Thousand Dollar Supercar

I did not know that could be done. Gee, I wonder why they never suggested it to me when I took in the head from my old Rover 2600....

Don't these have what now? Christ on a bike.

Yyyeah, I thought everyone else was going slowly but it was just that the Prince of Darkness had infected my speedometer. I need to pull out the instrument cluster to see if the speedo can be calibrated, and to fix the illumination to make it visible at night. The reason you struggled to keep up is that you were in a diesel Mondeo. The back is one of its many super sweet angles IMO. Looks old fashioned cos it came out 43 years ago. =) I will investigate what's behind that passenger footwell footrest this weekend, because I need to find space to stash an amp. I actually didn't have to ignore anyone on oldschool in buying this car. Threeonthetree / Neal and BDA780 / Karl put up with me harrassing them about the decision for probably the past year or two. Not once did they try to convince me to consider a 2ZZ.

That was Nats 2014 at Marahau, and I'm pretty sure the gentleman in the passenger seat was this hard case party dude whose name I don't remember: It would be. I thought all TWR cars were basically body kits and suspension, still fitted with automatics and with their engines essentially stock. Fortunately, some total XJS Barry has written this site that suggests a 6L manual car could have been a possibility: https://classicregister.com/id-guides/how-identify-1984-1988-jaguar-xjs-twr-enhanced

Amazingly the air conditioning works, and so does the trip computer (10l/100km average on the trip home from Paeroa). Electric mirrors work but switches need more use. Heated seats are locked out unless it's below 15 degrees, so I have to wait and see if they still have their magic smoke. The extra shocks and springs apparently "...allows the use of smaller springs, taking up less space and protruding less into the luggage area.It also equalises the load transmitted to the front and rear of the crossbeam." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_independent_rear_suspension It's also possible they just use two pairs on the back to give sheepers something to scoff at. Because you wouldn't live it for me by finishing your purple XJ-S! That thing was always my favourite out of your cars. I don't have the skill / equipment / finances to build a V12 manual, so I've settled for a nana model that hopefully won't prove to be too much of a basket case for me to keep on the road.

https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/58670-thousand-dollar-supercars-1988-jaguar-xj-s-36/ "Awfully sorry, I ran over your dog..." "...in my Jaaaag!"

I'm back, ...and I've got a Jaaaag. "He's bought a grandfather clock!" 1988 Jaguar XJ-S 3.6L six cylinder auto - not a V12 big cat, more of a house cat: Such car, much pussy cat.. but why? I bought my poor Alfa 33 as a budget daily driver 14+ years ago. This time I was buying more of a weekend toy, so I decided I should get a midlife crisis an old man's car a hopeless British Leyland anachronism a coupe with at least 6 cylinders and maybe even some market value. I considered the Z31 300zx, C4 Corvette, third gen Firebird / Camaro, BMW 635CSi.. and then I realised none of those are in my buyers guide, "Lemon! 60 Heroic Failures of Motoring" by Tony Davis. Where's the fun in that. With the XJ-S, I'm on my third Heroic Failure car in a row! Also, why wouldn't you buy one of these. DOHC 24 valve, all alloy fuel-injected motor, independent rear suspension with inboard disk brakes and a limited slip diff. it's basically a high performance weapon. It's so awesome that it needs six shock absorbers and six coil springs. It's got luxury covered too - climate control air conditioning, heated seats, heated electric mirrors, leather, wood, chrome, and a trip computer to impress your stockbroker mates. All this for similar $$ to a Ford Escort. Best of all, because it's only a 2-door 2+2, it's so compact that it fits in my garage very well... I don't have any good photos yet, but it's a stock '88 hardtop in Arctic Blue with the mesh alloys, blue leather seats and no rear spoiler. Impressions: A barge. Smells like an old car. The long bonnet look means the windscreen is in your face. The low roof means you sit on the floor with the seat reclined to get enough headroom. The exhaust is too quiet, so the soundtrack is mostly a bunch of mechanical whinings and grindings and miscellaneous grumbling and wheezing. Plans: Fix stuff, fix more stuff, fit soundz, work on making it better to drive and subtly hot it up enough that classic car snobs disapprove of me. Oh the fun I'll have. Discussion: https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/58671-thousand-dollar-supercars-1988-jaguar-xj-s-36/

Especially if you paint the whole car black and call it the Deceased Estate. (don't actually do that) From the NZTA:

Good to see you back, dropping half a build thread in one day! The digital dash caught my eye. I think it's better than the alternative of a bunch of those off-the-shelf analogue gauges, plus you get pretty lights and all of the geeky data... Manufacturer's product page if anyone's interested: http://aimsports.com/en/products/mxs-strada/index.htm You're replacing modgies with modgies? Kidding - I expect there are limited choices available when you need to be able to specify so much about the wheel. What's happening with the suspension, front brakes etc?

