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JALLEN wrote:

srothstein wrote: Prima facie means "at first look" or "on its face". What this does is shift the burden of proof to the driver to prove that his speed was still reasonable and prudent. So, at least in theory, if you are doing 100 mph through Austin on IH-35, and you can prove that it was both safe and reasonable, you are not speeding. (I just want to know how you got that fast through the traffic ).

I once went from the old Airport south on I-35 to Hill's on S. Congress at 120 mph.

Yeah? When was that? In 1963?

Not as many cars on the highway back then as there are now.!

joe817 wrote:

JALLEN wrote:
I once went from the old Airport south on I-35 to Hill's on S. Congress at 120 mph.

Yeah? When was that? In 1963?

Not as many cars on the highway back then as there are now.!

1964, actually, when I was young and foolish, in Gus Oldham's GTO, when you could still see the Capitol and the Tower from the rise at Onion Creek. I-35 had not been open for very long, a couple of years maybe, and Austin was a sleepy little college town of ~250,000 unless the Lege was in session.

1964? It figures. I have been trying to figure out why Austin PD bothers running radar on 35 now. I can't ever seem to get to the speed limit anymore, let alone over it.

JALLEN wrote:

joe817 wrote:

JALLEN wrote:
I once went from the old Airport south on I-35 to Hill's on S. Congress at 120 mph.

Yeah? When was that? In 1963?

Not as many cars on the highway back then as there are now.!

1964, actually, when I was young and foolish, in Gus Oldham's GTO, when you could still see the Capitol and the Tower from the rise at Onion Creek. I-35 had not been open for very long, a couple of years maybe, and Austin was a sleepy little college town of ~250,000 unless the Lege was in session.

Yes, remember THAT Austin. It was a great place to live and grow up in. Not bad all the way up to the late 70's. By the mid Eighties it was too big and too changed for me.

Plenty of places 'back in day' to take your vehicle and 'stretch its legs', some safer than others. I had a 1969 Jaguar XKE roadster when I was college there. I had just gotten it back from Continental Cars...where I had them put a new set of Pirelli tires on it, all new Koni shocks. Had them re-jet, re-needle and synchronize the Dual Stromberg carbs and tighten the valve clearances to British specs.

Eager to test the upgrades...I decided to take it out on a Sunday morning to check the acceleration and top speed. I had never actually taken it to full redline in 4th gear. I figured Highway 71....Southwest of town would be a good place, since it would have little traffic and there is a nice mile long straightaway just before you cross the Pedernales River bridge.

I lived in Northwest Hills at the time, so it was a bit of trip to go out to 71...but sure enough, there was almost no traffic.

I pulled over on the straightway, waited to see that no traffic was coming then nailed it. Shifting just a bit over redline through the first three gears, I had almost topped out in 4th when I came to the one gentle bend in the highway before the bridge, I met a DPS cruiser going the other way! His lights went immediately on. Couldn't believe it, just my luck! I shifted the Jag into neutral and coasted to a stop down the highway.

Already had my drivers license out. Sat there waiting, expecting the cruiser to come barreling around the bend at any time.

A couple of minutes pass and no cruiser???????? I was just about to pull onto the highway and leave when here he comes, at normal highway speed, pulls in behind me. Trooper gets out (older gentleman) and walks up to my vehicle. The first thing he says is: "I can't believe you stopped, why did you stop?"

I told him "I was speeding, I got caught". He said...he would never have caught me if I'd had kept going and just turned down any of the ranch roads around here. Said he debated even turning around to see IF I had perhaps stopped. I told him what I was doing and why. He didn't seem upset by it....but pointed out how dangerous it could have been if I had a tire blowout or something.

He asked If I knew how fast I was going, I told him no, I had been looking at the highway and the 'tach' and hadn't yet looked at the speedometer. He took me back to the cruiser to show me the readout on his radar. 141 mph. He said because I had been cooperative he would write me up at 90, said it would make a BIG difference in the ticket. Very nice trooper!

That's a great story, but I thought the rap on the XKEs of that era was you had to have two, one to drive while the other was in the shop.

