They were definitely a deciding factor in my choice of car (mine is essentially identical to yours other than being a year older). My previous car, a 1997 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur had them too and I grew accustomed to the look. Don't recall them ever being actually used in either car!

Dwayne

 

It's funny that you had a Rolls, I looked at used ones before buying the Jag. I found a nice '89 model with the classic Rolls front end. It was at a dealership in Texas. It would be so out of place around here though, and I couldn't get my mind off of the Volkswagen Beetles that had the same nose back in the seventies. So I got a Jag that fits in very well. In fact nobody notices it, I get noticed more in the Corvette and Firebirds. I guess the Jag looks enough like the other modern sedans nobody pays any attention. The biggest industry around here is the Hospital and all the Doctors drive Cadillacs and Audi's.

I was driving it a few days ago to go see my Doctor. A guy in a pickup came zooming up behind me on a two lane street. Most like to drive 10MPH over the limit, I was right on the limit and he got right up to my bumper and then backed off about two car lengths. I guess he didn't want to tailgate such an expensive car. The 2011 Chevy doesn't seem to bother them at all, you could barely get a dollar bill between bumpers. People are so funny.

My Chevy gets no respect.

 

The biggest industry in my area is also the hospital; and it's where I have worked for 38 years! You see more of our docs driving SUV's and pickups than anything else, but we're in a rural area and many of them own farms as well.

Jaguars (other than X-Types and S-Types) are nearly as scarce here as Rolls-Royces. I've found that my XJL gets just about as much attention as the Silver Spur did, although not all that much more than my 2015 Ruby Red Ford Mustang convertible. Go figure! If I really, really want to turn heads and subject myself to lots of conversation with strangers, I drive one of my Ford Pintos. You NEVER see those on the road anymore, but everybody has a Pinto story!

Dwayne

 

Your right Dwayne, a Pinto is an iconic car of the seventies, everybody remembers them. Doesn't Jay Leno have one? Or was it a Pacer.
I tried to upload a picture of one of the beetles but I guess it was too big. You probably remember them anyway.
Most sites give you a warning when ones too big and give you a chance to resize it but this one didn't, oh well.

I drove up to Virginia when I lived in Atlanta 20 years ago. I wanted to stay but had to get back home. My family started in Virginia many years ago.
Great Great Grandad moved west after the war. I'd sure like to go and try and find them. Maybe one of these days I will.

 

Do you know what part of Virginia? I live in the Shenandoah Valley.

 

Hi Dwayne,

Yeah, when I was a boy, nobody knew nothin' about the family. My Dad's parents split just after he was born and he wouldn't talk about his Dad. Mom told me their names but that was all I knew. Until an envelope arrived one day.

My Great Aunt wanted to join the DAR and tracked the family back to a man named Andrew who was a vet of the revolution. He was approved for a pension in 1801. It was an eye opener to say the least. She sent us the results of her investigations.

After the internet came around other members of the family investigated and found out the original ancestor John Jr. came from London England in 1638 when he turned eighteen. He landed in Virginia and settled into farming in North Cumberland county.

The descendants stayed there until 1863 when my ancestor was forced to move by the occupation. He was a medical doctor and got his family out of there. First to Kentucky, then to Tennessee, and after the war ended, to Illinois where he died.

Great Grandad was born in Tennessee and wanted to move back, so he bought a wagon and headed South in 1890. When he got here he asked where he was and when the locals told him he said close enough. Told his wife "Welcome to Memphis".

I actually traced the family name and found out Historians say that my name originally came from N. Germany. They left in 980 AD and settled in Normandy France. When William the conqueror came through in 1066 he picked up all the vikings living in Normandy and took them to the battle of Hastings. Where they defeated the English King and conquered England. We stayed there until 1638.

Hope I haven't bored you too much, to me it's fascinating, the twists and turns of history. Then I do have a vested interest in this story.

Have you investigated your history yet? You probably have one just as fascinating.

 

I do know some of it, but not back that far! My maternal great-grandfather immigrated here from Ireland in 1878, landing in Baltimore. From there, he made his way to the Erie PA area where he met and married my great-grandmother. They had six children, one of whom was my grandfather, who was born in 1892. Unfortunately, the marriage was not a happy one and apparently my great-grandfather was a drinker and something of a rounder and, to make a long story short, my great-grandmother killed him in 1895. The justice system being what it was then, the local doctor took her to the local police who consulted with the local judge and the decision was made that she was needed by her children so she never spent a day in jail! She never remarried and died while my grandfather was serving in WWI. I remember my grandfather fairly well, although I was only eight years old when he died in 1966 at age 74. After the war, he came to Virginia where he met my grandmother who was nine years his junior. She died in 1989, just shy of her 88th birthday. Together they had five children: three boys followed by two girls. My mother was the fourth child and oldest girl. The only one surviving now is her younger sister who will turn 81 next month. My dad's side of the family is fuzzier because, like your grandparents, his parents divorced when he was a teen and he never saw his father again. The only things we know about my grandfather's life between the time he left in 1945 and died in 1971 is that he remarried and settled in Missouri. He told his new wife that he had been married and divorced but had no children. She was somewhat surprised to learn that he had, in fact, abandoned seven children! My paternal grandmother was an extremely bitter person; don't know whether that happened after he left or it might possibly have been the reason he left. Who knows? She lived to be 95, passing in 1993. The second oldest of my dad's sisters married and settled in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. She taught school there and her husband was a librarian at John Brown University. She died in 2012 at the age of 90. Of all my dad's siblings, only two are left - twin aunts who are 87 now and both in generally good health. My dad didn't talk much about his childhood either, so that's about the extent of my knowledge on that side of the family. My mother's maternal family was extensive and I know at least some of their history back as far as the Civil War. My maternal great-grandmother's father fought for the Confederacy. She was born in 1875 and died in 1966 about a week before what would have been her 91st birthday. I remember her also. She had twelve children, two of which died in their mid-thirties (one in a fire and one from a stroke). The other ten I knew. The last of the clan, the baby of the family, died last year at age 97. Someday I'd like to delve further into it all on both sides but can't seem to find the time now. Maybe if I ever retire...

 

Too bad you don't have a cousin like mine that joined ancestor and searched it all out. It might not take long. The database is getting pretty extensive.
That's interesting that you have connections out here as well.
Everyone of my ancestors in the paper work shows about 10 children for each couple. No telling how many are still in Virginia.
Sadly, I've seen African Americans with my last name so someone back there kept slaves. When freed they often took the last name of their "owners".
Since my last name isn't well known that would be the only way they could have got it. I can't guarantee it was someone in my direct line because others with my last name came from England at the same time as my ancestor. I think there were three different men that came around the same time but their relation to each other isn't known.

That's interesting that your Grandmother lived so long, they say today a bad attitude will kill you. All I've seen is they live longer because of the attitude. Lol. My Mom told me they rented from an old German couple before I was born and they were too mean to die. They were both about 70 when my parents met them. They lived a long time after that.

Try that ancestry website sometime, my cousin swears by it. I imagine they'll build an international database so you can follow your ancestry back farther.
I understand they put a leaf by names to show someone else has searched out their lives already. Eventually just about every name will have a leaf by it.
I'll bet that's how that twelve year old figured out all the president's are related. Try dropping a hint to a family member, maybe they'll do it for you.

 

 

You have just found out the value of DIY on the XJ!

The parts are not that expensive but there are exceptions. If you can do the work it will save you thousands!
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