#jaguars #JaguarXJSV12 & #jaguarMk7 a Tribute to these two distant relatives since the Mk VII is a 1953 example and the XJS V12 5.6 Litres Convertible was born in 1992, thus a generation gap of ça. 40 years.
How did these two cats meet? Well through the good service of the #Soulgarage hosted by Antonis Kouros & Byron Riginos who responded to @George Miroir, far out idea of exchanging his XJS with my Mk VII as advertised here: https://www.classic-trader.com/uk/cars/listing/jaguar/mk-vii/mk-vii/1953/152386 with the added reasoning that he could be earning some money by renting her for events such as marriages or filmmaking or advertising.
After this expression of interest for a swapping, I invited George to bring her beauty to our Soulgarage for a fist appraisal and a quickie test drive. Thus such a meeting was quickly arranged. Upon arrival I scrutinized her overall (while she left a good sized puddle of paraflu from a leaking water pump)… Despite this mishap we took her out for a spin with me at the right hand seat behind the Motolita optional steering wheel 🛞. As a true British girl she has the drivers seat on the right hand side. I shall need a Δ to affix on the rear side of the car.
The impressions from this albeit short test-drive, were positive! Despite the fact that the car wears really old Pirelli P6 tires, she rides rather well. On the way back to the Garage, I stepped all the way on the gas [i.e. “pedal to the metal”] in order to test the acceleration and the traction of the powerful V12 / 3.5 Litre engine. All that taking place to the horror of my friend George 🥰
The second date was about a week after the first. The time of mobilizing the 1953 Jaguar Mk VII had come and a second test-drive was about begin. The car started without hesitation [cold start test] and Antonio took to himself to manœuvre the big sedan sans Power-Steering, through the narrow exit gate of our premises. Once the car was on the driveway, George took command on the LHS, while I assumed the co-pilot’s position and rôle. After briefly explaining the various functions of switches and the “trafficator’ function, we declared ourselves as Ready to roll. He started the car by turning the ignition switch. Nope I said, ‘you will need to press the starter button’ Vroom off we went. George being a bit overwhelmed by the experience of driving an oldie of 70 years old….We did the same Reece as of last time, but without the exercise of the ‘[pedal to the metal].
In the mean time, Antonio had freed-up the in-house car lift, so we immediately proceeded to position the XJS and raised her up, with a strong flash lite in hand. The two of us scrutinized the undercarriage for at least 30 minutes. The verdict: as all English machinery [both two wheels and four wheel vehicles] they all leak oil. On the positive side, no rust was detected on this low mileage example. The silent blocks need replacement as well as the gear box rubber mount. Also the water pump [George provided a new unit but with one pulley] as well as the four tires size 235/60 R15 needs immediate replacement. Hence I proceeded to source a set of four Michelin XWX’s from the http://www.longstonetires.com based in a Non-Eu country anymore…
A short picture Gallery follows…
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