Part 4 - The horses are on the track

By the end of March we have pretty much gone over the car. The major bugs are fixed. Ernesto very kindly lets me use his trade plates for a few weeks here and there, this eliminates me registering the car until I'm ready and we complete more work on it.
First Drive
I get a pad and a pen, so I can record her driving habits. I get dropped off at Ernesto's and take her home. I drive slowly through his neighbourhood feeling out my new steed. You know what? for a 35 year old car she is pretty amazing. Handles rather nimbly.....I get to the entrance ramp of I 95 - I slowly merge with the traffic 30-40-50 55 mph, check the gauges - oil ok, temp ok, battery is charging..... good. I settle down and enjoy.
After a couple of miles, I reach the route 8 connector north. How sad, there is no traffic ahead or behind me - I do the only decent thing an English car nut should do, down shift and step on the loud pedal - she takes off like a greyhound in the slits at Walthamstow dogs....holy shit 60- 80 - 100 - 115 mph!!! easy son - this is only the first date ( would hate for it to be the last too) I'm booking 120 mph and I didn't even stretch her legs yet!! I take a moment to soak all of this in...... Its a sensory and visceral feast, there is a little oil smoke (a leak from the rocker cover drips occasionally on the exhaust) I can smell exhaust, I love this! There must be lots of holes in the bulkhead previously occupied by rubber grommets, long since perished and dropped out. I feel like a spitfire pilot over the Kent coast in the summer of 1940, looking for the hun-in-the-sun. If you ever fly an old plane you will know exactly what I mean - its a cacophony of smells and noises that make ones brain "sing" - Ive never experienced this pleasure from a car before. I ease off the loud pedal - considerably. If the surface is anything but flat she dances on the road, like a drunk bridesmaid at a wedding reception. I think the camber and tracking is out - My theory is soon proven when after a few hundred miles the front tires are bald on the insides. Time for new boots!
Small fuel leak but nothing major. I get home with a huge grin on my face, drive round the back and let her rest.

So here is the real picture :
Convertible top - a collection of brittle and torn vinyl strips, that flaps in the breeze at speed and leaks like a sieve.
Drivers door - hinge and striker plate is shot - door drops about an inch when opened - got to fix it, because it wont stay closed at speed ( not good)
Passenger door - handle sometimes opens the door - I need to remove the sometimes and replace it with an always.
Oil pressure is ok - but not great - this is potentially a big concern.
Battery tray rusted out - acid damage from a bad battery
Distributor - shitty and worn I suspect stops her from running perfectly. Will need to replace.
Starter - very, very tired - protests loudly when started.
Interior - "minger" says it all, wet and smelly.
Its also loud at speed - I think the exhaust is , well.......exhausted!
Camber, and castor - need correcting as well as tracking.
Carburettors - still not good in fact a long way from good! Do I want to drop money into something I dont like anyway, or replace with tripple 40 Webers or should I fabricate a fuel injection system using 3 twin throttle bodies..... food for thought.
front and rear suspension - some high speed driving has revealed a lot of slop in the bushings and a need for new shocks - both front and rear.
Brakes are ok but very Jaguar - they could certainly use an upgrade.
Transmission - high RPM's at high speed = high fuel consumption - a five speed may be in the works.
This car is going to need a lot of TLC and EVERY rubber seal replaced - come to think of it, some of them are not even there!! But it is an E type, it is a convertible, and it is mine - 3 perfectly good reasons to go on.