Broke and Happy

[Rich]

For the first time in my life, I'm glad I'm broke.  One of my professional acquaintances has just put up for sale his '64 Jag XKE Coupe.  My Gawd that's a beautiful car.........

[Ultra]

Sounds like a good thing to me.

[Rich]

IIRC, MG had one of these and said it was a money hole you kept in your garage.....all I know is that this one's kind of a yellow-white (just like my "B") w/ black leather (again, just like the "B").....<sigh>

[porridgehead]

I guess it's better than being rich and miserable.

I would love to have an XKE in the stable, but that would require having a stable. It would also require the kind of disposable income that I have thusfar avoided with a passion. Much like the fame that I have endeavored to avoid, I have been altogether too successful eschewing fortune and the trappings that come with it.

I'm become adept at informing myself that I am quite happy living vicariously.

[Jagman]

As a current XK-E owner, I think the key to owning a Jag is the same as owning any other 30 or 40 y/o car, you have to get a good one first.
MG's car was a POS from the git go, no wonder he had problems with it.

My car was originally Primrose yellow with Black interior, I never liked the yellow so I painted it black........

Mine also was a POS when I got it, so much worse than I realized, and I knew it wasn't any good! I spent the next 4 years making it into something driveable, and it really hasn't been a problem child since, any more than any other 30 or 40 y/o car would be.

If you'd like to read about it and  see it, go here

[Ultra]

If you'd like to read about it and  see it, go here

I would like to use that expose on the restoration of your Jag as a front page article here, with your permission of course.

[MG]

Rich, old friend. It appears you do not recall my long and convoluted tales involving the ownership of a real live Jag-You-Are. Maybe I will have to recreate that thread from the old CC before you go do something you will regret for a long, LONG time!

No actually, I agree with you. I owned a 64 Coupe and I STILL think it ranks as one of the top 5 most gorgeous production vehicles of all time.  I find myself browsing pix of E-Types from time to time and wondering what would have happened had I kept mine.  Of course, I know the answer. I would have happily put a bullet through my brain long before this!   

If I could be serious for a moment, if you ever DID think seriously of doing this, I would talk to David Craven first. His might be for sale and with his you get a complete and thorough history of every step of the restoration process he put his car through. I know what he thinks its worth and it is fairly priced. And besides THAT, we KNOW where he lives!   

[lynxd67]

An E type (as we say) is as reliable a car as it gets if you trest it right. Mine I've had 27 years now and done 120,000 miles in it with only one serious breakdown and that was when the dynamo bearings failed. We found a mini one in a scrapyard, made up some longer brackets to fit it and carried on another 2,000 miles until we got back home and rebuilt the original one. The engine, rebuilt 60,000 miles ago, still uses a pint every 3,000 miles and honestly I reckon the tales of woe are overdone. At the time it was mostly down to bad maintenance, not checking the oil or water level and so on

[porridgehead]

And that photo is the very reason why the E Type is the finest crumpet collector known to man. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

[MG]

Ah, to be able to write like Henry N. Manney, III  !   

[Jagman]

If you'd like to read about it and  see it, go here

I would like to use that expose on the restoration of your Jag as a front page article here, with your permission of course.

Absolutely, make yourself to home..........