Our classic motor is a 1982 Daimler Van den Plas (best described as a Jag XJ6 series 3) with a fuel injected 4.2 litre 6 cylinder. It was first purchased by a Melbourne business man in 1982 however he passed away in 1984 and his wife continued to drive the car until my purchase in 2011.  In that time it clocked up a staggering 88000 klm i.e. just over 3000 klm per year.

This car was built with two SU carbies but due to early Australian emission standards the Jag had to meet, injectors were fitted at the factory.

Upon purchase I was requested by their family to pose with the owner for a keep sake shot of the passing on of the family car. She was a 94 year old widow who wheeled herself up with her walking frame, looked up at this bedraggled stranger and while patting her hair, asked, “does my hair look alright for the picture?”, most would have bolted, but obviously she knows good character.

On arriving home from Melbourne I found I had lost the car keys so the car sat on the float for a few days while I got it sorted out. An email to the Jaguar museum in Coventry (Eng) and I had the key codes and a Wagga Wagga key cutter had the blanks and so it was sorted in three days. (got to love the internet).

The motor, gear box were good except that the auto transmission spewed oil when parked (I wasn’t going to look while it was moving). The only advice I got was that I should expect that a Jag would spew oil. I learnt that there is no ambivalence when it comes to the Jags. They either love them or hate them. The ones that hate them, but don’t like to say so, have a repertoire of worn out Jag jokes that they seem to think are original e.g.” if the Jag doesn’t leak oil then it’s out of oil yuk yuk”…… mind you, their classic doesn’t leak oil, according to them it just leaves its mark.

Tightening the auto oil pan bolts fixed the leaky problem but the car had a lot more surprises. In the Jag’s engineers effort to provide a car with more wiz bang things available at the time, they managed to complicate every bit of electrical gear there was. So, as it hadn’t been running for a while most of the electric relays failed.

The front bumper had been put to exceptionally good use on many occasions and all the ball joints reflected a degree of tactile turning and along with the front end components were in need of major work and or replacement.

The biggest job time wise was the sill rust around both front and back windows and also the front door sills and left front quarter. Both front and back windows were removed and the rust replaced with steel and the car resprayed. Taking out the windows also caused further problems with the already compromised roof lining.

The air conditioner was beyond help and although costing more to replace than half the cost of the car it has been worth it.

The restoration, while not as extensive as some, it did have its challenges and took approximately eight months. Great car great ride.

Now everybody wants to ride up front.

Trevor