You certainly are. More of a Porsche fan here but owned two of Limies and coulda/shoulda had one or two more. First car I bought myself was a ‘67 Triumph GT6. Broke some stuff on that hard driving it in the high desert outside of San Diego. Traded on a ‘58 orange Bugeye. Before going active, I visited a friend in Duchess County, NY, whose older broker had moved overseas and wanted to sell his ‘63 AC Cobra (BRG, of course) with 27,000 miles for $3,000. Coulda come up with the money. Damn. Then in Feb. of ‘68 on boot camp leave, a friend of my father’s lent me his ‘61 XKE for the two weeks. Gunmetal gray with 40,000 miles. Needed a clutch so when you’d shift into fourth at 6,500 it would slip and not go any faster than 100. Which was plenty on the eastern PA back roads I was driving it on. So a clutch job at the time was $400. He would have sold it to me for $2,000. Damn, again. Never owed a Brit bike but I road plenty of my friends’ like Norton 750 Commando, various and sundry 650 BSA’s and Triumphs, and an Enfield which was a hoot. Somebody had a Black Shadow Vincent but never brought it around. Can’t blame him.
1960 XK 150S roadster. Late 1960 car with the E “gold head” engine and electric overdrive. Cruddy white when I bought it. Painted it Ferrari red.
1957 Mk VII sedan. Canadian car that had found its way to Iowa City. Transplanted a 3.8 E motor from a wrecked E since the 3.4 was a little tired. Improved the exhaust system with a pair of Midas glass packs. Four speed and OD.
With the OD switch and downshifting, I could get three or four levels of Burrrr.
Painted it two tone cream and brown. Ladies thought it was a Rolls...
1966 E type roadster. Perfect rust-free body had been Ziebarted when new. Iowa Law student had allowed the motor to overheat and had coolant creeping into the oil. Gradually, the oil pressure went to 10 pounds. Sold it to a re-builder.
1966 E type coupe. White with red leather. Rusty but fast. Sold it when our son came into the world. Wife and I recognized we needed a recreational vehicle for three and the E was a little tight on space.