Discussion
Dear all - just sharing what I hope is a fun thread following some prompting from friends to do so and also reading the high mile XK article.
My old man died last year and parked up in his garage was his Jag XKR. He bought it new in 2004 as a retirement present and was his daily driver until he garaged it in about 2017 through failing health.
When it went away I knew it wasn’t cosmetically very good, he had knocked it about a bit as he had become more unwell, but I knew him to look after things mechanically, and in my head, always had a half plan, if he would let me, to get it all straightened out for him.
Now, Obviously that never quite happened, but fast forward to 2022, and on top of a family relocation from Switzerland to Japan, I decided to get her running properly again, partly out of respect, partly out of not wanting to give away what would have inevitably been a project car for someone, and partly because I like the eventual idea of a fun modern classic weekend car in Tokyo for my family which has a bit of a story to it..
So here is the story so far and the plan going forward…
The car came out of his garage in the UK over the summer and I asked Tom Lenthall to go through it and tell me the good, bad and ugly, of which there is plenty of all three.
I would have loved to tackle the project myself but this would have been simply impossible both geographically and time wise (let alone condition) hence the decision to outsource, albeit with a strict plan (and budget) to do things properly without going overboard, after all, it already has 120k miles on it, and more to come as I intend to use it, and even an A1 condition example it will only ever have a finite value…
So on to the car and what we found.
By my reckoning the car was parked up and SORNd in 2017. It amusingly had a battery conditioner on it all this time, but was totally dead. A battery charger and some hand cranking with the plugs out, she started fine, a little lazy to turn initially, but ticking over just fine, no leaks, clean exhaust, no weird noises or rattles with my listening stick on the engine, all up to temperature and switch off.
A pleasing start and we shall anyway be replacing all the FEAD, hoses, pipes, filters, etc so this was just to check. Tom’s guy came to collect the car and it drove onto the tow truck under its own steam. Its first movement in I guess 4 or more years.
Less pleasing was was the bodywork. Seeing it in daylight, the extent to which my old man had dinged it, again with failing health, made me wince more than a little. The roof, bonnet and miracously the doors were the only were the only truly straight bits. He was always careful about getting in and out, but guess he forgot it had four corners too!
So once its with Tom, we did an appraisal to see what we had on our hands, as I mention, a case of the good the bad and the ugly:
The good.
Mechanically and electrically it seems ok. The interior is also fine bar a saggy headlining. It will receive a significant going through which right now runs to replacement or refurb of not just the powertrain stuff mentioned above but also suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres. It perhaps sounds a lot but I think commensurate with being off the road so long, being leggy to start with, and given I will use the car it needs to be right …
The bad and the ugly.
I think the one word here is rust !! Despite being garaged all its life, it has plenty corrosion in all the usual XK places. Footwells, front cross member, rear wheel arches / wings being the highlights.
The tatty corners didn’t really matter in the end as doing the rust means re-panelling both rear quarters, which big as they are, points you towards such significant paintwork, its not much further to go the whole hog, and respray the whole car, at which point you may as well do both front wings too…
The next steps…
And so this is what I‘ve let myself in for. A pretty thorough body and mechanical recommision which will probably exceed any value the car, when finished, but maybe not enormously so.
My man maths was based on for what is at the top end I guess off the classifieds, I was not going crazy but rescuing something I passengered out of the main dealer when it was new, and would be nicely useable as a modern classic in Tokyo at some point in the near future… and before which there will be surely more to come as I import / register it…
In the meantime the photos below describe the story so far. NB. Outdoor photos are my own, if I can align them properly, workshop photos are copyright Tom Lenthall.
Best wishes, Mark
My old man died last year and parked up in his garage was his Jag XKR. He bought it new in 2004 as a retirement present and was his daily driver until he garaged it in about 2017 through failing health.
When it went away I knew it wasn’t cosmetically very good, he had knocked it about a bit as he had become more unwell, but I knew him to look after things mechanically, and in my head, always had a half plan, if he would let me, to get it all straightened out for him.
Now, Obviously that never quite happened, but fast forward to 2022, and on top of a family relocation from Switzerland to Japan, I decided to get her running properly again, partly out of respect, partly out of not wanting to give away what would have inevitably been a project car for someone, and partly because I like the eventual idea of a fun modern classic weekend car in Tokyo for my family which has a bit of a story to it..
