[Jeroen]

Ordered Sunday afternoon on the Internet. Delivered Monday morning before noon! Pretty efficient!



I will probably try out the tester this coming Saturday. I know Toon is interested as well, so it will be an interesting job before we start on his W123C.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

This Saturday Toon came around with his Mercedes W123 Coupe. As you will recall we had a go at one of the rear windows a few weeks ago. We managed to take quite a few bits apart, but not all. Just greasing everything did not solve the problem. Some further research on the internet gave us a better idea on what the possible causes could be for the rear window not winding down properly. It did mean, this time we would have to take the whole window and mechanism apart.

Last time it took us quite a bit of time to figure out how to take everything apart. We did not have enough time to take the window and the winding mechanism out.

This time Toon arrived early and had already removed the rear seat. And we had the whole day to fix this once and for all!





We quickly removed the various bits of trim and then got going on removing the window itself. As always, my various Mercedes workshop manuals proved their worth. We had everything apart within 90 minutes of Toon arriving. And that included 20 minutes coffee and chatting to catch up!



There were two potential problem areas we identified earlier through our research. It could be this slider that could have been worn too much. But actually once we had it removed, it looked fine. Not new, but good enough



Next suspect was the pivot on the guide plate. It turns out it was bend and quite out of shape!







So we had to get it back into shape, carefully. Toon exerting some careful pressure on it through the vice!



We had to make a little tool, to get the last bit of it in place. This would fit over the little pivot and allow us to bend the cover plate.

Lathe to the rescue







Some fancy clamping, to get everything in the position



A very happy Toon:



Compare to the earlier images:





Lots of cleaning and greasing of various parts before putting it back together again



We re-installed all the various bits and pieces again



Everything went back together pretty smoothly. More importantly, the window winding mechanism worked perfectly!! Toon and I were very happy and pleased with this outcome!!

Toon had another problem with his car; the carpets on the right hand side were absolutely soaked! So we checked the sills, various other knows problem areas. But no obvious culprits identified. We decided to at least remove all the carpets to drie them out and also dry out the metal bottom of the car.





Finding the ingress point of water on these car is a bit of a black art. You really need to talk to someone who has been working on these cars a lot. In particular welding these cars, so someone who really knows, where the potential water traps are. I advise Toon to put dry toilet paper and talk powder on the bottom. That might give an indication as to where the water is coming from..


finally we had a go a checking the steering knuckle on my W123. No matter how we wiggled the wheel, try to move it with a crowbar, we did not see any play on the steering knuckle. Wednesday it goes for its MOT, so we will wait and see what they say!



So all in all, a very productive and constructive day. Very satisfying we managed to fix the rear window winding mechanism on Toon’s car. It is always so nice to have a mate help out with these kind of fiddling jobs.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Just received a Whatsup message from spanner mate Peter.



His Jaguar XJR micrometer just went across 400.000km! His aim is to hit 500.000!

Peter has a X350, so the model that came after my X308. And of course, his is a diesel too. He does an awful lot of mileage, being on the road usually four days a week. Even during Corona classic car valuations continue!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Car event wise, 2020 has not been a good year. For all the obvious reasons. And of course, there are far more important things than visiting car shows and events. But I still miss it.

Just received the quarterly mail from the JDCH (Jaguar Daimler Club Holland). They announced a five day trip to the Champagne Area in France in April 2021. My wife and I enrolled straight away. I have not been on any of their events other then a few technical events. But I know quite a few of their members who have.

Apparently these trips are extremely well organised. And also quite luxurious in terms of hotels and food arrangement. Which does show in the price, but that is ok. You get what you pay for.

I have only joined the JDCH recently. For two reasons really. I know a guy in the next village from us and he is the local JDCH event coordinator. He kept pestering me to join, . But more importantly; I found out I will receive a whopping 50% discount on my Jaguar insurance through the JDCH membership. The math is easy. Membership is Euro 60 per year. My Jaguar Classic Car insurance is about Euro 1000,-- per year. So by spending Euro 60 I am saving myself Euro 500, or Euro 440 a year. That is a lot of money!!

