Thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself - first name Ruud, last name Noordzij, living in (not today) sunny California and owning an emerald green 1988 VDP. My dad-in-law bought it new and babied the cat for the first say 29 years - until his health started deteriorating and he was not able to properly care for it.... he passed late 2018 and my mom-in-law did not want to drive the Jag so it sat and started getting worse.... I had to recharge the battery endless times, the tires were getting flat and it was just a plain sad sight. We ended up taking it out of mom's garage in June of 2019 and parked it in ours so it could at least be driven regularly. Failed California smog in March so that was a bit of a journey sourcing parts during COVID and getting a shop (actually two but both are excellent) to make it 100% legal and clean again. Next on the list were a broken (surprise surprise) door handle, I was able to easily fix that one myself, and of course there was a bulb failure warning leaving the left tail light out of the game, also a quite easy fix. Front shocks 100% shot, now there is a set of nice gas-filled ones. Now left to do.... despite good fuses and no other faults the right front door does not activate the interior lights (I'll post that one) and a couple of weeks ago the speedo stopped working. I'll remove the cluster tomorrow or Wednesday (I'm a relocation consultant and freight broker so these days before New Year's are quiet) and check out the connections... everything else works still. Next? Oh yes, a fairly small rip in the backseat (lower right corner) and we have local Jag adept Mark Lackey to fix that sometime early 2021. Plan is to start making some nice long road trips with the old cat next year as it feels very solid and reliable... I drove it to Santa Barbara and back at high speed and that was even with the old shocks and other gremlins....

when we picked it up from my mom's

quarter left rear

front

very clean behind the wheel

back seat as well.... rip in the seat bottom on the right side

machine room.... needed new MAF, O2 sensor and underneath two new catalytic converters in order to pass smog... still running a bit rough so I'll get the new sparks installed next month

right passenger seat clean as well.... only have to get the passenger door to operate interior lights. TBA

failure module left did the trick

two tails as from July this year

As we had to sell our third car which was versatile, the Jag has been hauling some longer items a couple of times....

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Good looking '40, even from down here.

OPEN roads. the ONLY place for the Big Cats.

Good luck.

 

Welcome to the forums Ruud,

It was all looking so good until the last photo. It took an enormous effort of willpower not to give you an immediate ban.

Follow this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj40-xj81-25/ to the XJ40 forum for help, advice and information. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for information on regular issues. You can also use the US Western Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/us-western-38/ to find other members in your region.

Please add vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. Go to the User CP button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!!

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Ruud,
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

 

Hello, Ruud,
Congratulations on your new Jaguar XJ40! Although I'm sorry for how you got it.
It looks like the car will earn its keep.
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome aboard Ruud.