Hello! I am brand new to anything Jaguar as of today. I deal mainly with GM vehicles, but I was given a 1975 XJ6 last night, and just brought it home today. It was a daily driver and like most older cars around here had some pretty crappy bondo body work done on it in the mid 90's. Basically there are no rocker panels at all (I touched them and the remainder fell off), as well as some rust over the rear wheels. Floor pans, and trunk pan are surprisingly solid, trunk lid and hood are in good shape and the interior is about a 7/10. I'm not sure what I want to do with the car. The engine was replaced about 8000 miles ago. It was out of fuel and haven't had time so I haven't heard it run yet. Cranks over good and feels like it has great compression. Both carbs are free and everything looks pretty clean. Transmission fluid is full and I was told the transmission shifts and drives great. I really like the look of the car and could see myself driving it as a summer cruiser...any help about what the car is worth or what parts are worth in it's current condition (all chome and badging is original and is on the car, as well as the interior is complete) and possibly give me some ideas as to some of the body work that might be entailed. I'm not looking to build a show car, just a driver that might turn a couple heads from a distance. Thanks!

 

Hi Kenny, welcome to the forum.
It looks like you have a nice project on your hands. Not sure about your part of the world, but in Australia most parts are easy to come by.
As for the body rust, unless you can do it yourself it could be fairly expensive.

When you get a moment please post an intro thread for a warm welcome.

New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

 

When I see you are in Alberta, I would think that body rusting will be your biggest problem. If the rocker panels are non-existent, it is likely the rusting is very serious. So this could be very expensive to repair. When I did body repairs on an XJ6 Series 3 in the late 80s, there were still a lot of original factory panels around. There is probably much less around now.


The good news is that mechanically, these cars are very DIYable, with almost everything available. One PITA job is always the rear brakes, that are inboard next to the diff and very hard to get at. It is likely these will need to be fully rebuilt both main and hand brake.

 

Hi!

You're at looking at *many thousands of dollars* in body restoration and rust repair alone ....unless of course you are doing it all yourself.

As it stands I'd say the car is worth about what you paid for it.

In good to excellent condition I'd say Series II XJ6s are probably worth $3000-6000

If you love a project, you've found one

Welcome aboard

Cheers
DD

 

Doug is right This could get real expensive in a big hurry. Don't be suckered into thinking "well its a free car and I will fix it up"

I am Canadian and fully understand the Canadian penchant for heavily salting the roads in winter. Rust is everywhere. Don't mean to be a downer but,.. these Jaguars have an alluring quality to them and best to find out right away that they can be serious rust buckets. Save your time and money for something more promising and keep the car as a parts car .

These cars have a voracious appetite for your time and money.

If you really want a Jaguar of this vintage take a trip to USA just across the border into Washington state. Very little snow and the roads are rarely salted in winter in the Seattle area.
Sure even these cars will have some rust issues, but not like a Canadian car. Then you have a fighting chance. There are lots of intricate bits and pieces that go into creating a Jaguar and finding replacements will also demand time/money searching them out. Coming to this bulletin board was a good first step in assessing the viability of the car.

Just trying to be helpful to you before you drop the first $ 5000 into the car and then realize there is still a ways to go.

These are nice OLD cars.

 

Hi Kenney

Take a minute to look at my thread before you spend any money on it.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...project-92771/

Best Stig

 

Hey guys thanks for all the replies. I'm really not sure what I'm wanting to do yet. I honestly got the car either to sell as is for a few hundred bucks or part it out...Neighbors just wanted it out of their yard. The more I look at it, the more I like it as a car and I would be doing all the work myself. Mechanically I'm not worried. I've checked up in behind the rockers and everything is extremely solid including all the floor pans. I'm not wanting to put $1000's of dollars into this car...heck I'd rather not even put a thousand into it. I've got a 64 Chev Step-Side pickup I'm rebuilding that means a lot more to me as a family heirloom.

I've found some aftermarket replacement panels for fairly cheap (around $600 CAD for everything I would need) and I can weld everything in myself. Again I'm not looking for a show-quality car here, more or less a fun little runabout for the summer for maybe a year or two. I may just cut-out and redo some of the bondo work that was done to it previously...I just hate to piece together such a nice car in a crappy way like that. There definitely is extensive rust, but nothing I haven't covered up before to get a couple years out of for fun. Imports have never been my thing, but I have to admit this is a fun looking little car. I doubt I'd have ever even looked at one if this deal hadn't come up.

I totally understand what you are saying about vehicles and money pits! None of it is cheap, and I really appreciate you guys warning me about what I have ahead of me. I know a full restoration on this car...especially it being a Canadian car...is probably pretty stupid. I don't see myself going and buying an XJ6 done up, but if I can have some fun with this one I wouldn't mind

When I get it running here in the next couple weeks I'll see where I want to go. If the drive train is solid, I might spend a couple weeks making it look pretty on a poverty budget and just drive it until it falls apart again...then it will end up a parts car. I'll keep everyone posted!

 

I like that plan. Fix enough of the rust so that it looks somewhere near decent, and more importantly, is safe.


Clean it up. spot paint the really rough areas. Make it run well and drive it.


Caveat, brakes and cooling system. No substitute for each working just right. Consequences of anything less, not good.


I had a 65 Corvair with a lot of rust. It was turbo car, so a lot of fun.
Eventually, I sent it down the line. Just too 'leaky"!!! Ran like stink, though!!


Carl

 

GOOD LUCK , been there done that , $30K USD later ,now a nice car but i would never do it again!

it was done on a rollover rotessore rig , so welding was done correctly.

 

Thanks Carl,

I think I should be able to fix it up as it sits fairly cheap. There was a ton of mechanical work done on it over the past 10 years with receipts which is nice to see. I'm going to take a closer look this weekend and make my decision on my next step.

Any suggestions on what to look for in the cooling system and brakes? Never worked on these cars so not sure how they're set up. Even as it sits, the body is safe to drive. All the mounts are solid, frame is in really nice shape. I'll get it mechanically sound and go from there.

 

Yup!


1. Nice green liquid in the radiator. If it is rusty mush, it is trouble.


Jaguar engines don't run hot for very long.....
don't ask....


2. The front calipers and pads are pretty standard. Decnt pads, unscored rotors and unfrozen pistons, good to go.


3. Same stuff on the rear, EXCEPT, they are inboard. Pad change not bad. Caliper or rotor change a challenge, but doable.


I forgot to mention, ancient tires can go POW. Not too bad if at a slow speed. At highway speed, catastrophy Caveat




I absolutely don't want to discourage you, quite a project and watchfully done can be very rewarding...


Carl

 

So in other words the same things I would make sure are good on any vehicle

Yeah I'll be doing a full coolant flush, who knows the last time the cooling system was even looked at. Pressure it up and check for leaks.

Definitely looking at doing brakes for sure. So it's four-wheel disc setup but inboard? Interesting, I'll have to pull the rear wheels and take a look at this. I know all the brakes are free and working, but I'll be replacing anything that needs to be replaced.

Not worried about tires, the ones that are on there hold air but are definitely too old to run. Luckily they're fairly common 15's so tires around here that size are cheap. If it's going to be a driver, I'll definitely want good tires.

Thanks for everything Carl, I have no doubt it's going to be a project but I think it could be fun.

 

Yup, the regular stuff. It is the rear disc brakes that are inboard.


Enjoy....


carl

 

Hi KenneyHow did this project go, or you never got it done?

I love to know what happened to the car.