Daniel,
Nice of you to tell your story. Youve done a LOT of stuff , makes me wonder
what I am missing having only done brakes and a few regular services.
My car is six years older than yours, so your car’s suspension rubber, hoses,
grommets, gaskets and other age- and mileage-susceptible parts probably still
have lots of life in them. Replacing the “wear” parts on my car has helped
restore the ride and silence and give me the confidence to drive it anywhere
as often as I like.
It makes me think of another thing I was interested in, namely , what is it
that first got you interested In Jaguars?
What a great question, and one I hadn’t really thought about. For me, it
must have been two Jaguars in a salvage yard in the town where I grew up in
Southern Illinois. One was an early 60’s XKE coupe, and the other was a Mk.
II saloon. For as long as I could remember in my growing-up years, these two
cars had been sitting just inside the fence of this salvage yard, along a
road my family would often travel. Whenever I would comment on the cars, my
Dad would remind me what they were, with obvious admiration. Neither car
appeared to have any collision damage, but they just sat there over the years
while rust grew through the paint. Later, in high school, a girl I admired
dated an older guy who owned an early 70’s XKE. Jealous? Yeah.
This must have been the beginnings of my affection for British cars. The
first car I bought, after my freshman year of college, was a 1968 Triumph
Spitfire. I paid $495 U.S., did a minor tune up and drove it 350 miles home
where my Dad and brother helped me overhaul and repaint it. Next was a 1969
MGB, which got the same treatment after the rear oil seal failed at near
triple digit speeds.
So when I found this 1988 XJ40, I couldn’t resist. The styling recalls the
classic lines of the earlier saloons, but the car is really quite “modern” in
performance and features. And here’s a car that offers a quiet, refined ride
and luxury at near Rolls Royce levels (especially in Daimler/VDP trim),
plus sporty handling that is not far from BMW 7 series levels. How many
cars can you say that about?
I still dream of restoring both a classic Jag saloon and a sports car (either
a 120 or E would be just fine, choosing between fhc or dhc would be a
challenge). One of these days. In the mean time, I’m really enjoying my
XJ40 and by the time I’ve sorted out everything there won’t be any reason I
can’t drive it another 100,000 miles.
Don Boyer
'88 XJ6 120K