Journal: Finn John's Journal

So I was looking for a thrifty gas-saving commuter that had some Jethro Tull style to it. My Jaguar, a Series III XJ6, gets pretty decent mileage for a four thousand pound car -- 21 on the highway, between 18 and 19 banging around town -- but this fall, I start driving 50 miles round-trip so I can start in the Literary Nonfiction grad-school program at the University of Oregon.

Well ... I found this.

The photo looks bloody awful. Three different colors of stuff, no lights, lots of rust. But in person, it's clear that someone has spent a lot of time prepping this bodyshell.

The guy I bought it from, Jon, sandblasted off a bunch of Bondo scabs that had been slapped over rusty spots. The rust didn't stop, though, so now it's worse. But it's clean, and he's stripped all the interior panels off so I can access the spots to patch them with fiberglass cloth (the bodyshell is worth zero dollars on this car, so why not?) and dress them up with my own Bondo (no more than 1/8" thick. The drivetrain is solid and it's actually a runner!

Well, for the price, I couldn't not get it. I put a deposit on it and he's going to be delivering it next week.

Photo to come after I get to my home computer ...