www.jec.org.uk

I have just taken my car to David Marks for a lot of skillful TLC and I am surprised at the parts which are no longer available from Jaguar.

So far I need two front springs Not Available so aftermarket will have to be used.

Now need six shockers, front available but not rears so will have to use rears from a coupe and hope they are ok

Was thinking about replacing exhaust but only some parts available from Jaguar so when I do replace it I will have to go aftermarket for this also.

I don't claim to understand all the economics of providing parts for older cars but I would have thought there would be money in it for car manufacturers to make sure their cars are supported for longer than seems to be the case at the moment.

As an aside, I am very impressed with the service from David Marks so far, I dropped my car off at Nottingham on Thursday and hope to have it back end of next week with all the above done plus re-cored rad / major service and lots more carried out by a firm that for once understands the XJS

i understand your frustration at NLA parts.

as a manufacturer Jaguar signs up to a ten year plan for parts availability after the end of a production run

the XJS ended in 1996, so to be honest, we are lucky to be getting the parts we are from Jaguar

i , for one am looking forward and collecting available parts now, for when they might be needed in the future, this is part guess work, and part looking at common failings on our cars , ie , chrome trim , switches, badges , light lenses, etc

thats not to say that aftermarket ones wont be available, but its nice to have OEM parts

i'm afraid its the way of the world ,

BB

After market parts are not as bad as you thing. Jaguar like all car manufactures do not make every part themselves. Most parts are made by external companies to Jaguar specifications. If the part in question can be obtained from to that original specification then the box that it comes in is irrelevant.

Most parts are made by external companies to Jaguar specifications. If the part in question can be obtained from to that original specification then the box that it comes in is irrelevant.

It's a bit more complicated than that. OEM suppliers now have to enter into a fairly complicated agreement with Jaguar when they are selected as a parts manufacturer. One of the outcomes of this is that they cannot supply an exact Jaguar spec part to anyone else. While the bit in the non Jaguar box may fit, it isn't to Jaguar spec.

The box does matter - Boge shocks are just one example. Boge were a Jaguar supplier but their aftermarket shocks (sold for Jaguars) are nothing like the originals.

Yes - it's frustrating (I still have not found a replacement V12 grill badge).

There are some good quality aftermarket firms supplying parts that are pretty close to Jaguar originals (or better - Mertyle Productions for wood trim, Koni Shocks, AJ6 for exhausts).

Unless you are aiming for concours standard for competitions, then I would not get caught up with insisting on original Jaguar OEM parts. You just need to ensure that they are good quality substitutes.

You should also be weary of some parts supplied by reputable Jaguar sources - I encountered big quality control issues with a new wing for my XJ-S. The wing required hand-finishing as the new part was such a poor fit!!

its hard for me to say, but even the JEC isnt up t the mark sometimes

i bought a new chrome ' leaper ' direct from the JEC stand at a car show,

me being me, i opened it up there and then in front of the sales person ( JEC sales person ) as it was in a cardboard tube,

well, to say the finish was rough was an understatement, the chrome was dull, and the surface was rough to the touch and i could even see the copper undercoat in places, three leapers later, i felt i had a good enough one to warrant the £28 i was being asked for , and this is direct from the club !!!!

what sort of V12 badge are you after, there are a few different ones from different years

BB

Thanks BB,

You prompted me to search a little harder. I found this;

http://www.jagspares.co.uk/Manners/part ... no=BD44533

But also out of stock! However, the guy at David Manners was very helpful and did a dealer scan. Stratstone at Shirley (Solihul way), and Burnham Beeches (near Maidenhead) were the only dealers with stock. A quick call revealed that all of them suffered from QA issues. However, one only had minor damage to the golden "V" and was reasonable otherwise, so £5 later and I'm hoping that I have bagged a good deal.

Cheers, Rich.