Hi, I'm new to this forum so I hope someone can give me some good advise! I found an 83' XJ6 for sale and am absolutely smitten with it! What advise can you guys give me as far as buying this car, like trouble spots, parts availability, reliability etc. Are they easy to maintain and/or restore? I currently have a mint 66' 7 litre Galaxie and am looking to add a european car. Is it feasible to swap in a GM drivetrain to this car? I know there are alot of questions here, but I love the look and heritage of this car and just want to know as much as I can about it BEFORE I buy it! Thanks!

 

I would try the xj6-xj12 section. This one is for 04+ My 04 is great...i doubt that does you any good though

 

Hi Smitten, as others have said, this is the wrong forum for you car, which from the year, is an XJ6 Series 3, the last of the traditional Sir William Lyons styled cars, (he was the founder and boss/stylist of Jaguar). Isn't it really beautiful ?

Like you I was smitten in around 1988 with a 1980, same series. I must have been smitten because I had it 14 years ! The good news is they are probably the last Jaguar one can maintain and rebuild yourself in ALL of its aspects, no pesky electronics apart from the fuel injection ECU, and that is analogue !
The bad news is that a lot can go wrong and usually does, coupled with the fact that a 27 year old car is going to have a lot of worn components on it. They may not have failed totally yet, but they will in time. Prevous owners may have replaced a lot, so check to see what has been done.

Mechanical restoration is fairly straight forward, but there can be an awful lot to restore ! Body panels is the big restoration job. You can still get many panels and weld them in yourself, but be aware Jaguar did not protect the cars very well from rust, so you may find a lot needs doing. There is also a lot of lead to cover seams and so on. Have you ever done any lead loading ? I learnt how to do it and still have the solder and lead sticks somewhere in my garage.

I sold the car in 2002. Wife and daughter were glad to see go !!

Parts are all available, some in the US and a lot in the UK. The UK suppliers will send to the US.

Try and buy the official Jaguar Workshop Manual if you can, they are available on the internet. This was the last car with such an item. There is also a parts catalogue if you can find one as well, very good, it has drawings of all the parts and sub-assemblies.

 

Any rust?

My family had that car. Does everything work? To me, they drive so antiquated compared to modern Jag's. Good luck!