I'm new here, but I've been Jag's lover for long time already... I was born in Poland in 70ties, it was comunistic country then. First time I saw Big Cat in real in 1986 inSwitzerland, I still have have photo of 9 years old boy next to shiny SeriesII...



I've been thinking about buying classic Jag for few years already, but there was always something and I never had time for this. Last year I found accidently on Dutch advert site XJ12C. I find Series II Coupe as one of most beautifull cars ever build... I will never understand why it was replaced by XJS, car... well... I won't say anything more, we've got XJS owners here...



Anyway... Sunday trip, I went to take look at the car from advert... I was really suprised when I saw in messy garage... 2 coupes! First one, navy blue XJ12C chassisno. 2G1370BW and dark red XJ6C chassisno. 2J1296BW.




Owner bought XJ6C in 2006. Car was not complete, trim was missing. His idea was to build Broadspeed replica... He started with removing 6cyl. engine and transmision, then project stopped for 3 years... In 2009 he realized that there is o lot af parts missing... Ebay, dark blue XJ12C has been bought as a donor. Luckily project stucked again... Till now. I decided to save both cats and became an owner of '75 XJ6C, incomplete but with Ducth registration title. Very solid body shell, hard to believe but no rust! Second one, '77 XJ12C with English papers.Car is complete, matching numbers, one of the last cars with BW12. In the past has 6 owners, there was some budget reparations of body, a lot filler on rear screans, poor paintwork quality, floor welded just with pieces of metal...



Anyway... Still in one piece, will be stript down,sandblasted, and repaired with original panels. A lot of work, but it's one of 603 XJ12C RHD ever build...



Decision has been made, complete restoration. In that case I still needed parts for red one... Specific parts, 4 side windows incl.machanism, complete interior. These parts are hard to find and quite expensive already, tinted glas for coupe is out of factory stock. Suddenly I found advert about parts, on the picture there was incomplete car in the corner of barn. I went there. It was local "Jaguar specialist"... I'll skip this part of the story, what he was doing with cars I would compare to neurosurgery done by a butcher... Anyway... Finally I made good deal, I got whole car for price of side windows on eBay... It was already 3rd XJ Coupe within 2 weeks... Somebody was working for few years on that car in Germany, one day just dissapeared, building has been sold, new owner asked to remove everything. Car was taken by car recycle company, inside there was German papers and... they cut of the corner ow ownership document! In Germany it means that car doesn't exist any more, its removed from system and this cannot be restored. XJ6C chassisno. 2J50376BW became spares only. It's a pity because there was a lot of work done on the body shell including new floorpanels, welding and anti rustprotection... Some parts are missing ( cylinder head, carburateurs ) but...it's a pity. I plan to look for some XJ6 in bad condition with papers, maybesomebody over there knows something? I would be greatfull for any information... If this won't work I'll build replica of Broadspeed as fun car for track use only... We will see...





So... As you can see Jaguars its quitte addictive hobby ( my fiance call it desease... ) 2 weeks, 3 cars... I needed some space. Luckily I planed to buy warehouse for my construction company, I get keys in December...It supposed to be company building with some hobby corner... well it will bedifferent... Just for IRS I have to put few bags of cement in one corner...



I was sure it's enought for now... My girlfriend was a bit complaining and woried, so to appologizeI bought Lennox, 3 monts old kitty for her, British shorthair, of course...



Suddenly my friend from Germany called me... I told the story about my new hobby and how excited I am, etc... She replied: ' It's great ! My friends family has some old Jaguar, want to get rit of this... ! Come to take a look! " First I said: 'No way!'... but later I was thinking maybe its something interesting... I should go to Germany anyway... Just go to take a look...



It was long trip, 750 km from Amsterdam, I arrived to the address very late Friday evening. My friend didn't mentioned that it's family with aristocratic roots, they lived in beautifull countryside property... I was invited to stay over the night and before we went to see the car, at the cup of coffie Thomas brought full BIG carton box of papers from the car!



First I looked, and well nothing special... '78 XJ12 LWB...I looked at the papers and realized that this family owned the car since it was new! There is complete service book and bills for fuel starting from 1978! Engine hasn't been started for last 5 years, but finally we woke him up... 62kkm on the meter, perfect maintenance, stored in heated garage, some cracks on leader caused by too dry atmosphere but the rest - great. There was no 'low budget specialists' working on the car. Nine years ago car was repainted because after 25 years original lack was not shiny any more...



It was difficult... If I buy a car probably I'll have fight with my fiance; If I won't buy it... I will regret... So... finally '78 XJ12LWB Windsorbluemetalic chassisno. 2R58975BW has join the familly...



Christmass and begening of New Year was very busy so Ihaven't thought even about cars. Finally today I went to the building to mesaure and plan layout inside. Next step is to arrange space for work and all equipment...



I'm not in rush... I think that to work with oldtimers its necessary to grow up, learn how to be patient. Probably 10 ago I would try to have car done and drive it as soon as possible, now more important is to make it perfect...





So.... That is the beginig of the story... I want to make full documentation of work on the cars, so for sure you will be informed about progress. Any ideas,suggestions, tips, etc... are more then welcome.

I enclose few photos taken today.











PS. Sorry for mistakes and grammar, English is not my native...

 

Wow, great story. Good luck with all your cars.

 

yes, very nice story, I also wish you success with the projects. Keep documenting the progress with pictures.

 

A wonderful story.

The Coupe is the one Jaguar model I always wanted but have never owned. You must have got most of those available for restoration now!

Cute kitten - a British Blue?

Graham

 

You should buy it! Otherwise you will regret...!
Luckily there are still few interesting project cars around...
But I think its last call... There is nothing more in the barn... It's hard to find donor car Series I and II, it's time to put some spares in the storage...


Indeed, he is blu British Shorthair... It was old photo, now he is 4 months old and twice bigger...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...type=3&theater

He is a cutest and smartest creature I have ever seen...

 

Hi Adamnl, it is good that you have rescued so many classic jaguars from destruction. I am sure that you will really like driving the finished car. I would suggest that you use 4 speed automatics, rather than the original 3 speed; gives a much better driving experience.

 

You will scratch your paint if you store your bumper bars like that.

 

Thanks, but I prefer to keep it original... Too many car has been waisted during changes and modifications... I find it important to rebuild car with 'matching numbers'... It schould be just like 40 years ago.

 

Don't worry... Sand blasting will fix it!

 

Certainly has grown. Still cute.

We had two Russian Blues. One lived to 18 and the second to 19 years. Same colour as the British Blue but slimmer build.

Graham

 

Very nice cars! I almost got a coupe a few months back but it was sold before I could come up with the money for it! I always loved the looks of the 2 door It's a shame they didn't make them for very long. But oh well I love my '76 XJ12 L plenty so I'm not worried about missing out on the coupe (: perhaps another day I will come across one

 

Many thanks for saving so many of these fine cars, and good luck with yur rebuild work. I only ever had one Jaguar at a time !

 

New cat in d'house...!!!
Unexpected, again funny story.
More about this here:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/o...rs-soon-90644/