About this project
Hi to all Jaguars lovers!
My name is Martin Frolek. I live in a small city Veselí nad Moravou in Czech Republic. I have been a big fan of cars and motorbikes since childhood. I studied accounting and taxes at university and I also run a business in this field. After finishing my studies at university, I started looking for a car, but I didn't want it to be something ordinary like VW, Kia, Hyundai, Škoda (my friend calls these cars „ white bathtub“ or „gray bathtub“ but rather something rare. After a long browsing on the internet, I found a Jaguar XJ40 for sale in Prague for less than 2,000 thousand euros. It wasn't a lot of money and at that time my brother was studying at university in Prague, so I thought I'd take a trip to see him and look at the car. After a short drive around Prague, it was clear that I would drive 300 km home with this Jaguar. At that time I knew a few Jaguars, mostly newer models like the S-Type, X-Type and the newer XJ, but I knew nothing about the XJ40. I really didn't expect how much this car would change my perspective and approach to cars in general. The previous owners didn't take much care of the car, so I slowly started servicing it. Unfortunately, the very first thing I had to do was throw away the carpets and upholstery from the trunk, they were completely damp and moldy. Water was leaking through the rubber fuel tank neck, unfortunately this part was not available anywhere, only as a used one, mostly cracked. So I had no choice but to limit my driving in the rain and every now and then I would look for this part to see if it was for sale somewhere…. and it wasn't… but more and more often I saw that someone was looking for this piece in Facebook groups. So after a few years I decided to try to find out who made this part for Jaguar. I filled out the contact form on www.jaguarlandroverclassic.com asking who manufactured this part? G.P. wrote to me that JLR does not share information about its suppliers. I wrote him this "Thank you for your answer. I understand that, but this part is no longer available for a long time. A lot of people are interested in this part, so I decided to get a 3D model and produce it alone or eventually in cooperation with the original producer." Within a moment I received a reply from him with the name of the supplier. After further research, I found out that this supplier closed the factory where they produced this part around 2010. So I couldn't find the models or any other data... So I had no choice but to buy the "best piece" and make a 3D model of it. I contacted the university in Ostrava, the gentleman I was in contact with was also a big car fan, so he was very willing to help me. They created 3D models for me and also printed sample pieces out of polymer on a 3D printer. Everything fit, only this part needed to be made of rubber, not polymer. I contacted a specialist in the production of rubber parts in the Czech Republic, the company Gumárny Zubří (www.guzu.cz). They drew me a mold to make a part for their machine, I had this mold made and then they made me 224 new pieces of this part.
This whole thing cost me about 15 thousand euros. I didn't do it for profit, but to help everyone who has this car at home keep it on the road. But of course I want my investment back. I have been selling parts since March 2024 and to date I have sold about 90 parts all over the world. Big thanks to everyone. At this rate, my investment will return over the next 2 years. I know that there are still a lot of these cars, but I don't know exactly how many. By purchasing this piece, you essentially become not only the owner, but also support my project. And I don't think it's the last one... Do you know of anything that is unavailable for a long time? Let me know.
In today's flood of Kias, Hyundais, VWs, Skodas, Citroens, and Peugeots, it's worth occasionally encountering a classic, honest Jaguar on the road and with this project of mine I am at least trying to do that a little bit.
Greetings to all Jag lovers.
Martin Frolek
