I recently bought my 85 V12 from an extremely poor advert on eBay: 5 pictures, each of them out of focus, cropped terribly/show only part of the car, no interior shots, no under-bonnet shots and a two line description. Anyone with half a brain would have walked away but the car was local so I asked to see it. I received no reply... I was the second highest bidder but a long way under the 5 grand the seller wanted. I was somewhat surprised when I got a call after the auction, so finally did get to see the car and bought it. I would have bid more if the guy had allowed me to see it beforehand as it's really quite nice

In about 1995 I bought a Goldy coloured 3.6 manual, 1987 so not that old and really rather nice apart from the heater was stuck on full heat (which the owner kept very quiet about) but he did mention several times that he was a 'Jaguar mechanic' and had been involved with the design of these cars 'back in the day' The reason he wanted rid? Because the handbrake didn't work and he couldn't be bothered (!) to try and fix it. I suspected the chap selling was full of it and so trekked to Plymouth to see the car. Of course, it was a perfectly functioning fly-off handbrake but I didn't bother to enlighten the guy! I swapped a very tired Scimitar SE6 for the Jaguar (no cash changed hands!) and drove away a happy chap

 

Searched high and low for a proper XJS in the year/colour I wanted, this went on for a year until I prittymuch gave up.

Fast forward 2? weeks and I open up craigslist while visiting my brother 5 hours outside the city and I see down at the bottom buried in obscurity a single line Ad for a Jaguar XJS...no pictures just one sentence.

Car was in a garage not 5 minutes up the road, one owner and plenty of usage not a once-a-month car that falls apart on its first real run. All the manuals etc in the trunk to and exactly the specs/details I wanted.

 

When my 91 was totaled, I looked for a new one. I found a 94 6.0 V12 coupe for sale be someone who didn't know what they had. Got it for less money than I got from the insurance company.

 

I found my XJ-S as soon as I started looking 2.5 years ago. It was in Iowa. A 1988 V12 with 25,000 miles and $7,000 worth of recent service records and lots of pictures. After settling on a price, I flew out in the morning to Iowa from Michigan and I was in my driveway by 10PM that night. That was the best 10 hour drive that I have ever had! What a car!

 

 

I was living in Perth at the time and was looking for a later model pre-facelift a 1989 came up on the other side of the country in Gimpie Queensland so the wife I jumped on a plane and went for a holiday, the car was a 2 owner with books and was in a barn unused for 5 years. I bought the car and shipped it back to Perth.

In true Jaguar form the shipping company picked up the car and took it back to the depot no problem, then when it was to be loaded for transport it would not start and I was 4000km away. Ended up being the starter, found someone via the QLD Jaguar club to replace the starter and it was shipped.

Till death do us part.....................

 

I never intended to buy an XJS. Truth is, I never cared for 'em that much. A bit odd looking, I thought.

I had been looking for a TR6 to sit beside my XJ6. I stumbled across a gold XJS on Ebay and had to have it ! I bought it sight unseen and less than 24 hours later was on a jet plane. The 750 mile trip home....in the dead of winter....was a fun adventure.

The car never skipped a beat.

Great car; XJSs are way under-appreciated. Maybe I'll own another someday.

Cheers
DD

 

Half drunk bid on Ebay, just for a laugh; that'll teach me to try and be funny.

 

I'd always loved the looks and presence of the XJ-S and was always walking past one on my walk to school in the uK. I told my best friend, that I'd buy one when I was old...

Fast forward 18 years and I had some funds and was actually not really in the mood for buying a car. Had been watching the market though for a while as the prices raised in summer and dropped in autumn. This year (2013 it was) a car came up which caught my eye. Good price. Located an hours flight away. Belonged to a Jaguar Enthusaist Club member and was in good condition. Just had "several" oil leaks... Flew over, was in better condition than described and bought it basically untested.

Like Warren, mine performed like a Jaguar does: started straight away. Drove to my Aunt's. Stayed there a night and went to head to Harwich the next morning. Again, the car started perfectly. Got to the port. Had to wait a couple of minutes. So, shut the engine off. Ready to go, I started, the car started and ran but would stall the moment I put it into D. Here I found out, that the previous owner had wired it up a little differently, so it would start in D. Started in D drove on. Next morning it started perfectly. So she got the name "Iron Lady" na the same time - stubborn, patriotic, a beast Otherwise the drive home was great. Now that is nearly 5 years ago and I haven't driven her since!

