Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

What would we do without internet Enthusist forums?

My favorite site.

I had been well aware of the presence of automotive forums for quite some time. I discovered that there were forums available for just about any vehicle that the hobbyist might own. I remember frequenting the Ford truck enthusiast, the Datsun 510 and Z, and the Mustang forums. I was even on the Antique radio forums.

Jaguar Forums.com has been my trusty road map on my journey into the land of Jaguar. After I bought my XJS I started looking for a source of info and advice on repairing and maintaining my car.  There was a lot of information available and the tone of the conversation was always that it was quite well possible for the hobbyist owner to successfully work on their own car.

Forum users form an online community and the posters become as well known as your actual friends. I soon became acquainted with several very knowledgeable posters. These people have contributed so much to maintaining a vigorous enthusiast base for their chosen marque. Like any group of people there are often some that are quick to take a negative or pessimistic view of any particular topic. The forum moderators have done a good job in eliminating obvious trolls, but some negativity is just due to some posters just being crabby old men.

For the most part, the general atmosphere is very helpful and supportive. Much like Jaguar Magazine this is a safe space. As we Jaguar folks well know, the general uninformed public is eager to weigh in with their Lucas "Prince of Darkness" type of comments. The weaknesses and failings of the marque are well known and documented by our community. We chose these cars because they are beautiful, distinctive and unique.


What we are looking for is advice and support, not a scolding.


Their is an enormous amount of content in their archives, and taking the time to do a proper search will reward the seeker with plenty of previous posts, stickies and links. Thanks to Youtube there is a lot of video that can not only entertain us but also assist us in our problem solving.

Being one of those crabby old men myself, I have been known to complain about how much trivial content is continuously devoured by my young co workers. I will admit that the presence of these online forums and Youtube have been a tremendous boon to the old car enthusiast. Anyone reading this blog is probably well versed in navigating the cyberworld, but the occasional old guy like me is constantly amazed.

I can't imagine finding other Jaguar enthusiasts in the real world as easily as I do online.

The listings of events will occasionally draw us together for different events. Car shows, swap meets, drives and tours. The Jaguar forum has members all over the world but several are in my own backyard. I met some of these  members on that group drive and lunch event last year. It is nice to put a face to the posts. At that event I got to meet and speak with Rhett Rhedelings, who runs the blog, "My Jaguar Experience." This is a well written and produced site, one that I highly admire.

A nice logo can go a long way.

Jag Lovers makes no excuses for it's affection for the marque. They also have a huge a huge archive of material. They have changed the organization of their site, but all previous content is still accessible. I just visited their site and the renovation is a complete make over. Very attractive, modern and sleek.


One of my favorite things about this forum is that they a site store. Featuring different products emblazoned with their logo. My favorite are these grille badges, as well as key chains and such. Fly your colors!

Very nice.

JaguarForms.com logo design by Hicherazza

The third forum featured here is one that I don't have much experience with. It is well executed but it appears to me to have a more international base. This logo was part of their design contest.

We are very fortunate to have so many resources available. Print magazines are very helpful, and I have quite the stacks of them piled up in my library, but they do not offer the flexibility of access that the online forums provide. They are expensive too. Club newsletters can contain some info, but they usually just chronicle the "who was there" of their local events. Club membership can be quite expensive and time consuming also. The online resources are like a smorgasbord of content, free and available at a mouse click. My thanks go out to everyone that maintains, moderates and contributes to our online community. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.