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mid 80s, I came pretty close to buying a 67 XKE Coupe, 4.2L, that a friend had just completely rebuilt, it had all new everything in the drive train, the body was straight and had never been crunched, but it needed full paint, and carpet/interior. the seller had all the chrome freshly replated and ready to go on. I would have painted it the original bluish silver. god, that was a fun car to take for a spin. circa 1985, that was a $8000 car in its mechanically restored condition.
the seller had bought it as a rolling chassis and an entire garage of new parts, from a rich kid who got in over his head and never started the teardown. the parts was /everything/, transmission internals, pistons, rods, valves, head, all the suspension bits, carb rebuild kits, differential innards, all new brakes all the way around, new wiring harnesses, etc etc etc, in boxes and boxes and boxes. it took my friend about 6 months of part time work to strip that thing down to the chassis and build it up. he was going to strip it all down again for a full paint job, that would have added $3000 to the purchase price (his own paint), or twice that if professionally painted. the biggest issue was not having a good way to safely transport the stripped shell
Last edited by Left Coast Geek; 09-22-2021 at 06:27 PM.
Mid-80s to mid-90s was a popular period to own a used Jag. I had an '82 XJ6 in the early 90s. I rebuilt the engine myself and did alot of general cleanup and addressed deferred maintenance. The coupe de grace was administered by a ruptured plastic radiator fan (they were known to do that) which sliced open the radiator and dented the hood, when I was en route to a mortgage closing on a new house. I didn't have the time (job, travel, kids) or money (kids) at the time to fix it so I sold it for much less than I had invested. It was fun, I daily drove it for a year, including one Michigan winter. Smooth, comfortable and low slung.
Nice looking car, but I've always wondered (and am surprised you have no issue with it, given your self proclaimed OCD) why someone would design a wheel that requires 5 bolts yet has 14 spokes. The bots cannot achieve symmetry given that geometry. Kinda like the asymmetric wheels on cars that only roll properly in one direction - yet the same wheel is on both sides of the car rather than having two pairs of wheels that are mirror images of each other. THAT's what kicks my OCD in the slats.l
Last edited by rapidoxidation; 02-18-2022 at 08:43 PM.
This is very close to the look that I'm trying to achieve on my car (pre-facelift). I'm wondering about the wheels, I really like them, although I will probably go all-silver - are they 18" or 19" How is their quality (I'm assuming that they are the replicas, mine will be 18x8.5"x4x45 offset because 4Matic). I'm fairly close to pulling the trigger on a set.
I've got what I need for the grill and I plan to include a circuit that will turn off the star (mine is the "distronic" shiny type) with the headlights on, just a bit too showy for me. Mine will also have settable brightness. Really, I want it visible only when locking/unlocking the car at night or maybe just slightly visible during the day.
This is very close to the look that I'm trying to achieve on my car (pre-facelift). I'm wondering about the wheels, I really like them, although I will probably go all-silver - are they 18" or 19" How is their quality (I'm assuming that they are the replicas, mine will be 18x8.5"x4x45 offset because 4Matic). I'm fairly close to pulling the trigger on a set.
I've got what I need for the grill and I plan to include a circuit that will turn off the star (mine is the "distronic" shiny type) with the headlights on, just a bit too showy for me. Mine will also have settable brightness. Really, I want it visible only when locking/unlocking the car at night or maybe just slightly visible during the day.
I came from 18s, I felt they were'nt big enough, 20s need suspension work, 19s with AMG sport suspension (lower) just about right imo
Nope no more jags probably won't have any time soon, thanks for the comments!
I hear you, the refreshed Jaguar's do NOTHING for me. I still hope to someday find a nice XJ8 specimen to drive on Sundays
Every now and again I look online but never go for it.
I hear you, the refreshed Jaguar's do NOTHING for me. I still hope to someday find a nice XJ8 specimen to drive on Sundays
Every now and again I look online but never go for it.
Why do you hate the looks and styling of a Ford Taurus?
(Where's that sarcasm smiley?)
Nice Fusion! Jokes aside, Ford did fix most of the electrical issues, my buddies Jag has little ovals on every plug and connector. I had my fill of British cars, my wife still says the ones we owned were monuments to my ability and stupidity! My children's first cars were Triumph's, all learned how to drive a stick shift and help with the constant breakdowns.
The Dark Lord of Lucas Electrics plagued many an old British car and motorcycle.
A mid '80's Jaguar XJ Sovereign was the first car I pushed to 135 mph (I had to do the conversion from 220kph after the fact because that's what the speedo read). The hand of God kept me on the road that day. I had just dropped the boss's wife off at the Montreal airport and, being a dumb 18 year old, wanted to see what the car could do. That corner came up on me a whole lot faster than my young brain could process. Wasn't me that kept the wheels on the road.
Edited to add: His '76 Mercedes SL450 was the first car I got to push over 100mph... Going uphill... Again as a dumb 18 year old kid. That was the day I fell in love with Mercedes.
Last edited by rapidoxidation; 02-27-2022 at 11:46 AM.
I also came from Jag to Mercedes. A big advantage for Mercedes is that you only need to own one of them. With Jag, you need a second one to drive while repairing the first, swap out, lather rinse and repeat.
I had a Merc before the Jag and absolutely loved mine. I guess I was lucky. I never had issues with mine. That car was beautiful. Had compliments all day long, young and old. The XJs are a work of art IMO.
09-22-2021, 04:31 PM
