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New Member Area - Intro a MUSTNew to Jaguar Forums? Drop in and tell us about you, your ride and location. This is your chance to introduce yourself to the forum.
Finally getting around to do this task even though I have posted twice. Love this wealth of info and already am on my journey with my new SIII. First a little about the new child, then some "car background" on me. I have always loved the SIII as one of my top cars and never failed to jerk my neck whenever I saw one passing by over the years (I am 57, so just out of college when mine was new). I live in Raleigh, NC and each day on my drive to work this past spring I drove by a "beached" SIII in a parking lot. Rain or shine, sweltering heat or snow, she say there wasting away. And each day it bothered me more and more.
I have the means, but no garage space, so I just sighed each day. But then, I cashed in some stock options and was a bit "fat" and one day I was sipping a few pints in eye-shot of that car. I could no longer ignore the abuse (alcohol is a great facilitator of bad? decisions). I called the business at the lot and the girl said, "Oh that's Mr. Andrews car". In the south we refer to people respectfully by their first name -ha ha. So I learned he was the owner of the shopping center (duhh.. Jag owner) and I tracked down the business. One more pint please... I called and talked to someone who took my number and said they would forward my info. OK, I did my good deed for the day and figured nothing would come of it.
Ringgggg..... 10 minutes later Mr Andrew called back and we had our talk. Turned out grandfather bought the car new in 1986 in Long Island and drove it 40K miles. Then the son inherited it and it spent years in Palm Beach, Florida (again, duhh Jag owner) for another 35K. Finally, grandson Andrew inherited it and brought to Raleigh for the last 10 years or so. He must have had an interest at one point, since the records I got show $21000 (yes that is 5 digits) of work on it the first two years he had it. He drove it less and less each year and it finally ended up in the lonely parking lot...
Before we hung up I asked to "see it" and he said, "Oh, it's not locked". Hell's bells!! I almost choked on my beer. Thank god no punks in the neighborhood knew that. So I walked over to the car and opened the door and sat in the drivers seat and just KNEW at that point it would be mine I looked under the car best I could and under the bonnet and boot lids. Clean and intact but "not running" since an inspection 9 months ago. That's OK, that is part of the fun. I guess that is the exact moment when my insanity took hold.
We agreed on price and over the next few weeks I found a place to keep her temporarily (that's another post in itself) and had her flat bedded to there. I have been reading the site voraciously these last couple months learning about dual tanks, injectors, red diode packs and thermotime switches.
As far as me, I always wanted to drive/restore an old classic car. So 10 years ago my brother called and said, "Hey, I have that classic BMW you always wanted". I always wanted a late 70's 5 Series, but he found me a free (and rust free) 1975 2002 that I lovingly spent 9 years restoring. I did just about everything on her except paint, headliner and seats and had a great time with my older brother breaking down the motor and completely rebuilding it. My first experience but he is a 40 year Mopar race engine builder, so I had good company. He was happy to work on my 2 Liter inline 4 "sewing machine" engine
OK, thanks again for great support and can't wait to post about first start and first drive and of course first stall in massive traffic on a 102 degree day while on the way to dinner to meet a beautiful blond that I just met the night before at a bar ... it's gonna happen right ?
Randy
PS - Apparently my classic car requirements are quite narrow. Blue with front hinged hood !!
Hello, Randy,
You tell a Great story! Congratulations on your new Jaguar!
It certainly doesn't look like it's been sitting neglected for 10 years, looks Pretty Darn Good!!
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Hello everyone.. an update to my intro. My daily driver C230 developed engine problems and would not pass smog ever. So I sold to nice gent in adjacent non-smog county. Then in a moment of insanity, bought an '08 XJ8 (X358) and for my first week of driving.. love it. However, true to form, several issues already have cropped up and i will post on that forum to also introduce myself.
08-24-2019, 05:34 PM
1986 XJ6 SIII - First Jaguar
I looked under the car best I could and under the bonnet and boot lids. Clean and intact but "not running" since an inspection 9 months ago. That's OK, that is part of the fun. I guess that is the exact moment when my insanity took hold.
