One of my great nieces is 17 and Homecoming Queen this week. She called me Saturday evening to ask if I would drive her and the King in the pre-event parade thru town, and around the track at the halftime of the football game on Friday night.

Her dad and I talked a bit today, and he sort-of danced around would I let him drive the car? Yessssssssssss...

He said the rest of the convertibles in the parade were just "regular cars" like Mustangs and Camaros.

I can't believe we are already at Homecoming time in 2011.

Rich

Good to see a REAL car in one of these! Please post pictures when to happens.
Peter.

FT 1,

crawl back under the rock. Scroll down the threads here and find the car pictures for yourself.

this level of response is what you get from inbreeding. Off-topic, projects his level of education and intelligence onto others, and is banal.

Fun evening. My Cardinals walloped the hapless Brewers, and I got to be in my first homecoming parade since 1968. Adrian beat the visitors 44-6.
I will get my niece to make me a disc copy of the pictures, and figure out how to post them here.

good evening,

I envy you your XK-8 but prefer the coupe models myself. Was a Jaguar fan for quite a few years thru the XK-120,XK-140,2.4 Sedan,3.8 sedan and finished off with a white XK-150 Coupe Auto for my wife and a XK-150S Coupe for my self. Knockoff wires on all of course. When they changed the body style I more or less lost interest. The current coupe models have again quickened the spirit, but alas, the price has then dampened the ardor.

agreed, to a certain extent.

Jaguar has differed from some by building a truly roadworthy convertible first, then styling the coupe on it. So many convertibles are a coupe with the roof hacked off, and 250-300lbs of bracing to make the car handle.
I had a '67 coupe that was the most beautiful car I had ever seen. Until this generation.

The high entry price is discouraging, but the 3-5 year olds are 99% of the new ones at half the price.

I just cannot bring myself to trade for a coupe. Yet...

Rich

How much quieter is the coupe than the convertible? Any other advantages? They are certainly priced less.
Peter.

Don't know about the new coupes but the XK150's were probably a little quieter than the roadsters. I've just always been a coupe person. Had a Lotus Elite after the Jaguars followed by a couple of Porsche's, in my later years I became enamored with BMW 6 series -- a 633 and a couple of 635's. My current transport is an 06 Mustang so you can see I am no longer in that league, but the love never goes away.

Zim, I was in a local shop having my sons car worked on. They (World Imports) are a Lotus dealer but also sell used Bentleys, BMW's Jags etc. . I asked the service manager what he thought of 745's and he rolled his eyes. He knows I am looking for a performance car that is not a maintenance nightmare. Do you agree?
Peter.

I have no first hand knowledge of the current line-up and have let my BMW club membership lapse. The new top line models are far far out of my price range. I did find my 635's probably the most maintenance intensive and costly of any of the cars I have ever owned. I have always done most of my work myself and just the cost of BMW parts is a big burden. The last sports cars I owned were a couple of 'Z' cars , a 280 and a 300,and a 300zx. Reasonably low maintenance cost cars though the 300ZX was pretty expensive wiring and fuel delivery wise. The simplest car to maintain I ever had was the Lotus Elite. Small 4 cylinder SOHC engine easy to maintain,no frame and very simple suspension, totally unsophisticated electronics. An absolute dream to drive and handling was faultless. Probably the favorite of all the cars I ever owned. My last BMW635 CSi was probably the finest road car I ever owned and it's elegance was without peer in it's own way.

Yes, the older cars were simpler and easier to maintain. That is why i would like a Lotus Seven! Did your Elite have "droopy" headlights?
Peter.

Don't exactly know what you mean by 'droopy' head lights. The Elite was a Fiberglass monocoque coupe body with NO frame. The headlights were in the front fenders as normal. Very light very slick body,also very fast. As I said probably my favorite of all the cars I have owned. I think Seven's are still being produced although not in a kit as the original's were. I remember when they came in a huge wooden crate that you could almost keep the completed car in. Nice no frills race car. Look at a new Mazda Miata with a hard top and then look at an old Lotus Elan and they could be brothers.

OOPS! Sorry! I was thinking Elan when you said Elite. The Elan was one of the first cars with pop up headlights and many were seen with one up and one down, or, half up!!! The Elans were gorgeous cars.
Peter.

Peter,

due to the ownership of Jaguar by Ford for several years, they are IMHO, one of the more reliable cars on the road. If you favor a sedan, a friend has the R Model 2008 JX that is a rocket.
Maintenance is reasonable, and the cars are gorgeous...

Rich

I NEVER had a reliability problem with any of my Jaguars. Other than regular torquing of the head due to the cast iron block and aluminun head and installing a better copper tube radiator I never was concerned about going when I needed it. I will admit the XKE and later independent suspension models did beat the solid axle models by a long shot. But I have a rather affectionate feeling for the old heavy inline 6 DOHC engine with those big triple SU carbs. I even still have my UniSyn for adjusting them. But I don't think you can beat a modern Jaguar sedan for comfort,class and performance. Wish I could afford one.

I don't see myself ever selling this one. Let the survivors fight over it...

finally got the pictures. Ollie said it had to be perfect if I wanted to post it.

Ta-Dah!!

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
I NEVER had a reliability problem with any of my Jaguars. Other than regular torquing of the head due to the cast iron block and aluminun head and installing a better copper tube radiator I never was concerned about going when I needed it. I will admit the XKE and later independent suspension models did beat the solid axle models by a long shot. But I have a rather affectionate feeling for the old heavy inline 6 DOHC engine with those big triple SU carbs. I even still have my UniSyn for adjusting them. But I don't think you can beat a modern Jaguar sedan for comfort,class and performance. Wish I could afford one.

Yes, but the XKE Marks I and II had both the independent suspension AND the old heavy in-line 6 engines. I bought a Mk. I XKE (black exterior/red interior) brand new for $6,050 dollars in 1964 from the Salem, Oregon dealer.

The 1964s were the last year of the XKE's with the 3.8 liter engine and a non-synchro low gear in the tranny.

In 1965, they went to synchro in all the forward gears, and a 4.2 liter in-line 6, still with the three carbs.

I've owned a LOT of more or less exotic cars, and the Jags were always the least reliable of the lot in those days. Even my various "Loti" were more reliable, including the Lotus 11. I finally traded my XKE straight across for a new VW squareback, just to have something reliable enough to drive to university and the office.

You couldn't give me a Jag again, even free-gratis, if I had to rely on it for transport.

I know lots of folks adore them, but I don't need to get burned again to learn my lesson.

maybe the old ones, but in the three years this one has lived at my house I have put just over 34,000 miles on it, and aside from a second set of tires last summer, it has been cheap to maintain, and cast-iron-anvil reliable. 110,000 miles since new. Ford really saved them, IMHO...

Rich
there's a sound a DOHC 48 valve V-8 makes at 7000 rpm that only a Ferrari flat-12 can beat.

Good looking great niece, but the driver is ugly as sin!!!!
Peter.