Postby J44EAG » Sun Jun 17, 2018 12:22 pm
Sadly, most steel cars will revert back to nature given exposure to time and corrosive chemical additives. In that respect, the issue goes right back to the start of motoring history.
Manufacturers do not want their cars to survive for more than ten or fifteen years. Their view is that if vehicles were better made, they would never sell any new products. So cars last for a limited time and disintegrate as we drive them.
Jaguar are probably little different from few other car manufacturer as regards their building policy. There are exceptions to the rule and some makers have longer lasting products than Jaguar. But one thing is certain. Use cycle, age, mileage and owner maintenance are probably the things that can prolong or shorten the life of a car dependent on the owners maintenance enthusiasm. Enthusiastic we may be, but there is only so much enthusiasm available to us in the fight against corrosion. Lets ask the question? How many of us last spent time on our backs wax oiling, washing down under-body components, hacking, and chopping away perforated metal or welding in new sections? Not many of us I would would have thought. Other life priorities get in the way whilst our steel pride and joys rot into the floor.
I`ve lost count of the number of S-type or X-type, X300/308 models that I`ve seen on independent Jaguar garage ramps that suddenly become uneconomic, rot ridden scrap only fit for dismantling. Many has been the time when John at Jagcare would walk me under and S-type or X-type, pick up a toffee hammer and walk down the car punching holes in the sills or sub-frame mounts. A year earlier, the car had an MOT. One has to be amazed that steel can be in reasonable condition twelve months earlier and 365 days later is crumbling to nothing.
My old and infamous V8 early model began that slide into oblivion about three years ago. I saw the alarm bells and got out fast whilst the car was still road legal and had some life left in it. Nine years after purchase for £8k, the best had been had from the car and it began to enter the banger market. My pal Vince and fellow JEC member finished the car off and eventually eBay`d it to rid himself of the next MOT liability. The car was snapped up by a couple of greasy oickes in a pick up truck from East London and the car went off to the low end trade. A fairly typical down the tubes demise of a once proud car.
One has to ask if we are overly hopeful as to what we expect as a life expectancy for our cars. I`m a tight wad with a very limited income due to disability. My money has to go as far as possible. I always expect to get the maximum life I can achieve from any vehicle I`ve owned. You all know how much maintenance effort I put into my X350R when first acquired. That aluminum car was bought at an age of twelve years, again for £8k. Frankly, that is all the money I ever want to invest in a car....especially an aging Jag which can become a money pit if corrosion gets hold of it. To date, my ali X350R is doing exceptionally well at floor pan level. Not so good are the sub-frames where in typical Jaguar style, signs of rampant surface corrosion can be seen.....but that is nothing new, is it? Look at the kick ups about XE and F-type sub-frame corrosion that have been mentioned in our magazine.
Going ali certainly has better corrosion control as a feature as well as a 40% weight reduction when viewed against steel. That can only but help. Presently I feel my move from S-type to X350 was a wise one. Perhaps that in itself will make my £8k purchase better value in as much as I see the 350 enjoying a much longer body shell life than the S-type could ever have hoped to achieve. Unless steel cars are kept like that of Doug and of course our late friend, Phil May (Oldtimer) under very strict maintenance and storeage conditions and with limited exposure to road going contaminates, then I`m afraid that the time has come to say that the S-type has begun to enter the extinction lane. Those now wishing to buy an S-type need to be exceptionally vigilant at under floor level and to expect to have to view a great many vehicles in their search for a sound vehicle.
What must concern us are new comers on the scene buying old S-types, doing basic maintenance, putting the car through its next MOT and then finding themselves with a pile of trouble and rot. In effect, having acquired perhaps the remains of my old S-type from the East London guys in the banger trade! Here we go again!! Bangernomics at its best.....
So the gribble worm strikes deeply at the S-type now. Its best years have been had. I`ve enjoyed them but now its time to move on. Whilst corrosion repairs are indeed possible, one has to ask...is it ever worth it? Time for an ali car and give oneself a fighting chance.
Mike
X350 Co-ordinator
2004 XJR
