat with you until settled
in the car. Alternatively get a second set of car keys.
Brian
(Now warm and with a different slant on door locks)
(My apologies to those readers in Alaska, etc)–
Brian XJ40
Glasgow, United Kingdom
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
To: xj40@jag-lovers.org
Subject: [xj40] Central Locking - a cautionary tale for the Christmas
season
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 18:27:30 +0100
This tale may ‘‘amuse’’ the sadists over the Christmas season.
Yesterday I went to start up the XJ40 and clear the windows of
frost before driving to work.
I opened the front door, leant in and started the car engine,
raised the heat control to max, fan to demist, switched on the rear
window de-frost and must have inadvertently knocked ‘‘on’’ the
Central Locking switch adjacent to the rear window heater. The door
was open at the time.
I then leaned back out of the car and swung the door closed to
preserve the heating. I then spent 5 minutes scraping the windows
clear and then returned to the drivers door to climb in and enjoy a
nice warm car during the drive to work.
Lo and behold, I found the engine ticking over, heaters on but all
four doors locked. Inside the car was my coat and car key. Outside
was me, dressed in a thin suit jacket and the temperature at zero
to 2 degs Celsius with a slight breeze at 07:30 am in the morning.
Luckily I had my mobile phone with me and after calling the
Emergency service I was given a possible eta of 2 hrs. It finally
arrived 2-1/2 hrs later to find me in the early stages of
hypothermia, the deep shakes and teeth nearly shattered from
clenching them to stop them chattering.
During the wait I was given some very strange looks by passers-by,
seeing a man dressed in a very thin suit in the freezing cold,
standing by a perfectly good, running Jag, trying to stay in a very
thin shaft of sunlight as it slowly moved across the area instead
of waiting in a nice warm car.
It took about 1 minute for the mechanic to open the door for me and
let me collapse into a beautifully warm car, which at least proved
that the heater was working well.
It cost me 3 hours late to work and 1/4 of a tank of petrol.
Moral: Make sure which switch you are pressing when it’s early in
the morning and that you keep your overcoat with you until settled
in the car. Alternatively get a second set of car keys.
Brian
(Now warm and with a different slant on door locks)
(My apologies to those readers in Alaska, etc)
Brian XJ40
Glasgow, United Kingdom
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
Hmmmm u didn’t have the stereo cranked up, too ??? When I hit
the button on my car, the sound of all four locks suddenly locking
(along with the trunk lock) is quite startling, if unexpected …–
&:-)) Paul '88 XJ6 VP 127K miles (black on doeskin)
Garland, Texas, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In reply to a message from AttyDallas sent Fri 20 Dec 2002:
I locked the keys in my 90 Sov. and was very surprised how easy it was to open--a peice of coathanger
with aloop at one end inserted near top of drivers door glass then slid down to and over door lock button did
the trick.----I also showed my wife how to do it----bad move—she said she would never be that
complacent—time will tell.–
jake 85 xj6 87 sov 90 sov 92 sov
toronto ontario, Canada
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
I locked the keys in my 90 Sov. and was very surprised how easy it
was to open–a peice of coathanger
with aloop at one end inserted near top of drivers door glass then slid
down to and over door lock button did
the trick.----I also showed my wife how to do it----bad move—she said
she would never be that
complacent—time will tell.
jake 85 xj6 87 sov 90 sov 92 sov
Jake
Yes, that has been the standard method of getting in a locked car but from
the '94 model Jags the buttons are flush with the doors and have no knobs to
get a purchase on.