Double trouble
#1
09-29-2016, 05:01 PM
Double trouble
Hey All, longtime Jag nut down in south florida, have been hanging out on the X250 forum for the last year as I bought a wrecked 2014 XF 3.0 SC and rebuilt it. Was called every name in the book but hey, it all worked out.
Sooo, when I was in my teens, my dad had a Green 86 XJS for a few years and then a Black 89 with Wire wheels. I was in an auto mechanics program at high school and while everyone else was bringing in Corollas and Camaros, I was the pain that showed up with a V12 jag that always needed work.
I graduated college and my first major purchase after getting a "real" job was an 02 X-type sport with manual. Kept it for 2 years then came across a deal on a CPO S-Type R in Georgia, so I did what any same person would do, found out who was heading north and hitched a ride to the dealership, bought the car and was headed back south in less than 90 minutes. That kitty died in a wreck and I spent a few years driving Pontiac G8 GT's and played with a Grand National for about 2 years. I met a girl, we bought a house, I bought a truck and we got married.
FFWD a year, wife is pregnant and we're in the middle of house reno, I finally get the XF registered and start putting miles on it and all of a sudden I get this dumb urge to buy an Old XJS and "tinker"
Sorry for the short summary of the last 10 years but this gets us to early September. After searching for weeks and looking at some junk down here, I find a red 89 in the Carolinas that had the infamous engine fire. 2 owner car, 77k miles on it, guy's wife wanted it gone asap since he hadnt touched it in the 6 months since the fire. So I talked to my car buddy Matt and he said he was free so we decided we were going for it......oops, I should have checked the weather, there was a Tropical Storm headed to the Carolinas...Hermine was coming... It didnt stop us though, we waited until we thought we could head north and escape most of the bad weather. That great logic lasted till about St. Augustine, you'd think being from FL I'd remember that storms spin and have feeder bands, luckily we were right near Ancient City brewing so we "took shelter" there for a few hours and waited until it was clear and hit the road. We rolled into a friend's driveway in Savannah around 1 am and chatted till 3. Was woken up by a 3yr old that decided yelling “good morning” 413 times was a great way to make new friends… Had breakfast with their family and we got back on the road, taking 17 all the way from Savannah to Charleston. It was some very pretty driving through the swamp. Blue crab and shrimp were everywhere to be found after the storm but we didn’t pack a cooler. We get to the car and found out the hard way that pushing a jag with soft tires and stuck brakes on loose granite is a horrible idea. Car on trailer, we redid the plastic wrap around the windows and headed south, stopping of course for BBQ in the Carolinas and honestly the best Peach Cobbler I have ever had. If you’re ever in southeast Georgia, go to Skippers Fish Camp in Darian, go to the bar on the left and ask for it. Its NOT on the menu so don’t look for it. Got the car home and had fun getting it parked. Pulled the door panels off and hotwired the window motors to get the glass closed.
Part 2 of double trouble began on September 12th but I’ll have to finish that post a little later as my wife threw a wrench in my plans and had our son Holden on 9/19. He’s asleep right now so I’m finishing this part of the post today
Until next time
Kevin
Sooo, when I was in my teens, my dad had a Green 86 XJS for a few years and then a Black 89 with Wire wheels. I was in an auto mechanics program at high school and while everyone else was bringing in Corollas and Camaros, I was the pain that showed up with a V12 jag that always needed work.
I graduated college and my first major purchase after getting a "real" job was an 02 X-type sport with manual. Kept it for 2 years then came across a deal on a CPO S-Type R in Georgia, so I did what any same person would do, found out who was heading north and hitched a ride to the dealership, bought the car and was headed back south in less than 90 minutes. That kitty died in a wreck and I spent a few years driving Pontiac G8 GT's and played with a Grand National for about 2 years. I met a girl, we bought a house, I bought a truck and we got married.
FFWD a year, wife is pregnant and we're in the middle of house reno, I finally get the XF registered and start putting miles on it and all of a sudden I get this dumb urge to buy an Old XJS and "tinker"
Sorry for the short summary of the last 10 years but this gets us to early September. After searching for weeks and looking at some junk down here, I find a red 89 in the Carolinas that had the infamous engine fire. 2 owner car, 77k miles on it, guy's wife wanted it gone asap since he hadnt touched it in the 6 months since the fire. So I talked to my car buddy Matt and he said he was free so we decided we were going for it......oops, I should have checked the weather, there was a Tropical Storm headed to the Carolinas...Hermine was coming... It didnt stop us though, we waited until we thought we could head north and escape most of the bad weather. That great logic lasted till about St. Augustine, you'd think being from FL I'd remember that storms spin and have feeder bands, luckily we were right near Ancient City brewing so we "took shelter" there for a few hours and waited until it was clear and hit the road. We rolled into a friend's driveway in Savannah around 1 am and chatted till 3. Was woken up by a 3yr old that decided yelling “good morning” 413 times was a great way to make new friends… Had breakfast with their family and we got back on the road, taking 17 all the way from Savannah to Charleston. It was some very pretty driving through the swamp. Blue crab and shrimp were everywhere to be found after the storm but we didn’t pack a cooler. We get to the car and found out the hard way that pushing a jag with soft tires and stuck brakes on loose granite is a horrible idea. Car on trailer, we redid the plastic wrap around the windows and headed south, stopping of course for BBQ in the Carolinas and honestly the best Peach Cobbler I have ever had. If you’re ever in southeast Georgia, go to Skippers Fish Camp in Darian, go to the bar on the left and ask for it. Its NOT on the menu so don’t look for it. Got the car home and had fun getting it parked. Pulled the door panels off and hotwired the window motors to get the glass closed.
