The mechanical nightmare stories above about Jags brought back to mind an amazing story...
Back in the early 80's my USAFR Commander bought a new Jag sedan. With about 500 miles on it, he was heading to the base and switched over the fuel tanks at 70mph. He heard a muffled explosion, looked in the rear view mirror and all he could see was smoke and flames! He got it stopped and bailed out. After getting to a safe distance away, he watched it burn to the ground.
Pretty impressive stuff...
Like any devout Jag lover, he took the insurance money and bought another new one just like the old one. Unbelievably, within a 100yards of the spot where the first incident occurred, he turned on the windshield wipers (it was raining) and was immediately confronted with a blue electrical arc that went right across the windshield.
He immediately smelled burning insulation (and other stuff), so he again got it stopped and bailed out of the car. From a safe distance he watched that one literally burn to the ground too. Adding to the excitement was the gas tank finally exploding!
Again, pretty impressive stuff...
My Commander flew 273 combat missions in Vietnam as a fighter pilot. He said, those Jags came closer to killing him than the VC ever did.
All that said, I too think the Series 1 Jag XKE roadsters are the prettiest cars ever built, regardless of price.
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