Looking forward to it. You might recall we were supposed to explore the Champagne in our Spider this year. But that fell through due to Corona. Almost 6 months to go till April, hope things have quietened down a bit, Corona wise that is.

The other car event in my calendar is the big car show in the NEC in Birmingham. Got cancelled, already have our flight rescheduled. It is scheduled for February 2021. Somehow I don’t see that happen yet. Fingers crossed though.

Tomorrow the W123 will go for its MOT. Then I have a few more weeks to drive the W123 and the Spider. Fill up their tanks, wash, polish and wax them as they need to be off the public road from 1st of December till 1st of March.

I am building a list of things to do this winter on all three cars.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks for the news. That is some great maths with the Jaguar insurance!

Is the requirement to keep you classic cars off the winter roads imposed by law, or by the insurers?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Is the requirement to keep you classic cars off the winter roads imposed by law, or by the insurers?

Technically, it is my choice, because I am cheap!. Here is the thing: Until some years ago here in the Netherlands any vehicle over 25 years old was automatically exempt from road tax. Both the Spider and W123 were exempt.

That is until they changed the rules. Mainly environmental concerns that pushed a silly agenda on classic cars. They upped the 25 years to 40 years. For petrol cars that had been exempt they introduced a transition arrangement. Both the Spider and the W123 are now under this transition arrangement. Which means I need to pay one quarter of road tax, maximum Euro 110, per year. But the cars need to be off the public road from 1st of December till the next 1st of March.

If I keep them on the public road, or even take one little drive I will have to pay a full year of road tax. (Which would around Euro 6-700 for the W123)

So I would cost me around Euro 600 each to be able to drive December through March. As it is winter I tend not to drive them too often, but it is still a shame. But the W123 will be 40 in just under two years. So then I can drive it the whole year without road tax. That is unless they change the rules again! Spider is going take another four years.

This legislation came about as many old diesel cars were used as daily runners. Whereas the road tax exemption was envisaged for hobby classic cars only. When they wrote the original road tax exemption nobody envisaged cars would be good enough to last more than 25 years and could still be used a daily drive. Especially the W123 diesel are completely indestructible. You could pick one up for less than Euro 1000, pay no road tax, insure it dead cheap as a classic car. The only running cost would be the diesel! Something had to give, so they made some changes to the road tax rules. In essence they are trying to persuade people from using old/classic cars for regular use. Which I am fine with.

No exceptions or transition arrangements for the diesels though. Which actually led to an export of some 25-30.000 classic diesel cars in the first years after they introduced this rule. (Mostly W123 and some early W124 too). Road tax on a diesel is about twice as expensive as for a petrol car too.

Jeroen

[AMG Power]

How are they able to reduce insurance costs for classic cars? Wouldn't they be expensive to repair in the event of an accident and aren't insurance charges connected to that cost? Or do they assume that classic car collectors are better drivers - am assuming that is the reason they gave 50% off when a membership was taken in the Jaguar club?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

How are they able to reduce insurance costs for classic cars? Wouldn't they be expensive to repair in the event of an accident and aren't insurance charges connected to that cost? Or do they assume that classic car collectors are better drivers - am assuming that is the reason they gave 50% off when a membership was taken in the Jaguar club?

In general classic car insurances are way more cheaper than regular car insurances. I am talking about fully comprehensive insurances, less so on third party only.

Regular fully comprehensive insurances do not work for classic cars. Because of depreciation. So on any fully comprehensive insurance what you get back for a say 20-30 year old car is basically scrap value in case of a total loss.

However, fully comprehensive classic car insurance work on valuation of your car. So that it what my spanner mate Peter does. He values classic cars, mainly for insurance purpose. Most insurance company require a new valuation every three years. The premium tends to be a percentage of the value. Varies a bit, but anywhere between 1.2 - 2.5% or thereabout. In the case of a total loss, or theft, you will get the full value from the insurance company.

These premium work out much, much cheaper than regular insurance. Most classic car insurances do not have no-claim bonus structure. But it is still a lot cheaper.

