Hi Paul,

I'd take to any place that does full service auto repair and have them look at everything. The cost of doing this should be minimal. ...and to avoid getting the "hard sell" to do work that may or may not be necessary, if I were you I wouldn't tell the guys at the shop that the car is yours. Tell them that you are thinking about buying it, and you'd like to know what mechanical condition the car is in. ....yes, its a little deceptive, but doing it this way, they are unlikely to try to sell you anything other than the diagnosis.

Is it the Jag? If so, $1500 to replace the compressor doesn't surprise me. Your car is like my car in that anything you have to replace is expensive. I paid $60 yesterday for a set of spark plug wires. ....for a 4-cylinder engine! I've had to replace the distributor ($275), front struts ($400), front axles ($500) and the starter twice at $320 a pop. These prices were just for the parts! To have someone replace the oil pan gasket cost me over $300. The gasket was $80 and with all the stuff involved in the Lotus handling package that is part of the chassis, they had to partially pull the engine to remove the oil pan to replace the gasket...! My buggy has 130k miles on it and still runs very strong. I absolutely love the car, so it is worth it to me to replace parts that break or wear out. ...I just wish the parts didn't cost so much!

Hope this helps. ...and, as always, it was great to see you last week my good friend!

Bob