Living in California’s Great Central Valley (so hot and dry the jack rabbits carry imported bottled water); air conditioning the old E-Type has been on my mind for some time. Jaguar started offering a dealer installed a/c on Series II E-Types. Those of us with Series I cars have been left to our own devices.

For the past fifteen years I have, off and on, gotten excited by the prospect of cool air in the E-Type cabin. Along with the excitement usually came intimidation and the usual questions: 1. Modifications must be made to get all of the bits and pieces under the bonnet. The car is a driver but how much do you want to modify it? 2. What kind of evaporator is available for the cabin? 3. Do I use R-12 or R-134? 4. Can a semi-skilled mechanic with the basic tools do this job? There were a hundred other considerations but the sixty four dollar question was: What if I do all this work and it doesn’t function properly?

Dan Dunham's Jaguar

It finally came down to: OK,  either do it or don’t. I flipped a mental coin and it came up “do”. Over the next couple of years, various parts were purchased; a compressor here, a dryer there, I finally found an evaporator, etc, etc. (This is a great way to keep the missus in the dark as to the total cost of the project.) Finally, in November, the bonnet came off and work started in earnest. This is a brief dissertation on the steps required to get the job done. Would I do it again? Probably; but I’m a slow learner. One goal was to make the installation as close to that of a Series II E-Type as possible.

The first consideration comes with the placement of the a/c compressor and the alternator. The header tank on a Series I occupies the central area behind the radiator. This is where the alternator goes on a Series II car. The only alternative is to move the header tank. I fabricated a new tank and mounted it offset to the right of where the original resides. This makes room for the alternator. Read the rest of this entry

Tour Date; February 19th, 2011

Did you know that as of 2010, Fresno, California had over 505,000 people in the City of Fresno proper (not counting neighboring counties) and is the fifth largest city in California? Not bad for a town that was incorporated in 1885.  (LINK TO TOUR PHOTOS)

Lunch at El Torito

Well, with this limited information about Fresno, the Valley British Auto Club thought that they should know more about our town. But before that, can you say car run? So this car tour started at Simonian’s Farm, located southeast of Fresno at 9:30am, Saturday, February 19th. Now learning history of Fresno is all well and good; however, we have to drive the cars first. So off we went for a 45 minute drive, do east toward Sanger swinging around and back to downtown Fresno. Once back in Fresno, we were given literature and maps of fourteen historical homes and buildings in our town. Now, fourteen historical homes and building is just a drop in the bucket from the total amount of historical things to see in Fresno; however, you have to start some place. We saw: 1) the Meux home, built in 1889 and is open for tours, 2) The Fresno water tower, built in 1894 and was used until 1963, 3) The Y.W.C. A. Residence Hall, built in 1922 by Julia Morgan. Yes, the same Julia Morgan that rebuilt San Francisco famous Fairmont Hotel, after the S.F.’s 1906 earthquake, and the architect for the world famous Hearst Castle owned by Mr. William Randolph Hearst, and 4) many other buildings with historical, industrial, agricultural and real estate connections that was so involved with the growth of Fresno. After this one hour tour of Fresno, we were getting pretty hungry, so off to El Torito’s Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We had flaming food, spicy salsa, and plenty of month watering tacos. Well, all this great food needed to be washed down with something, so off to Sequoia brewery for a pint.

What a day!! We learned something about our town, had great food, a nice cold pint to drink and good friends to share it with. Can’t wait for the next tour. See ya down the road.  And by the way, don’t forget the Clovis British Car Show Roundup!

Written by: Russ Weber