BIG JAGS – Tales / Stories / Experiences: Coventry/Ringwood -tour

BIG JAG-Tales / Coventry/Ringwood -tour

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The crazy Coventry/Ringwood -tour,
Autumn 2002

Jaguar Spares Day again in Stoneleigh near Coventry. Hannah, Bernie and me are travelling by recommendation, just to learn, how the situation is in England, especially for Big Saloons spares.
As this little voyage should show something interesting for everybody, we have intergrated a ladies programme for Saturday: Wedgwood – the Royal porcelain. It is a worthwhile detour to the North, as this china factory is placed inside a very beautiful English park landscape. Selfevident a visit to the Jaguar Headquarter Browns Lane (Coventry) must be part of the gents programme on Monday. For overnight stay we have booked a hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Stoneleigh on Sunday morning: The outside thermometer of our car is showing + 6 degrees Celsius. The Spares Day-halls all have open doors and no heating. Only real Englishmen may stand that without catching cold. Stoneleigh on this Autumn-Sunday is a little bit more interesting for the younger Jaguar series. Bernie is finding a Mark 10 front bumper for a very nice price. Hannah and me, we are finding so many interesting JEC- and Jaguar Driver-magazines, that we have problems to decide. We cannot take them all. After two and a half hours we are ready. This will be enough for having an overview and also enough for being shock freezed.

The evening we spend in Englands most frequented tourist-town: Stratford. Selfevident all places in the good looking restaurants are reservated. We find a table in an Italian restaurant on the Avon riverside and we are looking forward to our Jaguar factory-tour on Monday.

International Jaguar Spares Day, Stoneleigh, Coventry
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Visiting Browns Lane: Monday morning we find ourselves inside the famous and traditional Jaguar parent factory. At check-in we have to give away all our cameras, but we are guest of a Jaguar video-show and later at the factory tour we are allowed to see what others have to wait for another 6 months: the new XJ- aluminium series, which have their start in Germany in the middle of the next year. The impressive pre-series models get their manual finish besides the XK8 productuion line. They really look nice enough to eat.

Hurray, finally Jaguar now is building Big Saloons again for the luxury class – created in the real BIG JAG-size!

Here we are right. I promise, I will spend my next Lotto win for her, if big enough. Otherwise we'll have to save some money for her.

Unbelievable: a new born BIG JAG with less weight than the S-Type.

Remarkable Quality: Also the mixed XK8 coupé- and convertible-production on one line looks really convincing. The line is not running too fast, so high quality production can be translated into action. Everything is done in a profesional manner and the workers seem to be fully concentrated with what they are doing. Many quality tests are intergrated everywhere in the production process. This is causing confidence in the product.

JDHT-Museum not showing BIG JAGS: After the factory tour we are lucky, that the small museum of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust gives us back the opportunity to make some pictures. Bernie is bitterly disappointed: no Mark 10 as far as he is looking and even no Mark 7, 8 or 9. Such a meanness! We really have to write a note into the JDHT-museums complaints book. Could it be true, that the Jaguar people do not like the Big Saloons? We are not able to comprehend.
In the afternoon we are driving via Bristol in directon to Bournemouth. We got the recommendation to visit a Jaguar wrecking farm, placed on the edge of a forest near Ringwood. Thanks of a very good road description we find the farm in the evening without problems. We will rummage it through for BIG JAG-parts tomorrow.
We have our overnight stay in Bournemouth, selfevident at a JAG-owner's hotel (with an XJ coupé for sale).

	Jaguar Headquarters Browns Lane, Coventry, JDHT-museum
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Ringwood: Tuesday morning. The Hollygrove Farm is inhabited of friedly people, who answer patient to all our questions on Big Saloon -parts. They guide us around the farm, let us look inside their workshops and allow us taking pictures. As a special thank we'll give them a special "Hollygrove" space on BIG JAGS - website.
After we have found the clock for the Mk9-backrest - we were looking for and Stoneleigh couldn't show - we finally find a Mk 9 air filter unit, which we needed to feel completely happy. Satisfied we take our way home via Dover. We want to cross the channel before the announced storm will come down from Norway. Surely these wet and cold Autumn-days in England meant a relatively crazy but short fan-holiday to us. But who likes to lie lazy in the sun on holidays? Nobody except Hannah!

Ringwood: Hollygrove Farm Jaguar Mk9-wreck
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