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New Member Area - Intro a MUSTNew to Jaguar Forums? Drop in and tell us about you, your ride and location. This is your chance to introduce yourself to the forum.
Hello everyone I recently purchased a 2002 Jaguar XK8 with 38,000 miles. I've been getting lots of valuable information about these vehicles from this forum and would like to introduce myself.
About me
I'm an engineer in the automotive industry in the Detroit, Michigan area and have been working at Ford Motor Company for 32 years. Almost all my background is in Powertrain Engineering. I first gained interest in these vehicles when Jaguar was part of Ford when the vehicle was introduced. In the late 1990’s I was the powertrain integration manager for the Ford Thunderbird program and we were doing extensive benchmarking on the XK8 project as part of the target setting process. The Thunderbird was reintroduced in the 2000 model year as a new two-seat convertible reminiscent of the original Thunderbird of the 1950s. We had several meetings with the engineers as Jaguar as we shared the basic AJ engine architecture between the XK8 and the Thunderbird. However, the Thunderbird was on a different platform (Thunderbird used the same platform as the Jaguar S type/Lincoln LS sedan). I used to take XK8 test vehicles for overnight and weekend drives and was always extremely impressed with the styling and functional attributes. At the time we had small children and an XK8 wasn't a practical vehicle and the cost was prohibitive. Now 20 years later I have been searching and finally purchased one in outstanding condition.
About the new vehicle
Our new XK8 is in extremely good condition with only 38,000 original miles. It spent most of its life in covered storage. There are some pictures of it posted in my profile. Both interior and exterior are in near-mint condition. I researched many of the online videos and that combined with my background in automotive engineering I was very discerning in selecting a vehicle. Since the vehicle was based in Michigan I was concerned about corrosion but this vehicle has a completely clean underbody structure with zero signs of rust in the typical areas. It has not been driven in the Michigan winters. There is however one significant issue and that is the major instrument cluster failed on the previous owner a year ago. I believe the failure was related to long periods of storage creating a low voltage battery combine with improper charging technique. They always had the vehicle serviced at a Jaguar dealership and the dealer could not locate a new replacement cluster so they fitted it a recycled cluster from a donor vehicle. The mileage from that donor cluster was at 190,000 miles. So the vehicle went into the dealership with 34,000 on the odometer and came out with 190,000 miles. That's not a significant concern for me as I'm more interested in the overall condition of the vehicle which is outstanding. The mileage discrepancy allowed for the purchase of this vehicle at a discounted price.
As with any 20 year old car I expect to be doing service on it myself and look forward to giving and receiving information from this forum.
New Member Intro - 2002 XK8
