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Paul Copson
A SHADE OF PURPLE “I wasn’t looking to change my car; I had a 1998 V8 XJR as a play thing and was really enjoying owning it.”
I made a visit to Jaguar Spares Day at Stoneleigh and came across Dave of High Profile Tyres who gave me a great deal on a set of 20” Perseus wheels and that was it, I was on the slippery slope to modding. With the help of the club my next find was Paragon Design and I purchased a 2004 front bumper complete with lights grills, side sill covers and a Paragon Design rear bumper. The front and sides were transformed but I could not make up my mind about the rear bumper as it looked too bulky so I got the rear bumper that was fitted to an 2004 model year which I think was the right choice.
On a sunny Sunday morning I thought I'll take the car for a good run and blow the cobwebs out, upon start-up the engine did not sound good, it sounded like a sticking valve so I tried to clear it with some gentle revving but to no avail. I then made a call to Jaguar Assist who arrived in less than half hour and the car was taken to Stratstones Jaguar Stourbridge They phoned the next day to say the engine is completely kn@@@ed and needed a replacement engine at a cost of £7500 plus VAT. No problem was the answer as when the warranty expired I took out another year at a cost of £1500, money well spent! The car was away for six weeks and came back with a new engine.
With all that had now been done to my car I made a decision to keep the car long term. I started to again look at the bland interior and after several meetings with Pete Golding of Bromsgrove Auto Trimmers (www.bromsgroveautotrim.com tel: 01527 576643) I decided to completely change the interior. Pete has done work for Jaguar and Aston Martin. I decided on some top end German napper hides and had some sample stitching and piping done to get the affect I was after - you really need to see the interior as photos do not do it justice! I am still playing with the carpets and cannot make my mind up over purple or ivory. I have some purple carpet dye so will recolour the original carpet to see the effect. While the interior was removed from the car I decided to upgrade the door speakers with some Alpine units which were a big improvement on the standard Jaguar speakers but the sound was still not what I was wanting, so after some very helpful advice from Roly Wall (aka Muther Goose) I put another amp and a bigger sub in the rear parcel shelf and the sound was greatly improved for not a great deal of outlay. I have now converted the headlights to HID with help from Jagster. I would recommend this upgrade for any car it makes so much difference driving at night. The car now also has 4.2 supercharger intercoolers and plenum cover which have been painted red to match the Brembo brakes fitted to the engine. When the summer is over I plan to take the car off the road and do a bear metal repaint so watch this space, you may pick up some tips on refinishing! Editors note: I am pleased to announce that Paul’s hard work has really paid off as he won “Best Modified” category at the XKEC GROWLER V event at Charlecote Park on Saturday 10th May 2008. Well done Paul.
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I was completely happy with what I had done to my P&J so far but now the interior needed a bit of a lift so I did a deal with Jagster for a set of sport seats. We arranged to go down to DesignXKR so that Kevin could change over some component and wiring and help with the seat change over. I must say that Kevin was very helpful and very knowledgeable.
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