From my other post you can see that I am hunting for a weekend toy and have some questions for the group's input:
I have found a 1995 that appears to be in good shape for the most part.. It has some wood repair needed but that appears doable. I like the color combination in that it is classic British green however it has been painted. It does not show any identifiable signs of a wreck but it has been painted. Therefore it looks nice, but clearly is not original. Is a respray a negative or is that something that makes sense for a 25 year old car? Would you avoid a painted car or is that just to be expected at some point for many of these as they age?
Secondarily - what about colors in general?
I know paint is highly subjective but at the same time there are some combos that are just outdated or undesirable to most. With that said, I'm looking at a white one locally which is clearly classic and not offensive. Probably a safe color as would be black or silver or other basics. What about the dark red, almost maroon color? I've never been a huge fan or maroon or dark red but it does look sort of age appropriate and ok on these cars (I think). Again - I know this is all subjective but I am curious as one of these days I am sure I will sell the car and move on and it would be good to know that whatever I have isn't a totally undesirable car. Thoughts on the reds but also colors in general for these classics is welcomed here!
Well- my 95 British Racing Green Car was repainted. Stripped to bare metal and repainted. The car was my grandfathers from brand new, garaged and well taken care of, but he parked it in the top roof parking of his office for years and the sun eventually ruined the paint, so when I got the car I had it stripped to bare metal and repainted, but I have to say I have never been 100 percent happy with the results. I spend around 10k in the repaint, the car was wet sanded between coats, but I wanted 100 percent show car finish, specially on the sides. I had the shop re-do the sides thinking I was going to get what I wanted, which was Completely mirror flat from whatever angle I looked at, and that I do not have. I have learned to live with it and not focus on that, but the point is that a repainted , specially of a dark car, is never going to be the same as the original. Unless you spend 2 or 3 times what I did at an extreme specialty shop. The other point is that a repaint does not necessarily mean anything other that the sun took its toll.
If the wood is cracked on any car with a passenger side airbag, it can all be easily replaced, except for that piece. To replace the wood that covers the passenger airbag, the whole dash must come forward or out. I keep on waiting for someone to figure out some way to do it with a special tool, but no one has been able to as of yet. We don’t want the mechanical style airbag deploying in our faces.
What about the dark red, almost maroon color? I've never been a huge fan or maroon or dark red but it does look sort of age appropriate and ok on these cars (I think).
thank you
Do you mean Moroccan Red? That's a gorgeous colour and one I would love.
As for a respray, I got my boot and roof resprayed, and while very good, and better than the old, failing paint, it's not as good as the factory paint. You do have to look carefully to spot the issues, but they are there.
I am not sure what color it is. I think maybe Carnival Red?
The Green one is the traditional British Green but it has been resprayed. It is long distance and the dealer has been very upfront about that. I have not seen it in person but he isn't hiding anything.
A fresh coat of paint can hide a lot of sins but its not necessarily a bad sign. Unless a car was garaged night and DAY, for 30 years, it probably needed paint anyway. You mainly want to inspect the back sides of all the body panels as much as possible looking for rust that will bubble through in the near future and signs of dents or wrinkles that may have been filled more than 1/8" deep with filler that will eventually shrink and crack. Get under it with a flashlight and a mirror, put it on a lift if you can, peer down into all the the body cavities you can access, maybe even use one of those borescope inspection cameras. You can even buy a tool that detects the thickness of paint and will tell you if its got too much body filler. If you are not comfortable inspecting it yourself, take it to a shop that does classic cars or an independent Jaguar mechanic and pay them for an inspection (probably a good idea even if its original paint). If its an older repaint that still looks good, then the longer ago it was repainted, the more likely it was done very well as any quality problems would make themselves obvious in the first five years.
Color is highly subjective but its not like an XJS in "resale red" is worth thousands more than one in champagne beige so I'd say just buy the color YOU like and don't worry about losing a few hundred dollars five or ten years down the road if the color isn't popular at that time.
In my opinion - there are 3 reasons why people paint their cars.
1) Seems with the modern (?) paint system - the clear coat lifts over time and makes the finish ugly
2) The car has had rust issues, which has been correctly fixed and the car will live for another 20 years before the finish fades again
3) The car has had rust issues, which is bogged up, resprayed and is being sold quickly before the rust bubbles show through again.
Therefore
I would avoid a car that has been freshly painted, due to the fact that a correctly painted/rust removed (or even clear coat repaired) car is either time consuming and/or expensive - so why do it and then sell it.
If the paint job was 5 or so years ago and is still bubble free, then I would consider it - as long as I have a magnet in my pocket and check the rust prone areas.
I am not a purist, the paint on my XJS was very thin over 40 years, also rusty in the boot/trunk area. It was also yellow, which did not sit well with my wife. I also have no plans on selling her. All these things gave me an open canvas in the colour options.
This is Kona Blue - which also has a speckle in it - that makes it sparkle in the sunlight
