Our Jaguar is a 1967 Series 1 XKE roadster.  Like most or all of the NCJOC members, we love it.  We had asked each other “what’s your favorite car of all time?” before we were married, and we each said “the XKE Jaguar”.  The dream came true in the mid-1990’s and thus began the search for a competent and reliable garage to take care of it.  We’ve been to various businesses over the years.  The first (on Capitol Hill) closed when the owner retired; he loved the car as much as we did and he did good work.  The next was in PG county, and that’s where we had the most significant amount of work done.  Their mechanics really knew the old Jaguars, and they did consistently excellent work.  The owner retired, the shop was sold.

We then “discovered” London Auto Services, Ltd. in Falls Church, and we are so happy we did.  Their work on this car has been outstanding; we have recommended them to quite a few people we’ve met at shows.  Nick, the owner, is a veteran of the DC area automobile servicing business having worked at Manhattan Auto before he and some colleagues left to start their own business.  They do thorough and 100% honest work; when Dave calls and says, “we did the work you requested but we found you need to address X and Y”, we know we are getting the benefit of his experience and expertise.  We have not had to do really major work there (like pulling the engine and trans to replace the clutch), but there have been plenty of other jobs to form an opinion on the quality of their work.  We would not trust anyone else with this car.

Two other notes:  a lot of years ago we learned that we needed major work done on the rear axle, the result of some “unfortunate” circumstances at another shop.  We ended up shipping the axle assembly to XK’s Unlimited in San Luis Obispo, CA. Yeah, not cheap, but we have a “like new” rear axle and differential. Second note:  about five years ago we were hit while standing still at an intersection in Delaware.  We had body work and painting done in Frederick, MD and they did a good—not concours perfect—job.  We are happy with the results. We will probably go back there this winter to have a minor repair done.

We’ve never shown the car but maybe we will someday. We wanted an excellent driver, and this car is that and then some.  A few years ago, we obtained the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Certificate just for fun.  The numbers match and the build date is 7 April 1967, shipped to New York on April 20th.  We have no information on previous owners, but we hope they had as much fun with this car as we do.