My godfather bought a new XKR convertible two years ago: the 4.0litre supercharged soft top, the top of the range and most expensive Jag. It was a pile. Some days it wouldn't start, some days the windows would go up and down of their own accord, some days the top wouldn't work, some days the electrics didn't work. He lost a lot of money getting rid of it and has gone back to BMW. The customer service was far from good, too (not that MB is any better).

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JJ Rodger
2013 G350 Bluetec
1999 SL 500
1993 E300 diesel T
1990 190

That link doesn't work. i sure would like to have it though, maybe I'll find it myself.

I had a fairly long involvement with a 1934 Rolls Phantom II, i believe the chassis was 104 SK or SK 104 (I think it was listed BOTH ways depending on which paperwork you were looking at.
If memory serves, it was owned by "The Maharini of Baroda" which is I guess in India? It eveidently was originally a 1929 but was sent back to the factory in 34 for a rebody, at which time I guess Rolls back then could sorta redo things and reissue a new title for it, something like that. I also heard the car went back to England during WWII.
Now the story also continues that there was this guy from the US that worked for (possibly higher up management type) KLM Airlines and had a meeting with the person who owned the Rolls, and he commented that he liked it. Few months later, the Rolls shows up at his door, he GAVE it to him! Thing is, he knew he had to reciprocate on it, he sent the guy in India a Benz! (Sorry no idea when exactly this happened or what Benz he sent back).

But in regards to the earlier post about the Silver Ghost, this car also had dual ignition, but not simply that, it was 2 entirely independent ignition systems, one side a traditional breaker point/ coil ignition, and the other side was a magneto ignition system. There was an ignition switch position for "HT" (high tension), "MAG" or "BOTH".

PS My car I have spread all over is an early 62 AH Sprite, still with the 948cc engine, but like the "Bugeye" Sprite, no door handles, roll up windows, or a top that folded back. The "top" is a frame that stores in the trunk (as in take it off the car and put it in the trunk) and a roll-up fabric top you also just remove and store in the trunk.

Gilly

the notion that all british cars are unreliable is utter garbage.

i put it to you all that the main reason they are seen as unreliable is INCOMPETENT american techs.

certainly, there was a time in the mid to late 70s where quality suffered, but the problems associated with these cars have now mostly been resolved - though the rash of bad (marina, etc) cars during this period will never be fixed. a bit like american cars, eh?

i don't know much about their products from the mid 80s onwards so can't really comment on these.

my family have driven brit cars for hundreds of thousands of miles and haven't had issues beyond wear items to be expected from 25-50 year old cars.

i will always own british cars.



davide
71 300sel 3.5
72 280se 3.5
62 220s
72 250ce
64 rover 2000
71 rover 3500s
75 rover 3500s
58 jaguar mkviii
53 mg tf
71 volvo 164

I'll venture a guess that most of the comments about British cars coming from the US are about 50's and 60's models. The Brits gave up importing their cars to the US at about the time that the US came out with more rigorous safety standards in the early 70's.
I think you'd have a hard time convincing most of the people who have commented on this thread that Lucas electrical systems were anything near reliable. It has always puzzled me how a car coming from a country where it rains all the time could have an electrical system so susceptible to moisture problems. On my old MG Midget (just like Gilly's Sprite) it someone simply spit in the vicinity of the car, the electrical system would start shorting out.

80's and 90's British cars never appear here, except for Land Rovers and Jaguars.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

which further emphasises my point regarding british car greatness and american incompetance.

this line of thought is just like the general public assuming that all benzs are diesel. exactly the same thing.





[B]I'll venture a guess that most of the comments about British cars coming from the US are about 50's and 60's models. The Brits gave up importing their cars to the US at about the time that the US came out with more rigorous safety standards in the early 70's.

