Below is an excerpt about the car that may be featured in an upcoming Pacific Jaguar Enthusiasts Group newsletter nw44:
“I don’t feel sorry for you ManShun, you just bought a car without test driving it, and this cars transmission is shot!”
These were the encouraging words I heard from my friend and fellow enthusiast, Chris Los, on the day of my 18th birthday when I went to pick up my third Jaguar, a 1986 XJ6 which I had agreed to buy two days prior - it had been the garden ornament, sitting with the sunroof half open in the yard of a filmographer for three years. This gentleman was getting married and his new wife to be just didn’t appreciate the rust bucket in the front yard.
My parents thought I was nuts, buying my third Jaguar, just a month before I was to move to London. But, I was just bored having sold my 2001 XJR in May; buying a 1987 V12 VDP in June that never really got running – I’m still parting this car now.
Let me start by saying, no other car has taught me so much about repairs. This is not to say that the car was totally unreliable, it was just a matter of wiggling a few components and “off we go”. So, for $400, 1/2 an hour of replenishing fluids of the car, and charging the battery, the car roared to life, the vendor’s jaw dropped and I drove all the way from Burnaby to Vancouver. This was August 14th; I had bought an 116,000 mile wreck for my 18th birthday, and drove it to work in the afternoon. My colleague was stunned after I told him how my friend and I had gotten the car started in the morning; even more surprising was the price I paid for it. This summer, I was working for a Real Estate law firm, and clients seemed totally comfortable being driven around in my $400 Jaguar – even the odd time I had to render quick repairs.
During the first month I drove the car around, the incident rate was perhaps once a week. The first problem was the transmission fluid leak, and then oil leak, a dead alternator, a weak starter, an ignition switch, fuel filter, throttle cable etc… a few parts were pilfered from my 1987 V12 VDP – but I didn’t fix the leaks, alternator or the starter. Surprisingly everything inside the car was working, the windshield wipers parked correctly, the fuel guage worked, the lights worked, even the cruise control. It was smelly inside, a moldy headliner and carpets and rust everywhere. I had originally bought it as a parts car, but then I found out just how much I enjoyed driving it. It kept me with a challenge – not breaking down in the middle of the intersection, the battery cable had a tendency to pop off the battery under hard cornering, and the car would run out of juice after a while.
August 17th, just three days after I picked up the car, I entered it at the North Vancouver Jaguar Heritage Show. Having washed, waxed and generally tidied the car, I showed up to the show with some exhaust pipes which I had glued on the night before. The event itself was good; I had lots of comments on the car… I’m pretty sure some people were just disgusted, and others gave me pity. As I drove off from the show, the car began to undress itself. The exhaust pipes came off under hard acceleration, the car began running roughly, and finally as I was getting home to Vancouver, the car died – the culprit? – a fuel filter full of junk. This was fun, trying to determine why it missed so badly? But with some PJEG club member help, this too was resolved. The alternator died later that week, and while I was trying to boost it, I ended up frying the throttle cable. That put the car out of commission for another two days.
I placed an advert on the internet to sell the car at $2900, and later reduced the price to $1800. I was getting desperate towards the middle of September. I finally sold it on the 19th September (2007) for $1700 – yes it was running, but with a dead alternator and a weak starter – I was only barely able to make it to the new owner’s home. My fun was over, but on the 21st I moved to London to begin my studies. The timing couldn’t have been better!
Man-Shun Poon
Vancouver, Canada / London, England.
2001 Jaguar XJR
1987 Jaguar V12 Vanden Plas
1986 Jaguar XJ6