?? Nothing like a Camaro=junk… Some of the baddest as cars I have owne have been jags. Im on to round 5
Anyone old enough to remember when they first introduced the XJ-S in mid 70’s, what did you think of it then vs. now?
I thought “Oh no!! The E type was the most beautiful car in the world and now this!!”
Now decades later I have come to see and love the beauty of the XJS. The E type lept out at me; the XJS slipped in silently.
Ever since being a youngster I have loved the looks of Jaguars; some of the allure to me now is in the fact that not everyone has one.
Regarding El Caminos, I would take it over a Camaro. Never was a Camaro fan. Had a Firebird rag-top and had an El Camino - - wife and I called the El Camino a Caruck. Sold it when we were stationed in Dallas. Good deal for me - -she got an 84 T-bird and I got her 82 280 Z.
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Fantastic work, Paul. How about starting a separate show & tell thread to tell us how you manage to bring an engine bay from a dilapidated mess to looking brand new.
This allure is true for most of us Jim (my story has been posted before, I will just link it):
But, sleek looks aside, to the youngsters that grew up behind the iron curtain who had little-to-none exposure to “real” cars, this was really “IT” (I must say that these races were never on TV back then, and one could only hear about the championships from radio Free Europe or BBC, both of which had un-redacted news in various languages – thus, the names Jaguar XJS, Audi Quattro, Lancia Delta were legends)
That clip still brings goose bumps. And just putting it out there, the engine builder was Kiwi Allan Scott. His book is an incredible insight into the workings of the engine development that went into these cars. A must read and I don’t even have a V12 
I’m different about that…I liked the looks of Ford Ranchero better than the EC because it didn’t have them goofy side windows…had a 58 when I was 18,later two 1971s, a 1975 and 1989…the 75 was probably the best looking…the fastest was the 58 it had a 352 police intercepter and a cruisamatic and would often beat straight sticks…a trophy winner at a Minneapolis drag strip in 1963.
Ok, I’ll start with the back seats.
IIRC my EC was a 73 with the GM 350 V8, cruise, electric windows, cruise, tilt steering wheel, A/C and a homemade cargo bed – the original had rusted out and the PO had fabricated one. I bought it used in 79; I was stationed in Hawaii at the time.
Good friend of mine from later in my career drove a red Ranchero – 70s vintage - - nicknamed the Red Rooster
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I feel like his recent XJ section covers most of that.
Also, personally, I would do the bare minimum with the E (fix the clutch and important bits and bobs), and bring the MkVII to top condition. There are plenty pretty E’s and it’s more of a driver’s car in my eyes than a showroom car. Also, with age it might be harder to get in&out of, so it would be nice to drive the saloon and just fix the E when the time comes, enjoy it for now.
Optically I don’t like the XJS much but for it’s presence on the road. It does have something to it though.
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WayneC1,
What David Jauch is referring to is my recent “Engine Transplant 1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas” thread on the Jag-Lovers XJ list. You can find it by searching that subject line in the archives. I started the thread in December 2018 and documented in pictures and text many of the steps that I took when I removed the failing engine in my 1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas and replaced it with a nicely running engine from my 1987 XJ6 parts car. During that five month project I cleaned, painted, polished or replaced pretty much everything in that engine bay while the engine was out or upon reassembly. My 1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas is now running great again although it still needs a few things attended to after sitting undriven for a few years in my garage awaiting a replacement engine. The engine bay work I did on my 1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas is very much like the work that I did in my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible, my 1990 V12 Vanden Plas, and my 1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas (before I sold it last August) over the past few years except in those three cars I did not remove the complete engines.
Still, I will post a new thread called “Tips from my Jaguar engine bay restorations” now that I have completed four of them and learned a lot. It will give others a chance to reply with tips that they have as well. I will create that first post soon after I do some thinking about it.
Paul
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David,
It seems that we think alike regarding my next projects. My current thinking is to limit my E-Type work to only what is required to remove and replace the clutch and get that car back on the road soon. Then I will leave the full restoration of that car for the future as I continue to drive and enjoy my E-Type again. Then I will complete the full 1957 MK VIII restoration.
At least that is what I think I will do today.
Paul
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Robert,
Actress Kim Novak (no relation to me) in a 1957 Jaguar MK VIII in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Vertigo. I know it well. Thank you for posting that picture.
After getting my 1957 MK VIII in 2005 (attached photo shows it being delivered on a tow truck to my house)
Paul
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Thanks!
I need to play with the search capability, hadn’t used it.
It’s easy. In addition to search terms, use # and @ to narrow things down. I.e. you can search for “search capability @WayneC” or “search capability #xj-s”… to find the Engine Transplant topic, search accordingly.
What a transformation Paul !!
Excellent work, and I love the colours combination.
Aristides
Aristides,
Thank you for your kind words. Although I did all of the disassembly and reassembly of my 1957 MK VIII before and after the bare metal repaint, a lot of the credit goes to the guy who did the amazing work repairing the damaged and rusted body, and his beautiful work on the two tone repaint. He has done bare metal repaints on three of my Jaguars (including my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible) touch up work on two others. He is a perfectionist and has an amazing attention to detail. I am very fortunate to have found him and I regularly recommend him to others living in southern California for the body and paint work on their classic cars. Everyone that I have referred to him has been as delighted with his work as I have been.
Paul
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The way it looks coming at “em” and the way it looks leaving “em”!
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Agreed!! Went on a trip a few weekends ago with a friend who also has an XJS. We took turns leading so had both views during the trip. The car looks like it is well planted on the road especially during some aggressive cornering…likely due to the very low centre of gravity inherent in the design.
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This goes for my ‘99 XJR, when you are being followed by late model Porche through some winding roads and get to the end and the Porche driver says ‘that cars not designed to go like that’ you know its got good handling, and that the Porche driver dosen’t really know about Jags 
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