Thread: Buying/building a reliable late P38. Possible?

Mogswoffy, if I had a spare bit of coin I'd be in your P38 right now!

Thanks everyone for your replies. In the last few years I have mostly given up on mechanics, only shopping out the work I don't want to or can't do. This has given me a new view of RR ownership. Getting $2k-plus bills from LR mechanics was killing me with the D2s and mostly why I sold them. Plus the three amigos flashing all the time, the 4.0 engine that began to sound rattly (was it my imagination? not sure) - it made owning the things too stressful. Every time I jumped in to start the vehicle it felt like yet another problem cropped up.

I'm encouraged by those who've taken the preventative maintenance method and have had reliability. That's what I've done with the Jeep.

Before I bought the Jeep I was hunting around for a P38. I couldn't find one I wanted at the stage - the closest I came was with a car that the owner gave the big pull though - he sounded meticulous and you could tell by the way the car was presented and the long list of replacement parts. When I asked him why he was selling, he sounded rather resigned when he said he was sick of spending all his weekends under the bonnet fixing things! That did put me off a bit...

Keithy P38 I'll get you those XJ bumpstop measurements, but bear in mind mine is the XJ update, which has the rubber bumpstop seperate to the housing. Earlier ones had the rubber and housing as one part and that bolted into the frame.

I'd love a diesel but really that is well out of my price range and I'm not buying till next year anyway... sorry!

rr 747's 1995 HSE for sale looks stunning and while I prefer a Thor, if only I was in a position to buy one now - that would be on top of my list...

I think I'll start taking P38s for test drives at the car yards. I want to get a feel of what they're like again and see what condition they're in these days for the money.