All,
Just had a 1999 XK8 convertible with 92K miles inspected.

The report showed many of the expected leaks and such (diff, valve cover, others, all minor but present), needs an alignment, so nothing scary to me. Carfax shows that car lived most of its life in Chicago and St. Louis, was driven 12k miles its first year then on average 4K miles per year after that, sometimes sitting for years not driven at all. Carfax also shows 11 owners but regular service as there are 34 records shown, but none with any detail.

The last 2 owners however carfax does show some details and at 87K miles car had serpentine belt replaced, valve cover gasket replaced, brake fluid flushed and some other things.

Interesting that this current report showed leakage from the valve cover gaskets and fraying on the outer portion of the serpentine belt now just 4K miles later. One cause of this I thought might be due to car sitting (now in FLA) and valve gasket drying out a bit, and serpentine belt being installed incorrectly (wrong direction, or not on perfectly aligned with grooves in pulleys).

All that I get BUT, in one pic sideview of the car I can clearly see that the bottom panel (rocker board? is correct term?) has been treated with a well applied coating of rust protectant - paint matches, board seems in really good condition, report did not see any rust on underside of car and pics of other things do look REALLY clean, like there is no rust.whatsoever. (makes me nuts they did not take a true full sideview of car from both sides, nor of the engine bay, trunk, battery, made no comment of existence of tonneau cover, and did not show convertible going up and down except last 3 inches closing, which they claimed did not latch properly - contradicting the owners experience over their entire 3 years of ownership).

What to make of this rust coating? I thought I had recently seen a response to a thread stating if you see this rust protection stay away. But rest of car looks really good.

Purchase price is 6K.

Advice?

 

My 97 had the same, and it was a southern car, absolutely clean. It's probably a factory coating in the early models.

 

It is a factory coating. My '97 also has it from behind the front wheel arches to the front of the rear wheel arches. The car was imported to Vancouver that has lots of sea salt in the air and it doesn't have any rust. Before I bought mine I went on Skype with the previous owner and had him walk around the car and show me everything from the inside of the trunk to the underside of the car and got him to start it so I could see and hear the engine running. Might be an idea for you if you can't physically go see it.

 

RoadMaster2

If you are only looking at photos, ask for pics of the wheel wells esp the front left/right lips of the front and rear behind the plastic buckets.

My 99XK8 has dimpled black rust proofing on the bottom which looks factory applied. But somehow I still got the old “Tin Worm” on the right rear fender due to the humid weather in the Middle East.

Chicago seems a hard place for a car to live but it sounds like the car was garaged and driven rarely.

At USD6k, car sounds good, and you’re doing all the right home work. The convertible top repair is problematic but well known to the Forum members here for a DIY home job.

Just tread carefully but it sounds like you know exactly what you’re getting into.

 

You should be more worried about seeing a receipt for cam chain tensioner replacement work!

 

Thanks to all who took the time to reply to my thread. All comments were very helpful and I appreciate the time and expertise.!

 

Take your time, and enjoy the car. It will need a lot of TLC, but if you enjoy having a car that is not that common, and enjoy working on your 'toy' you cannot beat the XK.