The whole conversion thing is a tricky judgement. To me, it would be just plain wrong to replace an XKE engine with anything else. I remember Car&Driver magazine put a Pontiac 326 [I think] V8 into an XKE, and even as a kid, I felt that was wrong. A Leyland era XJ sedan with a V8 conversion, however, I like. A sedan is, to me, a daily driver, Jag or not. I like my daily driver to be reliable. I would run that engine quiet, with maybe a very slight, but deep, melodious rumble. I would be happy to cruise to work every day with that.
A conversion I would, very much, love to do, however, is a radical, boy-racer, musclecar Chrysler V8, in a Mercedes 450 SL. I'd make it as cheesy and drag-race fast as possible. This is simply a reaction to the arrogant trendiness that seems, to me, to exemplify too many Mercedes owners, since the 1970s. Don't get me wrong, these are decent cars, but Americans don't seem to understand that in Europe, Mercedes are used as taxi-cabs. Jags, on the other hand, never seem to see any duty as taxis. Not even Leyland era XJ sedans.
P.S. The other impetus behind my Chrysler 450 SL idea, comes from the fact that the Daimler-Chrysler merger was supposed to be an association between equals. In what had been the most innovative American company of the nineties, the only thing you will find on the lunchroom menu, nowadays, is sauerkraut and sausage. Deutschland uber Chrysler. [considering that my very own last name is German, I hope I spelled sauerkraut and Deutschland right. I think I did.]
[ 02-01-2003: Message edited by: MarkB ]</p>