Well I finally have some time to post after Hurricane Harvey decided to flood the house. While the house received 4 ft of water, my biggest loss was the 2004 XKR Portfolio. She was a beauty in Coronado blue with only 70k. Unfortunately I only carried collision since I only drove for fun and always had the car in the garage. I now have a 4000 lb paper weight mocking me everyday in the drive way. Does any one have any experience with disposing of a car like this short selling it for scrap metal? I really have no interest in parting it out or trying to revive her.

 

Glad you are ok and, I trust your family is too...I had a car that was in a flood once...drained and changed the oil (oil in the pan was floating on water); took out all of the spark plugs and cranked the motor to prevent hydro-lock, and it started right up...Now this was a race car without much in the way of electronics....but I wonder if you cleared the water from the engine, then parked several canvas bags full of rice next to the major electronic modules for a few days and gave it a go ? ! ?

 

Yep, 4000 lb paper weight is worth tinkering with. Pull the spark plugs, bump it over to push any water in the engine out and You'll probably need to do it through the relay box.

Otherwise, call around the junk yards. I think drag ins are $200 more or less. I can only imagine the glut of condemned cars right now. I'd try to bring it back to life.

 

Wow. Sorry to hear this.

 

glad you are ok - sorry to hear about the XKR

 

contact Welsh or XK's unlimited. the former states that they will purchase cars in any condition. this will at least help others who might need the undamaged or salvageable parts which a general wrecker might just crush. the front sub frame alone is valuable, plus a good engine that can be pickled anyway has many useful parts.

 

Sorry about your property loss but glad to hear that you are okay....

 

How high did the water get? Did it get into the interior?

 

It's good to hear you're safe. So many aren't.
I wonder what the dealer in Houston looks like where I purchased an M-B S600 Twin-Turbo V12? Ferraris, Lambos and Cobras must look nice under water. An opportunity for some good photos.
200 bucks scrap isn't bad. That must be horrifying, Wcsteam. I'd be freakin'. The whole thing is beyond my comprehension. Where would you start?
From past experience new car dealers will ship the relatively dry cars all over the U.S. to sell. Dry above the floors. People said, watch out for the floodmobiles. My buddy bought a new 1990 Ford pick-up. He swore it wasn't a new 'floodmobile. I opened the door and peeled up the rubber weather stripping. Yup. Chocolate pudding under the weather stripping. The chocolate pudding was silt from the Mighty Mississippi River. I guess the detail shop missed that. Tom still insisted it wasn't a floodmobile. Soon, the brakes quit working and the Ford diesel blew about 19 head gaskets. He finally got tired of the dealer jacking him around so he fixed everything himself. Still has it and it works fine now.


Jip

 

It depends on how high the water got. I live in Houston and during a previous flood went through water over the door sills...the XK8 went through it like a champ. The seals held and no water got in.
What is a flooded car has changed with every flood I've been through here (3 or 4). Once it was radio high, once it was ecu/ecm high. This time they seem to be very quick to simply total them out.
Since insurance isn't a factor for you it's going to be your call. First thing to do is get the carpet and jute out and dry them out. If you start the car with water in the cylinders it will hydro lock It, water has no "give", so the plugs must come out. If you have a shop do It, someone may report your car as flood. It could even be a secretary that has no idea what is really up, or even cares.
A truck with muck under the seals doesn't mean that much. Trucks and Jeeps are always going places cars do not. We used to pull headlights and tail lights out to look for doctered flood cars. But then by the next flood things changed. Dealers do not want to sell flood cars to people, too much exposure to lawsuits. That may be why they are so quick to total them now...plus there is still massive money left on parts. Who cares if a hood or a fender or many other parts were underwater for a bit? Ecu/ecm's care...any electronics do.
Unscrupulous dealers will repair and flip flood cars, but the vast majority of dealers want nothing to do with that, and "real dealers" have insurance. Once a car is "flood" on carfax or autocheck it will be "flood" from then on. If insurance totals It, that will be on there from then on, on the title as well.
Your car flooding leaves you with these decisions...it is clearly in the gray area. I've never seen a Jeep CJ that hasn't been through water. It's kind of part of the deal with those. Should they all be called flood?
Dry the car out first and go from there. Let your conscience and karma guide you from there.
Myself? I would try to sort any water out and go from there and disclose what happened in writing. If it was salt water, probably not. Harvey was fresh water coming down, very different from salt water coming up. Salted cars never seem to be the same. At any rate, for the car as a whole I would probably disclose it in writing in the form of some type of signed hold harmless which may or may not cover your a**. As a dealer it wouldn't help me much, we lose in court no matter what usually.
After going through all of this multiple times, I can say there is no standard set of rules...they keep changing.
Sorry this happened to you. There are between 500,000 and a million flood cars in Houston right now. That is a lot of cars...most likely the world's record. The markets will sort all of this out. Lawsuits will abound. Some sort of standards would be nice, but for now it's all gray area. All of this is just my opinion only.