I don't think it has anything to do with incompetent American techs (and I'm British!!). Compare the reliability of an early 60's American sportscar like a Corvette or Thunderbird with a similar year Jaguar, MG or Triumph and the US car will come out ahead.
There may be reasons to drive older British roadsters, but reliability is not one of them.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

i think it has a lot to do with incompetent techs. if they have little understanding of the car's design and are ham fisted in their approach, as one could be with slack jawed american yokel cars, then certainly, the british car under their care would become a nighmare.

my argument is not that reliability is the reason to drive a british car, but that they are not unreliable as people perceive them to be.

Do I detect some anti american sentiment from down under?
I have worked on British sports cars off and on for 40 years.
I think they are gorgeous and troublesome, just like most pretty women.
I think that most of the problems that we encountered here in the states is because we really put the miles on these cars. Many more miles than would be the norm in England. Now it seems that things down in Australia are pretty spread out as they are here in the states and so the possibility exists that you would add up the miles there too. Be that as it may, no one can argue with the unreliable wiring a mid 60s through late 70s triumph-mG-jag. The slide on spade connections commonly slide off when they shouldn't have.
No one has mentioned the terrible TR7 in this thread. I think that there was an air bleed in the cooling system that un experienced mechanics didn't know about. That killed a lot of engines in that car.
Twin and tripple carbs are great. I love them. But when they were brought to this country, the EPA required them to meet emission and fuel mileage standards which caused some real problems for mechanics who were just trying to get them to run well. this is in my opinion, the main reason that some american mechanics find fault with Brit cars. You Ausies didn't have to fool with those trashed carbs.
The electronic ignition in the 80's jags has personally stranded me, and it cost a fortune. $500 american for the crank trigger module at the Jag dealer and you can't buy it elsewhere. Shall we bring up the Delorean here? Is Northern Ireland considered English? Anyway, it had that terrible underpowered French Peigeot POS power in it. But the rest of the car was out to lunch as far as quality control too.
I love English sports cars. And the maintenance that they require, the tinkering, if you will, agrees with me. I love old British bikes too. My 1959 Triump Bonneville had an owners manual that instructed removing the muffler/exhaust pipe evry 1500 miles to "Decarbonize" by boiling it out. Now that is excessive maintenance!

http://www.rrab.com/ works on my browser. Try typing it in...well worth it.

BTW...there are many fine old cars in India which are now declared national treasures, and cannot be sold or shipped out of the country, even by their owners. Same is true for a growing list of countries.

My MGB also had fully working california smog emission controls, and passed california smog tests.

Like I said int he two years I drove it,t he car was very reliable, and even when the gasket int he carb went, I still managed to limp home. Fixing it was a snap.

Never had any electrical problems with mine, but even if I did, parts werent that expensive.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Re-wire the whole thing.
Had a Lotus Cortina, fantastic automobile.
Looking for the right Series 1 4.0.
Cheers

Have had many British cars. Have raced an MGB. If you want a decent ride you must simply rebuld the car as is and it will work find. Their problems were not so much as design, but rather trade unions, as in socialisem.

Of course, as compared to German car manufacturers such as Mercedes which never had trade unions or socialist governments!

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

He's right: the unions destroyed British manufacturing industry. Now they're setting out to destroy British service industry: witness the recent BA fiasco.

The workers were so contemptuous of their employers that they built cars badly almost with deliberation. One dealer recounts how when he removed interior door trims, he would regularly find sandwich wrappers and empty cans of fizzy pop stuffed inside the door, put there by the workers out of sheer destructive contempt.

There is no doubt that Britain had great designers, engineers and inventors, but our manufacturers were stuffed by the stupidity of union socialism. Frankly they all deserve to be rotting on the dole.

Thank goodness for Margaret Thatcher.

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JJ Rodger
2013 G350 Bluetec
1999 SL 500
1993 E300 diesel T
1990 190

JJrodger, I share your sentiment completely.
The abuse of workers at the hands of textile factory owners which had a hand in creating labor unions is long gone in developed countries.
But the antagonistic union/management mentality remains in so many places.
How sad. If everyone had worked together instead of against each other, the MG or Jag(British owned) could have been the elite sports car today.