So here is the story so far and the plan going forward…
The car came out of his garage in the UK over the summer and I asked Tom Lenthall to go through it and tell me the good, bad and ugly, of which there is plenty of all three.
I would have loved to tackle the project myself but this would have been simply impossible both geographically and time wise (let alone condition) hence the decision to outsource, albeit with a strict plan (and budget) to do things properly without going overboard, after all, it already has 120k miles on it, and more to come as I intend to use it, and even an A1 condition example it will only ever have a finite value…
So on to the car and what we found.
By my reckoning the car was parked up and SORNd in 2017. It amusingly had a battery conditioner on it all this time, but was totally dead. A battery charger and some hand cranking with the plugs out, she started fine, a little lazy to turn initially, but ticking over just fine, no leaks, clean exhaust, no weird noises or rattles with my listening stick on the engine, all up to temperature and switch off.
A pleasing start and we shall anyway be replacing all the FEAD, hoses, pipes, filters, etc so this was just to check. Tom’s guy came to collect the car and it drove onto the tow truck under its own steam. Its first movement in I guess 4 or more years.
Less pleasing was was the bodywork. Seeing it in daylight, the extent to which my old man had dinged it, again with failing health, made me wince more than a little. The roof, bonnet and miracously the doors were the only were the only truly straight bits. He was always careful about getting in and out, but guess he forgot it had four corners too!
So once its with Tom, we did an appraisal to see what we had on our hands, as I mention, a case of the good the bad and the ugly:
The good.
Mechanically and electrically it seems ok. The interior is also fine bar a saggy headlining. It will receive a significant going through which right now runs to replacement or refurb of not just the powertrain stuff mentioned above but also suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres. It perhaps sounds a lot but I think commensurate with being off the road so long, being leggy to start with, and given I will use the car it needs to be right …
The bad and the ugly.
I think the one word here is rust !! Despite being garaged all its life, it has plenty corrosion in all the usual XK places. Footwells, front cross member, rear wheel arches / wings being the highlights.
The tatty corners didn’t really matter in the end as doing the rust means re-panelling both rear quarters, which big as they are, points you towards such significant paintwork, its not much further to go the whole hog, and respray the whole car, at which point you may as well do both front wings too…
The next steps…
And so this is what I‘ve let myself in for. A pretty thorough body and mechanical recommision which will probably exceed any value the car, when finished, but maybe not enormously so.
My man maths was based on for what is at the top end I guess off the classifieds, I was not going crazy but rescuing something I passengered out of the main dealer when it was new, and would be nicely useable as a modern classic in Tokyo at some point in the near future… and before which there will be surely more to come as I import / register it…
In the meantime the photos below describe the story so far. NB. Outdoor photos are my own, if I can align them properly, workshop photos are copyright Tom Lenthall.
Best wishes, Mark
Nice post - sounds like the car has sentimental value which far exceeds ££s, and that’s what it’s all about really.
I love watching a restoration project take shape so will be following with interest - especially as it’s an X100 XKR. I’ve had my eye on them for a couple of years now but, aside from odd prices of late, have been hesitant as it’s so hard to find one that doesn’t suffer from rust. I probably will get one eventually, but am making sure I’ve got enough contingency for some professional bodywork repairs first.
I hope the project goes well; there’ll be some great photo opportunities on that journey to Japan!
I love watching a restoration project take shape so will be following with interest - especially as it’s an X100 XKR. I’ve had my eye on them for a couple of years now but, aside from odd prices of late, have been hesitant as it’s so hard to find one that doesn’t suffer from rust. I probably will get one eventually, but am making sure I’ve got enough contingency for some professional bodywork repairs first.
I hope the project goes well; there’ll be some great photo opportunities on that journey to Japan!
Thank you all - v kind indeed. I love the idea of driving it there!!
Alas I already am ‚there‘ so its going to go in a container in all sadness. I am indeed doing it a little bit for the hell of it, but not stupidly so. There is a reasonably strict budget given the extent of work needed and it really was on the knife edge of just breaking it up or selling it as a project car, and i thought it deserved a better ending than that.
More to come later in the month…
Alas I already am ‚there‘ so its going to go in a container in all sadness. I am indeed doing it a little bit for the hell of it, but not stupidly so. There is a reasonably strict budget given the extent of work needed and it really was on the knife edge of just breaking it up or selling it as a project car, and i thought it deserved a better ending than that.
