New here and excited!

I am thinking of restoring or selling my 1988 Jaguar XJ6. Condition is fair. It's been houses in a garage for years but it no longer runs, has mechanical issues, decent yet cracked interior...but I love it!

Here to decide if I want to venture down the restoration road (if so, I'll need help and tips) or cut my losses and sell it! Ugh

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums JagGOGO,

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Hello,
Restoration or sale. That's a question only you can answer.
Depends on your levels of Interest, Motivation, Tenacity, and How Much You're Prepared To Spend.
'Not starting' can be a relatively simple fix, or not.
We usually advise new owners to get it driveable First, and then tackle cosmetics.

Members of our Xj6 Series section Here, will be able to further advise you.

Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Thank you for this! Random but how much do you think I could sell this for...IF I sold?

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

I agree with Elinor.

If your mindset is NOT in love with the car, and you have doubts, AKA, sell or not sell, it will never work out, blunt I know, its an Aussie thing.

Its near enough 40 years old, and appears unloved, so think about what you want.
A FULL restoration, a tad foolish to me.
A GOOD refurbish, has always sat with ALL more, even the Pretend Bentley I now drive.

 

All estimates are based on MY location and MY experience. Others in different places and with different levels of experience will doubtless have other opinions.

Non-running is the killer here, not to mention cosmetic issues.
As it sits, not having even seen pictures, I'd guess you might get a few hundred, and that would require the right person at the right time who could see the Potential and was willing to spend time and money.

If it at least Ran, even a little, you might get $1000, again from the right person at the right time.
If it ran Well, so it could at least be Driven, and you give it a good clean, you could double that perhaps, but again, Only for the right person in the right mood at the right time.

Most of the populace don't even know what these cars are anymore. Even fewer appreciate what they are and/or what they represent.

Whatever you decide, I wish you success.
(';')

 

welcome to the forum

 

There are very few cars that are worth the cost of restoration. Consider that to do a proper paint job in a quality urethane, turn-key is going to be around $20K US exclusive of any rust, hail or collision repair which will cost extra. I don't really follow that vintage XJ closely, but can't remember seeing any going for much over that on BaT unless they were ultra low mileage, all original, unrestored, museum quality examples. If you can DIY all the work to trailer the bare body shell into the shop and then re-assemble afterwards, you might get it sprayed for a little under $10K but even so, it probably needs lots of other work like interior upholstery and mechanical overhaul. And as you get into it, you'll find it needs repairs that you never would have imagined in a million years. If you just write checks, you could easily rack up $100K on a perfect restoration and be way upside down. Even if you could do everything yourself, you could still rack up more in parts and supplies than the car is worth. But Jaguars are not unique to this situation, rather they are typical. Consider that it costs about the same $20K to paint a GT350 Shelby Mustang as it does to paint a lowly 6-cyl secretary's coupe, but the Shelby will be worth upwards of $100K while that 6-cyl coupe is still going to be worth less than 20K after its got fresh paint. If you restore a car at all, you do it because the car has some sort of sentimental value to you (maybe it was your first car, you inherited it from your grandfather or maybe you just enjoy the process of restoring cars as a hobby and picked the XJ6 because it spoke to you) and not because there's any money to be earned. If you restore, you're going to lose money and lots of it.

Some people do car restoration as a hobby because they enjoy the activity and the challenge of it regardless of cost (I did a Corvette to seek a "Top Flight" award from NCRS because that's like the pinnacle of the hobby). If that describes you, then so what if "lose" $50K on a car that wasn't really worth it as long as you have fun doing it for three to five years. The way I look at it is that other men my age "lose" that much and more on their hobbies like deep-sea fishing, a premier golf club membership, international travel or buying rapidly depreciating new super cars. But if you are not the DIY type, you'd be far better off financially to buy an XJ6 that someone else has already restored. However, be very cautious buying restored classics like an 88 Jaguar because the people that did them are often amateurs and either can't afford or don't know how to do every job right. And in some cases, they cut corners on purpose to hide defects rather than repair them. But there are some hobbyists out there that have plenty of money and are very skilled so its possible you might find a good one. However, your quickest and safest bet is to buy one that's simply been so well cared for that it doesn't need restoration.