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WHERE TO FIND HELP, PARTS, ETC.
This section of this book provides a listing of some mail-order outfits and the like, along with choice comments. Note
that this is not intended to be anything approaching a comprehensive list; it merely provides contact info for some of the
more commonly referred-to sources and a few sources that provide difficult-to-find stuff. Inclusion in this book does
not imply endorsement of the firm by this author, nor does exclusion imply that a supplier is somehow unacceptable or
substandard. In general, outfits that concentrate on local business -- as opposed to nationwide or worldwide shipping
and support -- are not included here, but such outfits may very well provide the best support for your particular needs.
Many mail-order joints advertise in the Hemmings Motor News, so pick up a recent issue to get the latest info.
DEALERS: Any Jag dealer can provide a pamphlet listing all the Jaguar dealers in the U. S. and Canada. If you think
about it, this is a useful pamphlet to have -- a dealer isn’t always easy to find when you need one. Dealers will usually
ship parts, so they are another mail-order resource. Remember, if the dealer is shipping from another state, you save on
state sales tax -- which will help pay the shipping charges.
Some dealers have an 800 number, good only in their home state or local area. At least one dealer’s parts department
has such a number and does not publish it. If your nearest dealer is a long distance call, be sure to tell them it’s long
distance; perhaps they will invite you to call back on an 800 number. Be sure to have a notepad ready!
TELEPHONE NUMBER CONVENTIONS: Throughout this listing, I have endeavored to use a notation for phone
numbers that is apparently common in Europe. The first character is a + which indicates that you must begin by
entering an “international access code”, which are digits you must dial in order to begin an international call, and which
vary considerably depending on where you are calling from; here in the US, you generally must dial 011, while in the
UK you must dial 00. In Australia, the international access code is reportedly 0011.
The next one or two digits are the “country code”, followed by a space. The country code for the US and Canada is 1,
for the UK it’s 44, for Australia it’s 61 and for New Zealand it’s 64. A more complete listing of country codes is
generally found near the front of any telephone directory.
What follows on a US phone number will be the 3-digit area code, in parentheses, and then the 7-digit phone number
itself. For UK numbers, the area code and number are listed, but no parentheses.
Now, the idea behind listing numbers this way is to provide all the information necessary to call these numbers from
anywhere in the world. However, it becomes the responsibility of the reader to interpret this information somewhat in
order to make a call within his own country or local area. For example, a person in the US calling a US number should
know that he can forget about the international access code and country code and merely dial a 1 (or any of an entire
smorgasbord of long-distance access codes in this day of deregulation) followed by the area code and number. A
person in the UK dialing a UK number should know that he can drop the international access code and country code
but must add a 0 before the number. Obviously, those who actually live within a stone’s throw of the place being called
may be able to drop even more digits and make a local call.
The 800, 877, and 888 numbers are another matter. These are toll-free long distance numbers, but they reportedly only
work from within the US. Hence, they are listed as 1-800-xxx-xxxx, the way they must be dialed in the US to work
properly.
Some notes regarding phone calls to the UK: On August 5, 1994, exchanges in the UK changed. For the most part, the
change was simply to add a 1 at the beginning of the exchange, although a few exchanges changed entirely.
Paul Garside sends this explanation of the phone number conventions in the UK (prior to the addition of the 1): “Major
city (e.g. London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow) phone numbers used to be of the format:
<2-OR 3-DIGIT CITY CODE> <3-DIGIT AREA CODE> <4-DIGIT NUMBER>
All other towns and villages in Great Britain used the format
<4-DIGIT AREA CODE> <5- OR 6-DIGIT NUMBER>