Competent Repair Shop (Finally) in Dallas (?)

XJ-S
1

Had a bud send me a pic yesterday of a red '91 XJS he spotted outside an auto repair shop here in Dallas. I have posted before about our lack of a competent shop in my city who can handle repairs of our older XJSes, such as Superblack. :frowning_face:

I was able to track the red XJS down to the co-owner (“Art Ziesk”) of the repair shop, as it is apparently one of his personal cars. His name seems strangely familiar, btw, but I don’t believe he is a member of J-Lers. :confused: Anyway, the website for the shop - “Automotive Specialties” - claims they are specialists in classic Brit. makes (apparently esp. MGs) and their 5 techs have over 100 years of combined experience with them. :open_mouth: I have no idea why I have never heard of this shop until now. :exploding_head: It sounds like they are just what Superblack needs, esp. for her rust repair welding job on the rear suspension (if they DO welding work), although the $120.00 hr. rate seems a bit steep. :grimacing: Does anyone know anything about that shop?

     https://texasmg.com/
2

Can’t be better better than your buddy?/s
I don’t know if you can’t find something cheaper for the welding, maybe and maybe not, but for safety critical jobs give them a try?

3

question is what you get done in one hour at 120 ?

buying your own welding stuff and learning cost would allow you a pretty decent number of hours ; _ )

4

$90 seems to be the bottom price for mechanics in the DC area. The specialty guys charge about $110-$120. I’d say thats market rate.

If he knows what he’s doing, well worth it. You could do a lot worse for $75/hour on Craigslist.

5

My belief is that 100 to 120 dollars and hour for niche market cars in large metro area is about right.

6

Have you tried contacting a shop called “Jag Mac” in Dallas - read on another list that this was a competent shop.

7

If you can get him to work on your Jag, I imagine he is. When I called him about working on Superblue a couple of years ago when she was having an intermittent transmission issue, he (guy with a Scottish or Irish accent, btw) told me, “I no longer work on those vintage models”, w/o any explanation given. :open_mouth: Apparently he only works on the X-308s and newer models. :disappointed:

As I mentioned somewhere else on here, I did find a place off I-30 near Dolphin Road in Dallas on the westbound service road that should be able to fill the bill - “Automotive Specialties” - although I have not actually talked to them yet. I do know one of the co-owners has a red XJ-S coupe (pre-facelift) as his personal car. :+1: Always a good sign. They have very good reviews, too, as well as supposedly a ton of experience between their techs. Been in biz 30+ years, IIRC. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Just checked post on other list, from 5 days ago - a 95 4.0 is what was worked on at Jag Mac in Dallas - had AC and cruise repaid - stated very satisfied with work - maybe better people than you talked with a few years ago.

9

Could be. Could you ask them if the person they dealt with there had the accent I mentioned? If so, maybe he has changed his policy of late for “economic reasons” (i.e. more customers now have the classic Jags than the post X-300s) :thinking:

btw, both of those items are out on Superblue, too … I can’t figure out what is up with the CC going out … I have replaced everything in the system except for the dump valve and the vacuum pump … :angry: Someone mentioned earlier there is some kind of switch connected to the system with the brake pedal stoplight switch, but someone else mentioned that if the brake light is coming on as it should then the CC switch should be working as well. ? :confused: I think there is also some other microswitch connected with the CC that is in with the shift selector handle, but it is my understanding that switch very rarely goes out (Superblue only has 100K miles on her). :frowning: I’m actually thinking about borrowing that CC diagnostic tester from the Heritage website to finally track the issue down. :bulb: What did the poster say turned out to be wrong with their CC, btw?

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jagmacjaguartexas.com is what he passed to me - this will get you address, tel no., and hours of operation - his assessment is “AC and cruise repaired, ready sooner than I thought, fair price, cool lobby and really nice people! Really glad I’ve found a shop in Dallas.”

11

I was looking at the shop’s (current) website, which says it is “presently under construction”, and notice none of the cars around his parking lot or “in the back” appear to be Jags, with the possible exception of a very dusty X-300 or XJ8 facing the camera from “in the back”. :confused: Makes me wonder if he has also decided to start working on other makes of cars, possibly due to the economy. :thinking: In the past, IIRC, he only worked on Jags, L-R and Mercedes.

12

AttyDal …

Well if you don’t mind a bit of a drive I can highly recommend British Auto Specialist just east of Ft Worth.

www.britauto.com

Jeff Sloan is the owner and a personal friend. As nice and honest a guy as you would hope to meet. I’ve taken my 1989 XJ40 there for years (well, a couple of decades now actually) and have NEVER been disappointed. Great corporate knowledge on older Jaguars.

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WOW … Now that’s what we need in Dallas! :joy: It says they’ve been in biz for 37 years … I wonder why I’ve never even heard of them before now … :confused: Motorman lives not far from there (although to the NW of Ft. Worth) … I wonder if he knows about them? :thinking:

Thanks, Groover … :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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btw, I notice it says they have “thousands of (Brit car) parts on hand”. Are they new and used? Do they actually have a parts counter where you can go in and pick up Jag parts? :confused:

15

Atty,

Just go straight to Bombardier’s repair site near you, with current pricing in “brit car” workshop - probably they will ne cheaper.

Every “brit car” workshop has plenty of work and long lead times. UK Leyland managed to reassure this in early 50s…