New member hoping to one day be a Jag owner.
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Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2016
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From: Hillsboro, OR
New member hoping to one day be a Jag owner.
Hi Everyone,
My name is Larry and I'm a jagaholic.
I'll apologize in advance for the length of my introduction but I hope you find it at least mildly interesting.
I was introduced to Jaguars in the late 70s through my employer. Our company rented space in a warehouse outside of town from a gentleman who today would be called a hoarder, but at the time was just called a packrat.
The warehouse was fairly large and his stuff took up most of the space, my company just rented a small portion of it in the back. The building housed a collection of some of the most random assortment of items including light fixtures, a revolving door from a hotel and even several large stacks of Cosmopolitan magazine. But there were two items that caught my attention, a WWII army jeep and a beautiful black 1954 Jaguar XK140. Again, this was the late 70's (~1978) and the last plates on the car were from 1965 so it had been sitting there for almost 15 years at that time.
I spoke with the owner about the car and he informed me that he had stored it in there to rebuild the engine. Having had that love(or lust)-at-first moment, I asked if he wanted to sell it. "No, that's my baby," he replied, "I'm gonna finish the engine and drive it again one of these days." I called around at the time and found out that it would be valued around $7,500 if it was running which unfortunately was too rich for my blood and I abandoned efforts to buy the car.
I know what you're thinking because I think it every single day. Why, oh why didn't I take the blue pill? Whoops, I mean, why did I not try harder to buy the car?
Fast forward to fall of 2008 and my wife's upcoming 50th birthday. She had always told herself she was going to get a red sports car when she turned 50 and I wanted nothing more than to make her wish come true. Besides, I had always tinkered with cars and was toying with the notion of restoring an old car so I thought, why not combine the two? I'll restore a car for my wife for her birthday!
Of course, the memory of the Jaguar that got away came to mind immediately. That was my first rude awakening - basketcase XK120s and 140s were going for $30,000. Scratch that, #1 - I didn't have $30k and #2 - it didn't seem prudent to have an $80-300,000 car as my first project. After a lot of research, I settled on a 1957 MGA. Similar lines, but a lot cheaper as there were 100,000 of them made.
I did a full frame-off restoration on the car over the course of the next 5 years (needless to say, I was very late for my wife's 50th birthday), but now the car is on the road and gets driven VERY regularly.
I still have my love of the classic XK120 and XK140 and have hopes to one day restore one of my own.
Best Regards,
Larry Wheeler
My name is Larry and I'm a jagaholic.
I'll apologize in advance for the length of my introduction but I hope you find it at least mildly interesting.I was introduced to Jaguars in the late 70s through my employer. Our company rented space in a warehouse outside of town from a gentleman who today would be called a hoarder, but at the time was just called a packrat.
The warehouse was fairly large and his stuff took up most of the space, my company just rented a small portion of it in the back. The building housed a collection of some of the most random assortment of items including light fixtures, a revolving door from a hotel and even several large stacks of Cosmopolitan magazine. But there were two items that caught my attention, a WWII army jeep and a beautiful black 1954 Jaguar XK140. Again, this was the late 70's (~1978) and the last plates on the car were from 1965 so it had been sitting there for almost 15 years at that time.
I spoke with the owner about the car and he informed me that he had stored it in there to rebuild the engine. Having had that love(or lust)-at-first moment, I asked if he wanted to sell it. "No, that's my baby," he replied, "I'm gonna finish the engine and drive it again one of these days." I called around at the time and found out that it would be valued around $7,500 if it was running which unfortunately was too rich for my blood and I abandoned efforts to buy the car.
I know what you're thinking because I think it every single day. Why, oh why didn't I take the blue pill? Whoops, I mean, why did I not try harder to buy the car?
Fast forward to fall of 2008 and my wife's upcoming 50th birthday. She had always told herself she was going to get a red sports car when she turned 50 and I wanted nothing more than to make her wish come true. Besides, I had always tinkered with cars and was toying with the notion of restoring an old car so I thought, why not combine the two? I'll restore a car for my wife for her birthday!
Of course, the memory of the Jaguar that got away came to mind immediately. That was my first rude awakening - basketcase XK120s and 140s were going for $30,000. Scratch that, #1 - I didn't have $30k and #2 - it didn't seem prudent to have an $80-300,000 car as my first project. After a lot of research, I settled on a 1957 MGA. Similar lines, but a lot cheaper as there were 100,000 of them made.
I did a full frame-off restoration on the car over the course of the next 5 years (needless to say, I was very late for my wife's 50th birthday), but now the car is on the road and gets driven VERY regularly.
I still have my love of the classic XK120 and XK140 and have hopes to one day restore one of my own.
Best Regards,
Larry Wheeler
Veteran Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 26,763
Likes: 10,311
From: Tehama County, California, USA
Hello. Larry,
As I was reading I thought the punch line would be that you found an Ancient Jag in a barn somewhere for next to nothing and rebuilt it. Oh well........
Very pretty MGA though, and it's RED! My favorite color next to BLACK.
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')
As I was reading I thought the punch line would be that you found an Ancient Jag in a barn somewhere for next to nothing and rebuilt it. Oh well........
Very pretty MGA though, and it's RED! My favorite color next to BLACK.
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 120,439
Likes: 17,009
From: Durham, UK
Welcome to the forum Larry,
Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums.
Beautiful job on the MGA. If you aim a little later in Jaguar convertible models, you'll find them a lot more reasonably priced than XK120/XK140's.
Enjoy the forums.
Graham
Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums.
Beautiful job on the MGA. If you aim a little later in Jaguar convertible models, you'll find them a lot more reasonably priced than XK120/XK140's.
Enjoy the forums.
Graham
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 121,078
Likes: 6,652
From: PHX some of the time
Welcome to Jaguar Forums Larry,
Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.
If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help
Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.
If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 25,844
Likes: 4,707
From: Summerville, South Carolina
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Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 421
Likes: 110
From: North California
Welcome to the forum, Larry. Beautiful MGA and that's a car with which you can have a lot of fun. My best friend when I was a teenager had one and we had a blast in it. I hope you find the right Jag to restore; there are plenty out there that could benefit from your love!
