The beginning of this letter deals with a technical description of the
wonderful car that we just bought, and the end deals with driving
impressions. I hope it puts a smile on your face.
Last Saturday, as some of you might know, Dianne and I picked up our
first family car, as we are expecting our first child in June. I had
previously looked at used car dealers for a cheap economy sedan, but was
turned off by the possibility of driving a car that would be the same as
everybody else's, and also at having something that would be worth very
little 15 years down the road.
As a result of a few list members' proddings, I realised that I
should at least investigate the possibility of buying another LBC. I
called my old boss, who runs a Jaguar junkyard in Seattle, and asked him
what he had on the lot. He told me about a few XJ sedans that he had, but
one particulary intruiged me; a specialty XJ-12 that he had built up from
all factory parts. Here's the story.
Three years ago, Rusty (my old boss) needed a car for his wife (the
accountant of the business) to drive, as he had just sold her current
XJ-6 to a customer at the shop. He had a few tricks up his sleeve, and
had been putting a lot of thought into making a better than stock, but
still factory, Series III V-12 H.E. sedan.
He started with the '82 body since it had no dents or rust, and
pulled the chrome, glass, suspension, engine, trans...everything, and
sent it to the bodyman for a fresh coat of Black Centauri. After the
body was sprayed, he installed an '86 XJ-S V-12 H.E. and transmission.
The suspension, along with posi differential and power steering, came from a
group of then brand new 1988 XJ-S's from a train derailment in upstate N.Y.
The group of 35 cars were on their way to be made into convertibles at Hess
and Eisenhart coachworks. The complete cooling and A/C also came from these
new cars.Substituting rear trailing arms from a 79 XJ-S permitted the
installation of a rear anti-swaybar.
The complete biscuit interior, dash, console, trip computer and
headliner came from a 1986 XJ-6.
The result was a car that was never imported into the States, but
certainly the most powerful 4-door that Jaguar ever built. Modern but
still classy, fast but still civilized, and most of all, British, with much
more individual style than any Lexus or Q45.
Now, after three years of his wife driving it, and accruing 40k on the
clock,he had to sell the car since his oldest son was had his driver's permit,
and they couldn't insure him on in a car with a V-12. So the car sat
outside (covered) for a few months until I called. Rusty said a few
people had expressed interest in it, but he had an emotional attachment
to it. The car had also developed a whine in the transmission, so that
would have to be changed.
I thought about the car overnight, and decided that that's what I
wanted. Plus, for $5500, I couldn't pass it up.Rusty included a spare
transmission from a really nice 79 XJ-12, that had only 40k miles on it.
Interestingly, I remember helping part out that very car when I worked there.
I don't know why, but when we first picked it up, I wasn't totally
excited. Yeah it was fast, correction: FAST, but it just didn't
seem like it was mine. I guess it's because I've been into every nook
and cranny of the Spitfire, and each part is burned into my memory with a
drop light on a cold night and EP 90 falling in my eye. Not yet so with the
Jag.
However, the situation was quickly remedied. The alternator
stopped working the first day we had it; Rusty said it still had a few
months left on the rebuilder's warrantee, and he delivered a new one.
Wow.. what a pain to change. Remove skid pan. Remove outer swaybar
links, remove oil feed line. That really made me appreciate alternators
that are mounted on top of the engine. Two hours later, we were back on
the road.
Then, Tuesday, at around 130mph, (hey, I've got to make sure it'll
be reliable right?), the whining tranmission whined it's last whine.
I began the nightmare of changing the transmission. I've pulled V-12
engines before, but pulling the transmission alone seemed to be more
difficult. Rusty copied a few pages out of the factory service manual, and
they provided a rough outline of the misery I would encounter over the next
two days, (if not a little bit of comic relief as well).
The cassette player didn't eject, so Rusty gave us one from
'82-'84, which was much more reliable. Dianne installed that, and
thoroughly cleaned the interior. Rusty also threw in a set of sheepskin
seat covers (off of a yard car) that cleaned up quite nicely. Although I
do love leather, it's winter here, and it's cold. Rusty gave us also a
passenger seat and rear seat, to replace the ones that his kids had
jumped all over. Dianne installed those too.
After spending the whole week working feverishly on the car, you can bet
my outlook changed. As the week wore on, I became more and more enamored
with it to the point where today, before I even put clothes on, I was looking
out our front window at it, thinking to myself "this car is the the
quintessence of a performance oriented 4-door sedan". Yeah.
Oh fellow lovers of English machinery,
Let me tell you what a fine car this is.
With a 2:88 differential, it won't screech the tyres, or pull away from
stop lights quickly, but above 60mph, it's faster than just about
anything on the road. Just a slight tap of the throttle on the freeway,
and the speedo starts moving up RIGHT NOW. All of the cars around you
become a speck in the mirror, even without sliding the shift lever from D
to 2.
As I sit in the driver's seat, going at least twice as fast as the
other cars on the freeway, and enjoying enough stability to break out a
sandwich and a pop, $5500 and a whole week's worth of greasy wrenching all
seem like worthwhile investments. I know there will be future
breakdowns, but they all can be fixed; the car will press on through the
years.
There is minimal road noise. There is no perceptable engine or gear
noise. There are clear crisp tones coming out of the stereo. What an amazing
car. It's too bad CAFE regulations only allowed this model into Canada and
Europe.
It's not only the speed. It's about being in a British car. In the
past, whenever I have driven anything except for the Spit-6, I got a feeling
that I was piloting a disposable appliance, like a washing machine or a
toaster. In modern cars, the controls feel like a video game, the
scenery rushes silently by, you see yourself coming around every corner,
except in a slightly different shade of non-offending light metallic
pastel. I knew I didn't want that.
I've worked so many years on my little sports cars, making them mine.
I enjoy the fierce pride of ownership that arises from doing every piece
of restoration and maintenance yourself. Whenever I'd drive a modern car, I
would silently yearn for the Spitfire, even though it's cold in the winter,
hot in the summer, and very loud. It just felt right.
I get the same feelings in the Jag. This is how I know it will be with
us for a long time. What a fine car it is.
Greg
Greg Meboe meboe@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu
Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Washington State University, Pullman, Wa.
'67 Spit-6 '74 TR-6
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