Weather has not been very pleasant lately, managed to get a nasty man flu in meantime as well, which slowed down any works...

But hey, my brother helped me out, he patched up the rusty exhaust.
I painted the parking sensors (which were installed by my wife )
Fixed the hole in driver's seat, doesn't look brilliant, but it's not so obvious now.
Also started restoring colour on the seats, but it worked out to be different colour... Oh well, I can't be bothered to go through lengthy eBay procedures, so I just get on with it and change the colour on the lot (seats, door cards...)
Polished up the paint work, but you can see where there was that big scratch on the roof, as there's a big patch of new paint there now

Clock still needs doing, can't figure out what's wrong with mirrors, as all the fuses are fine, possibly it's something different, but I can't be bothered to trace it... And I still need to finish wiring up the lights... Basically, I have all the wires run, with sockets ready, just need to get them 12v power.
Lack of garage and lack of time is sometimes really depressing... But I'm not going to give up, just lacking motivation from time to time...

 

a tiny, tiny little update, before I post a big update... So get ready, as in few days time there should be bigger one coming, with more pictures, of better quality!
If any of you followed the progress, I've encountered a serious problem with lights switch, which I caused myself... more details in the link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...up-help-85053/

Anyway, the finished product of the LED lights conversion:





I'll be putting a proper tutorial with video on this one, hopefully soon!

 

Looks like a wonderful road trip in your future!

 

"Don't get me wrong guys, I love that Jag to bits, I would keep it if I could, but it would just ruin me Bought it only for the purpose of that road trip.."

SHARP upgrades! It's been an adventure already... when's the trip - in the spring? And just how will you be able to part ways with this Jaguar after these grand adventures have all been lived and written, hmmm?

 

so far it's bad news guys... Adventure was supposed to start yesterday, but 2 days ago we received a call from shipping company, that the ship we booked for doesn't take used cars on board, only new ones... So right now we're desperately trying to find a way of getting the Jag to the destination point and it's not looking any good... I'm so pissed off, my wife can't sleep at night, everything's not looking good at the moment... We have to move out of the flat in 2 weeks time, and flight is supposed to be in about 3 weeks time... If we find another ship, we'll most likely have to change flights (another additional cost...). I'm just feeling so low right now...

 

keep crackin on. You can beat this.

 

If anyone is interested, my trip has began... sadly, without El Gato...

We landed in Rio De Janeiro on 28th of December 2012, spent there 2 nice and hot (not so sunny though) days. We tried to rent a car at the airport, but rental company needed credit card for it... Credit card is in my wife´s name, but I have the international licence, so we weren´t able to do it... Never mind...













On 30th we caught another plane, to Curitiba and from there to Iguazu.




Unfortunately, no chance to visit the falls at the time, as it was late afternoon already. We caught a bus and got to hotel we booked earlier, on the other side of the border, already in Argentina.



Stayed there for the night, and in the morning got another bus, straight to Posadas.




We arrived at the destination (my wife's parents house in Posadas, Argentina) after 6pm, and trust me, they were really surprised to see us. They didn´t expect us at all. But the plus side is, I´ll be able to borrow their car to hit the road, hopefully next week. Sadly, it´s no match for the Jag, just a little Peugeot 306, but when I eventually manage to get some decent software, I´ll post some videos from the road, as I have my drive time recorder with me. And trust me, roads here are MAAAAAD!!!! And drivers even worse!

 

many, many photos to follow?

 

photos and videos, I´m working on a video of driving conditions in Argentina. Also 2 videos of preparing the slightly abused 306, and later on videos from the road Unfortunately I have limited internet access, which complicates everything a bit. And basic software on Windows based computers is not the best for video editing, my camcorder shoots MOV files and Windows can´t stand them... Oh dear, you can´t even imagine how I miss my Mac...

 

We'll be looking forward to it, have fun.

 

As promised, here's one video. That's the only one I managed to put together, I don't really fancy spending too much time in front of PC. The rest of videos will most likely follow in February, when I get access to my Mac (unless some sort of miracle happens in meantime).

 

glad to hear you got started on the jag again firecrow, keep posting pics if you need any spares i have plenty, just let me know if you need anything.