Classic car insurance do come with restrictions. Usually on mileage per year (typical 5000km/a), often they require you to have a second vehicle for daily use. There might also be requirements on having a safe place to keep it (i.e. garage). Real expensive cars might require alarms etc.

Here in Europe the average classic car does less than about 2000 km a year. They are rarely driven during weekly commute hours, they tend not to be used for doing the weekly shopping. And they are driven, by and large, very carefully.

So their use is materially different than a regular car and thus also the sort of damage and the amount of damage. The better classic car insurances allow you to choose the workshop of your own liking as to where the damage can be fixed. Parts can be expensive, but that is all worked into the premiums and it still works out really cheap!

On some classic insurance you can also choose to get paid the damage in cash. So you can decided what and how to repair yourself. I have done that twice. Both cases some damage to the Mercedes by a third party. The car was towed to a specialist classic Mercedes workshop, the insurance expert visited them, had a look at the damaged and together they agreed an amount. I actually asked to be paid the amount in full, did some of the work myself and had the workshop do some other jobs. Very convenient.

There are several reasons why I get such a huge discount through the JDCH. I was already insured through a company called Kuipers. It is the largest specialised insurance company in the Netherlands. They specialise in classic cars and yacht insurance. It is still a family business and the whole familiy themselves are big classic car fanatics.

They are more than just your typical insurance agent. They actually underwrite some of these insurances themselves. So they have a big cost advantage over other parties.

On my Jaguar I have a so called young-timer insurance, because it is not yet 25 years. Essentially it means I get the same advantages as if it is a classic car insurance. The annual limit on their policy is 7500km, whereas most other insurance offer 12500km per year for young timer. So their policy reduces mileage and thus risk and potential damages.

Roughly speaking young timer insurance work out as double the premium as classic car insurance. But still cheap compared to regular insurances.

Also, since they are so big, they have a massive data base and know exactly which classic / young timers carry more or less risk than others. So their data must show Jaguar owners to be a very low risk bunch!

So the premiums on classic (and young timer) cars are always a lot lower than on regular cars. In essence it is down to usage. When people start using their classic cars as there normal daily drive, the number of accidents and damages will follow the pattern as with normal cars.

Kuipers are a very pleasant and professional company to deal with. They have helped me out numerous time, but they are no charity of course.

Spanner Mater Peter knows them really well, a lot of his work is done for their policy holders. Kuipers attends just about every classic car event in Western Europe for promotion. Peter and I always look them up, visit their booth, drink their complimentary coffee etc.

Most of the time we have complimentary classic car show entry tickets from them as well. Very accommodating people!

Jeroen

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

However, fully comprehensive classic car insurance work on valuation of your car. So that it what my spanner mate Peter does.

Would you be able to expand on this - how does he arrive at valuations ? What data does he use to arrive at values? Are there benchmarks that he uses to base his calculations? Or are there general guidelines available to base one's calculations?

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Also, since they are so big, they have a massive data base and know exactly which classic / young timers carry more or less risk than others. So their data must show Jaguar owners to be a very low risk bunch!

But you already were a Jaguar owner before you joined JDCH and hence eligible for the young timer / classic / fixed mileage discounts. What additional factor prompts a 50% discount on joining the club?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

Would you be able to expand on this - how does he arrive at valuations ? What data does he use to arrive at values? Are there benchmarks that he uses to base his calculations? Or are there general guidelines available to base one's calculations?

First of all anybody can him/herself an appraiser. It is not a protected title. (e.g. such as lawyer or doctor)

However, insurance companies will only accept appraisal from certain folks. They need to be certified. In the Netherlands we have four independent professional bodies, that ensure appraisers have the necessary competence, skill set and integrity to conduct these appraisal on cars. They have very strict requirements on experience and expertise and you need to pass a formal examination and in order to stay “current” you have to show evidence of self study, personal development etc.

Peter is a recognised member of all these four different independent professional bodies. Most classic appraisers are members of all four.

Next, there is a fifth institute that has set the defacto standard for what an appraisal report needs to contain, what it needs to look like. So you will need an approved/recognised appraiser whom also uses the appropriate and approved format of reporting. All very well organised, checked, audited every year etc.