Part 2 of double trouble began on September 12th but I’ll have to finish that post a little later as my wife threw a wrench in my plans and had our son Holden on 9/19. He’s asleep right now so I’m finishing this part of the post today
Until next time
Kevin
#2
09-29-2016, 05:05 PM
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Jonathan-W (09-29-2016)
#4
09-29-2016, 07:06 PM
#6
10-13-2016, 12:23 PM
#7
10-16-2016, 01:09 PM
Ok, here goes part 2...the baby is sleeping.
I start making a parts list for the fire car and realize that it’s going to be quite a project. The previous owner had also resprayed the car with a cheapo so it was shiny but up close, I could see the flaws but figured, I wanted to paint it Jaguar racing green anyhow, just add it to the list of things to do. I got to work the following Monday (9/12) and was on craigslist looking to see if there were any parts cars nearby when low and behold, I'm staring a Green 1988 with 67k on the other side of the state that was garage kept by same owner since 1990. Price was oodles more than I paid for the fire car but it was all there and it ran. Called the number, got the wife who said she wanted it gone since the husband was older and hadn't worked on it in years and they had 3 other cars. She gives me his number and of course, he describes it as a dream but it had a "small" power steering leak and might need brakes but it can surely make the 170 mile drive back. I tell my boss I'm off for the day and I head out on a 2.5 hr trip to see this thing. I get there, greeted by the wife who warns me that the price is not negotiable and that they were asking significantly more just 2 months ago. I couldn't help but reply, "but it’s still here"
First impressions:
Engine has a miss
I can see fluid pouring out of the steering rack
Car stinks of fuel
Stance is all wacky
Eww, fender chrome.
The husband is still singing it praises so I ask him to go for a drive.......
Yeah, brake pedal goes to the floor
Horrible knock from right front suspension
Carpets are shagged out
Seatbelt is inopp and I can’t even find the latch for the shoulder belt.
AC inop
Car accelerates and shifts thru all gears but def misses and that fuel smell
Oh good, the parking brake kinda works, I won’t hit the house.
I quickly return to their house, hand the guy the keys and go over the list of stuff I found wrong and tell him thanks but its way worse than he knew about or told me. I also showed him what they look like when people ignore the furl smells for too long.
Then the bombshell “Well besides a radiator recore 3 years ago and oil changes, I've never done anything to the car" Come again say WHAT???
So I ask him, you mean nothing major but when last were plugs or wires or brakes done”, nope, never did any of those. So I am now 100% sure that I’m not interested…at this price.
His wife comes back out and asked me how much I loved the car and how rare it was and what it cost them back in 90 etc. I went down the list of issues and thanked them for their time and started walking back to my car when she yells at him “ Well figure out how much he’s willing to give you so we can get rid of this thing” He comes over and goes “ look man, until this thing is gone, she won’t let me rest and no one else is interested, make me an offer” We haggled for 20 mins or so and agreed on a price but I told him he had to keep it for me until I could get a tow truck and had to promise me that he would NOT start it again.
That Friday, call up my same buddy that did the run with me to SC for the fire car and as usual, he’s up for it. We left work early on Friday, went over to U-Haul for a trailer and literally as we’re lowering into the hitch, my wife calls and says oh btw, we’re having a baby on Monday, well now I’m wondering do I unhook the trailer and scrap the whole deal but I’ve already paid for the car. She says nah, go ahead, get it home before the baby. So we head out, driving thru some serious weather as we cut thru the sugar cane fields of mid Florida. I called the owner to let him know we were 20 mins away and he says “ we’re not home, the car is on the road, keys are in the trunk, sorry.” To be honest, I wasn’t surprised considering all the other odd behavior. So we load the car up, headed over to Ft. Myers brewing company, met my in-laws and celebrated the baby news. WE turned around and headed east and as is our tradition, we were on the hunt for BBQ and found it at Log Cabin in Labelle. We ate way too much then hit the road again, smooth sailing until we got onto the WB stretch of 27/80 just outside of Clewiston. Trailer lost a tire so we limped into the median. Called UHaul and sat in the dark. For those of you that know the area, you know there’s NOTHING out there. We could see the lights of Clewiston but it was still 8 miles away. We spent 30 minutes killing off the monster mosquitos that had gotten in during the 22 seconds the doors were open and then 2 hours going over all the scenarios of how we could die or abandon the trailer and make it to Clewiston. Midnight saw us back on the road finally and we make it back to west palm just before 1.