 

Glad you are safe, and so sorry to hear of your damage. I echo the above, I am sure you are still in shock, but perhaps day by day, take some time to see if it can be repaired.

These cats, especially the special edition ones, are not that common,,,and if you decide to just sell it, part it out. There are lots of people who could benefit from it...but I have a feeling it can be revived!

Good luck to you!

 

If you decide not to repair or part it out yourself, advertise it as a flood damaged car for spares or repair. Someone could have a shot body to transplant an engine in to, or a shot engine vice versa.
Someone out there is willing to do the work for their own benefit, and you'll probably get more dollars from them instead of the knacker man.
Now me, I like a challenge, but you are over there and I'm over here, otherwise..................TRAILER!!!!

 

Well, I took the advice and I am contacting jaguar specialty yards to see if they have any interest. This way the parts will still be available to others. I tried to clean the interior a bit just to see and the leather started cracking like egg shells. I can't see where this car will ever be a portfolio again sinc the interior parts are so rare. I am sure someone will make the attempt to bring it back, it just will not be me

 

Sorry to hear about your loss...total bummer!

part it out... detroit wheels are worth 500 a piece alone,

and plastic parts are valuable as i have found... buying ' em

 

Wcsteam,

You are like the Guy who saved $450.00 in Insurance Premium by not buying Flood Insurance on his $500,000.00 Home in Fleetwood before 5 feet of water destroyed it......"Oh! It's never going to Flood here!", he said....

Sorry about the decision you made and hope you learned from it!..I am really sorry about the Portfolio!

Remember, "This is Houston!"

Billy Clyde in Houston

 

Post deleted

 

'A truck with muck under the seals doesn't mean that much. Trucks and Jeeps are always going places cars do not'.

Muck under the door seals of a brand new 1990 Ford pick-up means everything. It meant exactly what the 'liberal media' said it meant. Watch out for floodmobiles being sold by dealers a thousand miles from the flood. The brakes failed within months. The dealer quit replacing head gaskets, so Tom replaced the third one himself. Tom, being a diesel engineer promptly figured out the diesel injection pump was assembled one tooth off at the factory.
Nice rig.
I've owned a rusted out '70 Jeep Gladiator pick-up since 1985 and I've taken it places in Granny gear where it took a dozer to get me out. Up to the door seals in chocolate pudding with 2000lbs. of cargo in a 1/2 ton pick-up. My Kaiser 'Real' Jeep will be around another 50 years, long after the Ford has been shredded into beer cans Made in China.
Remember the old saying. 'Jeep doesn't make cars'.


'Cheers' Jip

 

I sooooo feel your pain.....almost.

I am a first responder (cop) in the Houston area (Bellaire to be specific). I live 20 miles from work in SE Houston (Sagemont) an area known to flood. So, since my fiance' lives only three miles from work in the museum district I decide to stay at her place. (yes, I'm marrying up).

