Hi, I bought this XJS on eBay in 2004 on a whim. I always yearned for a 4.2 Series 2 E-Type but having hired one for a week I was cured. I needed a V12 and at the time had the cash to risk a potentially dodgy purchase. It was rough and the MOT was clearly illegal, probably bought in a pub. I could publish the vendors name, he is still around but I'll save that. I brought my beautiful baby daughter Scarlett home from hospital in that car in February 2005 in the snow so now I know why I couldn't let it die. Obviously it failed it's next MOT and decomposed on the drive for a few years. Divorce and unemployment gave me the necessary time to clear the garage, get a new bottle of welding gas and get stuck in. It only failed the MOT on 5 trivial items, none of them being rot but when I dug deeper I was shocked at what I saw. I welded in some 2"x1" door supports and started cutting, not stopping until I reached clean metal near the transmission tunnel. Since then I have pretty much replaced everything below the knee with genuine Jaguar steel. For that reason I have also immersed it in Waxoyl and applied many coats of BRG. Within the next two weeks it will pass it's MOT and grace the highways once more on newly refurbished 5-Star alloys with the correct profile tyres. I have just started a PhotoBucket album and will provide a link in due course. I hope to make some good contacts on this forum and perhaps attend some informal meets and maybe shows. This is not a concourse car, it was just supposed to be an MOT remember. Cheers, Mark.

 

 

Welcome to the forum,

Good to have you with us.
Great intro, she's looking good, 8 years hard labour!
Looking forward to the on the road pics, did you document the restoration?

You should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.

 

Welcome Mark,

Looks as if your perseverence with the XJS is paying off but you might want to rethink the bonnet stay.

Check the XJS 1975 - 1996 section for a recent thread by member 'Greg in France' who has gone through a similar back to basics rebuild.

Good luck with the MoT.

Graham

 

Thanks folks, and thanks for deleting my erroneous post. As for the bonnet stay it will look great after a few coats of BRG. I have photos of the whole job, it's two years of driving, six years of rotting then one year of hard labour. Also I thought I would add this picture of little and large, two simultaneous projects.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Good to have you with us.

I like the bonnet stay, but you really should have two. Helps prevent twisting.

Good job.

 

Hi Mark, welcome to Jaguarforums, good to have you here with us

Thanks for sharing your info and pic of the car.........

If you add your car details to your signature it will help others to help you much more quickly.

A really great mix of information, camraderrie and fun

In the meantime I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the whole site and all its features so jump on in and enjoy