My XJR was 20 last weekend. I know this because I ordered the car new, and specified all the extras. Drove it out the dealers showroom,(still have the paperwork) and ran it for 20000 miles before moving on to an X308 XJR ( which I didn't like as much). By a quirk of fate, it turned up on eBay 5 years ago, going for a song with just over 100000 miles, and I parked my modern car so that the jag could resume daily driver duties. Joy! 50000 miles later, and after much intervention, it is driving beautifully (touchwood!) and remains a daily source of satisfaction, especially since oil prices went down!
My current dilemma is the front wings, which are a bit scruffy in the usual places in the lower extremities. One option is repair and touch in of the paint, all,of which I can do myself, although the available second hand wings to cut for repair sections are all looking a bit sad, or new jaguar heritage wings at a kings ransome, plus an almost inevitable professional respray of a substantial part of the body, which is otherwise quite good.
Talk me into it someone, please!

 

From your previous posts, it’s obvious that you know your way around the mechanicals of these cars. With that in mind, an X300 with a fully sorted body can last a very long time.

By today’s standards the cars are simple and easy to work on. Parts are still easy to come by and at reasonable prices. If you can live with the fuel economy it’s a no brainer really.

I often trawl through the Jag adverts on ebay and Autotrader. I have a hankering for an XK Convertible. I don’t have room or budget for two toys so when I sit back and consider parting with the X300 the urge for something else quickly goes away.

 

Really?



Graham

 

My x300 is 20 years old this year and while it looks good (from a distance) when washed and polished, it's beginning to show its' age. I have recently discovered two small rust holes, about the size of a golf ball, inside the lower part of the front wheel arches. These have allowed some corrosion to take hold on the inside of the lower part of the wings, with a little bit of bubbling showing on one.

I haven't looked too deeply yet, but it seems to be confined to the flat section, just above the sill. I have a donor car, but don't want to cut up the wings for such small sections, so I intend to make up pieces, using old parts of panels, which I will get from my local car body repair shop. They always have lots of discarded/damaged parts, which small sections can be cut from.

My welding skills are improving as I get feel for using the equipment and so, this is the route I intend to go. I'm happy with my filling and painting skills and anything will be better than it is. I suppose my main concern is to stop the rot from developing. I will of course, treat and seal all relevant parts.

When I get around to tackling this, I will post pics and progress.

I want to keep my car for as long as possible and can't imagine driving anything else, and when it hits its' 30th birthday, it qualifies for classic tax here in Ireland, @ €56 per annum, as opposed to the present €1,809. If that's not an incentive, what is?

 

Congrats on the car's birthday, mine turns 20 in October 2016.

Very neat story of how you reaquired the car too. If everything else is still in good order, and you enjoy the car, repairing it will still be less expensive than a new car. Even if the repairs cost $2-3000, that would pay for itself in 3-4 months of payments on a new car.

.

 

Since you can do some or all of the work you'll keep costs down. I'd do it. Congrats of the 20 year birthday!

I have kind of the same dilemma. My car just turned 21 years old in January and I bought it used 4 years ago and it's been my daily driver since. However, the clearcoat is starting to crack in several places and I need to decide to get a respray (probably single-stage since I'm in Florida and cracking clearcoat is very common), or replace it with another X300, or newer XJ. My friends say I should get the respray since I know the car, but $2k towards a replacement goes along way with the low prices these days. I'm leaning towards the respray.

Good luck with your decision.

 

There are always costs associated with cars. What you could ask is will the replacement car be as good as this one will be after I fix the paint?

I recently got rid of a car I could have fixed for £250 because I like the Jag better. The fixed car would never have been as good as the slightly more expensive Jag. Sold the car on ebay for £100 and put the money towards the Jag.