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Mike74xke

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Hi everyone. My wife & I went to New Orleans in Feb 05 to see Mardi Gras and buy a 1974 xke ots. I guess i saved the car from Katrina. I spoke to the people i bought the car from & thank god there ok. I would like to clean up the car under the hood and find a good machanic. I live in upstate NY. 845 area code, close to Kingston. Thanks for any info.
 
Mike, first off--congratulations on the "new" XKE. I will give you the same advice I give all my friends who buy Jaguars -- new or old. Educate yourself about the car. If you did not get the service manuals -- get them. You can buy them from JDHT for about $25 on CD. ANY and ALL mechanics are only as good as the knowledge YOU have to talk to them. My brother just learned this on his Toyota. After replacing most of the front suspension using 3 different mechanics and $2500 to fix a "thump" noise, he bought a Haynes and discovered the thump was caused by a $5 rubber grommet that had disinegrated over the years and was a bit difficult to spot. Jags are the same way only MUCH more expensive.
After you start to learn the car, you will discover that you can do much of the work yourself -- and you will know it is done properly!! These are VERY well engineered cars.
Stay away from the dealership. You already know more about your car than they do!!
In your neck of the woods, in Kingston, there should be LOTS of Jaguars running around. If you see someone getting into a Jag at a mall go up to them and start talking about their Jag. The older the Jag the better. Find out where they get their work done. Word of mouth is the best recommendation. Go to www.jag-lovers.org and get on the XKE forum or even the saloons forum and ask. There are lots of Jag owners in your area that frequent that list server.
It makes me concerned that the first thing you need to do after putting out all that money for an XKE is clean under the bonnet. What kind of shape is this XKE in?? Is this a project car?? There is a lot of knowledge available on this list -- take advantage of it. We have all been there -- done that!!

Webserve
 
Thanks for the info. The jag is a 10 footer. 32000 miles. All original. Just dirty under the bonnet. Thanks again. I'm tring to post some pics of it, but having a hard time.
 
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