I've been holding off in this discussion, sitting back and reading. I
know that somewhere someone will jump on this and say I don't know what
I'm talking about but... Yes, Ford did take over Jaguar ownership in
the early 90's. But they stated they would not interfere with Jag
design, production etc. I do however think Ford has copied some of
Jag's design etc. and vice-versa with the new smaller models. But the
Vanden Plas still seems to be a real Vanden Plas.
Somewhere around the spring of 97 I owned a '94 Saturn when I stopped by
to visit a friend who just happened to be a used car dealer. While
chatting I spotted a '91 XJ6 ...beautiful but with 103k miles. My
friend told me if I really wanted that Jag he'd sell it at his cost and
he did ....I did see his papers. Remember, we are very good friends,
he is the elder deacon in our church. Figuring I'd be using some of
the money for repairs etc which I would have paid elsewhere for that
year car I felt I had a good deal. First thing I did was contact the
only Jag dealer in Houston (at that time) for fresh oil, lube etc.
They were snowed with new car sales/service and I was referred to an
independant, former employee who was factory trained. I liked the guy
and am still with him. He works on and maintains only Jaguar. Mike,
the mechanic, inspected the car and told me I could expect to hit 200k
before a head job became needed. I drove that car all over Texas,
Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and other states as far north as Illinois
with nary a problem. Gas mileage ran around 14 in town, 18-20 on the
road dependant upon my lead foot. I did keep scheduled maintenance and
found it no more expensive than my former Saturn, purchased new.
A little over 3 years ago while the '91 was in for service I spotted a
'96 Vanden Plas on display by one of Mike's customers. This 5 year old
car, at that time, was as clean as a new car and had 38k miles. Mike
said the owner had serviced it regularly with him. I bought it, put
my '91 on Mike's concrete to sell. I now have 70k on this '96 Vanden
Plas and plan to drive it for quite awhile longer. It too has given
me trouble-free service all over the Southwest and points into
Illinois. City mileage runs around 14 to 15 mpg, highway runs 18 to 21
again dependant upon my lead foot.
Will I eventually buy another? You bet!
And I'll still enjoy my Healeys too!
KrkLH@cs.com wrote:
>With all of the Jag discussion this prompts me to ask, didn't Ford take
>Jaguar over in 1989 (or later)?
>
>Has the quality improved since then?
>
>What were the quality issues if any, that were associated with Jags before
>the Ford involvement? I have heard that there were labor disputes or
>something
>like that, and that the workers were not as attentive to the cars during build
>up, or that the parts were just not machined as tightly as they could be -
>etc?
>
>I seem to feel that a pre Ford Jag - if maintained and taken car of can be a
>decent car and deliver a lot of service?
>
>Kirk
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