Frederick Raza was 13 years old and visiting England for the first time when he saw an intriguing car passing through the streets of London. It had only recently come rolling off the assembly line in nearby Coventry. The year was 1964. The Car was the Jaguar S-type.

What was it about that Jaguar that made it so special? It had a look that was distinctive to be sure: V-shaped lines streaming back from the front head lamps, which framed an eye-catching elliptical grille. But it wasn't the sort of car a teenager would drive, or could afford. It slipped away and got lost in the summer traffic, but he never quite lost the vision of how it looked that day.

It wasn't until twenty-old years later, when he was living in Seattle, Washington, and working in the automotive industry that he finally got a chance to own an S-type. This Jaguar had a smooth ride and he was comfortable with it for awhile, but it wasn't quite right. Something was missing. It wasn't exactly the car he saw that long ago summer day and he wound up selling it.

He moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, and for a time forgot about the S-type. There was work and family to think about, and other pressing issues took over. Until he happened to spot another S-type in the parking lot of a shopping mall with a "For Sale" sign in the window.

The car needed work--lots of it--but he didn't have the time or money to invest in it. It was a good family car, and it served them well, but still he wasn't quite satisfied.

A new opportunity soon arrived in the form of an offer to own and manage a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Chiang Mai, Thailand. His family would need a car there, so instead of selling again, he decided to bring the Jaguar with him.

A few years after he arrived in Chiang Mai, he realized the conditions were right to begin work on the Jaguar. "I wanted to do a ground-up restoration," Raza says. "I wanted to strip it down to bare metal down to the bolts--replace or repair every part, and then completely rebuild it."

That was in 1997. What followed was three years of toil and tears. New parts had to be ordered from England, the team of technicians had to be instructed in the nuances of British engineering, then once it was nothing but a gray hulk of suspended metal, the work could begin.

Each day there was a different part or system that needed attention. If it wasn't the bodywork it was the suspension or the wiring or finding the exact walnut finish for the dashboard. "There were no easy parts to this job," he says. "The whole thing was difficult."

Looking at the sedan today, with its white and chrome finish, wire spoke wheels and royal blue sun canopy, it's easy to see what caught the eye of that 13 year old kid more than 30 years ago.

It's also easy to understand why Jaguar has reintroduced the S-type. The engineers must have felt something of the same affinity for the car that Fred Raza has. Of course, everything old is new again in the world of automotive design: the 1963 S-type, itself, was borrowed from the 1959 Mark 2 sedan. In fact, Raza's completely restored Jaguar looks like nothing if not the stately grandfather of the sleek, new 2000 S-type. According to a recent internet search, this model is one of only four remaining models in the world.

Car collectors interested in acquiring this restored Jaguar can contact the editor: Marji@chiangmai-chiangrai.com