Car are appraised on the basis of four main criteria:

1 Formal documentation
Which means in the Netherlands formal registration papers and MOT papers.

2 History
Anything that can shed light on the history, provenance of the car. E.g. if your car was owned by say a celebrity or Royalty, what papers/documentation is there to show for.

My Alfa Spider has been in numerous Concours d’elegance and I have all the certificates and prices to show for. I researched the history, contacted the American Alfa Romeo Club, contacted Alfa Romeo Factory etc. so I have a whole file of various email, letters, certificates that prove the heritage / provenance of my Spider

3 Maintenance history
Again, anything that shows evidence of whatever maintenance was done to the car, including restoration. So bills, invoices, photographs, articles in magazines anything goes, it all adds up

4 Lastly the (visual) state of the car
The appraiser will only visually inspect the car. He/she will look for signs of originality, or lack thereof, the state of the paint, the chrome, the interior, tyres, how the engine bay looks, the seats etc.

Everything gets documented, photographed etc.

The final price that goes into the appraisal report is based on all the above plus the insight into current market value. So appraiser follow the classic car market very closely, through adds, sales, auctions. There are annual guide books on prices and many classic car magazine publish their own price list.

There is always some bandwidth, Most appraiser will ask the owner what they think it is worth too, and how much they want it insured for. Less is never a problem, more is. On very rare cars, it might be difficult to find some recent references. In some cases, the owner might have to discuss the insured value with the insurance company as well. This is very rare.

From what I know, very few people, if any, argue with Peter on the value he proposes to put into the valuation report.

Classic car owners tend to have a pretty good idea of the value of their car. I think it was the famous Quentin Willson who recently wrote an article about this. Every classic car owners likes to see the value of their car go up. Not quite sure to what purpose, because few of us sell their classics. All it does is, make us pay more insurance premium. Still, we are very proud if the appraiser comes round again after three years and adds a few hundred Euro’s / Pounds.

I remember some years ago, Peter took off about Euro 500 from the value of my W123. The market was low, but I was not happy at all, even though it meant I was going to pay less insurance! Go figure! As I have said before, car ownership is purely emotional, nothing rational about it. We like to think so, but it is not.

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of classic cars are relative simple and cheap cars, owned by very regular folks, holding very regular jobs. So don’t think Ferrari’s, think W123, think Opel kadet think MGB, think Fiat 500, think 2CV, think Coralla etc. Most people do not have their own garage, but need to rent a place, or leave it outside on the curb in front of their house.

I am very fortunate with my three, pretty regular, cars and my garage. But in all honesty I am hugely privileged. Most Classic car owners own one car, do not own a garage and need to be balance their annual maintenance budget very carefully.

Originally Posted by AMG Power

But you already were a Jaguar owner before you joined JDCH and hence eligible for the young timer / classic / fixed mileage discounts. What additional factor prompts a 50% discount on joining the club?

It is just an arrangement that works for both the JDCH and Kuipers I guess. Car clubs want to attract members, which means they try to create attractive tours, attractive meeting and attractive sponsors and deals. Companies such as Kuipers are interested to participate because it is likely to get them more business.

Classic car owners ship and everything that it entails is still mostly about hearing from mouth to mouth so to speak. You do your research by talking to others. Classic car insurance is easily one of the most frequented topics on any classic car forum. Having your company name come up, with good positive stories about premiums and dealing with damages is very important.

It is a relatively small world. So in fact me joining the JDHC meant Kuipers was going to earn less from me. But then, I know for a fact, three guys (5 cars in all) have changed to Kuipers based on my recommendations! So I guess it works out for them.

I must admit I was surprised at the 50% discount. I have negotiated these sort of deals for the Alfa Romeo Spider Register and for the W123 forum club in the distant past. The going club discount was around 15% then.

JDCH is one of the largest classic/young timer clubs in the Netherlands. Kuipers must have good insights into their members damage profile. As I mentioned, they are a very professional outfit, not a charity. Having a solid reputation with thousand of Jaguar owners, is a precious asset they can capitalise on.