 

just got a picture of my Jag and my Focus (behind, in the background) being heavily covered with snow... And we've been enjoying lots of sunshine, high temperatures and cold booze. We've head few 'day trips' but we haven't managed to hit the road properly just yet... Need a special permit allowing to drive my in-laws car... I've been driving it for last 2 weeks, but only localy... On longer distance, I'd rather not risk being stopped by policeman in funny uniform, who'll look for any opportunity just to get bribe or jail me...

 

that's not heavy snow, that's a dusting of... More sun and booze for you! How long is your trip?

 

For me, being Polish, it isn't heavy snow, I agree! For my mates in UK, it is quite a lot already and apparently it hasn't stopped since I posted that picture And for Argies from north, that much of snow would be comparable to the end of the world

And about the trip, I'm not really sure, It's not going to be as big as we first planned of course, firstly, El Gato is not with us, secondly, 306 is not in best shape... And thirdly, we're slowly running out of time, we still have to catch a flight from Rio de Janeiro on 3rd of February, and that is quite far from here, about 1800km... But my wife planned everything, most of it is supposed to be surprise, my job is to get us everywhere safely without asking questions and enjoy the trip :P

 

Managed to clock up some kilometers on the old 306, my father-in-law got it ready for us, cleaned it nicely, toped up liquids and all that stuff... But he had less faith in this car than I did... He packed all the spare oils and liquids in the boot... And all the tools he had...
Anyway, from Posadas, Misiones, we went north, on the Ruta 12. First stop was Montecarlo, lovely town that was. And there's the biggest labirynth in Argentina :-O



After that we visited factory of yerba mate, which was rather educational (for those who haven't got a clue about it, there's NO day without MATE, read MAH-TEH).





We visited some other places, like Aquarium with different types of fish native to Argentina, but most of you won't be interested in that...



There were millions spent so far on search for the famouslost city of gold, and look what we've found on the Ruta 12:



There's a town called Wanda, which has been established by group of Polish immigrants about 80 years ago... And the sign at the entrance welcoms you in both spanish and polish



And in Wanda, Misiones, we helped some poor bloke, who's wheel fell off... If you look at the asphalt next to the car, there's a line, where he dragged the car to get it off the road...



Everyone was advising me not to stop if I see a broken down car on a side of a road in Latin America, as most likely they'll rob me and all that stuff, but bloke was there with his wife and little baby, and it was on quiet road just outside the town. Couldn't just leave them like that in middle of hot day. We managed to lift the car up, reatach the wheel (although whole car looked like it was about to fall appart, and I mean it), we gave them bottle of water and they were very surprised that somebody actually helped them

Straight after that we went to see the famous mines of Wanda












Of course we've seen some other stuff, but not every one is interested in Guarani mythology. I'll post more pics of the whole trip only if somebody is actually curious and asks


So, finally, in Iguazu, in the point, where you can see 3 countries at once, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay





And finally, it was time to set off for the falls (the whole trip took us nearly a week of driving, stopping at random locations).













We stopped for the night at rather hippie campsite in Iguazu, absolutely lovely relaxing place!



After that we've hit the road again, stopping in places we didn't spot on the way up north.


enjoying some terere (cold and sweet version of mate)



and stopped to collect some famous red dirt from Tierra Colorada



And we've found a family home of Ernesto Che Guevara!!!









Apparently we're supposed to visit some other place before we run out of time (but knowing how organised Latin Americans are it's not going to happen). I have plenty of video footage as well, part of which I'll upload on youtube and then post links here, but earliest it would happen, would be in February... Lack of Mac...

 

Great post. The falls look spectacular and credit to you for helping out the stranded family.

The 305 may not be a Jaguar but it deserves a pic of its own.

Graham

 

To be continued I hope.

 

glad you enjoyed hols firecrow, but dont put the 306 down, my wife runs one 306 xsi 2.0 16 calve job it goes very well it blows some of the boy racers off, when i can get my hands on it that is does not beat my the jag though

 

you haven't posted any new pics for a while. I hope you haven't been detained by the "authorities"...LOL

BTW, she's way too pretty for you