Today thanks to a friend I had the opportunity and honour to have a shot of something really rather special.
Not often you come across things which make the interior of the XJ-S seem Spartan and the seats seem conservatively padded!
Those seats are actually even more comfortable than they look.
I love the contrast with the Biturbo between the interior which is absolutely thoroughbred Italian luxury supercar, the soundtrack which matches...and the utterly understated exterior.
Excuse the crudely blanked out registration plates, it's a friend's car so I'd rather keep them covered - and I don't have a decent photo editor on my phone.
The rear in particular is very anonymous, and leaves people looking around trying to figure out where the howling V8 is hiding!
There are a lot of little details though which bely how special a car she is. The door handles to name one.
She is a very Italian car. Only they can make a car feel like such a real living, breathing creature rather than just a machine. Plus they tend to produce cars where there is a hilarious blend of luxury and downright shonky. Such as the wing mirrors which are utterly incapable of staying where you point them behind the first bump. Oh, or the warning lights on the dash...which are comprehensive to say the least.
...However they may as well not be there as they are all entirely hidden behind the top of the steering wheel when driving. Oh, and that Italian thing where half the gauges don't sit at zero. The Lada carried that over from its Fiat routes too.
It's probably nearly 20 years since I wqs last in a Biturbo and I had honestly forgotten what gorgeous cars they are. This sort of uber-luxureous performance car has started to appeal to me more as I've got older...I used to gloss over cars like these as unnecessary and pointless...however the high velocity squidgy leather sofa category is really growing on me.
When (if) I decide it's time to move on from the Jag I think one of these will definitely be high on the list to take that position in the fleet. Especially as it comfortably seats four and doesn't require you to descend to several inches below bedrock to climb onboard...which are two areas where the Jag does lose points. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not in any way shape or form thinking of moving her on any time soon given how I've meshed so well with the car...this is purely a thought experiment for the hypothetical fleet.
Here's why I love this guy's garage so much though...having dropped that off, I was then able to jump into this.
Which is in my view every bit as interesting a car in its own way and as much fun to drive. Especially being a first generation AX she has the interior with the comedy ergonomics.
I can't think of any other car where I have to reach *around* part of the dash itself to get to the power window switches...
The AX/late Visa/C15 dash however is almost timeless though isn't it?
I thought it was a messy design when I first came across it but it's really grown on me and it seems quite charming to me these days.
Do wonder how many other models this ended up in...the Talbot Samba and the Umm four wheel drive immediately spring to mind...
Later on in the day I decided to set about de-fluffing the van. I'll be using it actually to sleep in for a couple of days this coming week so really wanted to reduce the volume of dog hair in there!
I've been considering picking up a carpet cleaner or wet vacuum cleaner this week. The cab of the van I think makes a very good case for it.
Can you see where the mat sits?
Nevertheless, the living area has been effectively de-fuzzed.
Just need to give the water system a flush through so it's ready for use (as it had been drained down and blown through with compressed air to eliminate any freezing risk over the winter).
Will be a good opportunity to test out the heating system in the real world and I'm quite looking forward to testing it out.