Hello everyone,

My name is Rob, I am living near Heidelberg and am the owner of two XJ 81. The last couple of years I have been more or less active on the Xj40 forum, but it looks as if it has gone dead- for various reasons. So hope to find some good advice here and people who are knowledgeable around the '40.

Quick intro on my cars:

-Swiss delivered Daimler Double Six in regency blue, with 160K (Km) on the clock. Currently a non runner
- Xj 81 Insignia in gunmettal grey with 140K on the clock. Bought as salvage as it had some water damage
-Daimler DS420, god knows why I bought that car. Silver over black with 89K miles

 

Welcome, Rob.

You will find a few people from xj40.com on here, such as Naki, katar and others, like myself, although I have not been overly active on either forum. I do also own an XJ81 (Luxembourg origin) which I am using as an almost daily. I have invested a lot (a lot!) of time into it, and I love it. I am located in Hamburg, Germany.
You may want to share part of your story on the flooded Insignia V12 here as you did on XJ40.com

 

Hi Rob,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us!

The XJ81 is pretty rare in the U.S., but the engine is of course common to the XJ-S which was very popular here, and the rest of your car is similar or identical to the XJ40s that many of us on this list have owned and loved.

We would love to see some photos of at least one of your cars if you get the chance, and yes, please do share the story of the flooded Insignia here!

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks for the warm welcome!

So a bit of background around the flooded Insignia:

We had some bad flooding middle of year in the West of Germany, one region being hit especially hard. Water came overnight and cost almost a 100 lives, destroying whole villages and motorways. Small streams turned into massive rivers with imense water speeds, making it for many people impossible to save but their lives. Many garages where flooded and cars destroyed. Amongst them was also a collection of classic BMW's which also included my insignia.
I bought the car from a lawyer that lost his whole collection in the flood, a good 10 cars including some rare M models. The Insignia is a two owner car that has been off the road since 2004, only being moved ocassionally between storage spaces.

I bought the car of Ebay, and missed the highest bid but was in contact with the owner afterward. As unfortunately ever so often buyers do not turn up, and that was also the case for this car. The car sat onther week after it was sold on ebay and the seller finally called me as he was sick of excuses and promises.

So here the Insignia as I picked her up:









She did have a bit of a musty smell to her I have to say. Fortuantely there was no battery in the car and none of the systems had been powered up yet...