My first experience with Jaguar when I was 5-6 years old. I was walking with my dad and I saw Jag XJ parked on the street with a cat on his hood.
It was love on first sight <3
On that day I promise my dad that I will buy Jaguar one day when I grow up ))


This photo was a gift from my friend for me

 

My introduction to Jaguars was through my Father and his experiences owning an old SS saloon.Growing up in the Liverpool, UK area right after the War he had acquired a well-worn SS 2.5 litre saloon as his first car. Petrol rationing was in effect and car parts were quite scarce so such vehicles could be acquired on the cheap. He had been seeing a girl but became suspicious she was merely interested in the car. On a date night he decided to confirm his suspicions. He killed the ignition and coasted the last few yards up to her house. The high hedge in front of the house hid the car from view. When he met her at the door her first inquiry was "where's your car?".He replied with the quite plausible pretext that his petrol ration was getting low so they would take the bus. She then complained of a headache and maybe she should stay home. He bid her good night and walked back out to the street. As soon as she heard the car fire up she came tearing out of the house. He turned around in the cul-de-sac and waved to her as he drove off. A second story he told me was of a road wheel coming off, heading straight for a group of kids playing on the sidewalk. It hit the curb and bounced over their heads into the front yard of a house behind them. The car had just been serviced and that was a sign to him to perform his own work from there on out, which he did until his death. He claimed the car was an unreliable piece of junk but his brother told us that he didn't take care of it, making it troublesome.
My eldest brother caught the Jaguar bug early and bought a '68 E-type 2+2 in the mid Eighties. The E-type was one of my childhood heroes and it was impressive to see in the flesh. I did the majority of the Family's auto work by that time and was given several opportunities to drive it in exchange for mechanical work performed.I liked it! My brother soon bought a '55 XK140 drophead. It was left at our house one summer while he moved house and I was assigned to be its caretaker. I liked the E-type but the XK140 had a raw feel to it that spoke to my inner Mr. Toad and I kept car well exercised over the summer, even gaining permission to take it on a beach trip. The round trip was about six hundred miles; the car burned a quart and a half of oil on the way down and none coming back - this cemented the mindset that these cars want to run hard and often. I wanted a Jag really, really bad by this time; I'd concluded my Father was wrong about the unreliability and I'd discovered they weren't really any harder to service than the Detroit iron.
All of the XKs were out of my price range but my brother stumbled onto a '76 XJ6-C for a good price and he suggested I should buy it. "It would be a good investment", he said. "You can't lose", he added as the market was going stupid in the late Eighties. I was less concerned about that as the realization that I had not the means to give the car what it really needed. I drove it for a few years but was unsatisfied with the BL era emission carburetors and the power robbing BW type 65 slush-box. I ended up trading the car for a Porsche 912. That Porsche was the biggest piece of crap I'd ever worked on and I got rid of it after about a year. I swore I'd would buy future cars because I liked them, potential value be damned.
Didn't own another Jag until 2003 when my brother sold me a '71 E-type FHC. Fixing to move house again and short on space he let me have the car for a steal. It needs paint and an interior still but it gets driven. I've had an XJ12-C, an XJ8 VDP, and two XJ6 series IIIs since then. I still have Blue Six; the VDP was traded for an appliance after it spent a decade as the family bus. The sports cars are great but the saloons have all been pleasant to drive cocoons against the outside world and I've developed a soft spot for the old XK inline six. A friend of mine just offered me an X300 at a good price. I need another saloon like a hole in the head but if I could talk my wife into getting rid of her Corvair...

