I recall some sage advice (from a MG owner): "If you buy a British car, make sure you get a mechanic with it, too."
Just the thought of having to find someone to fix it (or learn to myself) stopped me from buying an XKE in 1980.
I fixed a Jag once. Jacked the body up and rolled a chevy under it... I don't rightly recall, vut I think is was a 66 Chevelle..., narrowed and shortened - That was the most of the work, but we'd been narrowing chevy stuff to fit under Jeeps, so we knew how.
Anyhow, it wound up with a 400 horse 327 and a Muncie 22 Rock Crusher 4 speed, With upscaled corporate dif and front end... All after market high-end brakes and steering...
All tucked in nice, and turbovex wheels... Tubbed to take 50s...
It's the project I learned about wiring on... Rebuilt the dash, all new wire and all new gauges. I got hung with all the wiring, and man, was that a challenge.
Anyhow, that's a notch on my belt - And the guy wound up with the only utterly reliable Jag in the world... And it was very zippy too.
