My mother in law bought a 1973 Jaguar E-Type 2+2 new in 1973. There have been threats to give it to her only daughter, my wife, for several years now. This summer, those threats came true. The car has only been driven 40K miles, and while it's spent a LOT of time sitting, it's been reasonably well cared for.

I've had British cars before, but never a Jag, and never a V12. I was somewhat dubious. However, I'm never one to pass up an adventure. I've made the cross-country drive MANY times in pretty questionable cars (FIATs, for example). So, I flew to New Jersey, and intended to drive it back to California. Solo. I shipped a set of tools ahead.

The car had been serviced recently at a Jag shop, and it started and ran well. It ran a bit hot, esp. in traffic. Typical British problem, as the engineers there seemed to think 80dF was "bloody hot", and clearly didn't believe in testing in anything but English weather. The tools didn't arrive when expected, but I soldiered on, anyway. It was pouring with rain in NJ and PA, thanks to Dennis. Temps were about 60dF. Perfect British weather. By Harrisburg, however, the rain stopped and the air temps soared to 90dF. The water temp also soared, to the top of the "normal" range. When I stopped for gas (14mpg, 16gal tank, so stop every 200 miles for another $40 in premium), however, the temps went above "normal" for a bit, so I had to keep gas stops quick, and I waited for 1-2 hours at each stop for the engine temp to fall some.

By evening, the air temps had fallen enough that I could drive w/o constantly staring at the coolant temp gauge. I decided I'd have to drive at night from here on out. I was wondering how bad it would be out west.

On day two, in Missouri, it hit 96dF by 11am.

Near Columbia, MO, the water temp looked fine, but I began to hear a buzzing noise. Valve noise? No, that sounds exactly like my Mini sounded when I'd blown a head gasket between two cylinders. Ran fine, but made that noise and lost power. You notice when you lose two cylinders on a 998cc Mini. You don't much notice losing two cylinders on a 5.4L V12...

A couple of minutes of buzzing, and I hear a "pop...pop", and big clouds of smoke poured out of the exhaust. The engine instantly got rougher. Pull over...

Everything looked fine. Lots of water in the cooling system, lots of oil in the sump. No new holes in the block. No nasty noises of something loose flinging about in the engine. The next town was 2 miles away, and the engine would start and run, just poorly, so I soldiered on to the next town. Lots of smoke.

I identify where I was, and found I was within 100 miles of my parent's house, so I call AAA, as my wife has us on the premium plan (100 miles of free towing). After some discussion with my Dad on the phone, the car gets towed to the SAAB shop he uses (he's a real SAAB nut, and good friends with the owner). There are no Jag shops anywhere nearby, and I really didn't feel like trying to yank a head on this engine, so I call it a day. The shop is willing to store it for awhile, and I'll arrange transport back to California. I fly home.

So, just in case some of you may be wondering where I've been, I've been in British Car Hell. In a few days, when the transporter shows up at my house, I'll be in British Car Hell again. For the next few days, I'll be in bliss, with an empty spot in the garage that doesn't have 3800lbs of fine British engineering in it.

Nice car and nice trip. Too bad you didn't make it all the way but at least you had the right attitude. Roadster or Coupe? Apparently the official model for your car is E-Type Series III. They all have the 2+2 configuration.

E-Type Series III Roadster

E-Types Series III Coupe

I wouldn't be too bothered by British engineering. Just treat it like a lady.

-Jeff

QUOTE (scruz914 @ Jul 12 2005, 06:02 PM)

I wouldn't be too bothered by British engineering. Just treat it like a lady.

Pour money into it until it shuts up?

Seriously though, Jags can be great cars. My great uncle bought an E coupe new and drove it for a long time. My grandpa owned 4 jags and drove them exclusivly for about 15 years. My little brother inherited one of them (76 XJS with a V12) and im kinda the wrench of the household, so Ive been trying to get it up and running with moderate success.

www.jag-lovers.org is a pretty good site with decent help. Its no where near as good as this site, but it can help.

Dam James, wouldn't it have been NICE to have company on the trek and I happen to have been off all last week...in fact I'm sure there were tons of club members sitting around just dreaming of the chance to motor cross country in a vintage machine. Why not use the club phone list? Where's the love?








Just jealous, but that's why I don't have my Jensen Healey or Lotus anymore...

my uncle used to have a porsche 914 and a 79 vette....now i have the 914 and my dad has the vette....

rode in a 59 Jag something something roadster....

i peed my pants. it was awesome.

This car is BIG. 15ft 4in long, and you're basically sitting over the back axle. I think the wheelbase alone is longer than a 914 is from bumper to bumper. The V12 sounds nice, but it's very subdued in this car. Huge flywheel, and pretty lazy acceleration for such a huge engine. It really doesn't feel all that fast. It probably has a pretty nice top speed, but I never got out into the lonely part of the West to really stretch its legs.

Handling is not particularly confidence inspiring. No real vices, but it doesn't feel all that planted. It would take some getting used to. It's certainly not a "sports car", but a GT.

It has a nice driving position, and I have to say that two long (14 hour) days in the car didn't beat me up, and I always got out of the car feeling fine. No back problems, no stiffness.

The ergonomics are wacky. The choke is way over on the passenger side. There are a zillion rocker switches in the center, with separate switches for the headlights, side lights, and dash lights. The high beam is a toggle switch on the dash.

Changing knock-off wheels is a major pain. The right rear had a vibration that may have been an out of round tire or a wheel (wire) that needed trueing. I swapped it for the (full-sized, same tire) spare. The provided lead hammer has to be used for quite some time to get the spinner to loosen enough, and then the wheel needs to be wiggled off the splines very slowly. Wiggling the new wheel on takes even longer, then you have to whack on the spinner for several minutes to get it all snugged up again.

I'm going to talk to Hill's Motors in San Carlos tomorrow to hear their guesstimate on how many zillions of dollars it will cost to get the heads yanked and the gaskets replaced (I'm 90% certain it's just a blown gasket). The rad will also need to come out and be rodded/boiled out.

whatever you do, don't eat the hammer.