Fate - i had no choice but to buy it!

[richard.wyke628]

Back in the early 2000's my father owned an XJR and i absolutely loved it, so for the last few years i've been looking for my own as a weekend car. However for the last couple of years I haven't been able to find one with the right spec. Either Silver + BBS Milans to match his or an XJR100, and then also couldn't find one which wasn't a pile of rust! In the mean time i've moved to New Zealand and there's very few cars for sale here, and the majority of them are in very poor condition.

Just happened to be chatting to my dad on the phone the other week, and he suggested buying one in the UK and importing it to NZ - so we went onto eBay and the first car had just been listed that day and was the perfect spec and more than that, was his actual car from 2000! So i put a massive bid on to make sure i won regardless (luckily very few other people bid on it - phew!) and a few days later i sent my brother on a trip to collect it and was the owner of a 2000 Jaguar XJR!

So that's the good news! The bad news is the wheels had been swapped out from the original BBS Milans to some penta (?) alloys, has done 156k miles, apparently sounds like it has a blown exhaust, some bubbling rust on the exterior, and i have absolutely no idea what state it's in and to import it into NZ i'll need to make sure it's free of any structural corrosion.

Have a few questions:

• The reg of the car is W171PPE - don't suppose anyone knows the recent history of this particular car?
• I'd like to send it to a Jag specialist (near Camberley, Surrey) to look it over and sort any corrosion - does anyone have any recommendations for a trustworthy specialist nearby?
• I bought a set of Milan alloys to replace the penta ones, but they need to be refurbished. Given they're relatively complex wheels can i send them to any wheel refurbishers or does this need to be someone with experience of them?
• Now i have a spare set of penta alloys - is eBay the best place to get rid of them?

[steve_m]

Congrats on the car, nice to get it back in the family.
You can check the MOT history here; https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/
Just put the reg in the box.
Quite an involved one!

[Andy P]

Hi richard.wyke628 and welcome to the forum.
You'll find loads of info on here about this luxurious model.
Get the garage or whoever you are using to check the car over to make sure the engine chain upper tensioners have been swapped for the latest metal ones.
Also the thermostat tower,if its black plastic change it for the upgraded alloy version.
If it hasn't been done already do a gearbox oil and filter change.
Not sure about the wheel refurbishment,I would think a good refurbishing company would know what to do.
To sell the other ones,yes eBay or the JEC Classified ads.
You seem to know about the corrosion issues but they are well worth taking the trouble to fix.
Enjoy the luxury even though it's from afar at the moment.
Keep us updated on the progress.
Good luck.
Andy