It is widespread and takes place all over the world on a regular basis. More and more gullible and innocent Jaguar Owners are being scammed out of MILLIONS of $/£ by Scumbags masquerading as Jaguar experts and restorers. They are SMOOOTH talkers and easily con you into trusting them to repair your precious Classic Jag. Below are a FEW of some of the cases that I am aware of and in one instance where I became a victim.
MIKE CUMMINS
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| MIKE CUMMINS once a highly respected Judge of the Jaguar Clubs of North America (JCNA) |
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| One victim paid Mike Cummins $220,000 and was given the garbage shown above in return after years of legal hassles. CHERYL KOOP CUMMINS ALSO PART OF THE SCAM  _______________________ STAN HIGGINS  STAN HIGGINS WANTED FOR QUESTIONING BY THE RCMP FOR FRAUD Stan Higgins started his career of Jaguar rip-offs in Toronto, Canada (my home town) in the early 1970s. I met Stan almost 40 years ago. I had just bought a Jaguar XK 150 'S' Roadster with a rare mechanical OD used for racing. I was TOTALLY green and knew very little about Jags. The car needed some work but nothing major. He convinced me to leave the car so that he could prepare an estimate of what the car needed to make it roadworthy. I came back 2 days later and his estimate was around $12,000. I very politely said "Thank you but no thank you"; at which point he pulled out an invoice for $200 for preparing the estimate. He threatened to place a "Mechanic's Lien" on the car if I didn't pay. A "Mechanic's Lien" can be a very lengthy and costly legal procedure so I was forced to pay $200 for his rip off estimate. Within a week I had the car fully roadworthy for under $400. Unfortunately the story does not end there. Over a period of about 15 years, Stan ripped off a bunch of Toronto Jaguar Enthusiasts to the tune of around $500,000. Fraud and criminal charges were brought against Stan Higgins and he is/was wanted for questioning by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). Stan was one step ahead of the Law and fled to the Guernsey Islands. One of the main reasons he chose Guernsey is because there is no Extradition Treaty with Canada. He fled Canada almost 25 years ago.  What one Canadian victim was left with after paying Stan Higgins over $200,000 Adding insult to injury, rubbing salt in some deep wounds Stan Higgins managed to hide his personal collection of Classic Jaguars from the Canadian Authorities and some how managed to smuggle them out of Canada all the way to Guernsey(????). A Jaguar XK 120 Chassis # 671269 shown below, the Jaguar MK II shown above and a Jaguar XK 150 DHC. The "coup de grace" to this saga is that Stan was prominently featured in an article in the XK Gazette in the March 2010 Issue # 150 and hailed as some kind of XK Michelangelo living on Guernsey. Paul Skilleter the well known author also featured Stan and his cars in Jaguar World, February and December 2003. If any one reading this Blog knows Stan Higgins please tell him "YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE" and please refer Stan to this Blog.  JAGUAR XK 120 OTS # 671269 SMUGGLED OUT OF CANADA __________________ WORST BRITISH MULTI-COMPANY SHAM and SCAM Jaguar Engines Bray Engineering Limited MPH Engineering Limited Range Rover Engines  Jaguar S-Type that a victim managed to salvage from the crooks minus the original engine. Over 400 victims lost £1.2 MILLION in this scam. Full details of the SCAM HERE. ATTENTION! THESE CROOKS ARE BACK IN BUSINESS RIPPING OFF INNOCENT VICTIMS. THEIR NEW NAME AND ADDRESS APPEARS TO BE: Engine Search Ltd Clock Tower Road Isleworth Middlesex TW7 6DT _________________ If you hear of any scams or have been victimized contact us. We want to help.  |
1963 JAGUAR V8 XKE 5 SPEED ROADSTER BLOG UPDATE by Mack Besser ZZAAPP Vintage Auto. September 22, 2011Summer has passed without a drive. Other “summer cars” took precedence; and several folks are now on the road in vintage sports cars! The Edelbrock bolt on fuel injection kit had a perplexing issue with fuel starvation past idle. The new kit’s fuel pump had failed to deliver past start-up & idle. Placement of the pump (FYI), was not below the fuel tankcausing it to overload. Another item to correct (as were many from it’s arrival). I wonder why????After a prescribed “period of consternation” the pump was relocated, to just above the right side mount of the rear sway bar. Looks factory. Justin did a great job rearranging the inlet & outlet fuel piping. Well, it started before, it should start now. It does-and on the first day of fall-we take the E-V8 out for it’s initial foray. First let me say, we are located on a farm, 200 yds. of (go very slow) gravel road-then the nice 2 lane paved county road. No traffic for miles, unless tractors & combines count. The first 1.5 miles, we took very slowly, making sure all 5 gears worked, the 4 pot alloy calipers, boosters, etc. were doing their job. All seemed well. We did run the car up to 4500 RPM’S in 1, 2 & 3, likely exceeding the speed limit by 100%! 4th and 5th were a coast purely for safety reasons. Brakes were excellent; I had never driven a BRAND NEW Tremic 5 speed-now I know why the Mustang guys like ‘em! What’s not to like! Much left to do-in reality-a proper exhaust, new seat belts, water temp gauge correction, bigger rear tires (!), front suspension alignment. Oh yeah, then we have to put in the windshield & interior trim bits. LOTS O’ POWER-from 2500 RPM’S on up. Good move on the owner’s part to maintain originality in all aspects of appearance. A bit of the real tricky business was the shift console relocation and tunnel console alterations; all the while adhering to unobtrusive modifications. FYI, you folks with those old E 2+2s, especially the V12 cars, this would be a good swap. Using a Holley carb would save you about $2800 and a lotof plumbing work. Ford 302 V8’s are cheap, not so the Tremic. However, you could actually enjoy an E 2+2. They are very inexpensive & usually broken. 2 good reasons to make the purchase & proceed with this type of project. Remember, the V12 cars already have decent brakes, and a slightly wider engine bay, making a header fit easier.