There was a kid in the class ahead of me at Navy OCS who was drawing a salary for the first time in his life, and he dreamed of having an XKE. One weekend, just before the last month before graduation, he went up to Boston and bought one, to take delivery upon graduation. The payments were going to leave him about $75 a month to live on. The month before graduation, he got his orders, to Guam! He'd be there 3 years. The Navy would ship the car there free, but it might take 18 months or so. Guam had one road, speed limit 35 mph or something like that and he had the payment whether he had the car there or not! His other choice was to drive to San Franciso and store it, and when he got back, he'd have a 3 yo car with ~3500 miles on it.

Great stories everybody! Thanks!

Soccerdad1995 wrote:The speed limit is an indicator that you are most likely violating the law if going faster than the number posted, but it is possible to be travelling faster than the posted speed limit and not be in violation of the law.

lol, no.

trdvet wrote:

Soccerdad1995 wrote:The speed limit is an indicator that you are most likely violating the law if going faster than the number posted, but it is possible to be travelling faster than the posted speed limit and not be in violation of the law.

lol, no.

Actually, I was told yes. It may be prudent for me to be driving 90 in order to get a person to the hospital.

That's a great story, but I thought the rap on the XKEs of that era was you had to have two, one to drive while the other was in the shop.

Just depends upon how 'handy' you are. Keeping the carbs 'balanced' is critical to good performance and you literally need to 'tune' them for cold weather or hot weather. Mechanically, they were fairly reliable....but the Brits left a LOT to be desired in the electrical department! Not just on Jaguars of that era, just about all British cars suffered from poor quality electrical components and workmanship.

Fun car to drive if you (or the police) don't care if your headlights, taillights, turn signals, or cooling fans work! Constantly doing something with those!

WTR wrote:

trdvet wrote:

Soccerdad1995 wrote:The speed limit is an indicator that you are most likely violating the law if going faster than the number posted, but it is possible to be travelling faster than the posted speed limit and not be in violation of the law.

lol, no.

Actually, I was told yes. It may be prudent for me to be driving 90 in order to get a person to the hospital.

They were wrong. You are still in violation unless you meet the exceptions. Whether or not your necessity defense works in court is up to the defense attorney, prosecutor, judge and jury.

flintknapper wrote:

Tbut the Brits left a LOT to be desired in the electrical department! Not just on Jaguars of that era, just about all British cars suffered from poor quality electrical components and workmanship.

The Brits are so horrible in the electrical department that they have to drink warm beer.


The first car my Dad could ever pay cash for was a 1969 XKE. IIRC it was $6999 and he was making about $11,000 a year at the time.

flintknapper wrote:

That's a great story, but I thought the rap on the XKEs of that era was you had to have two, one to drive while the other was in the shop.

Just depends upon how 'handy' you are. Keeping the carbs 'balanced' is critical to good performance and you literally need to 'tune' them for cold weather or hot weather. Mechanically, they were fairly reliable....but the Brits left a LOT to be desired in the electrical department! Not just on Jaguars of that era, just about all British cars suffered from poor quality electrical components and workmanship.

Fun car to drive if you (or the police) don't care if your headlights, taillights, turn signals, or cooling fans work! Constantly doing something with those!

It wasn't just cars. I used to have a Norton 750 Commando motorcycle. There's nothing quite like riding down a back road at night when the lights go out.

"Lucas didn't invent darkness, they just perfected it."

Pawpaw wrote:

flintknapper wrote:

"Lucas didn't invent darkness, they just perfected it."

Lots of "standards" for Lucas. 3-position headlight switch: Flicker, Dim, and Off.

However, Lucas has just introduced a line of vacuum cleaners. The only product ever offered by Lucas that doesn't suck.

Mel wrote:

Pawpaw wrote:

flintknapper wrote:

"Lucas didn't invent darkness, they just perfected it."

Lots of "standards" for Lucas. 3-position headlight switch: Flicker, Dim, and Off.

However, Lucas has just introduced a line of vacuum cleaners. The only product ever offered by Lucas that doesn't suck.