TALE NUMBER ONE - Janey Does "The Italian Job"-

Lady Jane had the honor of being invited to the 2003 Winter Park Concours D'Elegance held over the weekend of October 18, 2003. She had received an invitation last year and placed First in the Vintage Jaguar Class 2002. This is quite a show to see. Very international, the Marque last year was Ferrari and we thought Janey looked the best she had ever looked for those sleek Italian's. This year the Marque was the Lamborghini, as they were celebrating the 40th anniversary of Automobili Lamborghini, and Janey has always had a soft spot for "Lambo's", so with her four new highly polished rimbellishers on her wheels we took off on Saturday morning, October 18th, for a leisurely drive up to Winter Park.

Along the way we thought we would stop at a little lunch stop we had stopped at once before - the Desert Inn at Yeehaw Junction - now for those of you folks that have never had the pleasure of driving through Yeehaw Junction, well you just don't know what you've been missing. The Desert Inn is on the National Registry of Historical Places and dates back to the 1800's. It's pretty much the land that time forgot. You can even put a quarter in a gum-ball type machine and get a palm full of food to feed the chickens that live outside! Very cultural experience. We pull up with Jane and go inside where the juke box is playing honky tonk, bluegrass and country, with the bartendress/waitress singing every single lyric with true heart felt emotions. She told us she'd worked until 1:00 AM and now was pulling a double that day. The two cowboys (complete with boots, cowboy hats and chewing tobacco) sitting next to us asked if there had been any excitement last night and she said a few got out of hand, one of them promised to come back that night. We placed our order for two burgers and fries and before I could even get the plastic utensils and paper napkins set up, there was the food. Now the reason we stopped there was that we had eaten there once before and the burgers were wonderful, but what we didn’t remember was that we had previously ordered the "Road Kill" burger (translation 1/2 pounder with cheese), this time we only ordered the smaller ones but they were good as well. Now you can also get gator burgers, turkey burgers and their special "Desert Inn" burger, but we don't quite know what that is, so order at your own risk.

We were having a slight problem with the third carburetor loading up and asked our honky tonk gal if she had any twisty-ties, she did, but I think they were from when the Desert Inn first opened as there was no twist in the tie. This was to tie off the thermal switch wire so it would not ground and start working again, as is was doing so and was disconnected. We finished our meal and paid the $8.72 for our two burgers, fries and two beers (plus twisty tie), tipped our imaginary hats, bid a fond fare thee well to our cowboy friends and rode off into the sunset - to Stuckey's - to get gas, a pecan roll and Pepto Bismal.

The rest of the trip up was rather uneventful and we arrived at the Mt. Vernon Best Western, which was one of the host hotels, in the late afternoon. Rick and Samantha Frazee are the owners of the Mt. Vernon Inn, as well as many wonderful examples of British Steel, and we have been staying with them for years whenever we go up to shows in Winter Park. We are even on a first name basis with the bartendress, Sandy, at the hotel's Red Fox Lounge - now imagine that, the Voller's knowing the bartenders by name and vice versa! We unloaded Janey, got cleaned up and met some longtime friends that moved up to that area a few years ago for dinner. We had an absolutely divine meal at the Park Avenue Central Restaurant on Park Avenue. For those of you that haven't been to Winter Park, it is an extremely quaint and beautiful little town with cobblestone streets, little bistros, excellent 4 star restaurants and really neat specialty shops, the park is on one side of the street and lined with beautiful moss draped oaks that have been there for years. It doesn't look anything like Florida. Park Avenue was the venue of the Show. After dinner, the four of us strolled the streets for a bit and then went back to the hotel to have a night cap at The Red Fox Lounge. I won't go into details but if you are ever in that area, go on a Friday or Saturday night and sit a spell in the Red Fox - you won't believe it and I can't begin to describe it. Those of you that have been there will know what I’m talking about!

Sunday morning comes early and we go out to clean up Lady Jane. While we are cleaning, you can hear those distinct sounds all around us of those Italian Jobs starting up. We Brits have a distinctive, distinguished sound but those Italians have that bone chilling exotic racing sound. Janey is getting very restless and wants us to hurry up and finish the bath portion so she can get in place, fluff up her rimbellishers and wink when those Italians pass by. What a Show - there were Ferrari's, Maserrati's, Lamborghini's, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Austin Healeys, Jaguars, Porsches, Alfa Romeo's, Lotus's, Aston-Martins, Mercedes-Benz, there was even a Lamborghini SUV, the ultimate for the person who has everything!

