That Jag engine, the 4.2 anyway, was interesting -- had a stroke that was significantly larger than the bore. Not sure what the implications of that are. My best friend in Roswell, NM, junior high age -- his father bought an XKE in around '65 or '66, right after they came out with the 2+2. I only rode in it a few times, but damn, it was cool. Me and my buddy used to sit in it in the driveway and go through the gears and smell the leather. The 2+2 looked kinda awkward next to the 2-seater coupe but it still had the Jaguar guts.

I had an International Travelall panel truck, circa '59, in 1970. My first rig. The six on that thing was definitely bulletproof.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Want a see a smooth engine? Try some of the old Parkard Straight Eights. My dad has one that I love to drive.

I heard from a Ford mechanic and parts supplier that they stopped producing the 4.9 straight 6 because it was too damn good and the vehicles lasted forever.

I bought the last year, a new 1993 E150 with the 4.9 and it has been incredible. It has almost 270k on it and it has been beating like a dog eyt still runs like a clock. If it weren't for the slight exhaust leak, you'd barely hear it.

Converely, a buddy of mine bought the same van a year later with the v-6 and it was a dog. No power and is definitley not a 200k mile car, let alone 300k like mine.

I think the body on my van will rust out before the engine goes to *****. It's gone thru 2 trannies and still keeps on ticking.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

The only Massey tractors I've messed with were Model 65's. I have one with a 4-cylinder Perkins diesel motor. Runs nice, about 50 HP. It used to have a gas-fired Continental motor that was a piece of crap. I could not keep that thing running, so I bought a junkyard diesel motor and converted the tractor to diesel.

I borrowed a Massey 65 built in the late 50's with essentially the same Perkins motor, except it had a funky pre-combustion chamber and glow plugs.

One thing that seems odd about both of my farm tractors is that they don't have glowplugs. So long as the air temp is 40 F or above, they just fire right up. Below that temp you need to crank it a few times or plug in the block heater for a while.