Well said.

While Terry takes credit for “Getting CJ back on track,” I have no knowledge nor do I care one way or the other.
I am only going by what DM told me in a brief phone call after Terry left and can’t judge one way or the other.

Terry was booted from J-L because he chose to flame a vendor in public in violation of published rules. He even had his wife and son subscribe to try to carry on the tirade. He had a number of followers and seemed knowledgeable and I might have let him stay but he chose to ignore the same rules that everyone must follow. Without order there is chaos and anarchy. Fortunately in 13 years I have only had to ask four people to leave because they felt that the rules did not apply to them.

I stopped having any dealings with “Team CJ” years ago after one distasteful episode where I called asking about the availability of some used parts and was told that they would be posted on eBay and I would have to bid for them. Up until that time I had always paid retail for anything I bought from CJ, either new or used, with the exception of a used starter which DM had sent to me as a birthday present.

I have not spoken to the man in years nor do I have a need too. As far as I’m concerned, there are many well known restoration shops with established reputations that have been mentioned positively many times. I have long since sold any “Team CJ” parts that I might have bought and went with original Jaguar designed parts.

Life’s too short to have to deal with volatile people.

George Cohn
’70 OTS

Let me put the record straight re: Classic Jaguar and Terry Handley,

quote from George

Your right about this George/

My work for Dan Mooney @ Classic Jaguar was terminated when Dan Mooney The President of Classic Jaguar who is a very good sales person but not a Mechanic did not honour his contract, when I was not willing to have my contract altered there was no choice but for Dan to pay me out, I accepted the way out, I was paid for most of my services, I was disappointed to say the least at what I was to observe, experience at Classic Jaguar, in short very short and with out any intent to as has been suggested I have done “flame” anybody, I think Chucks documented experiences with Dan Mooney and Classic Jaguar tell a story and are an indication of certain traits issues that Dan was once having.

I have been to Austin 3 x times since I last saw Dan, I often drove past Classic Jaguar, in fact the bloke is still ok in my books just I believe highly enthusiastic/ passionate maybe at times a frustrated perfectionist who can’t or at least could not handle a wrench like a pro mechanic 8 years up the track he now most likely would be more experienced.

As for George and what he may have been advised by Dan in respect of my employment and the duration of that employment at Classic Jaguar/ it’s wobbly and does not accord to the facts, I was not sacked Dan could not would not honor his commitment to me, hindsight can tell most folk some things could have been done differently.

I tried to help Dan, when I arrived at the Classic Jaguar workshop I was shocked disappointed at the lack of workshop equipment the un qualified Mechanics the in general lack of expertise but enthused I was with some of the employees keenness to learn, there was a pile of work jobs that had become stagnant because Dan had lost too many employees over a short time, my first 7 days was spent mostly sorting through stuff ups, I was hired contracted to do a job and I did my job, the first week I worked approximately 74 hours some of those hours Dan and I spent working through the night, 2nd week 54 hours, I did this after traveling flying from OZ and had one day to get over my traveling, an awesome trip from Bathurst Australia to Austin Texas.

Unfortunately for Dan many of the jobs done for him by previous employees I found to be of poor quality, this was shown to Dan and another bloke a Pom who had come from CA from another Jag shop to work for Dan, there was a problem from the Pom who was all the time I was there trying to disrupt my job by working on Dan so as to make things different to what Dan had brought me from OZ to do, covering his Pom Butt and desperately I thought to not be overshadowed by myself, pity as the Pom was capable in many auspices of mechanical work . Dan was convinced by the Pom that Dan only needed him and that to do as Dan had agreed to move me from OZ to Austin which needed the services of an attorney was too expensive, I could write a book about the whole scenario but it’s not needed nor would it be appreciated Again! I was not sacked by Dan Mooney,Icould not work under the then conditions and proposed alteration to the contract.

I was fortunate to meet other folk who made that stay in Texas worthwhile.

