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My Jaguar

In 1997 I got infected by the Jag fever. While living in Durban / South Africa I saw an advert in a newspaper. A 1967 3.8S.

It was advertised as in good condition and was located in Johannesburg about 600 km from Durban. I phoned the guy and went with my wife to Jo'burg. As you can imagine the car wasn't in good condition. The interior was vinyl and totaly shot. The carpets were nearly gone. Still I was fascinated from the car but could keep cool. I offered the guy half of what he wanted and left Jo'burg. He phoned me after two long weeks and we agreed to a price a little bit more on my side than on his. A few days later I took the overnight bus to Jo'burg and got the car. The way back was horrible. After about 100 km I checked oil and it was about 1 litre below low. I refilled and went another hundred kilometers. Again a litre was missing. So I stopped at each filling station on the way, refilled oil and checked petrol. Opposing to other Jags she was not dripping oil. As I found out everything leaked through a stucked inlet valve into the engine.

As it got dark I wondered about the dark dashboard. No lights. I found the switch for the map light. At least I could read the speedometer again. It took me about another half an hour to find the dashboard light switch.

About 200 km before Durban I lost half of the exhaust and she started to sound like a tank. Back in Durban I brought her to the muffler's shop and got a new stainless exhaust fitted which was just about 250 Euro. After a few other repairs and rust proofing I got the COR (MOT, TÜV). After finding so many defects I thougt the car was in bad condition A closer inspection revealed that wasn't the case. It is nearly rust free and the compression ratio, except for one piston due to the stuck valve, is still good. Seat frames and Dunlopillos are also in an acceptable state and all bits and pieces were complete except for the washer bottle.

After using it for 1 1/2 years I shipped it back to Germany where it arrived in January 1999. A last ride home where it was stored outside for 3 month during heavy snowfall. Now it is stored in the garage. The interior is now out of the car and due to the lack of good information about interior restoration I got motivated to write this little page.