So the JDCH offering big discounts on their insurance is still advantageous to them as it brings in a lot of new customers. And probably, Jaguar owners are an even less risky proposition then other classic car owners.

I know from previous experience, people do join car clubs because of these discounts. So effectively the car clubs do some of the PR for the insurance companies and are likely to bring them new customers.

Kuipers (and others) are also long term sponsors/advertisers for quite a few clubs as well.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

As I had spend a lot of time on my recently acquired engine tester, and fixed quite a few problems, I decided it was time to put it to the test:

Hooked it up to my W123.



But other than the dials lightening up, nothing, I repeat nothing, else worked! Which was a bit of a disappointment. But on the upside, with nothing working it usually means there is a common cause that affect all functions.

First thing I did was check a few connections. All was good



So decided to open it up. Again. And look what I found! This flat cable had come completely undone.



Easy fix, just push it, ever so gently, back into the connector. This particular flat wire connects all the wires from the various probes and pick up elements from the back end connector to the main PCB. So common to all signals.



So I was expecting something to work after this little fix. But no, still nothing, zippo!

So back to basics. I decided to start by checking continuity in all the wires. From the probes/connectors right to the first PCB.

I ran into a problem with the Hight Voltage probe. It has infinite resistance. I have two of these probes, and I know they were working before:





I am quite unsure what is inside this thick reddish probe? I thought it was all just simple passive. So I thought I should be able to measure the continuity with a simple ohm meter? But I could not. I am not convinced it is broken though. Tried a different way by simply putting 12V over it, see if I can see any voltage drop, but I get a read out of oV too.



So I am not quite sure how this thing works, or how to test it. I have two, so I can cut one open if I have too. I have a megger I might give a try, or use some AC source to check. Not sure yet.

More to come.

I took the W123 to its MOT. Very early this morning. In true Dutch fashion the MOT station lend me a bicycle to cycle home. Due to Corona, I am not allowed to watch as I did in the past. An electrical bicycle I might add. First time ever I have ridden an electric bicycle!



Now I am just waiting for them to call and tell me its done and it is a pass. If the worse comes to the worse it might be a fail because of the play on the steering knuckle.

Fingers crossed!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Just received a call from the MOT shop. The W123 passed its bi-annual MOT again.

Just some details to provide some insights as to how this is done in the Netherlands.

The technician checks the car against a number of pre-defined criteria (by law).

If it all checks out it is a pass. If not, a fail and they need to stipulate what the points of failure were. A car with a failed MOT is not allowed on the public road, and most likely you are also not insured.

This is what a MOT report looks like: all in Dutch I’m afraid
At the red 1 it states: Result keuring which means the result of the test; you can see it is “goedgekeurd” which means approved, e.g. pass

At the end of the test, the technician enters all relevant data into an online system. He/She will get an immediate response. It could be approved or it could be the car is targeted for a check.

The MOT stations are closely monitored by the respective authorities. Each MOT stations will be visited multiple times per year by someone who will check the car that they. So someone will come and re-checked the car, making sure the MOT was done correctly. If they find the MOT station wanted to pass a car, that had defects they are in trouble. It means they will be inspected more frequently.

All MOT stations are closely monitored by the respective authorities. Each MOT stations will be visited multiple times per year by someone who will check the approved cars. But they will also check the ways or working, the calibration of for instance the manometer for tyre pressure, the emission tester etc.




At the red 2 you see the validity date of this MOT. You will notice that it is till 24th December 2022 so a little over two years from now. You are allowed to present your car for an MOT two months ahead of the expiration date. The new expiration date will always be calculated from the original expiration date.

Below you also see a heading “Reparatieadvies”. Which means advise on repair. Anything that they noticed which might require attention but did not cause a fail is noted here. In my case the known “fuseekogel” or steering knuckle. Play is less than 1mm. Actually, I checked in the Mercedes documentations and the Mercedes specification on the play of the steering knuckle is actually much more. Vertically up to 2mm, horizontally 1,5mm. Not sure what would take precedent.

