MY MARK 2 HAS ARRIVED!!!

["The Honjos" <fm7m-hnjy@asahi-net.or.jp>]

Fellow Jaglovers:

>I am a soon to be Mark II owner in Tokyo, Japan, who has determined
>to lay himself prostrate at the altars of that Seductive Feline God
>instead of at the altars of that Japanese businessman's
>qualification, the Scottish links game (both are time consuming,
>can't do both). 

So thus began my first post to this List in late September last year. 
To this day I have never regretted the participation in the List.  
For those without search engined gigabyte size memories, I am this 
guy who as of September 1996 had put his money down to purchase a 
Jaguar Mark 2 (VIN no. P2392118W engine no. LE3981-8) in England 
sight unseen, and was waiting for it to arrive in a couple of months. 

Well, the couple of months is now almost half a year, so an update is
in order.  

>In a short while, I came across Yoshida-san, a car broker here who
>specializes in Jags (yes, Tokyo is big enough to support several of
>them).  He pushed me into the Mark 2, committed to hold my hands till
>death do we part,

Mmmm... Turns out that Yoshida-san had pushed me into the Mark 2
because he wanted to expand his horizons from the E types, XJ6 
Series 3s, XJSs, and XJ40s he'd been handling.  After some lurking 
around on this List, joining the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club in the UK 
and coming across fellow JEC members in this country, the level of 
information I accumulated quickly outpaced his resources.  One thing 
I have to say for him.  At least he didn't  stand in the way when I 
said I needed a direct link with his counterpart in England, Peter.   

Peter much better informed, but when asked to install an air 
conditioner, his knowledge was stretched to the limit.  What 
initially was supposed to be a two week project, turned out to become 
an almost two month period.  Conflicting information -- the dynamo 
had to be used but a bigger one had to be installed, no a bigger one 
would bend the shaft etc. etc. -- came across the Eurasian continent 
as I anguished over their potential effects on my "picture bride."  I 
learnt meanwhile that enthusiasts in this country who wishes to fit 
an air conditioner on a Mark 2 would obtain an alternator from the 
Isuzu Elf light diesel truck, which had an alternator that had a 
built in hydraulic pump to power the steering hydraulics.  I was 
ready to get one from the scrap yard and send it off to the UK until 
finally Peter hit upon Vehicle Refrigeration Services in Ashford, 
Middlesex. Fortified by the additional inputs gleaned from Tony of 
this List, I gave the necessary parameters and asked the right kind 
of questions to get the job to completion.  Thank you Tony, thank you 
Jag Lovers.

By early December the car was all ready for embarkation from
Southampton on M/V Tochigi Maru.  Ah, but here the bane of businesses
worldwide, the year end push, intervenes.  My car was sensibly booked
on a car carrier vessel (it's a big ferry) that brought the Nissans
and Toyotas to Europe, and the Mercedeses, BMWs and yes Jaguars back
to Japan.  Unfortunately, several European (and US transplant) car
producer executives must have gotten a kick in their collective butts
from their one track minded bosses around this time.  They combined 
their year-end shipments to bump my love off the boat.  What can I 
do but accept my fate stoically as any Oriental peasant would? 

>My wife Ann wasn't too helpful in cooling down my infatuation.  

Ah, but I didn't mention my son.  Unlike his dad who likes an 
occasional splurge, my son is level headed and tightfisted.  Saving is
his hobby, conspicuous consumption not. He wouldn't tolerate:

>This is of course a tale of sight unseen impulse buying on a major
>scale pure and simple. 

and I had to make sure my standing with my son didn't deteriorate. 
So, the impending arrival of the Mark 2 was a family secret shared
between me and my wife until I could find the right moment.  Oh yes,
my son started suspecting when I hauled back a Sears special 3 ton
garage jack and two jack stands from my U.S. business trip in 
December.  At $99 how can you resist (you guys in the U.S. really 
should thank your good luck that you're living in the bargain 
basement of the world)?  I thanked my regular trips to the gym for 
successfully completing this endeavor without breaking my back. 

>This [i.e. 1996] summer Jaguar Japan had a sales promotion 
>campaign where they lent out new XJ6-3.2s to some people for a week 
>for free (that's when I met the aforementioned salesman).  I applied 
>and got the right of free use.  

On New Year's day, my new found Mark 2 owner friend (the owner
of the green Mark 2 that Lawrence Buja saw) thumped up to my 
apartment, shaking up the quiet streets with the note from his 
Double S on his way. He took us on a spin, and my son LOVED the 
Double S exhaust note. Ground work so far so good. 

January 2.  An office pal of mine (who's also into impulse buying on a
major scale -- you should see his house with a big motorized dish
sitting on the roof, and his living room wall plastered with TVs
showing broadcasts from the four corners of the world) muscled up to 
my apartment with his family on his brand new 5 series BMW.  

He knew about my week's free ride on a 3.2 liter X300 (see I've learnt
-- I'm not saying XJ6-3.2) last summer, and had been constantly
pestering me about when I'd make the plunge and buy one.  I pulled out
Nigel Thorley's Original Jaguar Mk 1/Mk 2, plus the pictures of my
Mark 2 that Peter'd sent over as a Christmas present and put the
matter to rest.  

Before my son could tear me to pieces, I told him that there were cars
and there were cars.  Most cars depreciated, a very few including -
ahem - the Mark 2 appreciated, on the proviso that the upkeep was
good. I could see my son holding his criticisms.  I had to keep the 
pitch going.  Dad solemly told Son that whether the Mark 2 
appreciated or not depended entirely on Son's willingness to join Dad 
in becoming a masochist and skinning his knuckles.  My son, good 
Boyscout that he is, solemly undertook to join me in my endeavors.  
Had a hard time holding back my tears upon hearing his words.  Call 
me a sugar daddy or whatever -- my Son's a great kid, and I'm proud 
to have brought him up with the right set of priorities. 

Having organized the family front, it was now time to pray that the
Mark 2 arrived here in good order.  The car was shipped on M/V Auto
Diana which left Southampton on January 14.  I kept regularly
pestering the Autoliners Japan office on the ship's progress.  On
Friday, January 21 the ship berthed at Yokohama.  On Saturday, four 
Jaguar enthusiasts excitedly piled onto a 3.8 liter white Mark 2 and 
roared off to the bonded area pound at Daikoku Wharf, Yokohama.  I 
was of course one of them but the others wanted to get a first sight 
of a new addition to the clan on these shores.  

From across the wire mesh fence, I could see that amid the brand new
BMW Roadsters and Rover Minis, was a batch of older cars from France,
England, and Germany.  At its edge sat a black car with a leaper, CWW
and white wall tires, Coombs spats, and English number plate GUM571D,
a little dusty, parked in front of an almost new big 560 Mercedes.  I
said hello to my car.  My friends took pictures of me in front of the
wire mesh fence, and we went off to celebrate the arrival of the Mark
2 to these shores. 

Fellow Jaglovers, the saga is continuing to unfold.  I will keep you 
posted.  Pray light your candles for me at your respective altars of 
that Seductive Feline God in order that mine travails with my beloved 
Mark 2 be relatively minor so that the experiences of its ownership 
be not so punishing as to try my love for the car.  Hold my hands 
when the problems do get serious.  




Makoto Honjo
Phone/Fax +81-3-3473-1848

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