I finally found a wonderful 96 vanden plas. It's not the color I was hoping for, but its crazy nice. British racing green with cream interior 34,000 miles. Mechanic said it was a cream puff. Mechanic has it tweaking a few things that are common on these cars! As soon as I get it, I'll post pics!!!! Thanks to everyone for you help and kind words!!!

 

congratulations ... waiting for the pictures

 

Far out :-)


Cheers
DD

 

Well done and welcome. I personally think that British Racing Green with a cream interior is one of the best colour combinations available, (apart from my own that is!).It sounds nice, so enjoy it and the long love affair you are hopefully about to embark upon!

 

Sounds sweet I've never bought a car based on colour, but BRG is great for any Jag! Bring on the pics... how long have you got to wait?

 

Congrats!!! I just bought my first jag the other day. its a 1996 black and it has 38k miles. what a car. ill post some pics soon. look foward to seeing yours as well. the green and tan is hott

 

Good for you! You may find yourself wearing a sport coat more often, less sneakers - more slip on leather, and dressing more nicely in general. You can't help but want to look your best (ok, at least better than usual) when you get in her. Enjoy!

 

Nice! That must be thrilling especially after such a long search (wait)! Good choice. Be sure to shine up those exhaust tips, learn and use the J-gate, and go cruising in style...

All Jags deserve shiny exhaust tips. Let's get on it!!!

 

Newguy, Thank you! I'm very excited! I wanted a black vanden plas and couldn't find one! The black ones ones I found were too much money! Post pics! I will as soon as I get mine home!!!! Congrats!!!!

 

Sleekjag, I'm having the car gone over with a fine tooth comb! I want it as close to perfect as I can get, I've never had a car that I wanted with only 33,000 miles. I'm really excited. She's gonna shine

 

H20boy. I have already found myself thinking that! I'm scared of the cream interior!

 

Congrats on your find! You will enjoy it greatly!

 

Well. I have bad things to report. I'm sad and mad at the same time. The mechanic was finished "tweaking" everything ($1300.00) and sent it off for detail before I picked it up. When I pulled in the parking lot I instantly noticed a paint problem...many paint problems that did not show up until it was finely detailed. My car over the past 17 years apparently has been painted at least 3 different times. and apparently at Maaco. There is no place to stop so I am in for a complete respray(3800.00) in order not to be laughed off the street. I had no idea I was going to run into this problem and bought "1999" vanden plas wheels this last weekend. Why would anyone, especially the original owner do something so horrible to an otherwise fabulous car? I'm embarrassed to say this but I'm going to be in this car 15,000. I hope these are all I expect!!!! I'm going to have to be buried in it.

 

Good question as to why previous owners do such terrible or neglectful things to their cars, even to such nice beautiful cars like ours! There's really no polite answer. So measure out your priorities and decide if you think a high end new paint job is worth it. If so then it is! People do all kinds of things with their cars, but it is a shame when more harm than good is done. My cars have paint issues too, but I touch up and recoat here and there as best I can, getting back to an acceptable level without doing harm and without spending a fortune! People often comment about how shiny my cars are, despite all the dings (VDP) and the fading hood (six).

Sounds like yours is now in excellent mechanical condition, and that is good news! Make sure all that work was done well, and take a bit of time to decide on a paint job. Good luck!

 

Congrats! Great car to get. Mine has a respray everywhere but the roof and trunk lid. Now the clear coat has started chipping off the hood. It looked good the first few years but inferior paint will ultimately be a problem for anyone. I was thinking of a respray at some point in the future and I think $3800 would be reasonable for a top-notch job.

Good luck with your new ride. You will most certainly enjoy it!

 

IreallywantaJag ... I have good news and not so good news.
The reason that previous owners give their car a quick paint job is so that they can get a better price when they sell it, hopefully.
As for your paint / interior colour combo, and all the others, they are obviously rubbish.
Mine is far superior as you can plainly see, lol, snigger.

 

5, that's lovely, but there's no such thing as British Racing BLUE! At least you've got a leaper on the bonnet! Ireally, can you upload some pictures of the proper British Racing GREEN VDP for us? Stand a little farther away and we won't notice any paint problems. Show those Brits that we in the US of A know our proper Jag colours, even though we have to drive from the passenger seat.

 

When I got my black VDP it had 55k miles (received from my grandpa). The car had literally 25 dents on all 4 doors and fenders it was horrendous. The paint was faded and torn up. Luckily a guy drove into my fender and gave me a 3k check. I took it to Maaco and they resprayed the whole car and took all the dents out AND replaced my front left fender. Nothing came out of pocket for me . When I first picked the car up there was dust and etc under the paint job. I told the car I can't take the car back in this condition, he agreed and fixed it all. Only thing bugs me is Maaco is a 1 stage paint clear/paint mixed, so i dont know if you can buff it well, Overall what I'm trying to say is sometimes Maaco isn't bad for a cheap fix. My paint job is still good and it's been 2 1/2 years now. Keep that bad boy waxed

 

Iwant, congrats on the low miles and i'm sure equaly nice interior...

Not trying to be negative, but i have a paint shop, and i have been doing high end restores and high end paintwork forever...

For 3800 your not getting a top notch job.....

I just spent a hair over 3000 for the liquid materials, urethane primers self etching primer, base coat and clearcoat... and a few other things, paper, a couple sleeves of tape, some re-face and some wet dry sleeves of 200 count. as there will be a ton of wet sanding to be done, for a 1967 fairlane..and i already have a bunch of those materials already on the shelf, i just wanted to make sure i had enough....

Jags fit and finish is so good that they are kind of a bitch to dissassemble...this all take mega time, and labor....

to do your car right the guy MUST pull all the door handles, emblems, trim etc...

And this involves taking quite a bit of your interior apart, all 4 door panels rocker trim and lots more....

Ask your guy what he plans on dissassembling for that price..

Is he gonna spot repair and blend base/clear or do the whole car in single stage.... or do the whole car bas/clear...

Is he gonna use appature tape in the door bonnet and truck jambs or tape them off so there is a ridge in there you can feel with your fingers...

All this stuff matters, and is the difference between a quality job, or a butch job...

for 3800 you might end up in worse shape if you dont get the right guy to do it...

not to mention the materials he is gonna use for the prep work...

Let us know what you are gonna decide to do....

I know i could'nt do your car complete for 3800 and make any money when it was all said and done, and have it be done as a Jag should be....

Good luck with your new baby...Gerry

 

Gerry...I've used the same body man for years and have always been pleased. He knows how I am and I trust him to give me what I want. He is also the type of guy that is not going to let me do stupid things to my car. He is taking the car apart (inside door panels, removing handles, emblems, bumpers, lights etc...). As far as the tape or paint products he uses I don't know. I know he is giving me a deal and I know I told him I wasn't on a time crunch. He is a forums member and has a Jaguar himself. Ill post pics and more info when possible. He knows I want to be proud of my car! In fact when I first pulled up
in the car he tried to talk me out of doing anything. Keep your fingers crossed for me and say a prayer!!!!