There were over 140 exotic cars being shown, it was such a spectacular sight to see. Ginger Corda and Mike Baker (Jaguar Club of Florida) were there WITHOUT Ginger’s spectacular XKE much to everyone’s disappointment. But somehow Ginger did manage to get a ride in an XKR while Mike arrived with Ian in the 220! That girl just has a way of charming everybody into a ride!! A number of JCOF members were in attendance as welll including Jim Kuhlman was there with his XKE as well as Dan, Marilyn and Bill Middleton with one of their XKE’s. Mike and Linda Kreul were there with their growling 1999 XK8 and Cynthia and Shelby Simmons were there with their beautiful 2000 XKR "Sekrets". The only problem that I could see (and what a problem to have!) was that there were so many spectators that you couldn’t get good shots of the cars, all you could see were massive swarms of people. I can’t even begin to count how many people came up to us to ask about the car. There were 9 vintage and 8 contemporary Jags being judged. The entire show process is very formal and quite fun to watch. You have the Winter Park police blocking off the streets and moving the barricades for you as you approach, then you have your parking stewards in yellow and black polo shirts and khaki pants directing you to your spot, then you have the panel of judges smartly attired with attractive automobile ties, white shirts, blue pants and blazers and identification name tags. I can’t begin to give all of the committees enough praise and commendations for the wonderful job they did, the show appeared to flow without one flaw.

Before you know it, it is time for the awards. The judges come around and place a sticker on the first and second place cars so that you know to be waiting at your car at 3:30. The Winter Park Police and stewards then move all spectators off the street, line the winners up in a row so that you can drive by the crowds up to the awards location in the middle of the Park at the Bandstand. They then line you up two by two, and the Emcee calls out your car and name and you drive up onto the raised platform as he is giving a little history about the car. He then shakes your hand and you get to tell a quick story, I told the story about how I remember eating McDonald’s in the back seat on the mahogany tray tables. I am very proud to say that Lady Jane won First Place in Vintage Jaguar for the second year in a row and it is quite an honor as the competitors were absolutely incredible and awesome Jaguars. After you receive your award, you drive off of the field and back to your spot on Park Avenue. The entire Show ends at 5:30 and the barricades come down and everyone leaves. We go back to the Mt. Vernon, get Janey settled in and run across the street to Houston’s to sit outside and watch the sunset over the lake with a few cocktails!

We awaken early Monday morning to begin the drive back home before I-4 gets too congested, we get through Orlando, onto the Turnpike, and have passed through the St. Cloud toll booth – and at this point I will say …

Arrivederci Mia Amicos until Tale Number Two

TALE NUMBER TWO- I'm Being Towed Again - to the tune of Willy Nelson's "On the Road Again" - (I think Janey spent too much time at the Desert Inn.)

I'm being towed again . . . Oh, I can't wait for a show to be towed again . . . I can’t remember when I felt so tall and free …. So hurry up next show to be towed again

… passed through the St. Cloud toll booth plaza and all is going well. Suddenly we hear that noise – you know- "the noise" that means something has gone terribly wrong – and smoke begins to seep into the cabin. We quickly pull over, open the bonnet, and smoke billows out. I looked at Jack with a rather panicked look and he says not to worry and whips out some tools. After some studying, he gets on the cell phone with Larry Miceli and then with Larry Ligus of Predator Performance. Conference back and forth and it is determined that we have some type of alternator problem. Luckily the Canoe Creek Service Plaza is only 1 mile away. We creep into the Citgo Station at the Plaza and are quickly met by Rich, John and Brian who helped Jack perform triage. These three guys were wonderful; they wanted to do anything possible to help us and were actually crawling under the car to see what broke. After a few more phone calls it was decided the best thing to do is find someone back in Orlando to help us. The guys reassure us that they are the best tow truck team in Florida and that they don’t use chains anymore, only straps, and they are one of the few teams trained to do this. Janey is loaded onto the flatbed again and off we go. Strangely enough, she seemed to have no resistance this time when being hauled aboard and, if anything, I thought I saw her actually smiling! I’m beginning to wonder if she is developing a "thing" for tow truck drivers or if she just didn’t want to leave Orlando after such a wonderful weekend with that exotic International flair since "International" was the Marque of the Tow Truck! I want to give a heart felt thank you to Rich, John and Brian for taking such good care of Lady Jane, they treated her like a real Lady!

Rich is our terrific "ambulance driver" and he took great care in getting us back to Orlando. But the true White Knight of the day was Tom Curran, of Coventry Classics in Orlando, who came to our rescue and quickly examined her and concluded that the power steering unit had frozen, thus snapping the belt and rendering the alternator useless. With one quick call, another new belt was on the way to Jane. It was fun to finally see Tom’s shop since we had heard so much about it. Tom does spectacular work on not only Jaguars but creates incredible masterpieces of motorcycles. His current challenge is to completely restore an XKE by January 2004 to deliver to Phoenix, AZ and after seeing his operation, I have no doubt that this feat will be accomplished! With the new belt installed and the power steering unit disconnected, Tom gave us a clean bill of health, we gave him a hug and we were "On the Road Again".
Thankfully the rest of the trip home was uneventful and we were back home with Janey all cleaned up and bedded down in her garage by 4:30 in the afternoon.

So ends yet another one of a kind, magnificent weekend with the Voller’s and Lady Jane.
Fino Ancora Caro e Cara Amicos – Cyndi V.