More to come later in the month…
Just the smallest of updates, the car is painted, I was well pleased with the result, admittedly from a distance, but it was a nice reminder of what it used to be like years ago. Next step is putting it all back together, taking a look at the powertrain and interior. So far no hidden surprises, so lets hope it keeps going that way! photo credit Tom Lenthall.
Cracking project! Is it just going to visit Tokyo, or are you importing it? I suppose they drive on the same side of the road as us, but are there things you need to do to import, either in terms of converting speedo, etc. or in terms of tax and registration? Just curious how hard (or easy!) this is to do - not that I’ve a need to do it!
It will be an import into Japan. It‘s not without some potential for problems, but having spent some time researching, it should be reasonably straightforward touch wood.
Of course there will be some import / duty tax (vehicle cost and weight based) and registration / road taxes (weight and emissions based) to pay, but these are not dealbreakers as typically you are paying either directly or indirectly for all this whatever car you have.
More challenging may be the registration and shaken test, basically a more thorough version of the MOT. Homologation wise the very same model was sold new here, there was no unique JP spec (e.g. in context of federal vs euro), or if there was it was very superficial (dealer / distributor addressble changes) so in theory no issues there. The test itself is thorough, I would say closer to a German TUV or Swiss MFK, than an MOT, I managed to obtain a copy of the test procedure, but there is nothing daunting given we are thoroughly refurbishing the car prior…
Of course I say all this from the safety of my keyboard, the proof of the pudding will be the eating! That said I do have a local contact who is familar with importing and the testing itself so I think its a false economy not to do a trial run worh them first…
And yes it is indeed Jaguar Racing Green, it seems to have come out really nicely and I had no idea it was long since discontinued…
Of course there will be some import / duty tax (vehicle cost and weight based) and registration / road taxes (weight and emissions based) to pay, but these are not dealbreakers as typically you are paying either directly or indirectly for all this whatever car you have.
More challenging may be the registration and shaken test, basically a more thorough version of the MOT. Homologation wise the very same model was sold new here, there was no unique JP spec (e.g. in context of federal vs euro), or if there was it was very superficial (dealer / distributor addressble changes) so in theory no issues there. The test itself is thorough, I would say closer to a German TUV or Swiss MFK, than an MOT, I managed to obtain a copy of the test procedure, but there is nothing daunting given we are thoroughly refurbishing the car prior…
Of course I say all this from the safety of my keyboard, the proof of the pudding will be the eating! That said I do have a local contact who is familar with importing and the testing itself so I think its a false economy not to do a trial run worh them first…
And yes it is indeed Jaguar Racing Green, it seems to have come out really nicely and I had no idea it was long since discontinued…
Only found this thread thanks to the cross-post in Readers Cars - will follow with interest.
On the 'money' side I like to look at it a slightly different way, and ask what I would need to spend to buy something else I would like as much. Inevitably that means newer, bigger, faster, more expensive anyway. The obession with "losing" money on cars completely ignores why we buy them in first place. You have to pay to play, and given the combination of car and back story it feels like it remains good value.
On the 'money' side I like to look at it a slightly different way, and ask what I would need to spend to buy something else I would like as much. Inevitably that means newer, bigger, faster, more expensive anyway. The obession with "losing" money on cars completely ignores why we buy them in first place. You have to pay to play, and given the combination of car and back story it feels like it remains good value.
Thanks both. Dr G I think we are saying similar things and you make some good analogies. My logic was that beyond any sentimental value, the car was otherwise just a breaker for parts for someone. I thought it deserved a better end than that, and whilst there is an inevitable cost associated with that, it represented reasonable value to me, the exercise alone has been enjoyable let alone the end result I hope.
Just sharing a brief update summmarising the last month and quite some progress. As ever photo credits Tom Lenthall.
With the bodywork and underside addressed,
the car is coming back together slowly where the plan is to address anything that needs doing along the way but without going overboard. So far nothing unexpected has cone up, but we think it will be a case of wait and see, especially as we get to roadtesting…
I have to say I am super pleased by the way its turning out and the decision to do it was the right one, if only to give an old dog (or more correctly cat) a new home….
With the bodywork and underside addressed,
the car is coming back together slowly where the plan is to address anything that needs doing along the way but without going overboard. So far nothing unexpected has cone up, but we think it will be a case of wait and see, especially as we get to roadtesting…
I have to say I am super pleased by the way its turning out and the decision to do it was the right one, if only to give an old dog (or more correctly cat) a new home….
Gassing Station | Jaguar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff