XJS - collector or not? your opinion
 

I for one would love to see our XJS' eventually be considered collectors. After all we all have a vested interest that they do.

As the XJS was intended to replace the XKE as a luxury grand tourer, father time has awarded the XJS its own niche in the collector circle of fine cars. But car enthusiasts and collectors are not as benevolent.

So I ask,

in your own honest opinion, are XJS' collectors? And if so, which?

early XJS,
XJS Coupe
XJS-SC
HE series

Not quite sure if I understand but if you're referring to prices, I disagree :-). I love that fact that (most) older Jags have low market values. It opens up ownership of some great cars to those of modest means.

Investor types would disagree with me, naturally.




I think it's anyone's guess. I can remember in the 70s when every used car lot had used XKEs for $2500. Who knew they'd "take off"? Same for so many others, including American musclecars.

Personally I don't think the XJS was ever popular enough, or appreciated enough, to become a highly coveted collector/investment car. It lacks the icon status of even a prosaic 1965 Mustang.

However, the small-ish group that DO appreciate them will probably, and gradually, start paying more for excellent examples....of which fewer and fewer remain, it seems.

Cheers
DD

Inevitably the prices will skyrocket. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point. I'm stockpiling $3k examples :D

The XJS is just too special.

I dunno.....at the risk of getting flamed:

Three words describe why I think the XJS may not achieve collectors status.

Personal..... Luxury.... Automobile.

I know that everybody here classifies the XJS as a grand tourer, but damn near everything reminds me of the personal luxury class of automobiles that Detroit built in the early '70's. Bucket seats, center console with floor mount automatic shifter, tilt steering wheel, Big Block V8s.

The late 60's, early 70's Pontiac Grand Prixs (How would you spell the plural of "Prix"?) 1968-1972 and the same years of Chevy Monte Carlo. Just before they became the big behemoths with under powered small block mills.

Don't get me wrong. I love those cars. My best friend in high school had a 1972 Grand Prix. I swear piloting my '92 XJS feels the same as his GP. Puts me right back in the late '70s/early 80s when he had it. But the prices of those cars didn't exactly skyrocket.

howlinowl

Howlinowl.
Horses for courses.
It all depends on your defintion of a Grand Tourer.
The Pontiac Grand Prix (don't worry about the plural, it's French so nobody cares), with its bucket seats and floor mounted whatsit was a brilliant Grand Tourer until it happened upon a corner at speed whereupon it went straight back to its roots and started ploughing furrows in the adjacent field.
Grand Tourers are a strictly European concept, designed for a European class that had money and time to spare.
Apart from being able to show a clean pair of chromed, twin (or quad) exhaust pipes to any of of the riff raff or hoi polloi that dared to venture on the Auto Routes, they also had to be able to negotiate tiny little villages and awesome mountain passes and yet arrive at the destination on the Mediterranean coast with the driver having barely broken sweat and the lady passenger not having had to change her underwear several times.
Done it a 1977 Porsche 911s; holy crap, that was scary but fun.
Done it a V12 XJS Cabriolet; are we there already?
The XJS was never designed as a sports car but having let several 'sports car' friends drive my bog standard 1993 4 litre Coupe it is quite funny watching them trying to provoke the car into doing something wrong which it unfailingly didn't.
As for 'collectability': I live in a tiny village in Wiltshire and there are 3 (ok, 2 of them are mine so maybe that doesn't count). I work on cross channel (that's the English Channel) ferries and I probably see 3 or 4 a week, not all the same ones.
They are out there and every time that I see one it is in better condition than the last one that I saw so I think that people are starting to look after them properly.
Apart from me of course, at the end of the day it's just a car and you can pick them up for pennies. That's why I have two.
Note to self: get a life!
Steve

Interesting observation.

I had a '69 Grand Prix for years (great car) and now that you mention it, there IS a certain similarity to the way they both felt. And the "personal luxury vehicle" moniker does apply to the XJS especially in the later years.

In the early days, say through the early-mid 80s, the XJS still has some GT/performance flavor to go along with the luxury aspects. As time marched on, though, the performance aspects were overshdaowed by the competition and the ages old XJS design couldn't really compete in that arena. However, as a prestigious "personal luxury car", it could still make a quite a splash. If you look at how Jaguar advertised and marketed the car from beginning to end it becomes fairly apparent, IMHO, that Jaguar took the car in just that direction, sucessfully making the very most of what they had.

In a bit of irony, or perhaps the exception that proves the rule, the brawny-ist version of the car came at the very end in the form of the 6.0 liter models although they were no less luxurious than the six cylinder cars.

Cheers
DD

They're already classics. Right now, only the best examples are worth something but that will change soon enough.

Heh heh, define "something" :-).

In many case the prices of a fair/decent example would have to double or triple to even hit $10,000 ! Ten years ago many were saying that XJS prices would start climbing "any time now" and they've only dropped more!

I can see gradual increases over a period of years but I really don't think these cars will ever be "pots of gold".

