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Stolen Jaguar Recovered Forty-Six Years Later

Forty-six years ago Ivan Schneider, successful Manhattan lawyer, bought himself the Jaguar convertible that would feature in a most unusual tale of unrequited love. It was the first (and "prettiest") of many luxury cars he would own, his companion on fast drives - and the only one that was ever stolen. Forty-six years later, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol analyst running a routine export check through a stolen car database came up with a hit. The 1967 Jaguar XKE was hot. The problem: It was already on a cargo ship, in a container, headed for Europe, two days out of the Port of Long Beach on the Pacific Ocean. Investigators with the California Highway Patrol and nonprofit National Insurance Crime Bureau got to work. New York police still had the March 1968 incident report. CHP investigator Michael Maleta spoke with Schneider in Florida, where he now lives. Schneider thought it was a prank. "After we convinced him, he was excited," said Maleta. After all, Schneider told The Associated Press on Wednesday, he would think of the car every time he bought a new one. And, he said, he is a car guy who has owned quite a few exotics. For the months he owned it, he was in love. "I've always said that was the prettiest," Schneider, now 82, said. Tracing the car's history, Maleta learned the Southern California man exporting it to the Netherlands had bought it about three months ago from an owner in the San Joaquin Valley, who himself had it 40 years. What happened between its disappearance from the concrete canyons of the Upper East Side and its California sojourn - Maleta hopes his investigation will answer that. After its out-and-back sea journey to the Netherlands, the car is back in Southern California, more than two months after the law finally found it. It's rusty and scratched, but still worth about $24,000 - and far more if restored, as Schneider plans to do. He just won't push it too hard. It's old, so is he, and though beautiful it is known for trouble under the hood. "I'll use it as a Sunday car," Schneider said. "They were never reliable." At least, one day soon, it will be back home. Related Gallery 2014 Jaguar XJR Test Drive Weird Car News Jaguar stolen car

2018 Jaguar F-Type gets four-cylinder turbo engine option

At the 2017 New York Auto Show, Jaguar has revealed the final piece of the 2018 F-Type puzzle: a four-cylinder entry-level model. It rounds out an expanded lineup of F-Type variants that have all gotten a bit of a facelift and some additional content for 2018, which we told you about back in January. But the little four-cylinder is definitely the biggest surprise. Underhood is the state-of-the-art 2.0-liter, turbocharged, gasoline-fueled Ingenium engine, which is making its way into several Jaguar-Land Rover products for the first time in the 2018 model year. It has a full suite of contemporary technologies, like a variable-lift electrohydraulic valvetrain that eliminates the need for a traditional throttle, an integrated exhaust manifold, and a dual-scroll turbocharger. You might recall that the Ingenium gas engine is replacing an older 2.0-liter turbo four in the XE, and also will show up in the F-Pace and XF. Add the F-Type to this burgeoning list, and don't expect it to stop there. The Range Rover Velar has also been announced for the US with this engine. In the F-Type, the 2.0T makes 296 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, which is higher than some of the other applications for this engine in the US. There's only one powertrain arrangement for the 2.0T in the US – rear-wheel drive and backed up by an eight-speed automatic – but buyers will be able to choose from a coupe or convertible body style. Jaguar claims the 2018 F-Type will scoot to 60 mph in as little as 5.4 seconds. It's also the lightest F-Type, by a smidgen. The 2.0T coupe weighs 3,360 pounds, which is 95 pounds lighter than the next-lightest coupe, the 3,455-pound, 340-horsepower supercharged V6 coupe equipped with a manual (and 117 pounds lighter than that car with an automatic). There's probably a fuel-economy benefit in EPA testing as well, but Jaguar doesn't have EPA numbers yet, so stay tuned on that. Don't forget that the 400 Sport variant will join the 2.0T on the stand. It's a one-year-only special edition model with a supercharged V6 uprated to 400 hp, but sadly there's no manual version on offer. Related Video: Featured Gallery New York Auto Show Jaguar Convertible Coupe Luxury Performance 2017 new york auto show ingenium

Jaguar Land Rover CEO: Wrong Brexit deal will cost thousands of UK jobs

BIRMINGHAM, England — The wrong Brexit deal could cost tens of thousands of jobs, the boss of Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover warned on Tuesday, saying he had no idea whether his plants would be able to operate after Britain leaves the European Union next year. Ralf Speth also said that the company would not be able to build cars if customs checks meant that the motorway to and from the southern English port of Dover, which is used to transport components, becomes a "car park" due to snarl-ups of people no longer able to move freely among EU countries. Speth made the warning at a conference in Birmingham, central England, speaking shortly before Prime Minister Theresa May, who is battling to have her so-called Chequers Brexit plan accepted by many in her Conservative Party as well as the EU ahead of Britain's departure from the bloc on March 29. "A thousand (jobs were) lost as a result of diesel policy, and those numbers will be counted in the tens of thousands if we do not get the right Brexit deal," warned Speth, referring to redundancies made earlier this year at the firm. "Currently I do not even know if any of our manufacturing facilities in the UK will be able to function on the 30th," he said. The boss of JLR, which built nearly a third of Britain's cars last year, also said long-standing issues around low productivity in Britain could be compounded by a Brexit agreement which made the country less competitive. "It is thousands of pounds cheaper to produce vehicles for instance in Eastern Europe than in Solihull, and what decisions will I be forced to make if Brexit means not merely that costs go up but that we cannot physically build cars on time and on budget in the UK?" he said.Reporting by Costas Pitas