HighLUX: Yep. That's the price of lightweight construction - hit the kerb and even the roof gets just a little damaged. If I had some panelbeaters put the car on a chassis pulling machine, the chassis rail would probably pull right off. It was always going to take an accident (my fault or someone else's) to force me out of this car. Otherwise I'd still be inserting coins into it when I'm 90. V8Pete: My carbs are worth something because they're 40mm, but probably not my gearbox because 1700cc cars have the tallest gearing. Assuming anyone is still building race Alfas this old, I believe they covet the high ratio diffs from 1200cc Suds.

Hi! As your welcome to oldschool, I'm contractually obligated to reprimand you for posting in my project thread. We operate a system of separate discussion threads for each car, to make the project threads more readable. The discussion thread for my car is here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/21806-thousand-2150-dollar-supercars-1988-alfa-romeo-33-17qv/ Going back to your post, I think what you mean is, stop being slack and post some updates! It has been over two years! Unfortunately I have a sad update. I have killed the invisible supercar. Although it had been getting a bit sick (low compression on one cylinder, possibly using coolant), I was merrily patching it up and racing it around as always, windows down + engine braking just to listen to the exhaust crackle, the perfect andidote to a diesel company car. One night a few months ago, I was running late for band practice, Alfa loaded up with gear, sitting in a queue to turn right at the Mt Eden Village lights. It was raining and I still hadn't got through after 3 light phases. Lights go green and the idiot ahead of me in a purple Mirage Dingo is going straight through at 1kph. Before he costs me my right turn, I pull around him and floor it. Wheels spin up, turn is sharper than usual because I've pulled around the Dingo. Front end doesn't want to bite sufficiently (overinflated tyres / lowered suspension / rain / etc) even though I'm trying to pulse the brakes. Bam, outside front wheel hits the high kerb. The wheel was close enough to parallel that the rim hit and the impact buckled a suspension arm: That would be an easy fix, but enough of the impact got transferred to the chassis that I buckled the floorpan: I also bent the front chassis rail: From underneath you can see the inner and outer sections of the rail have come unstitched: http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/crash/chassis rail bottom 1.jpg I've generally buckled the car just enough that the bonnet and front passenger door don't close nicely, the dash is pushed up in the middle and even the roof has a small ripple. Public enemy #1, Fishtail Fred, came to get me and we borrowed Cam's trailer to get the Alfa back home. It sits forlornly outside my house looking intact from a distance except for the wheel pushed back in the arch. But although I've thrown this car a lot of lifelines over the last 14 years, it's probably time to stop now. Home renovations mean I'm busy, poor and have no garage space, but the worst of the renovation work is done. Having understeered this poor car into the kerb like a complete doofus, I will probably unceremoniously offload its remains and eventually put another ridiculous vehicle on the mortgage.

With Cordias, only the early model 'AA' GSR with the rubbish carby turbo setup had the scoop. It wasn't on the fuel-injected AB and AC generations. Originality for the sake of it isn't my thing. I wouldn't lose sleep about changing stuff in case I was frowned at by those people.

Silver would be a lot easier - I think black shows imperfections more and you'd have to live with a mismatching engine bay etc. They make generic hood scoops of similar shape to the Colt Turbo ones. If you could make up some louvres somehow to sit in front of the recessed mesh, nobody would know the difference. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/decals-stickers/other/auction-1034360880.htm or cheaper from multiple sellers on Australian Ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Silver-Car-decorative-Air-Flow-Intake-Scoop-Turbo-Bonnet-Vent-Cover-hood-/281875820512?hash=item41a11bafe0:g:X9cAAOSw8-tWYk6i

Glad you are keeping the stripes. Wonder if you could find a Colt Turbo style bonnet scoop before repainting? And have you considered Panther Black (not matty b )?