Part 3: The Long Journey Home
I had bought a 1990 Jaguar XJS with a 5.3 litre V12 engine for cash behind a strip club and now had 120 miles to drive in an unknown car. Apart from yearly trips to the local MOT station the car had been standing for over a decade. In 11 years only 400 miles had been added to the odometer. We stopped at the first petrol station to check oil, air, petrol and water. Remarkably, the oil was pristine, the coolant was clean and full and the tyres had air. I added some fuel injector cleaner to the petrol and set off. The car smelt and sounded awful: Petrol fumes mixed with the smell of wet carpets and mould, the exhaust was blowing everywhere, the engine was definitely not running on all cylinders, there was an almighty clanking from the front suspension every time we hit a bump and a knocking from the rear on all but the gentlest acceleration. I put a brave face on, but I felt as though I had made a big mistake. It was raining and we were on the M6 ...