Fin!

Many lessons learned. Will provide some simple recap stats after I settle in.

Just glad we made it in one piece!

 

Road Trip Thread - hell yes! Will have to read this from the beginning

 

looks like a fun trip!

 

ok guys... so here's a bit of info.
as you can tell, we made it back to nyc. the jag and co-driver all intact.

the car (due to timing and logistics) had spent the previous 2.5 months in the helena montana airport parking lot--actually quite a reasonable rate.

so when we arrived at HLN (at 1am) she had lost some air in the front left, but when i reattached the battery terminal, she started right up. rolled her slowly to a station to fill the tire, and to a local motel for the night.

in the morning, i brought her to the local meineke for an oil/filter change (brought my own filter) and top up on the fluids. the guys there had never worked on jag v12, but they were really great and all in only cost me $75. took a peak under and no signs of corrosion on the suspension components... exhaust is another story.

after that we were on our way eastward: 2300 miles.

 

based on trip computer estimates, not too scientific. i didn't take thorough notes on miles traveled or gallons filled (although i guess i could backtrack through my card receipts and maps).

anyway...
around town (helena, billings, milwaukee, chicago, cleveland): 13-14 mpg
b-roads, including slow rolling through small towns: 15-18 mpg
pure interstate driving: ~18 mpg

 

few shots on the road in montana

 

DrScientist what's up man!! Great pics of the road trip! Thanks for sharing!

Not sure if you remember me but you gave me some great advice through a few private messages last year when I first got my Jag after my road trip back home when I first bought her. Ever since then it's been parked in the garage under a car cover. Reason for not taking her out earlier this year? Rough winter......a few vacations here and there to Vegas and LA. Neglected my jag. haha

The crazy coincidence is that I searched under XJS tags on instagram just a few days ago and I saw some pretty cool pics of an XJS on a road trip.

I plan on finally taking the car to Raj at XJR this week or next so I logged on to the forum to see what new content I can read up on and I see the first thing I see is the road trip post. When I click on this forum link I see some of the same pics. I'm like no way it can be the same jaguar that I saw on instagram a few days ago!! lol

Lo and behold, that cow shot was what confirmed it. I even commented on one of your co-passenger's flick about how brave you guys were for going on a road trip with an XJS.

Anyways man.....amazing pics and good job on getting the car back to NYC in one piece. The pictures are awesome. I'll keep you posted on how the work goes at Raj's and how much damage it's going to cost my pockets. lol First of all I need to replace or modernize the exhaust system.

The front bushings need to be replaced and the AC doesn't work. It's been sitting over a year in a garage uptown so I'm pretty afraid as to what the damage will be on my wallet. Haha I'll stay in touch!

 

Dr Scientist
Congratulations on making it back to NYC. Yours was an epic road trip and your since of adventure is intact. Well Done!

 

@badkat

nice! glad you saw the instagram photos. she took some great snaps.

i suppose we were somewhat brave... but what are these cars for if not for driving?!?! and where is a v12 better suited than the wide-open spaces of "the heartland." driving across the country is really why i wanted this car in the first place!

if any of the rest of you out there want a different view of the trip, shoot me a pm, and i'll send my co-driver's instagram address... i'm pretty sure you don't need to be an instagram user.

also, hope you do get the car sorted for some summer driving. raj knows the v12, and took his time with mine, and they'll bring it back in to re-sort if something goes wrong. (free towing too)

 

Congratulations on a Very successful trip.

As I mentioned previously, I grew up in Montana, and you did an Excellent job capturing the wide open, sometimes barren bleakness of distances measured in miles, but thought of in hours between towns.

Of course, June is the *Perfect* time for such a trip in the state, and it seems the weather cooperated for you.

I'm glad you had a good time, with only a few issues which you seem to have got under control.
(';')

 

Congrats on an epic trip and thanks for sharing the photos. The asteroid wheels look great on your XJS.

 

Congratulations, looks like a great trip.

 

thanks guys...

lnr it really is some beautiful country out there. not sure i'd want to live there, but it really is pretty.

geordie, thanks, and those asteroids are the same set that you pointed me toward in florida!

some more photos... and look out for the prequel thread. (i did have to get the car to montana in the first place)

 

Cool trip.
What vehicle did those hood vents originally come on?

 

they're from a GNX.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gnx+...h=1060&dpr=0.8

previous owner installed them. good thought, but the difference in the heat properties of the hood vs plastic vents caused them first to pull up the paint around the attachment seams, and then crack themselves. you can't really tell at a distance, but they're more suited to less fluctuation in outside temp than we have up here in the northeast.