I work nights and woke up on time...still not major rain but radar shows it coming soon. Shower, shave etc get in my XK (amazing how low this thing sits) and head to work, three miles away. I get to the end of her street and the heavens open up...OMG. Stupid me keeps going thinking I can at least make it to work.....WRONG.

I keep going my regular route down Bissonnet (several Houston reply's here thus the specifics). Crap, Bissonnet is already getting water.....alternate route down Wakeforest (apt street name). Bad move. Its not letting up. Crap, how can water rise this fast....oh, right, flash flood. Before I know it I have water just below the door sills and rising fast. I fear backing as the water is still rising in front and behind me. I shut down, get out and push the damn thing...in full police uniform (ok, no duty/gun belt...it's almost impossible to fit in the car with a duty rig on), to a close, elevated driveway. With all my strength I get the front of the car out of the water. I'm a little worried since I'm not completely sure if I turned the car off or if water stalled it (I flooded a patrol car out once and know you don't really want to stall out in such conditions). I cranked it....knee jerk reaction, it cranked but did not start. CRAP. I used my radio to call for high water rescue. Yes, ironic as I would be high water rescue the next several days. Our neighboring PD showed up and helped me push it further into the drive and took me to work.

As the rain kept coming down, I had vivid images of my beautiful platinum XK becoming a submarine. As I was taking infants off of National Guard trucks, I kept thinking my dream car was no more and since it is an 2007 with huge number of miles on it (even though in near pristine condition) the full coverage insurance would certainly just total it. I figured the water came up so high so fast, there was no way it would not keep coming up on this street, now river. The reports from all over were terrible. The rain just kept coming. The water got so deep places. A very old friends house had water OVER the roof.

I was able to monitor my pups at my house with cameras....but heck, I couldn't get to them regardless. Even though when I did rescue them days later, I had to wade to my house, but my house did not flood....yes, of course I DID have flood insurance. Sigh. ;-)

Anyway, days past as we continued our job and I could not get away to check on my ride. Finally, four or five days later with my Sgt's permission, I get a chance to break away and check my paper weight.....uh, car.

There it is, sitting where I left in, looking its former glory. I open the door.....wait...the seat is dry, the trunk is dry. The passenger side floors are dry. Wow?

Ok, the driver side carpet is wet. Even though the water never got past the door sill, I was splashing around a lot pushing the thing out of the water...also, the amount of rain falling as I am pushing...yes, with the door open to steer, was 1000 year flood worthy.

Almost out of spite, I cranked the engine, even though I knew better....she started right up. OMG. I was certain she was a gonner. I drove her further up the drive and returned to work. Later in the day another officer drove her to the third level of a parking garage (where I was heading when I hit the flood) as I was still working

I have since had the oil and fluids checked and there was no water. Went ahead and changed fluids too. The air filter was wet though, now replaced. I got a shop vac to the driver floor but I do have a bit of musty scent inside but she if running like she was just before the storm (I had just got an engine light on and was preparing to get her to the shop when the storm hit. Need to still do this for the P0088 code, fuel issue but shops are pretty busy). I need to pull the seats and rinse the carpet with fresh water. No, its not seawater, but I shudder to think what all was in the flood water....yikes.

So, I may have dodged the bullet. I can't express how much I love this car. It's the car I want to drive, not the car I should drive...especially as a cop :-). Ok, full disclosure, I am also an estate planning lawyer, but only practice part time.

Sorry this is so long....I think I just needed to vent

I'm grateful...not only for the car but overall. I can't believe the devastation the storm has left behind and my thoughts are with you as you recover.

 

Mr. Barber,

I'm so happy to hear your story! Yours was a happy story compared to some of the other ones that didn't turn-out so well.....Thank Heaven your XK made it through all this mess and Thank Heaven for you and all your first responders Buddies out there! Many lives have been saved during the Storm by people just like you!

You are one of the good Guys and it appears that God has watched over your XK in return!

Can't Thank You enough for all you did!

Billy Clyde in Houston