I am dreaming about a Jaguar E-Type for more than 20 years now. And that dream became reality in January 2003 when we found that particularly one on E-Bay. The story about all the things that happened I wrote down in this diary. Monday January 22th, 2003 My girlfriend Angeli finds a perfect E-type for restoration. It from 1966 Series I and the color…?. It's hard to see but according to the description it must be black in and outside. And the place is Los Angeles! Who cares….? The next days are filled with looking on the website to see what the price is doing. Sunday February 16th, 2003 The auction ends at 22:05 PM Dutch time and we become nervous about it all. Its 21:30 and we are still the highest bidder. We found a pricelist with E-Type values. It's a guide for us to see how far we can go to bid for a reasonable price. Ok, 10 minutes left to go there are more bidders at this moment. Our hart is beating fast and…..yes, we've done it! What first? What next? What now? We decide to go to Los Angeles. Let us find a Hotel and fly to America. Monday February 17th , 2003 We didn't sleep much last night! There are so many things to do now. We are allowed to take a vacation. De salesman name is Pete E. and by email we let him know that we are coming to L.A. Tuesday February 18th, 2003 We decide not to go to L.A. I found a transport-business who gets the car and tranship it to Rotterdam. The money must be paid on the account of the transport-business in L.A. Its all very exciting en very scary because what will happen? Wednesday February 19th, 2003 I am on my way to the bank to pay the money because it must have been done within 7 days. Lets wait what shall happen next…! Thursday February 20th, 2003 I instruct the transport company to get the car on Friday or Saturday. It will be on Friday because they don't work on a Saturday. Let tell Pete we're not coming by our selves. Friday february 21th 2003 We took the day off to rest a while. We need to insure the car during it's transportation from Los Angeles to Rotterdam. That journey will take about 4 weeks. Meanwhile we must make room for all the Jaguar parts. Ther isn't enough space in the garage to keep it. We need to build a shelter in the garden. Saterday 22th en sunday 23th 2003 We discover that there are no licenseplates. They need to be asked for. That will take about 7 days in America. According to the transport business they are needed. During this weekend we are searching on the internet for a trailer we need to rent for transportation of the E-type. We also need some English tools etc. Monday february 24th 2003 Today we've got an email from Pete with the question if we are still interested in the E-Type, because untill now he didn't see anyone to pick up the car! As I call to Los Angeles (it's 9 hours earlier, so that means, it's half past 10 in the morning there) Pete answers the phone. Immediately he tells us that there is a trailer at his house to pick up the car!!! That's good news. At first they didn't want to take the car with them because there is no title with this car. Finaly they take the car and suggest that it will be stored at the company until there is a title. That will take about 2 day's. Pete wants to cooperate. Tuesday march 4th 2003 The car is waiting in Long Beach California. That title will cost at least $250. Because Pete wants to cooperate we aske him to help us. Saterday march 8th 2003 There is a fair in "Bouwcentrum" in Antwerp. Many E-type's are presented. Some people advised us to gather all the information about the car in England at the Heritage. If you do do, you get a certificate with description, manufacturing, colors, first owner etc. Pete told us the car is completely black. That means, interior and exterior. According to the information we found on the internet, there was never an E-type made with that combination. We'll see. We also bought a magazine from 1966 and a cartest yearbook. Nice to have. Monday march 10th 2003 In my opinion it takes a long time to hear from the Title Service in America. Pete will sent the necessary documents to the Title Servive. Last Friday it arrived there. The costs? $150. That makes a difference! Now we can start waiting until the car arrives in Rotterdam. It will take a month. Tuesday march 11th 2003 At the last fair we visited in Antwerp we saw a poster about a yearly E-Type tour in Belgium/France/Luxemburg at may 30th and june 1st. Of course we are presented at that time. Thursday march 19th 2003 Finaly there is a positive message from America and the day of departure will be at tuesday march 25th. The ships arrival in Rotterdam is april 20th. Tuesday march 25th 2003 Today is the day the ship leaves America. Monday april 14th 2003 The Jag is already 3 weeks on his way now. I've got a message from the transport company that the customs documents costs $800 extra because the car is older then 30 years. I exploded. We had a fixed price. I had to check it by myself at the custom-house. I didn't believe the transport company. Conclusion: I was right about that company. It's a trick to get extra money from inexperienced customers. The custom house officer gave me some telephone numbers from fowarding offices. He told me it's easy to fill in the necessairy documents by myself. Total costs are $50 in stead of $800!!! Sunday april 20th 2003 Today is Easter Sunday and it's the day the ship with my Jag arrives in Rotterdam. Exciting moment! Tuesday april 22th 2003 Because of the Easter Hollidays it will take a while before it's all arranged at the custom house, but we can go to Rotterdam next tuesday. Monday april 28th We need the trailer and a van, a camera and nice weather tomorrow. How it al went you can read in reality.