Hi, I am a new [OLD] member and own a 1985 V12 VdP Jag. This car has collector plates and is seldom driven [11000 Km in 11 years] I was in car sales back in the late 60s-early 70s and sold Austin, MG, Triumph and Lotus [we even got a few Super 7s] Hal Klassen

Welcome here, I have always loved the 12's Vdp's sooo much.

Welcome Vdp's are so nice...hard to find good examples of the early ones though

Hi Thanks for the welcome. The ser 111 Jag V12 VdPs were made in limited #s and were rebadged Daimlers D6s and sold only in Canada. {in 85 364]. With a bit of prompting, I could write a few notes about selling the cars we are restoring and enjoying now. Hal Klassen

Get going brother we all love to hear the stories. Have a few myself.

Welcome to the forum

How about the Lotus? We were given the Lotus franchise in about 1969 [the local dealer was't doing very much business] and the cars were stored in a field by the waterfront. We arrived with the dealer plates and a set of jumpers and went to get into a Europa when ----squish- it was full of water. We learned that they were water-tight on the bottom, but not the top. The Renault electric fans only lasted a few days [they were all rusty from sitting] and the gear shift levers had a habit of breaking off [tow job] Once we got to know the cars, they were fantastic!!! I had an Elan #2 for a driver [had two little girls] and loved it. Hal Klassen

Welcome to BCF.

More ramblings--Triumph Spitfires. We began having a serious problem with the gearboxes. Nearly every new car was back in a few days with a total failure of the gearbox. It got so, we ordered a new one the day after delivery. It took over a year for the factory to figure out the cars were being loaded and left in gear on the train across Canada, and the rock & rolling was breaking some snap rings in the box and it wasn't the lousy drivers after all. Hal
1985 V12 VdP
1966 Glenn Pray Cord
1967 Mercury Cougar

More rememberences {am I posting in the rigt place?} Minis- We were able to get new Minis after 1968 in Canada because of a special relaxation of the 5 MPH bumper rules, but they put them half way up the grille on chrome bars, and on the trunk lid. We could have sold 10 times as many, but there was always a waiting list. One thing I have never been able to figure out-- The Cooper had 56 HP and the Cooper S,s had 76 HP. You could light up the tires in the first 2-3 gears in an S and I think some of the competing makes had wildly optimistic HP ratings. The Mini came very close to becoming "Car Of The Century" and nearly every small car owes Sir Alec. Hal

"The Mini came very close to becoming "Car Of The Century" and nearly every small car owes Sir Alec."

Could not agree more. Well said.

MGs, we sold hundreds of MGBs [and a few Midgets] and my favrite was the 68. It still had leather seats, and had the full synchro gearbox and the 5 main engine. Each year the emission and safety regs. made the cars a little less popular but everyone else had their problems, so the MG remained vey popular right up to the 74 model year. The tougher 75 regs. came into effect on Jan.75 production, so we got quite a few rubber bumper cars with twin carbs and an oil cooler---but when the first single carb car came in I took it for a ride and a stock VW pulled away from me and I couldn't keep up. I left car sales a year or so later, but have a lot of good memories. An interesting sidelite-- the hard tops came over [randomly] mounted on a car and we were able to learn how to put the top down properly . Hal

This next one should have a warning----TR7 owners skip to another page. We got the TR7 as a replcement for the TR6. In this it failed miserably! the first cars were so bad, I refused to sell them [a car salesman with a concience?] I understand the cars got a bit better in later years, but by then I had left sales to go back to my trade. I never could figure out how the factory, with an excellent gearbox in production [MGB] could come up with such a poor design. The whole drive train was a disaster, but they did handle and ride quite well. Hal

Geez, Hal!!! You're gonna have a BUNCH of these fellas huntin' ya down with pitchforks!!

*SHHH!!!* Don't tell anyone, but: I hold the same opinion of "Wedgies". Also sold Lotus cars, in the mid-to-late '70's.

Welcome to th' forum!

A wedge is useful for holding a door open,and that's about all.

Stuart. (and welcome Hal.)

Quick, Duck before the TR guys get wind of this!

I'd figured Paul would'a jumped in by now but ever since his TR7 decided to create a new ventilation port between the rear end and the floorboards maybe his opinions of wedges has changed

We had a TR7 for a couple of years when I was a kid.

It was a spectacular lawn-ornament.

I'd take one if it was a 5speed, convertible, and not built in Speke.

And keep the stories coming Hal, this is as good a place as any!

I think Paul is in the conversion process....Give him awhile...He'll be the next Tony Barnhill

Thanks Jim, I wonder, after all these years, if it is fair to try to blame anyone for these problems [TR7] I think the engine was a joint effort with Saab, and their version had a lot more power and reliability. The labour problems at the time were so severe, that BL threatened to close the factory making the TR7s if there was one more wildcat strike and the next week there was and they did. We had no cars for a year, but this may have been a good thing, because the next series were a lot better plus the convertible and later the V8 made the cars competetive.
A pal of mine had a TR7 V8 Coupe [a couple of years ago] and I called it a TR7&1/2.
My every day transport is a 1983 Honda Civic [ex. Calif],no rust, Auto., AC, and I think it may be the last one running in this area, but there are plenty of Brit cars still active. Hal