Just bought a '97 White XK8 today. It has some issues that I'm sure I'll be throwing out to all of you for some of you wisdom. It has 82000 on the clock but appears to have had some fairly good care. It's original owner was a doctor in Palm Beach,FL, but I don't have a maintenance record, so I'll be changing out coolant, oil etc first. The drivers seat and center armrest has a lot of wear and the dealer has already set up to have them recovered with no cost to me.
A couple of things that I've come across so far are the parking brake not working(I'm going to try a get the dealer to look into that tomorrow) the electrics not working on both seats. Also as I was driving tonight the ABS fail message came on but after stopping to visit a friend then restarting and driving home the light never came on again.
I think I'll have to replace some of the speakers as I turned on the radio and the sound wasn't too good.
There's some of the chrome peeling on the wheels but I'm not worried about that as I will be scuffing them down and painting them black as I did on the X-type. Some day in the distant future I will also be repainting it BRG too, don't really care for white although I've 2 cars in the past that color and they are quite easy to keep clean which BRG is not.
I don't have any pics yet but will be getting some and posting soon.

 

The parking brake on the XK8 in unusual. You need to press the button while pulling it up to set it. To release it you need to pull it up even tighter while pressing and holding the button as you then lower it to the floor.

Many people think it does not work the the first time they encounter it.

 

Bob make sure the tensioners are replaced with the newer metal bodied ones, that probably is the most important thing you can do. The previous owner may have already had it done but check any way.