Just saw this modified coupe for sale in my neck of the woods with very low miles. What do you think of the mods, and I wonder if it's an XK8 or XKR? I see it's got an XKR hood, but I wonder if it's actually a supercharged auto.
qj5wt-3861692798@sale.craigslist.org

 

Not quite to my taste, but not terribly done up like some of the ones posted on here.

I'd wager it's an xk8. The seats are wrong for an R, the shifter is wood and the brakes look like the non-brembo, which were not an option from 2003 on.


Seems there are 2 ads for the same car.

2003 jaguar xk8 / xkr ! One of a kind!Custom! 25k original miles

2003 jaguar xk8 / xkr fully customized car. only 25k original miles

 

Just saw the same car on Ebay, with bids at $14,600. It is not an XKR, as I suspected.
ebay item 281118526665

 

Rear wing looks interesting. He doesn't have pics from the top, to get a better view.

 

It looks like an XK8 to me with either a XKR hood or at least the louvers. Interior looks XK8 but what I can't understand is why would anyone want to paint the dash and console, I'm sorry to me at least it's the wood that makes these cars look so great. I'm always getting great comments on this feature where ever I show my '97 XK8. The only body mods I see is possibly the grill, not sure on the trunk lid since I don't know what the stock one looks like. It looks OK to me. I see that the side trim strip has been removed, I guess this is what he refers to shaving the door trim. Good luck when you park it anywhere trying to keep from getting door dings.
To me at least they've went to a lot of trouble doing things that don't make any sense and don't improve on the looks. ?;o)

 

I think I'm with Green Machine on this one. My 2 cents, for what its worth:

What I love so much about these cars are their class and timeless looks. One such integral piece of this is the stunning wood veneer all (well, almost all) of us love to death. And he... *cringe* painted it. Red. With a wooden shift knob. That just wrecks the interior for me. Reminds me of a.. Scion or something (no offense to any Scion fans out there..).

The rims are also not my style. Too flashy and not in keeping with the overall aura of what Jaguars should be: classic, or at least tastefully modified.

Finally, trying to pass off an XK8 as an "R" by tacking on side louvers, badges and doing some weird body work with the deck lid.. it looks like a hodgepodge.

Concluding thought: although this has no bearing on the car itself, it may speak volumes about the owner and care the Jag received. Quote from the Craigslist post:

"I assure you this car is rare, and gets stares everywhere it goes, people are so blown away by it, and they always think it is a customized mazarati or Austin martin db9"

If he cannot spell Aston Martin or Maserati properly, he likely can't properly care for a vehicle of that caliber either, like this Jag.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. And all of this is just my opinion anyway... but not for me!

 

Being a big fan of careful mods and especially ones that enhance our cars, keeping the best of the classic design but at the same time updating things that could have been done by Jaguar, this car bothers me!! And the interior is a mess. Piano black or carbon fiber would have been better.
But, to each his own!! I'm sure there are people that don't care for what I've done to my car. But I at least try to keep my mods realistic to what I see Jaguar offering now on the newer cars.

 

The exterior actually doesn't look that bad since there was nothing really dramatic altered that I could discern (except for the horrendously large leper logos on the front fenders). If this guy wanted the red highlights on the interior (not my cup of tea) he should also have done the center inserts on the seats in red. Again I am not saying that ANYTHING should be red but at least he should have continued the theme throughout.

This car is in an area not far from me but I have never seen it on the streets so it must be largely garaged. I wonder where he got all of the performance tuning done.

Doug