Then again, I could be wrong :-)

Cheers
DD

Ah, but now you are talking marketing.
Don't forget that Jaguar could not give the last E Types away so they painted them black and marketed them as something special. That is exactly what they did with the run out XJS, little knowing that they finally created the car that they should have done in the first place.
The XJS was introduced exactly in time with the first 'global' oil crisis and at the same time everybody was expecting a fantastic replacement for the E Type.
Curious aside here, E Type to us in Europe, XKE in the 'States. New F Type in Europe, is it XKF in the 'States?
Britain is littered with the residue of failed sports car producers, all of whom set out with the best intentions, the absolute best engineering integrity and absolutely no idea how to market their products properly. You only have to look at the names that will bring a smile to some people ('I knew someone who had one of those, wouldn't bloody buy one myself if you paid me'); TVR, Lotus (Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious), Caterham, MG (massively supported and loved by Americans but where are they now?), Triumph, Jenson (pioneers of four wheel drive for road cars), Ginetta, Vincent (sorry, bit of self indulgence, a kit car made by my brother in law and his family), Bristol, (starting up again?).
And then if you stretch slightly further than our soggy little island; Bitter, Lancia and I am sure an awful lot more.
Jaguar is one of those famous names that, for whatever reason, did not join the enormous list of of car manufacturers that we fondly tell our children about but have fallen by the wayside.
As for marketabilty? The XJS ran from 1975 to 1996: there are not many cars that you actually have to ask what year it is because it was made for over 2 decades.
Collectabilty? It's a car, pump up the tyres and light the fires!
Stop worrying about it, if you can start the bloody thing then sit in it and drive it.
And don't forget, it's a Jag so it doesn't like being cosseted, drive it like you stole it.
Here endeth the lesson.
Steve

Right on ! :-)


Cheers
DD

I love my BRG '96 4.0. convertible. Not very fast, light to light. Not economical gas mileage wise. What it has in spades is class and exclusivity. Never see one in Richmond, VA except mine. Also beauty and perfect handling.

At the end of the day a car is a tool.
Sometimes, some of us want to have slightly different tools than everybody else does.
But (and a big 'but') without feeling very clever about it.
Steve

Are there any collectible cars that had a 20 year run with over 115,000 units produced?

When I think collectible, I think of a model run that had a few specific years that was special, which made it collectible.

2 body styles, 5 engines, 115,000 units. I don't know of another collectible model that fits this bill.

I believe that only the XJRS would be collectible. Only because it truly was rare and special.

Does the XJS really handle that well? Aside from the IRS, is the suspension system of the XJS really all that special? Maybe the earlier cars, but the later models (like my '92) they even quit putting the rear anti-sway bar on. Front bar is something like 1 inch, I believe. Maybe the XJS handles less like a wet sponge than an old GP, but I'd think it would be marginal at best.

Anyway, it all depends on what Joe Average's image of the XJS is to make it more collectable. I imagine Joe Average would probably see more "Personal Luxury" in the XJS than "Rocket Sled on Rails".

howlinowl

Now we're getting into the semantics of "collectible" :-)

Rarity and collectible are not always related and, for that matter, being collectible doesn't always mean high prices.

Sixties vintage Mustangs and musclecars were built in huge numbers and are very collectible. Over 50,000 E-types were built...hardly a limited production model...and it's a collectible by most anyone's measure.

Cheers
DD

If you're accustomed to driving a 60s-70s vintage land yacht, the XJS feels like it's on rails. If you're accustomed to driving a 911, the XJS is a barge :-)

Like all Jags the XJS straddles the line between comfort and cornering. Those wanting more will find them very responsive to typical upgrades to bias things towards better cornering.

Cheers
DD

Too true. It's uncommon to see a collectible car that was not popular or an object of desire in its heyday. The E-Type was iconic.

The XJ-S was too unconventional to merit collectible status in my opinion. That's great news for anyone looking to get one on the cheap, but don't hold you breath waiting for these things to appreciate.

Cheers,

- Will

Well, I'm learning more and more about the history and lineage of the XJS, and even after reading all the comments in this thread, and others before -I can only speak of MY car and the comments, looks, and attention it commands wherever I am with it. -I proudly tell anyone it is 24 years old, and the condition tells people she's treated like a Collectors item. I've been asked to display the car in two car shows in the short 7 months I've owned it, and have been asked to join a local car enthusiast club, the Valley Cruisers.
Owning this sweet little car and putting it through her paces brings me back to my muscle car days, and I'm loving it!

I don't know. It seems that any 3k car around Dallas is quite ropey. I see low mileage cars at over $15k on ebay. I have no idea if they're selling for that, but people are certainly asking.

Yeah, it really does. Low ride height (what, 4.5" of ground clearance?) helps a lot. Of course, these cars are old by now, and if you judge its handling qualities by a worn example, it may well feel a bit pillowy.

A properly sorted, never mind an upgraded XJS absolutely feels like a slot car on rails. These things can be tuned razor sharp and still maintain a comfortable ride.

Polyurethane bushings, new shocks and springs, upgraded anti sway bars, and modern wheel + tire fitments really make this car contemporary.