Hold on ...spring's coming

on the northern hemisphere at least.

Had the Jag out again


To be honest, it was my son while I was working …

Be happy

Jochen

75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)

6 Likes

My son wants to take the Jag out for a drive, too. Unfortunately he will have to wait a couple of years :wink:

Cheers,
Harald

4 Likes

Beautiful car Jochen, love the colour

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Kool kid, Harald!

In fact, I had been pondering about buying a Jaguar around 1998, but abandoned the idea. When my son was born it was fairly clear that my two-seaters were inadequate. Initially, I thought about buying a Triumph Herald convertible, maybe even a Vitesse. Over the weeks I found that for a decent car I’d have to pump out serious money. I also knew about the crashworthiness of the Spitfire and was able to guess that the Herald wouldn’t offer much better protection for a kid’s seat in the back. Finally, I once had a ride in the back seat of a friend’s BMW E30 convertible and knew that even comfy four-seater convertibles make true brides of the wind in the back seats.

And then I stumbled across my car 38 mins before the ebay auction ended - and paid less than for a good original Vitesse convertible. One week later I travelled on a train with a child’s seat and my 4-year-old son across the country to pick it up and drove back. The cars’s still there and the boy thinks about buying a halfway classic car of his own.

Best

Jochen

75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)

1 Like

Thanks Robert,

Fern Grey is incredibly 70s - when I saw it first time it reminded me of the olive drab the British Rhine army were using during that time in Lower Saxony where I spent my youth. When I did my military service the commander’s “company car” was an Opel Rekord in NATO olive, and in the days it was common practice to use some diesel fuel to make the matte colour shiny. So putting diesel on Rhine army olive will probably do the trick …

But yes, I really like it - even with the Moss Green interior!

Best

Jochen

75 XJ6L auto (UK spec)

Jochen,

Just about the same story with us, my son could have almost come home from the hospital in the glove compartment of the TR6. Picked up my 85 XJ6 when he was about 6 months old for cheap (and promptly dumped about $6k into it).

When the pandemic hit it was clear my wife needed a 4-seat convertible so we picked up a 1998 SAAB, fixed it up a little, and have logged a ton of miles of mental health evening cruises. He’s almost 4 now and doesn’t complain too much though I know it is pretty windy back there.

THIS IS HOW I ENDED UP WITH 5 cars at my house :roll_eyes:

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My car is Green Sand which is also a classic colour from the 70s and I have a funny feeling that my interior is Moss Green too.


This photo was taken by the dealer that sold the car to me.

While the head was off the block to have a full rebuild I took the opportunity to polish the cam covers, this may offend the Jag purists out there but I’m very pleased with the result

Next job is replacing the anti roll bar bushes and also the brake fluid reservoir as it has sprung a leak by one of the outlet spigots, I’ve a strong suspicion that this happened during the process of either removing or replacing the head, but there you go! I just wish that the international airfreight system was working at the same speed as it was pre virus! New Zealand is such a very long way away from (most) of the rest of the world Australia excepted.

2 Likes

Just beautiful, Robert!

Greensand is fine on Chrome Turbo wheels and, maybe you want to take a pic of the interior, as my colour chart indicates that Greensand came with Olive, Biscuit and Cinnamon, but not Moss Green leather.

The engine bay looks great as well without the stainless heat shield and the air duct, but polished headers instead. What did or do you do to keep it this way?

Best

Jochen

75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)

I miss understood your point about the Moss Green, my carpet is a mossy green colour but the leather is a plain mid brown. All in very good condition I must say (for it’s age at least). The cam covers etc were polished on a simple bench grinder with the addition of a polishing wheel. The process took a few hours to complete but I like the end result, I had purchased the paint to repaint the cam covers but I thought, why not give it a go? I use Autosol metal polish to keep it looking good but it’s not too onerous a task,

Bob

Sorry Bob,

didn’t mean to confuse: “Moss green” (HDA) is an authentic, today quite rare, interior colour. The original carpet colour for Moss green interiors was “Sage” (HDD; again very hard to find; my PO put in replacement carpet which is much lighter than the original I’m afraid).

Following the colour chart your interior might be “Olive” (HDB), which in fact is rather a dark brown (better think of the ripe olives than of the green ones), and the matching carpet is again “Sage” (HDD) and your description matches very much what I would expect it to look like guessing from the seat backs and vinyl interior.

Autosol is a great product - I still have a leftover from my parents’ last chrome-adorned car in the early 1980s, probably purchased much earlier for their VW 1200 export version. Your cam covers just look great, but really show the effort put into! Polishing the large parts is serious business for a bench grinder with a polishing wheel!

Best

Jochen

75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
Jochen

Robert, that car looks in great condition, it would be welcomed at any car show, the British and. European has been postponed till 11th April.

Lovely car
Love the engine bay including the polished covers and those tubular manifolds
They so expensive over here for jags compared to other makes.

Hi Robin, I’m certainly hoping to see you at the classic car show on the 11th (virus permitting)

Thanks all for your kind comments. I had actually purchased a can of black spray paint to repaint the cam covers while they were off the car but when I started with a light sand to get a key for the paint, well I just carried on and ended up polishing them. They could always be painted in the future of course.
Jochen, this is a photo of the interior

Bob

1 Like

Anjum,

looking at the headers I just feel reminded of Mike Oldfield’s “tubular bells”!

Thanks Bob - with all the lying of TFT sceens, but that’s clearly olive and it’s f … renetically gorgeous, both in colour and condition! Your carpets look perfect as well - that is exactly the colour I’m looking for. In the last pic you can see the wrong carpet.

Moss green is more like that

Good luck and best wishes

Jochen

75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)

I’ve got a pair of half ally polished cam covers waiting to fit to my xjc …in maybe couple of years.
I’ve learned there is a clear lacquer designed for polished aluminium. I haven’t tried it yet, though.