Next episode, Hurricane Matthew decides to visit. I have 5 cars and only 4 run and my garage can only hold 2… I think.
I start making a parts list for the fire car and realize that it’s going to be quite a project. The previous owner had also resprayed the car with a cheapo so it was shiny but up close, I could see the flaws but figured, I wanted to paint it Jaguar racing green anyhow, just add it to the list of things to do. I got to work the following Monday (9/12) and was on craigslist looking to see if there were any parts cars nearby when low and behold, I'm staring a Green 1988 with 67k on the other side of the state that was garage kept by same owner since 1990. Price was oodles more than I paid for the fire car but it was all there and it ran. Called the number, got the wife who said she wanted it gone since the husband was older and hadn't worked on it in years and they had 3 other cars. She gives me his number and of course, he describes it as a dream but it had a "small" power steering leak and might need brakes but it can surely make the 170 mile drive back. I tell my boss I'm off for the day and I head out on a 2.5 hr trip to see this thing. I get there, greeted by the wife who warns me that the price is not negotiable and that they were asking significantly more just 2 months ago. I couldn't help but reply, "but it’s still here"
First impressions:
Engine has a miss
I can see fluid pouring out of the steering rack
Car stinks of fuel
Stance is all wacky
Eww, fender chrome.
The husband is still singing it praises so I ask him to go for a drive.......
Yeah, brake pedal goes to the floor
Horrible knock from right front suspension
Carpets are shagged out
Seatbelt is inopp and I can’t even find the latch for the shoulder belt.
AC inop
Car accelerates and shifts thru all gears but def misses and that fuel smell
Oh good, the parking brake kinda works, I won’t hit the house.
I quickly return to their house, hand the guy the keys and go over the list of stuff I found wrong and tell him thanks but its way worse than he knew about or told me. I also showed him what they look like when people ignore the furl smells for too long.
Then the bombshell “Well besides a radiator recore 3 years ago and oil changes, I've never done anything to the car" Come again say WHAT???
So I ask him, you mean nothing major but when last were plugs or wires or brakes done”, nope, never did any of those. So I am now 100% sure that I’m not interested…at this price.
His wife comes back out and asked me how much I loved the car and how rare it was and what it cost them back in 90 etc. I went down the list of issues and thanked them for their time and started walking back to my car when she yells at him “ Well figure out how much he’s willing to give you so we can get rid of this thing” He comes over and goes “ look man, until this thing is gone, she won’t let me rest and no one else is interested, make me an offer” We haggled for 20 mins or so and agreed on a price but I told him he had to keep it for me until I could get a tow truck and had to promise me that he would NOT start it again.
That Friday, call up my same buddy that did the run with me to SC for the fire car and as usual, he’s up for it. We left work early on Friday, went over to U-Haul for a trailer and literally as we’re lowering into the hitch, my wife calls and says oh btw, we’re having a baby on Monday, well now I’m wondering do I unhook the trailer and scrap the whole deal but I’ve already paid for the car. She says nah, go ahead, get it home before the baby. So we head out, driving thru some serious weather as we cut thru the sugar cane fields of mid Florida. I called the owner to let him know we were 20 mins away and he says “ we’re not home, the car is on the road, keys are in the trunk, sorry.” To be honest, I wasn’t surprised considering all the other odd behavior. So we load the car up, headed over to Ft. Myers brewing company, met my in-laws and celebrated the baby news. WE turned around and headed east and as is our tradition, we were on the hunt for BBQ and found it at Log Cabin in Labelle. We ate way too much then hit the road again, smooth sailing until we got onto the WB stretch of 27/80 just outside of Clewiston. Trailer lost a tire so we limped into the median. Called UHaul and sat in the dark. For those of you that know the area, you know there’s NOTHING out there. We could see the lights of Clewiston but it was still 8 miles away. We spent 30 minutes killing off the monster mosquitos that had gotten in during the 22 seconds the doors were open and then 2 hours going over all the scenarios of how we could die or abandon the trailer and make it to Clewiston. Midnight saw us back on the road finally and we make it back to west palm just before 1.
Next episode, Hurricane Matthew decides to visit. I have 5 cars and only 4 run and my garage can only hold 2… I think.
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#8
10-16-2016, 01:13 PM
If it wasnt this color, I'd prolly have walked away
Refreshments after the loading
Ate waaaay too much but man was the food good
Here's a quick time lapse of the trip too. Check out the sky changes and I forgot to mention that a state trooper stopped to make sure we were okay sitting out in the middle of nowhere
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