 

Good thread, growing up in San Francisco in the 70's and 80's, there was so much going on at that time, I don't recall having a particular affinity for automobiles. I was mainly trying to determine if our parents really loved and cared about us, or were they just doing "their job". At the time, it appeared as if they weren't really giddy about either one. My mind was ready, willing and able to accept a positive distraction. Then, on a Sunday morning, I received a ride home from church from one of my Fathers friends, and his son. As a hopped(@57, I now, slide)into the back seat and assumed the typically back seat traveler position. I veered between the two front seats and spied "wood grain dashboard". Okay, what the hell is going on? What are tree materials doing on this guy's dashboard. "Must be graffitti", I thought. This is San Francisco, after all, the genesis(?) of all liberal thought and behavior, and all. No, it was wood, or a damn good facsimile. A center shifter, hmm, but it's not a GTO, hmm. And, what's this?, some sort of air venting, aimed at the rear passenger, "Me". Up to that point, I had never processed the "front people", having any regard for the "backseat people", and yet, what was this, "concern?'. "I love this car!", I thought. Later, that year, I was allowed to purchase a boxed car model to assemble, the distraction thing was working. I picked a 1931 Duesenberg, the seed was taking root. As life has progressed, I still have not acquired definitive answers to the question's concerning the "folk's in the front seats"and the "folk's in the back seats" and "venting", but I'm old now, life goes on, so I saved my money and went out and bought a 1984 Jaguar XJ6 4.2L with 88,000 miles, in excellent condition with VENTS between the seats pointed toward the "folks in the back seats". I love this car!!

 

Around 1980 I was actively roadracing and dumping my income (as a single man) into that big enjoyable but big hole in the ground called racing. A mechanic friend and Jaguar enthusiast suggested I look into buying an old British car, preferably an E type, and keeping it for a while. At the time I was searching for a tired but running E type or early Shelby GT350...both excellent future collector choices. As luck would have it I found a 4th owner E type ...a '64 3.8 OTS for a paltry, old tired sportscar price of $2.685.00! Ugly repainted Pontiac GTO green with vinyl interior and faded white...ugh...top. Oh yes...a leaper bolted on the bonnet and two huge Chevrolet mirrors. But it ran!! Today I'm just finishing a ground-up second restoration on the E and can't wait to get the svelte black beauty back on the road, better than ever.

So when did the Jaguar bug first bite me? A few years ago I stumbled upon an old 1964 High School senior class newsletter. You know the usual quotes....what do you want for a career, favorite color, favorite food...and most importantly...the car you'd most like to own someday? Low and behold, in '64 I noted that I wanted a '64 Black E type roadster!! Now that was coming from a kid who grew up in a farm community without a Jaguar withing 100 miles. Few sportscars in the community short of a couple of tired Triumphs or the local young lawyer's Corvette. Who knows why I developed the lust for E type. Perhaps I saw it in a magazine somewhere but whatever the reason, I was smitten. And why not. Who wouldn't be drawn to such a beauty.

De ja vu or whatever....today I have the E type as well as a fresh XF Prestige, having just parted with my S type R. I have many great memories of weekends in my Jaguars and look forward to many more.

 

Well honestly I never was a Jag fan at all I always had American Muscle Cars I was looking for something with comfort and power after having my C5 for many years so my friend suggested I go sit in a Jaguar xfr that was at a dealership not too far from me well as you can see once I sat in the car I fell in love with the vehicle not only the looks of the Interior but the comfort and the smell of that amazing to Italian leather now I'm the proud owner of my Jag and I love it not many people have this car and I think that's the best part about it I will not own a BMW or a Mercedes or anything else that looks like everything else on the road

 

Hi,

When I too was a little boy my grand father would own big old British cars, Rovers etc. I just have always had a love for those cars, most likely because they remind me of the great times with my grand father. As a boy I used to go to car shows and for the first time saw an E-Type and a Mark 2 and just absolutely loved the bold shapes, lines and all the wonderful chrome and wood finishes. When I got old enough to own a car I knew that at some point in my life I would own one. I was determined. As I grew older I got into cars and really loved the XJ's through the years. A work colleague drove me in their XJS 6.0 V12 and what an amazing car that was. After many years of owning boring and uninteresting cars I couldn't afford to buy a Jaguar but had the chance to get my hands on a Rover 75 V6. That car was truly superb, comfortable, full of chrome and utterly reliable. This only increased my desire to own a Jaguar as it had similar looks. I actually had a neighbour ask about my Jaguar and I had to tell them that it was a Rover and not a Jaguar. Like Fraser, this was for me the closest I could get to owning a Jaguar at that time.

