Reflections 2 - The Scottish Car Show...

The 2nd event of the month was The Scottish Car Show on the 15th July. This used to be solely for modified cars but has changed tack this year to include classics, retro and other types. It was loud, lively and packed all day, with something for everyone to do at the Royal Highland Showground site.

I began prepping a day or two beforehand by cleaning some stains off the Jag's interior and carpets, 'feeding' the leather too, as well as giving her bodywork another polish. While I was working on the street where I normally park a resident walked up to ask 'Is this your car?', 'Where do you live?' before giving me grief about having it parked in the street for days at a time. Now, where it was parked is round the corner from where I used to stay, and about a 10 to 15 minute walk from where I stay now. It's a quiet, sleepy neighbourhood in a well to do area with ample, free, unrestricted on street parking. Most of the homes there have a driveway or a garage. Up until this one person had a go at me, no-one had complained about the car being there. In fact a couple of people I had spoke to while cleaning it were quite interested in it. This NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) though didn't like that I had parked within a 20 metre range of his house twice in a row. I was under a streetlight, away from the trees, in miles of space and well away from his Audi. The Jag wasn't even leaking any oil!

He moaned that guests coming to visit could not park directly outside his house because of the Jag, then went on to say that I could park in the street (like it belongs to him) but needed to 'move it about a bit'. Looking at all the empty spaces outside his house, either end of the Jag, across the street and 7 or 8 steps around the corner less than a car length away, I was a bit staggered that his guests had nowhere to park. A point I raised with him, as well as pointing out that the car does get moved and put in different spots. He then went on to complain that the car had been 'abandoned' and that he was going to contact the Police about it. Seriously? I mean, he had seen me cleaning it the week or two before so knew fine well it wasn't abandoned. It is taxed, insured and on a PUBLIC road with no waiting, loading or parking restrictions. There was no driveway blocked and certainly nothing to indicate that special access was required to the front of his home because someone had a disability or something.

His attitude was really patronising and I was getting angrier & increasingly indignant the more he bleated on. After sounding off at me for a while, with me taking on board his comments then countering them, he buggered off. I finished my cleaning then moved the Jag. Not because I agree with his viewpoint, but because I felt the neighbourhood was no longer a safe place to leave it. The impression I got from the chap was that if I didn't move the car from the area, things would happen to it to make me move it.

So anyway, on the day of the car show the Jaguar Enthusiast's Club met up early on the bypass so that we could travel in convoy to the event and all park up together indoors. We were some of the lucky few who were able to do so. Once again, I noticed that the Seagulls had done their business all over the Jag but I didn't have the time to sort it out before we were on our way. On arrival we parked up in the main auditorium right next to a tap though so I was able to wash off the worst of the bird poop then run the polishing cloth over the car, again! Having done that and got settled in I had the chance to wander about a bit and see what was happening. There were a good few classics in the main area along with many. many modified cars, a soundstage, funfair ride, mobile tattoo parlour and myriad of stalls selling things. Outside there were hundreds of other cars, clubs and petrolheads, including my Uncle Bobby & his daughter Rachel who were there showing his modified Mondeo. The smell of burnt rubber and the squeal of tyres drew me to watch the Drift Taxi's ply their trade for a bit. It was spectacular to watch. The £10 cost to be  passenger for just two laps of the (short) drift track was a bit steep right enough. Having said that I did pay nearly a fiver for a burger...

I had wanted to take a load of photos of what I was seeing but forgot to charge my phone the night before the show. I formulated a cunning plan though and ducked out for a while to nip away to Tesco's Corstorphine so that I could buy a mini USB cigarette lighter charger. When I got back to the show though I discovered that H9 WAP's cigarette lighter didn't actually work... Now, here's a tip. If anything electrical on a Jag stops working, check the fuses. They often blow. In X300's there is usually a fuse map, showing you where they all are and what they're for, under the flap of the storage/toolkit compartment in the engine bay on the right hand side. In most cases there are spare fuses there too. Some Jags even have a wee toolkit. I quickly discovered that the fuse for the cigarette lighter was blown. A quick swap later & I could charge my phone, but only with the ignition on. Seeing as I couldn't go anywhere for a while I left it on charge and began cleaning.
With the ignition on there was a nice cooling breeze coming from the fans as I set about the engine bay. I got right into the nooks & crannies, cleared out dead leaves, cleaned parts that have probably never been cleaned, dressed the tyres, and then worked some more on the glass, interior & exterior to bring out a shine. I noticed people taking photos & video but didn't think much of it at the time. Happily though I've since found out that I made it to the official video of the event and there is also a picture of the Jag on the StrathyCruise website! Screengrabs below...

Pic from the Strathy Cruise website - accessible from http://www.scottishcarshow.com/

Video screengrab 1 - whole vid can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIcUblXpYTc

Video screengrab 2

I was feeling quite chuffed with the work that had gone into making the Jag nice & shiny so sat down in her for a bit to rest & check Facebook etc. on the phone while it was charging. While doing that I happened to look up at the dash & saw the battery gauge well down from where it should normally be. At this point the ignition was still on. I realised that I had drained the battery by having the ignition on. A twist of the key to start the Jag was met with a click and nothing more. D'oh! I asked about the other JEC members on site for jump leads or a starter pack but no one had any. The Police had a stand nearby so I asked them and thankfully was able to borrow a booster pack so that I could fire up the Jag & run it for a bit to put some juice back into the battery. Cue lots of photos being taken of the situation and talk of me being 'charged' by the Police... The battery in the car really is too small so I will be purchasing the correct part in the future. Of course, I should have remembered that before I drained it! :)

Embarrassing moments aside, at least my phone was charged. I wandered back around the show & took a few snaps...

Edinburgh & South East JEC tucked away in a corner.

Main auditorium.

Beautiful Jaguar Mk IV.

Cadillac.

Uncle Bobby's Mondeo, 'Rosie'.

Porsches.

As the show drew to a close I hung about for the awards. One of the JEC members won for best classic of the even with his immaculate Mk 2. I didn't win anything but my time will come! H9 WAP started first time, even though the battery power level still appeared to be low, and we headed home. Once again, she was running smoothly. Even the lumbar support on the seat seems to have resumed working.

Post-show chill...

I enjoyed the show but it had a totally different atmosphere to the month's earlier one. The Scottish Jaguar Day seemed to be much more chilled out and more relaxed, whereas the Scottish Car Show felt a wee bit 'edgy' at times. It was still good though. There are more shows coming up but I need to watch what I'm doing with the car and address some of the wee things that are really needing done, like the chain tensioner, the minor corrosion, oil change, brake discs & pads, plus transmission/diff fluid renewal. I also need to drive it less. She's on a 3000 mile limited mileage policy and I've done probably 2600 so far since March. It's more use than the Jag has been used to seeing over the last few years, but she's all the better for it!