New owner of a 1972 XKE 2+2 in need of a recommendation for a shop in the SF bay area. I live in the East bay and did some hunting the forms and found out about Steve Gordon @ Vintage Auto Service. I contacted him to discover that he does not work on the V12 cars and had not recommendations for another shop. So I come with heart in hand that folks have had good experiences with another local shop.
Thank you,
Geoff

 

Geoff,

I've copied this from E-Type forum.

Members in the SF area who do not own a E-Type may know of alternative shops.

Good luck.

Graham

 

I've used Jaguar Purrformance in Los Gatos old Jaguar Mechanic he won't do mods though likes the car stock.


Jaguar Purrformance Center - Los Gatos, CA


In the same shop is Eric Runolfson and while he specializes in restoring older English cars (working on an V12 XKE 2+2 a truly horrid car at the moment) he does modifications and has done most of mine.


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Both are good guys. Sometimes it is just fun to chat with them.

 

Did you find a Jag shop?
I've been doing some research and so far for east bay you have found these that seem promising:
1. Cole European - some love them, some hate them
2. Bacchus Jaguar Service in Dublin Ca - good yelp reviews, and my PO used them for 2 years
3. Jaguar-British European Motors Freemont - a review on this forum plus some old but positive Yelp reviews.
4. English & European, Berkeley - good Yelp reviews
5. Besa Quality Auto Care, Oakland - good Yelp reviews

Wondering if anyone has any first hand feedback on any of these or other recommendations?

 

Hey I've visited Rick a few times at Jaguar Purrformance, he is very pleasant. However I have found a shop in San Jose that does very good work with fast turn around times.
+ Jaguar Purrformance

 

Does anyone happen to know of or can recommend any good shops in the North Bay? These sound like great options but I am up in Sonoma so anything North of SF would be fantastic.

 

I continue to have a great experience with J&G in San Rafael (Jaguar Repair Shop Marin, Mini Repair, Land Rover | J and G Automotive or 415-457-2403). They do everything from the XK120 to the F-Type and then some. Justin can absolutely take care of your V12 is good working order and anything else you might have.

 

As luck would have it last time I had my car in Erik Runolfson was working on a V12 2+2 that some other shop had totally screwed up. Why someone would restore a 2+2 is beyond me but he had just finished work on two other E Types (both 6s) earlier. He specializes in older jags but he loves doing mods which is why he was working on my car. Fun to visit because he typically has a much older restoration (1935 Bentley etc.) in the shop for some reason or other. He shares space with Jaguar Purrrformance in Los Gatos). He is a bit of a perfectionist which adds time but pays off in the quality of the work.




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I currently have a car at Bacchus. I'll post the results when it's done.

 

I'm in SJ myself, looking for a regular mechanic for my S type. What shop would you recommend?

Ah nvm, actually read your post

 

I can second the recommendation for J&G Automotive in San Rafael. I've taken my '06 x350 lwb there and they know what they are doing; while there I saw more than a few older v12 model Jags being worked on there earlier this month. They work on all British cars but mostly I've seen Land Rovers and Jags there. San Rafael is a long drive for you out of Concord though.

Cost wise they are cheaper than the dealer on most items; about 30% less. I'm not sure what my exact expectation(s) are on price - you'll have to decide for yourself.

I've never used Besa in Oakland or English & European in Berkeley (both closer to you) but I know several who love them and vouch for their quality of work and standing behind what they do. Anecdotally E&E in Berkeley gets slightly more praise than Besa.

 

I've had very good results with "Joe's foreign car" in walnut creek (very near you)

"Rand" short for Randy is an excellent Jag mechanic and has always done right by me.

 

De Long's. They mostly only do British cars and Dave (who is British) knows pre-2007 cars very well. He is also quite reasonable.