Three years ago I finally got the opportunity to own a Jaguar. I have always liked the looks of the XJ's, especially the Series 3 and the X308. So I decided that I really wanted an XJ and decided on a X350 after lots of research. I purchased a 4.2 NA. What an utterly fantastic car. Yes I have had issues with the car but generally it's been very reliable and in three years I have driven over 60,000 miles. It was a fantastic car for long journeys that I had to do for work and it did it with absolute ease. Most of the issues the car has had I have been able to repair myself. I serviced it myself and it is very easy to do. Far easier to service than some cars I have owned. It was a total pleasure to drive and very quick. I often embarrassed yobs who ignorantly think the car is an old mans car and hence very slow! It was with a very heavy heart that I have recently had to sell the car. It's only been a short while ago that I sold the car but I've already started looking for a replacement to purchase once we are back to some form of normality. I just can't wait to get another V8 as soon as a I can. It will definitely be another X350 or X358

And I have to say that having being part of such a helpful, friendly and supportive community on these forums has been a great pleasure to be part of.

All the best,

Chris

 

She will one day end in my home in Africa
I love to have her and drive her majestically

 

I grew up in car crazy southern California. In 1960, when I was 15, a new school friend introduced me to Road & Track magazine and I was immediately hooked on sportscars. My first love was the Jaguar XK-150. The E-Type came along soon afterward and--although it was clearly a modern marvel--my passion remained with the 150. Shortly after I graduated from high school, my older brother acquired a sadly abused XK-140 MC roadster (oddly enough, I don't recall hearing a Jag roadster called an OTS until many years later, via the Internet). When he went off to grad school back east, I had the chance to take it over but at that tender age I was not up to the mechanical help it needed and sadly my dad was not interested at all.

I got my own first Jaguar in 1970, an XK-150 FHC. I managed to keep it for seven years until with two children by then, no job, and living in pricey Santa Barbara, it just had to go. So sad. My wife (who doesn't cry) and 6one-year-old daughter both cried when the new owner drove it away! Bith my children had their first car rides in that Jag. I miss it still and, athough I'd love another, a decent 150 has appreciated well beyond my budget.

Nearly 40 years passed before I contrived to get another Jag. I have had 4.2-liter XK8 coupé now for four happy years and am dangerously dreaming and scheming to buy a Mk II saloon.

Granville

PS. My daughter kept the passion, too, and drives a 2006 XJ8 Vanden Plas.

 

When I was about 5 my Dad’s mate was a mechanic at a Jaguar dealer ship and used to bring home S1 and 2 XJ’s on weekends and sometimes we got to go for rides. I loved the inside of the S1 and always wanted one. He opened an independent Jag/Merc workshop in a shed on a wharf in the mid 70’s and I used to hang out there on Saturdays with my Dad and him. They made a trap door in the workshop floor so my brothers and I could fish under the wharf sheltered from the winter cold and rain.

Fast forward to 1985 when I was a 3rd year apprentice I worked for a family owned regional newspaper with a commercial print shop as well. The owner (in his 90’s at the time) had a series 3 and his two sons who were older than my parents had new black XJS’s which we got to drive to do deliveries. Sometimes as far as 200 km away.

That sealed my fate, now I have one of each.

 

As a young man, starting out, working in London, I saw a green Jag XK convertible cruising down the city street. I loved the body lines, and looked it up, and put the X100 on my computer screen saver (remember those). My dad was forever a Mercedes man, and I started out with old small car "bangers" as I didn't have much money. In the city, cars weren't a priority as public transport was very good. Anyway I started moving around for work, so decided to buy my first new car, a BMW M3, as I was up and down the motorways alot. However, my Dad wouldn't speak to me for a week because I didn't buy a Merc!

