Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

I have owned my Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre for 27 years and I have already told you that the 1996 paintwork microblistered after two years and I have really ignored it for the past twenty years.

I've had offers to buy with the paint faults but I've owned it so long now I cannot see myself selling it although I came very close a few years ago when a Vauxhall dealer who then had a holiday home locally offered me a very advantageous deal for a modern Vauxhall VXR8 he had taken in part exchange for a newer model. He had a bodywork business independent of his Vauxhall dealership and even offered to do the repaint for me.

My interest in the Mark 2 is rekindling however and when I feel well enough after quite a long few months of illness my enthusiasm is rising to redo it.

MGTC eh? Very nice.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Ray White]

Ideally, in an ideal world, I would like the challenge of building one of the Suffolk Jaguar SS100 replicas. I understand they are more than just a good replica and being based on the Jaguar XJ6 drive exceptionally well. I really must book a test drive one day.! The trouble is that they cost too much. Even if I were well heeled, I would balk at £70K plus paint and trim!

The MG TC has enchanted me ever since I was a teenager when a friend of my late Father used to turn up at our house in one. It was red with biscuit leather interior and in mint condition. My Dad was a "MG" man at heart and if I could ask him now what car he would recommend I am pretty sure he would say the T.C. His experience, however, was with what we now call MMM cars with high revving overhead camshafts but apart from the cheeky little M type (UW 5990 where are you?) the prices are now very high; especially the six cylinder types.

I think I know my way around an XPAG engine but my experience was confined to the Wolseley version.(XPAW) A rather sluggish rust prone car designed by a chap called Gerald Palmer who my Dad claimed he knew.

[Ellis]

In which MG was the XPAG engine fitted Ray?

On the subject of replica classics, an ex Royal Navy Petty Officer retired after "his 25" to the local town. His speciality was Sea King helicopters and I remember talking to him and the subject turned to replica Cobras and he said if anybody wanted one building it would be a pleasure :

".....if I can dismantle and rebuild a Sea King in four days a Cobra would be chidlsplay.........."

He returned to work as a civilian supervisor at the local RAF base.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Ray White]