Hello, I'm new so please forgive my lack of experience.

Recently I came across a 1986 Jaguar XJS HE in the lot of a mechanic shop. I went in and asked about the car and if it was for sale and the owners said they would take "$1000 or $1200, or best offer." I was a bit surprised by their asking price. I would expect a car like that to be a little more expensive. He told me about the car, where it came from, it's life, etc.. He said about 2-3 years ago they bought it from a guy who just wanted it gone, didn't pay very much for it. Being a garage they tinkered with it. He said they got the engine to turn over but it never fired due to what they think was a bad fuel pump. After that he said the shop got busy and they never messed with it much after that. He gave me permission to go poke around it. The hood was unlatched and the engine looked pretty clean. I'm not an expert in Jags but I know a little about buying used cars, what to look for and all that. The tires were flat so it was practically sitting on the ground and I couldn't see the undercarriage. I did see the exhaust had fallen off and was laying on the ground. The interior was a little worn, paint same story. I live in Texas, as where the car has been for atleast the past 8 years, according to its expired tags. There are some pretty bad rust spots on the body, I will try to attach some pictures. For some reason I did not look at the mileage :/ Before I make any decisions I will be attempting to start it at the owners consent of course. My question is, from the info provided, does this car sound like it'd be worth it to try and fix up to decent working order? I love to work on cars, so any and every work able to be done myself I'd be willing. Thanks for the help

 

Sorry i have no idea how to work this.

 

I think this is working.

 

I'm so sorry. I'm sure there's a better way to do this

 

Ok last one

 

The cheapest thing about buying a Jag is buying the Jag. If you can do rust repair and bodywork that will save you thousands. If you willing to work on it yourself that will save thousands. It will still cost thousands to get it running properly.
I'd say run away.
Buy the best one you can afford. It will save you thousands and a ton of hours

 

so right!

a lot of these cars are just given away ,just to get them off the property!

 

The rust you are seeing is the tip of the iceberg.

All said I am with everyone else so far-start running and don't look back unless you need a parts car and can get it for a few hundred and have room to store it.

 

Run, don't walk away from that thing.

 

Haha well thank you very much and each everyone of you for your replies. I guess I should clarify that I'm not actively looked to buy an XJS. I just happen to see this one every week and love cars so I inquired about it. If I were to buy this car, engine working, and do all the work I can without spending a penny, could I sell it without losing out? Of course that depends on what I would buy it for, which couldn't be more than $1000. I would be delighted to just buy it, do what I can without dumping money into it, and pass it on to the next guy.

Thanks again for the input. I'll definitely take everything that's said into account.

 

You will dump money into it, lots of it!

 

Not a good candidate for a profitable flip job.


A grand? For a rusty non runner with the exhaust on the ground ?


The BB would be a better deal.


If you just want to play with something, free. Just take it off the shop and owner's hands. They would be far better off!!!


But, if it takes bucks, max $500.00. And, that is a real stretch....


The best and only things that poor critter has going for it is, one, it is red, two, it is a V12 XJS Jaguar. Any other car in that shape would've been in the crusher a long time ago....


Better ones have gone that route. And definitely in the near past
"Cash for Clunkers" debacle.


Carl

 

Sorry, but that XJS is dead on arrival...

 

These replies probably sound kind of harsh but the hard truth is that the purchase price of a car like this is probably the lowest cost you will incur. The visible rust looks pretty bad, the hidden rust could be much worse, Still if you have the skills and equipment to fix the rust yourself it might be a good project. Realistically you shouldn't pay more that a couple of hundred bucks for this car, you could always part it out and make a few bucks. I would like the wire wheels myself! Another big question concerns past registration fees that are due, there could be many hundreds of dollars due for expired registration. I would estimate that you will easily spend two to three thousand dollars in repairs and deferred maintenance just to get it running barring any substantial engine or transmission problems. There just isn't enough value in these cars to make any money flipping them. These are great cars but you shouldn't get started on one of these unless you want it enough to keep it for a while. I am at the point with my own car where I will have to start to spend some fairly big money (for me at least) to move the project along. The cost to have the transmission rebuilt ranges from around 2,000 to three thousand dollars, this is almost two to three times what I paid for the car. It will need a new top, which will cost about as much. My wife keeps asking me if I really want to put the money into my car, she knows that I'm really enjoying my XJ6. I told her that I really do like my XJS and that I would consider a total eventual investment of up to ten grand would be acceptable provided the car was in good enough shape for daily use. My particular car is a real straight and solid car too.

 

I bought a 4k XJS. (That looked a whole lot better than this red one, with 100% no rust)

I have spent 25k on it (not including a whole bunch of my own time) and I now have an XJS worth 7.5k

Do I regret any of it ? No. I now know a whole lot more about XJSes than when I started, and I had the money, and I knew what a money pit I was getting myself in to.

You really, really need to want an XJS and be willing to put your own time and considerble $$ into it.

I think the saying "Buy the absolute best you can afford" is very, very appropriate when it comes to an XJS

 

So true. Really, REALLY nice XJS' are available cheap right now, but parts to fix not so nice ones are not cheap. That is a parts car, at best.

Jon

 

Wow, I'm amazed with all the information and responses. Thanks again to all of you who gave me advice. I checked out the car again today, noticed it had 80k miles, and found some more rust. I told the owner I'd give him $200, take it or leave it. I figured even if I lose my $200, it'd be cool to atleast give this car a better home, (maybe in several homes at once but atleast better ones) and to say "I own a V12 Jag" I'd be suprised if I got a call back from the owner. Sad to see such a beautiful car go to waste. I do have one final question, what does that 5.3L V12 sound like with pedal on the floor? straightpiped?


Thanks again for all the help.

 

If he takes the $200, I would part the car out or keep it as parts car for when you decide you really want an XJS. You'll quickly recover the $200, but you should NOT use this car as a restoration project.

 

I had a 3" straight through system on my XJS for a few days. It was LOUD. It sounded ok, but I didn't have a balance pipe in the system, so it didn't sounds completely "right". My DB9 (V12) has a balance pipe (and electric bypass valves above 5000rpm) and it sounds fabulous. We just did a rear muffler delete on our restoration XJ12C and it sounds a lot better than stock. Quite a bit louder on the outside, but no noticeable increase in noise on the inside.

 

my 5" dia. side pipe , little loud ,but a deep bass tone(Tuba).

all 12 cylinders exit from one outlet, nope didnt copy anyone!

most people dont hear all the cylinders with multi exhaust exits,with two ears, 1st its one side ear ,then the opposite side ear ,mixes up the brain!

on mine it sounds like a scream/whining sound,at 7000 revs!