wrote in message
...
On Thu, 26 May 2011 13:26:44 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
wrote:

On Thu, 26 May 2011 06:12:37 -0400, Robert Green wrote:
My big problems were when water got under the hood, when the
transmission (Borg-Warnet) blew up, when the power steering pump blew
up
spraying the hot exhaust manifold with enough PS fluid to create a
small
cumulo-nimbus cloud outside the gates of the Naval Academy during June
Week (now I would be shot as a terrorist bomber), the sudden loss of
spark to three of the six cylinders (it did managed to limp thirty
miles
home in that condition) a failed A/C compressor, which apparently was
held in mid-air while the rest of the car was built around it (it was
SO
hard to remove), a fender full of tree-nuts that apparently only grow
in
Spain, plenty of the body rust you allude to, an engine that ran hot
enough to alligator the paint on the hood, ...

Ha ha! I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that. It all
sounds familiar - I've had the tree-nut problem, and exhaust manifold
bolts that require a team of trained squirrels to reach, and loss of
spark (passing folk at 90mph or so on a country road when the supply to
the coil gave out) and, of course, engine heat - Triumph were famous for
poor QC and their V8s left the factory with a small beach of casting sand
still inside, which of course just loved to block engine cooling
passages.


The Mark X was the four door predecessor to the XJ series. Walnut
fold-down picnic tables behind the front seats, all walnut dash, twin
13
gallon fuel tanks with separate electric pumps, gauges for everything
(no idiot lights), leather power seats, power windows, a big boot, a
well-fitted tool kit and a top speed of 160 mph.

Ahh yeah, I remember a friend had a Mark X... very sleek car. The XJs
were nice, too, and I think they sold quite a few of those in the US - I
keep thinking I should try and get one someday. My uncle had a Mark IX at
one point - I'm not sure if those ever made it to the US market, did
they?

The XJ13 was Jaguar's Le Mans racer attempt - http://www.netcarshow.com/
jaguar/1966-xj13/800x600/wallpaper_02.htm - very nice lines, I think.
Shame they never made it a production body like they did with the E type.

What's Lucas Electrics motto? "Get home before dark!"

Ha I've been in so many European cars of the same era though, and they
really weren't any better when it came to electrics. Quite why they
couldn't figure it out, I don't know. I've got a '60s Ford F100 these
days though and that's really not any different - maybe the US climate
(and roads) were just generally kinder on vehicles, so they didn't get
the same bad rep?

cheers

Jules
Paris Rhone and Ducellier were every bit as bad, electrically, as
Lucas - and 2 or 3 times as expensive to fix.

French cars never, ever impressed me. My boss had one of those variable
suspension Citroens and once had an accident because he was trying to warn
someone backing up into us with the horn, which the French decided should be
on the end of the turnsignal stalk. Apparently the French automakers were
unfamiliar with the basic concepts of human factors engineering. Another
friend bought the Renault Alliance which literally dissolved out from under
him. Things were always falling off that junkmobile. C&D's "Car of the
Year" - must have been 1911.

Euro electrics do not seam to stand up well over here in the Americas.
The "Euro style" connectors used in the American built "Mondeo clones"
- Mercury Mystique/Ford Contour are the largest cause of problems on
those cars. Other than the encroaching body rust, virtually every
problem I've had on my wife's '96 has been an electrical connector.

I agree. It got so that I didn't bother to drive the Jag if I knew heavy
rains were coming. If I were doing it all over again, I would have used
adhesive lined heat shrink tubing to cover the most vulnerable connectors
since they're rarely disconnected for routine maintenance. It would have
been a simple matter to slice them open with a razor if need be. I've seen
people do the same with connectors for marine electronics and sal****er is
far more troublesome, electrically speaking, than rainwater.

I had an overheating problem I was never able to solve. It meant that on
really hot days I had to run with the A/C off, all the windows open and the
heat on full blast. The Jag had a little popup ventilator scoop on the hood
and when up, provided just enough additional cooling so that the engine
thermostat wouldn't blow. Even with all the problems I learned how to be a
Bondo master and an automotive electrical trouble shooter. I remember when
the tranny started slipping, I took it to an alleged Jag expert who told me
I needed a $1200 rebuild. Turned out it was just low on fluid. Fortunately
the manual was very well done and had fold out schematics and more. Some
things never got fixed.

The passenger power window used a scissors mechanism with a long center
screw to raise and lower the window. Apparently the previous owner had an
accident and the door was not properly straightened so that the lifting nut
and the threaded rod both lost threads in critical areas. You would start
to lower the window and it would move slowly until the stripped threads and
then drop like a guillotine. I ended up disconnecting the motor and drilling
a hole through the scissors assembly, permanently bolting it in the closed
position after the window just fell open one rainy day with predictable
results.

Got into a nearly homicidal grudge match with my neighbor because I came out
of the house one day to find this (expletive deleted) bitch sitting on the
porch watching her delinquent little boy trying to pry the Jaguar hood
ornament off the car. "Shucks, he's just playing!" was her response. The
little rugrat was eventually busted for breaking into ten different houses
in the neighborhood. My first encounter with the little ******* was when I
was moving in and he and his brothers were inspecting the boxes on my porch.
I heard the little six year old fokker say to his older brother "What can we
steal?" I assume he's been shived to death in prison by now, he was such a
likeable little cuss. NOT!

--
Bobby G.