 

Was looking for an XJS after the death of a dear car buddy of mine. The excuse I gave myself and everybody else was that I was in mourning (I really was) and needed to buy something. Isn't that what you do when yuo lose a friend? It was what my buddy would want of me as he always found interesting cars online for me to look at and encourage me to have. We shared owning and working on classic BMWs. I started my car addiction with British cars when I was younger. Had Triumphs, MGs and and a 68 XKE that I never got the chance to finish restoring. Fast forward to last year after my buddy's death in November, I started looking for an XJS for a reasonable price anywhere. I found a nice BRG V12 Convert in California but had to think about how to get it home. The fantasy of driving it home diminished after seeing how much time I would have to take off work and the expense of gas, tolls hotel and what if it broke down along the 3000 miles from CA to CT. I then looked for more local cars but still wanted BRG and V12. None local (East coast) so I did see a Sapphire blue 95 XJS 4.0 Conv on Craigslist in Baltimore. Sight unseen except for the very few pics, I spoke to the seller which was really a brokers helper. I was uneasy about the disconnection from the previous owner, but apparently, it might have been a trade in or auction car that was being sold, so no owner involvement at all. Without seeing it in person, I could not haggle on the price really and payed full just to lock it in for me. A friend drove me down and I took it from the guy as it was all paid for. A quick inspection of the car (Dec 2017) showed a frozen passenger seat meaning it had been leaking for some time and it froze to a hard crunchy state. By now you know it's convertible. Other areas showed a not so well done respray. Odd that it has no overspray anywhere so it was prepped properly but oh the orange peel!. Other areas just cosmetic. The four hour drive home was uneventful and engine ran just fine. I am now just doing things slowly while enjoying the car for now.

 

My trouble is that I get bored after a while; there is always something else out there; although I did have an MGC Roadster for 18 years but got bored changing the same bits on it.
I've had this one for 4 1/2 years now and have kind of run out of enthusiasm for it; fitted a new headlining about 3 years ago and that has started dropping so pissed about that.
On my watch list at the moment are the following (in time left order):-
'79 Camaro
'95 Chevy Astro Dayvan
'95 XJR6
'97 XJR6
'95 TVR Chimaera
'94 Daimler Sovereign Double 6
TR5 fridge magnet for my brother-in-law who has had his '5 for 36 years!
The Yank Tanks are probably out for practical reasons along with the TVR; whatever I get will be pre-March 2001 to avoid a big road tax increase for the same vehicle - £255 to £545 depending on whether it was before or after March 2001.
Now I just have to sell the Jag and I hate selling cars.

 

mine was given to me , another get it off the property(kinda hints of the value around 1990s)!
talk about being HOOKED, 30K later ,pic

 

A Craigslist Ad. Wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just looking as I always do. When I saw it I remembered driving one of my Bosses XJS, as an 18 year old white knuckled kid, and I was hooked. So $600.00 later she was mine, (about 3 years ago) and I haven't driven her a mile yet. But I'm working on that.

 

 

 

 

I had seen an XJS or two over the years, always noticed them because I was a car guy. The Jag that had always caught my eye was the E Type, since I grew up in the 60's. I did have an opportunity to buy a series three E type with the V12 but thought, who needs the headaches! Bought a Cadillac Seville, STS with the Northstar instead. Fast forward twenty five years into the future and I'm in a used bookstore. I find a Brooklands anthology about the XJS, buy it and show my Wife. She asked if I was interested in a car like that and I told her no, who needs the headaches. I read the book and I guess the seed is planted.

I start casually looking on Craig's List. I find a neglected Hess & Eisenhart convertible nearby. I spend a lot of time looking at it and we get it started and it has dropped valve seats. Luckily I take some time to think it over before I make my low ball offer and it's sold to someone else. Undeterred I keep looking and find another much better example for sale in Southern Ca. It's part of an estate sale and the seller has not been able to find a buyer, so the price is slashed. I pay the man the 1,200 bucks he was asking and bring it home.

Much work and a garage floor tranny swap follows. It needs a front suspension rebuild to be ready for the road. Two more Jags follow me home during this time. Who needs the headaches? I guess I do!

 

looking at most of the prices , makes one think about the real value of these cars,, not much value!

we have become a CULT site!

ron

 

What can we say. They are just so damn beautiful. Next to the XKE, one of the most beautiful cars on the road. Think about it even with all the issues they have. They are still around. More lesser cars have bit the dust, and gone the way of the crusher. Take the 77" to 79" Tbird. A handsome decent personal car, from the same era, not quite the sports car the XJS is, but way more dependable. They virtually don't exist anymore. There's a reason for that. With the XJS, once bitten, you're caught, Hook Line and Sinker!

 

I was talking with a coworker when he mentioned he knew a woman that had gotten an XJS in a divorce settlement. It had been sitting under a tree for a few years then moved to a local mechanics yard for work. I did not run but showed compression turning over with the starter. No rust anywhere to be found. I had success flipping cars when I was younger and thought then price was right. I didn't realize how low values for the XJS were. Anyway I purchased it for $3000.00 and rented a trailer to haul it to my place about 40 miles away. I got hooked on repairing it and making it look like new. It's finally a pretty nice car and worth a couple thousand less than the parts cost I have in it. Theres alway more to fix and now I'm installing new carpet panels in the boot.