Doesn’t matter as I am going to replace it anyway. I could have sworn last time, two years ago, it was the right knuckle. But it is actually the left one that has the play. So no wonder I could not detect any play earlier when checking this with the help of Toon. Duh!!

Finally, the cost:



A total of almost Euro 35,--. Which is about half a tank full of fuel at the moment.
Most dealers and workshop would do the MOT free of charge if you combine it with a regular service. As I always do my own service/maintenance I end up paying this amount myself every time on all our cars.

No charge for lending me the (electrical) bicycle!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

When I enrolled us for next year Champagne Tour of the Jaguar Daimler Club Holland, I also browsed their webshop.

I bought our five month old (first) granddaughter a Jaguar Bib!

Very appropriate as she has started on solid foods!

So here we are Opa’s kleine Jaguar. (Granddad’s little Jaguar).



Can’t start them too young on fuelling their interests in everything related to cars!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Last night I had another go at my engine tester. Still confused about these high Voltage cable/probe and why both of them won’t test properly. Tried my Megger on both with no result. Tried putting a high resistance in parallel with my multimeter and the power supply, to try and create a voltage loss, nothing.

For now I have put everything together as I need access to my workbench. I am going to test both these cables on the other engine tester at some point in time.

I also jacked up the W123, this time on the driver side, and sure enough I observed the tiniest of play on the steering knuckle. Ordered a new one, and also a proper spring tensioner. When working on or near, suspension spring, my motto is better safe than sorry. I don’t skimp on tools as a rule, but when it comes to spring tensioner always get the best, most robust money can buy. It’s all about safety!

I also need a C-clamp to get the knuckle out of the assembly and back in. If all goes well, tomorrow, Saturday, a quick trip to HBM. I also need an odd size drill and reamer for my model engine project.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Gorgeous weekend. Saturday I spend cycling and going to HBM to get some stuff for my model engine Debbie. Got some car stuff too, obviously!


Today, Sunday, I took the Spider for a blast. It might well be the last nice day, before end of November and the Spider will be off the road for 3 month.

So a 2,5 hour drive, back home I decided to clean her out and get her ready for the winter.

Before I can start cleaning my cars outside my garage, in the autumn, I need to clean the yard first!



We have a lot of trees. So I need to rake up the leaves first.





Also, any ripe pears need picking:



And then there are the walnuts! My wife has made this into her annual autumn projects. All walnuts get collected and cleaned:



Next they go in baskets to dry properly



Sometime early next year we will take them to be pressed into walnutjuice.

But as long as there are leaves, pears, walnuts on the drive, I end up doing a daily sweep.

With the Spider and the Jaguar out of the garage, I also decided to give the garage floor a quick mop.



When using the pressure washer on my cars, I had to undo this 30m garden hose.



The other days I bought a 6m hose and two connectors, much more convenient



Spider got a good hose down with the pressure washer and a proper shampoo job too!



Not sure if I ever showed this before:



When you drive a rag top sport car, you need a cap. With the sun beating down on your head you simply can not be behind the wheel for hours without a cap. This cap is as old as the Spider. It is tethered to the chair. Whatever happens, but I am not loosing this cap, ever!



When I closed the driver window, the brand new scraper seal came out! I had a good look and I don’t think I put it in correctly, so attempt two!



When you clean your cars yourself, you will also spot any imperfection. This is actually a bit more than an imperfection. Looks like I have some rust here on both sides of this panel.





The other days I spoke to Johan. In a few weeks he will pick up the Jaguar to fix a few rust spots on the rear window. I will take this panel off the Spider and he can fix this one too.

All clean and waxed: Looking great again!



With the Spider parked inside the garage I also treated the leather chairs with this special stuff.



You need to leave it overnight and then polish it out. So that is for tomorrow evening.

All jobs done for today:





Earlier this week I ordered the steering knuckle and the spring tensioner for the W123. They arrived Friday:





As I visited HBM on Saturday for some things for Model Engine Debbie I also picked up one of these:



Will come in handy when working on the steering knuckle!

Jeroen