As for the Forums and being kicked off yes that’s true the reasons are well known but just to enlighten some folk as to the crux of the alleged so called flaming, I offered good sound advice for free to the E Forum and others this often was advice contrary to some Vendors and Repair Shops, cheaper and often more effective then that advised by Vendors and Repair/ Resto Shops, they did not like it and often the folk who read the Forums would question their Repair shop etc, Blunt? Maybe but hey! why BS about things I was there to help folk and I could not be bribed by gifts etc to shutup.

Further: for the record I was the person responsible for Classic Jaguar getting back on track in that the place was a bit of a mess, machining had been for a long time sublet to various TX shops and unfortunately for Dan is was not done to a high standard ,incomes Bill Terry and others, it was best I advised Dan to shorten the job load by doing what could be easily done in house the rest sublet it to the best, Bill Terry at that time was I believed the best. I’m of the opinion that from sometime ago Dan and Classic Jaguar have move ahead in leaps and bounds that today which is nearly to the day 8 years ago that I was conversing with Dan making arrangements and showing the contract to my Attorney.

I finish with this, I met I’m almost certain Chucks Mum and Dad, I worked on their brown coloured XK120 which had just come back from the paint shop the lights were not working and I had to advise on the system for the blinkers etc, I did some other work on that XK and I made a list of things that should have been done prior to it leaving, they were not all done and the XK left from memory to soon after be driven on a bitumen rally.

I believe there was some stories put about by Dan’s supporters to why and how I left Classic Jaguar and realy I did not care about them but reading Georges account opened the way for I believe putting the record straight.

Kind Regards
Terry Handley

I am SUCH an idiot.

Oh well. Sorry George.

I must take absolute umbrage at the comment by the poster above and I quote:

“Chuck, I am glad that in this site we can say it like it is, without the stupid “rules” of those conceited sites like Jag Lovers, protecting unscrupulous Vendors because they advertise in their sites! Jag lovers and All Others can K.M.A., and their so-called “moderators” can too.”

As you know, I am the only “moderator” for e-type and we don’t even moderate the lists. The messages go out live as posted. I just try to keep folks out of trouble after the fact.

I’ve had this non-paid position since November 1996 when J-L changed to their current multi-list format from a “one-size-fits-all” mailing list. The servers are in Norway and J-L is maintained throughout the world by volunteers from many countries.

I’m not sure where all of these paid advertisements are and who is getting paid but the principles of the organization would not have to “beg for dollars” if we were in the pockets of some faceless, nameless advertisers.

There are good vendors and bad vendors and many in between. I have personally seen good shops go bad when their principle founder “made it” and decided to turn the day to day operations over to other managers. I have seen nearly bankrupt shops rescued and rebuild their reputations.

That said, I have had dealings with CJ as well as XKU, SNG, Terry’s, and a host of other Jag parts vendors.

Some I’ve had problems with in regard to shoddy reproductions. One of the lines I’ve heard most often is, “You are the first customer to tell us that XXX doesn’t fit/work/fell apart out of the box.” Right.

I wish it were a perfect world and we could say publicly, don’t buy from WXYZ because their merchandise is crap and their service is worse, but unfortunately in this litigious society, anyone and everyone is fair game for a lawsuit over the most innocuous and frivolous comment.

BTW, the blow-up on the list with Terry Handley, Australian racer and mechanic actually happened twice. Early on, Terry joined the list and immediately antagonized everyone by asserting that only professional mechanics should work on our cars and it was dangerous for a bunch of amateurs to do such work. This created such an uproar that I had to ban him.

Dan Mooney then called me and begged me to reinstate him as he was going to bring him to Texas and hire him based on his reputation. I relented and did so.

Apparently two weeks into his employment at CJ, he was so abrasive in person that he was driving paying customers away so Dan told me he sacked him and sent him packing.

He went back to Australia and created the biggest flame war on e-type all directed at Dan Mooney and Americans in general. This got him permanently banned the second time.

George Cohn
’70 OTS