What a nice example...Anthracite over Charcoal...MMMMM

The car has Zero codes and Zero monitors open...

Drives new, and is very very straight for an 01.... with 90 K even..

Im in Houston TX where the car was, and found a local Indi Specialist that is gonna pull the valve covers, and check to see if the tensioners have been replaced or not....And if not they are getting done before i make the 1900 mile trip home... and the price was right on the money for what you would expect for an indi shop that is reguarded the best in Houston, but still super fair....

The shop is Champion Jaguar Service...in Spring TX... Micheal Davis the owner.. 950 complete... I know i can do it myself for way less but i'm here and dont have a shop or the tools here to do it....

And while its there he is gonna fine tooth it for me at no extra charge...

None of the wheels have ever been curbed either..what a bonus



The car is dry as a bone underneath, nothing leaking etc, and the engine compartment has NOT been steamed off so it shows the 12 years of grime, which is minimal BTW, but good to see it in its own muck...LOL

Its a 2 owner and the 1st owner had it till 2012, the other owner had it for like 47 days... LOL.. i think it got sold on a spot delivery and then the finacing didnt go through...

Got some info from the origional selling jaguar dealership on the service history but wish i had the records....

I also think it needs a wheel bearing from the sounds of things, so i'm just gonna do that too, as its a bit louder than i like, given the trip i have ahead of me.....

Oh and the backight on the climate controll display is out, i will fix that when i get home....

Every other single thing works, and it is like NEW inside....paint is killer and only has paintwork on the LF fender right below the headlamp and just above the bumpercover.... but its super hard to notice and not a concern for me on an 01...

This car is a true survivor....

I have pictures of it in my garage here on the forum....

I am pumped and really looking forward to making the trip home....

 

Congrats! I looked at your photos...very nice!

 

Thanks man..I'm in heavan..the car rides f'in great..

A total pleasure to drive.....

 

Congrats! 90K is barely broken in for that thing.

 

Congratulations Gerry - Beautiful car!

 

VDP SC - best of both worlds. Congrats!

 

Congratulations- Lucky man!

 

Congrats! and if you are going to proceed with the mods you mentioned please keep us posted. Cheers.

 

5 stars for checking the tensioners now before your trip instead of the " I don't hear any rattling" point of view. If the plugs are original it makes sense to change them now.
Good luck on your trip home

 

I am different. I would not drive it home. Good Indy in TX is all good and dandy, but I would want to dig into it myself. Shipping it to my garage would cost about seven bills. 1900 miles will cost about 450 in gas (plus brakes, tires, rock chips, maybe snow and sleet). I could do the tensioners (if needed) for less than 300 on my own, bearing for about a 100. And it's not about the money, it's about the piece of mind. Once I do something myself, I have no doubts whether it was done right, or somebody received a phonecall during the work on my car, and overlooked something.

I owned two car dealerships in the 90s, and I KNOW what kind of "brain fart" moments my mechanics had sometimes (angry wife, sick kid at home, bills, girlfriends.....). I am not saying that everyone should work on their own car, but my experiences with insurance companies (when my mechanics "dropped the ball"), made me very cautious. As I said before,.....if I don't want to do it myself, I stand right next to my mechanic, and observe EVERYTHING he does. I trust him (we are friends), but ......

He doesn't mind. He is happy when I don't want to "get dirty", and lets me watch everything.


I guess you are already on your way, and I wish you luck.

 

Well boys, made it home last night..1900 miles and it was awesome....

The tensioners were the origional 2nd generation, and still in excellent shape.. but are now gone !

Third gen in thier place now..bill was $697..he checked the car from stem to stern, and geve a solid 10....

When he got the motor opened up, he had to call me on the spot..He "Mike" from Champoin Jaguar Service of Houston... he couldnt believe how spotless it was inside...and comented on how the origional owner must have been super **** on the maintainance....

The 2 things found on the car were the left outer tie rod end has ans Mike put it, an microscopic amount of play, and the carrier bearing was noisey..which i already knew

belts hoses etc, were all like new and good to go....

He checked ALL of the fluids, checked for any seepage or leaks as well...I drove it back with the CB noise, and it really didnt get any worse to speak of...and mad it back without a hick up...

Normaly i woulda shipped it back and dealt with it when i got it home, but i just wanted to take the trip, and get some drive time in, as i have to put it up for a bout 6 weeks or so till the weather gets better here...

Glad i did too, what a great ride home...long but great..

Finally got to see what this cat will do today as well, dry roads today, and iof it breaks, at least i'm home didnt really want to beat on her till i was on my home turf LOL...did some 3 block burnouts, and put the car through its paces...

What an F'in great car!.... I loved my series III's but this is a whole different animal !

3 things i noticed i have to fix are. the backlighting for the climate controll display is out, the window buttons on the drivers door cluster light up but they dont on the 2 rear doors or on the pass door.. ? and the steering wheel controls arent lit either..

Gotta look into that...other than that, the car is about as pristine as i could ask for..

Looking forward to updating you guys, on the perfomance upgrades, as well as enjoying the forum...

And thanks to PrinceMarco for turning me on to this VDP S/C ! thanks man..

 

No problem... if you ever sell it..i want first crack at it

 

I think it was wise to drive it home. I moved from Texas to New England and had my car shipped for $950. My car's suspension was damaged during the shipping process, something that can't be proven and wasn't covered by their insurance. Shipping cars puts some real wear on worn bushings. Basically almost every bushing was shot. My suspension felt like 30k miles were added to it. Years later I drove my car when I moved away from New England rather than having it shipped.