Back in November 1998 I started to look for a decent Jaguar XJ series and believe it or not, I did prefer the Series II grille look over the egg crate of the XJ6 Series I. I stumbled upon PVW 12 M by accident on Sports and Classics Cars Magazine classified ads when browsing through some old mags I had laying around.

I was not on a crusade to get a V12 but I do love a challenge! Its description captivated me as it only had three owners from new and verified mileage of less than 37k, highly original, never suffered the ignominy of a bodged restoration, its front wings were refreshingly crusty along with sills a rear arches. All usual suspects, but more important to me was it had all original panels with rubbish gaps from the Red Robo era!

Bought new and registered in the 1st January 1974, ordered with Navy Blue leather interior, Radiomobile eight-track, Climate Control and Electric Windows and Chrome Steel Wheels by a retired business gentleman who rarely drove it until he gave it to his son, who did close to 15k miles between 1984-1986 before selling it to a wedding service agency (I did find confetti in the rear seat and left it there as part of the car's history), by mid-nineties, it was sold to a City chap who used the car for Sunday rides and un-avertedly to put asleep his children in the back seat! Then it ended up in my hands in January 1999.

I did drive this car around a bit, incredibly smooth, but unfortunately, some bodger of a mechanic tried to replace the V12 crank seal with the engine in situ, which is very hard, so this resourceful chap resorted to cutting the sump sandwich plate to get at it instead of removing the front sub-frame or gearbox! I'm pretty sure it leaked far worse after the bodge!

It did smoke a lot form the oil dripping on the front exhaust down pipes but I still managed to tour France, Spain and Portugal without any problems as long I topped the engine with 2 litres per 1000 miles, gosh, it could be a two stroke engine!

In the end, the bad roads in Portugal finished with all the suspension bushes so, during one year the car stood at Jorge Maia, my mechanic, before being moved to his new warehouse, being actually the first car entered there.

We did refresh all suspension and brake system components, with Superflex bushes, TWR anti-roll bar bushes, Koni shocks, new springs, bump stops, bar links, ball joints, brake discs, pads, flexible hoses, you name it, surprisingly, prices were quite acceptable, from JagShop in London and SNG Barratt but the kit to renew the rear suspension pivot points was quite hard to swallow, close to £250 in 1999 for few bushes, seals and bearings, ouch!

What a transformation, it really handled like a sports car, although I did ask Jorge Maia to tune the Konis' to give a firmer ride, as Jaguar's Magic Carpet Ride puts me asleep sometimes.