Got the car repair bug, so in my garage I started restoring project cars. First a 1970 Triumph GT6 and then later, when I was overseas, a BMW Z3.

Years later, I now move around globally for work with either rentals or company supplied cars. Generally off road SUVs, as I'm in construction, so I decided to restore a X100 in my spare time - a 1999 Jag XK8 convertible. Same car that I had on my computer screen many years ago. Quite a story how I got this Jag and 2 years in - it's my daily driver. Been a Jag fan ever since. Once this Jag is finished, I'll probably go look for an older fully mechanical Jag - already got my eye on one. No CAN-bus computer gizmos for me. Likely go down the same road as my previous Triumph with upgraded engine, carbs and suspension/brake upgrades.

 

I was 17 in 1972 and was innocently walking up to my grandmothers house when around the bend on a warm sunny summer day in Ohio came a British Racing Green XJ. Literally my jaw dropped and I remember thinking that it was the most beautiful and coolest car I had ever seen. I didn't even know exactly what it was! I promised to own one someday.

Years later (2004) I had the chance to buy (1,000$) a beat up BRG/ tan 1988 XJ-40 with 175K and a signed Nardi wooden steering wheel, wire wheels and more rust and electrical quirks than any car should have and still be drivable. I was in heaven whenever I drove it.

Briefly owned a 1991 XJ and promised to buy a "good one" someday.

Well 2 years ago I bought a 2005 Super V8 black over charcoal that is now having the years of mechanical neglect tended to, and I feel like the coolest guy in the world every time I drive it. Nothing else really comes close and I'm committed to keeping this beautiful machine in my possession and on the road.

And I still desire however, that BRG, what must have been a Series 1 XJ. Maybe in another lifetime.

Love all the stories - what a great thread.

 

Three tales!!!

1. Early 1953, i was stationed in Germany. On a trip to Mannheim, i passed the Jaguar dealer. I was intrigued by the big salons!!! My ride at the time was a black Mercury coupe... Best car I'd ever owned at the time!! So, I dared to deal with the fellow in the pins tripe suit. naah, A Yank Lieutenant not in their league. trade, not done, old chap!!
Would a Major or colonel be in their league???

Plan b executed. Sold the Mercury. had tried to swap it for an MG TC with a fellow leutenant. Naah, he wanted a four door car?? Made a deal!!! brand spanking new 53 MG TD in BRG. No heater or radio. Not enough $$$


Circa 57. Working in Imperial Valley. met a kid named Wilson. Settler's descendant. wilson's corner. A country convenience store. His interest was t fords. i bought a derelict from him. Another story. he ahd a 120 jaguar. Got tit cheap engine damage!!
Busted piston and wall badly scored. Nevertheless, he fit a new piston and rod and bearing. I very skeptical. it not only ran, but ran very well Why? still a puzzlement.

Up the road a bit school chum John now an aero engineer with Douglas. He latched on to a 120. he managed, but wifey called it the "damned Jaguar" errant start technique , ground the teeth off the flywheel!! John's solution? dumped jag and wife!!
6'44" John bought an Isetta!!

Now, 2001, A business colleague told me of his adventures with a Jag V12. Intrigue set in. Then I saw a very nice SII, in Grosvenor brown and biscuit... Striking combo.
At a local special car show room. Then it was gOg, snoozed and lost!! no, it was there again.. Went and got wifey. We looked. She pleased. although I cautioned her as to a stoe face or doubt as I negotiated. naah, cost me an extra 500 or so!!

Fast forward. Even after a major mishap it is int eh garage. i have never kept any car for 19 years!!!! And, as my fiorst was at 16 and I am now 91, there have been a bunch!!

I enjoyed reading these tales, as well as composing my contrbution...

Carl

 

What an Elegant solution!
(';')

 

Saw my first Jag in high school (a XJ6 Series III)... that was also my first Jag years later (a piece of crap but loved it).