Good morning Fellow Jaguar enthusiasts.

About a year ago I fell in love with a beautiful if not a little rough (more than just a little rough as I later discovered) white 74 XJ6, The poor old Cat was sitting outside being neglected and I had to have it.

I decided recently that I wanted to keep track of the project, so I have decided this is the place to do it, So... my plan is to keep this build thread going with regular updates, any history of the car I find out and a story or two, I've already had a bit of an adventure with it.

Some of you may recognise the old girl, a previous owner was a member of the Nelson drivers club.

Updates to follow.

 

 

My story begins a little over a year ago on a trip back from Matamata with my wife and kids, I’ve been itching to get another project car so have been driving my poor wife crazy with my ideas, and our current trip was no exception, as we (Lets face it, mostly Me) were throwing ideas around I came up with the idea of a Jag, My Dad has had Jags for years, my father in Law had a Series 2 XJ6 years ago so it’s in the blood… as luck (or she just gave in) would have it my wife agreed that a Jag would be a great. So the search began.


As the following months progressed I began my search for the perfect Jag, the biggest problem I faced was deciding whether I was going to go classic or modern, I couldn’t decide so narrowed down my list to two possible vehicles, a 95 XJ6 or a 78 Series 2 XJ6, both had pro’s and cons, the 95 I liked because it was a very nice example and I could just drive and enjoy, the 78 I loved the bodyshape and simplicity, I loved the idea of a resto but it had a few issues, mainly that it was de registered…. And didn’t run… at all. I couldn’t decide which way to go so in the end missed out on both. The 78 Sold to someone else and the 95 owners never got back to me about viewing it.


At this point I was feeling very sorry for myself and had almost given up on the whole idea, so here I was having lunch with a colleague and venting my frustrations about the whole ordeal when he said something that I could not believe, he offered me HIS Series 2, now what you need to understand is this is a car that he bought only a couple of years ago, flew down to Christchurch to pick it up and drove back to Auckland, not only was it exactly what I was looking for, but I could drive it home…. Sort of (we’ll get to that shortly), so off I went for a test drive and it truly was Love at first drive.


It drove like crap!!! This thing was in serious need of some love, and love it would get, within the Week money had changed hands, change of ownership was done and I was off to collect my new Jaguar, beaming from ear to ear and keen as mustard I caught a ride to my colleagues house to bring my old girl home, I was soooo excited, little did I know how the evening was destined to turn out.


Now the idea was that I would drive it home from West Auckland to the Waiuku area, usually not a problem except that I was being a little bit naughty because although it could drive it was missing a few things, namely a Rego and Warrant, but in true “she’ll be right” fashion I was going to drive it home regardless, before heading off I made sure all the lights worked, put 10 litres of fuel in the drivers side fuel tank, said my goodbyes and set off on my maiden voyage.


Now most of you can probably recall the first drive of your new Jaguar quite fondly, it is quite an exhilarating experience and this was no exception, I was loving every minute of being behind the wheel of this glorious car, It truly felt like I was driving a piece of motoring history, I was completely taken by the experience of it, which is probably why I didn’t notice that the fuel gauge hadn’t moved off empty, by the time I did notice I was heading straight into the waterview tunnel, now anybody will tell you that the last place you want to run out of petrol is in any tunnel, let alone the Waterview tunnel, as panic began to rise in my chest I remembered I had two tanks and a switch to change them over, if it did begin to run out of fuel I could just change tanks, no problem, so once again I was feeling very good about myself right up until I was smack bang in the middle of the tunnel, all of a sudden I felt that dreaded slump of fuel starvation as my tank was sucked dry, without hesitation I pressed the button to change tanks and settled back to watch the fuel gauge climb… which It didn’t!!!


I really should point out that myself and the previous owner had a good talk about which tank was the most reliable, as it turns out we got it wrong, the empty tank was the good one and the full tank didn’t operate at all, so here I am in the worst place imaginable to run out of fuel doing just that, the following few minutes was the most terrifying time of my life, I’m sure my hair turned a little more grey in the time it took me to get out of the tunnel and head straight for the off ramp, I don’t know who was looking down on me that day but the car ran dry and I coasted over onto the widest and longest off ramp in Auckland, it was then I got out of the car and laughed, I can’t tell you why I laughed but I did, 30 seconds earlier and it would have been alot worse, I would have been the guy on the news running out of gas in the middle of the waterview tunnel, in an unregistered unwarranted classic Jag.


Realising my sheer luck I called the previous owner and informed him of my predicament, 10 minutes till he would be here with petrol, just 10 minutes and I would be out of harm's way, now I really should point out that although I was out of the tunnel I was still sitting on the side of the motorway in a less than legal car, that is a big ticket waiting to happen, as the minutes ticked by the stress began to build, after the first 6 hours (3 minutes) the unthinkable happened, the Rozzers drove past, indicated and turned up the off ramp, my heart sank… and then slowly began to rise again as he turned right, went over the motorway and headed back in the opposite direction, I figured I had at least 5 minutes before he came back to see what the problem was, after another 4 hours (2 minutes) of hair pulling stress my mate came to the rescue, after a not so manly moment fuel was in and I was off, straight to the nearest gas station.


The rest of the trip home was actually pretty uneventful, however the journey home was eclipsed by the elation I felt when I pulled into my driveway, I had done it, made it home without running out of gas in the middle of the tunnel, Nothing blew up, no run ins with the Rozzers, and I was home with my brilliant new Jag, just in time to have a cup of tea and go to bed.


I realise every good car has a bit of a story, and this is one story that certainly makes this vehicle worth alot more to me than any other vehicle I have ever owned before, it’s ceased being just a vehicle and has instantly become an old friend I have shared an experience with, a memory, like the Jag, I will now treasure for the rest of my life.

 

As with alot of neglected British vehicles, mine had a small issue with rust, I was fortunate enough to have caught it in time and was able to replace alot of metal in small sections without replacing an entire panel.

 

Thanks to you guys for posting. I have fond memories of the Series 2 I bought in London (as current model) and imported to NZ in 1979. (I currently have an X358)

Fondest memory: Petrol in London was expensive, I was poor, so I kept my tanks at minimum. Taking my mates out on Saturday night, of couse I ran out of petrol. I confidently switched fuel tanks "how cool is that!". Well, I got across the intersection before the other tank ran out, and was reduced to walking to the nearest petrol station whilst they cackled.

Unfondest memory: Had to replace the sills at 5yrs old. Salt on British roads...no rust protection...

Still, maybe the best car I've ever owned, before my 08 X358. Cheers, Chris

 

So over the last wee while I've been pretty busy working on tidying up a few things that annoyed me, Sorted out the flaking paint on the rear quarter panel which has now made me realize how bad the rest of the paintwork really is, so next major is to repaint the rest of the car, also started tidying up the interior, beginning with the horribly discolored and tatty headling surrounds.

Original cracking paint and misshaped quarter panel.

All primed and ready for paint

No more missing paint.

Old and Moth eaten

Horribly Discolored

Much Nicer