There is a buyers guide in PDF on the faq link. It will cover everything. Just make sure you verify the miles and the odo has no turned over. A car that has not been driven can almost be as bad as one that is over driven. If itsmbeen sitting, chances are you will encounter a few issues after it's been driven for a little while. The car looks great from the pics, do your homework and get a good price. If you can, put it up in the air and get it inspected....I would look for leaks, there are many types...he gas shocks are expensive. Look for signs of oil, coolant tranny pan, differential leaks while the car is up....and rust! Under the carpet, trunk floor..make sure all electricals work too

 

It could make a great daily driver but I can promise that a 31 year old Jag is gonna need some repairs after purchase ...and as the years go on. Not major repairs, necessarily, but it'll need attention to stay reliable.

Actual running costs will depend on the actual condition of the car and whether or not you'll be doing your own work. A decent DYI mechanic can keep an old XJ6 on the road for remarkably little money, actually, because most of the parts are reasonably priced.

If forced to throw out some numbers I'd say budget $2000 for immediate after-purchase expenses: a major service, battery, tires, brakes, hoses....all the stuff that a used car would often need. Once you get everything sorted and up-to-snuff I'd say $500/year for regular servicing and the small repairs that will come along every so often.

Cheers
DD

 

That looks a very, very, nice late XJ6 Series 2, the Series 3 came along in that year, and I had a 1980 for 14 years from 1988 to 2002, so I am very familiar with these cars. Mechanically the cars are virtually identical from 1968 to 1987.

Doug is absolutely spot-on on the need for repairs. In fact, waht you will really be doing is recommissioning the car, the amount of use is so minimal for a 31 year old car that things have inevitably deteriorated just by the car standing for so much of those years. For what it's worth, I recently bought a 22,000 mile 1977 MG Midget, and have already spent over £1000, although to be fair that included a set of new (but period) alloy wheels.

Once you have recommissioned it, it should give you many years service, but will never be as reliable as a modern car, as it is a child of its time even if it has been in a time warp. Good thing about it is it is an easy car for DIY mechanics - no pesky electronics for instance, and no EFI, but carburettors and "normal" ignition system of coil and distributor. This combination does not deliver economy, however !!

One thing to attend to is to check the body for rust. It should not be a problem on a car of such low miles, but do it all the same, then undertake a detailed programme of waxoyling it, especially in the box sections. The Car should not then corrode as badly as mine had. I had to do extensive repairs, (myself with a MIG welder), but mine was over 80k miles at purchase.

 

Lack of use might be as much of a problem as anything else. I picked up my 62x 87 VDP this summer and you can check out my thread to see all the work I've put into her. Most was needed, some I did just because it was easier to do all at once. What I can say is that if you have no trouble turning a wrench everything I've done so far has been pretty easy to do with normal tools.

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