After nearly two decades of relentless depreciation, supply constraints finally seem to be supporting the North American X100 coupe market.

An extra clean 2001 XK8 coupe with 46K miles recently sold at a classics dealer in Michigan for $18.9K. The car had been on the market for 10 days and was purchased for the asking price after heavy interest, according to a salesperson at GRautogallery who confirmed the car is no longer available.




https://www.grautogallery.com/vehicl...001-jaguar-xk8

 

Let's hope it's a trend!

 

Wow, someone did not do their homework and way overpaid....

 

Objectively, I think if you purchased from a classics dealer you have decided to outsource your "homework" and you are willing to pay-up to have someone put their good reputation behind selection of a car. The spread between private and commercial sale values approximates that added value.

 

I wonder what that person would have paid for an XKR coupe?

 

The red color alone is worth a $10k premium.

At least that is what I tell everybody.

 

I wouldn't expect much objectivity from any party with a vested interest in the sale. I hope that the buyer has since lifted a cam cover while he or she is waiting for the new upper shock mounts to arrive.

It's a pretty car despite being drowned in black shine and looks clean underneath, but it is still almost 18 years old and with that mileage likely all the usual wear items are original.

 

am i the only one who hopes that these cars never go high in value. it is rather nice to have a beautiful, well performing and engineered object that is accessible to those who know. it is like being a part of a secret society. many of my contacts who have much more valuable cars are very impressed when driving one of these or just looking at it and its build quality and are shocked at the low price of admission.

there was a time when younger people could purchase classics, do their own work and experience a part of automotive history and elegance. perhaps our cars in a declining market (and as the collector class ages out of the car culture) could be the gateway for young people to do what their predecessors did in the 1960's and 70's and discover being mechanically competent with a nice helping of accessible modern technology. these cars truly have a niche between the best of classic mechanicals and innovation and low cost.

there are already young people who can rebuild and re manufacture every electronic component in our cars. it is done everyday by 8 bit enthusiasts with classic computers.

if something that i purchased for a song went way up in value, the next person of the same age was often excluded as he did not earn more by the same increase factor. we often wondered why succeeding generations did not do this and that and gain skills. it cost too much to take the risk and it applied to many things, not just cars.

not preaching, just wishing the same joy of learning for those who will follow.

 

You make a good point Whitehat. The depreciation had become so absurd relative to the car's initial value; adjusting for inflation the MSRP would be over $100K today.

The good thing about increased value is that fewer of these beautiful cars will be totaled and stripped by insurance company decree. Although sometimes you can get lucky with replacement parts and components, it can become uneconomic pretty quickly when cars are valued at $10K or 10% of inflation adjusted MSRP. Mechanically, I suppose there’s the Chevy transplant option though.

 

I live in Grand Rapids and have some experience with that dealer. They share a warehouse with a tile company near furniture giant Steelcase. In Grand Rapids and the West Michigan area we have a lot of money from people at Amway, Steelcase, Herman Miller, Meijer and some other places. Given their placement, I wonder if they are going after the executive market.

I looked at a 91 Lotus Esprit Turbo SE there and they were definitely selling what appeared to nice vehicles for ridiculously high prices. It was a nice car but high miles (for an Esprit) at 51k. They stated that it had a new clutch and the associated bearings, seals, etc that you'd do, along with the timing belt in the last 10k. That's a big deal. With the claims, that's a 5k value easily. The price was not really GREAT, but I considered it maybe a grand or two above market value IF they had done the work. They claimed it was done at a reputable local shop, I forget if it was Fulton Street Auto or Euroautowerks; both excellent shops with excellent reputations. Shops that would reproduce receipts for legitimate work. I thought, eh, these cars don't usually come up 10 miles from my house. I could definitely deal with a little inflation for not travelling, driving back or shipping. When I inspected the car, it really was a clean example. However, on inspection, I saw nothing physically to indicate that the claims of repair were true. They also mysteriously had no receipts and weren't able to get new ones... The salesman tried to talk over me, I don't know if it was because I was a female or not very old being mid twenties, but I drove up in my XKR and was asking all the important questions; and asking never test drove it because I don't drive a car until I'm sure everything is up to snuff elsewise (to prevent myself from falling in love and overlooking issues).

I still think about that car because I really do love the Stevens Esprits. I do have a hard and fast policy that if something seems off or a story without backing info, walk away. That may have been a great car. It may have all been true. I just got a bad feeling. I also a few years later found they were selling a 73 Triumph GT6, LITERALLY MY FORMER CAR, same VIN. There were claims about it that simply weren't true about the rust, originality and other items.

 

 

what is so poorly designed? other than one or two known issues with the engine, it is as reliable and well engineered as my Hondas. even the timing chain tensioners might not be considered a flaw, but a lack of scheduled maintenance proscribed by the manufacturer. many well designed, built and reliable engines such as Hondas require a full timing belt, seals, water pump and often tensioners every 60K US miles or 6 years. if Jaguar required this of the AJ engine, failure would have been caused by lack of maintenance. a lot of the things that "need" to be done on these cars apply to any car of corresponding age and mileage, including Hondas as i have both at similar ages and older. as for the very few problem areas, this is a low volume car that pushed the envelope for its time. a high volume manufacturer can demand greater testing from it suppliers in terms of longevity and wear. overall, these cars are not difficult to maintain and it is as reliable in everyday use as my Honda and just as easy to service personally, sometime easier, never harder.

 

 

I just hope they don't go up too much before I can join your secret society. X100 coupe is on my long wish list of cars to own, but I don't have the money and especially garage space to have the whole list all at once. Plus I'm really overwhelmed timewise with trying to repair and maintain the few classic cars I've already got. I won't be buying another car until I sell something so y'all hold prices down for me for a while longer please.

 

i knew someone in your exact situation, not ready, but knew that he might miss out as values and availability changed over time. he did the following:

decided what he wanted in terms of use, condition, nice daily driver, collectible, whatever, you get the idea.
tested a few nice specimens to determine that he truly liked the car and exactly which model he wanted.
found an undamaged complete car with a failed but rebuild-able or replaceable major component.
purchased car for a very low price.
rented very cheap garage in a secure and clean area not subject to any weather issues.
properly mothballed the car so that there were no issues in storage including rodent poison baits. (this is the most important.)
in free time learned about the vehicle and acquired parts as they became available and while they were available very cheaply.
rolled out the car ten years later and had it running, sorted and driving in one year.
car more than tripled in value and cost him very little for a near perfect specimen.
in the end he became an expert on the car and similar and made a side income working on them.

you are only limited by your ambition and creativity.

 

I remember all the same complaints in the 70's 80's about the e-types, the rear end was expensive to rebuild, the inboard brakes were a hassle, they were unreliable and expensive.

It's hard for me to imagine a mass market car like the X100 ever becoming a valuable collector car, it's diluted into too many other great cars of this vintage.

What are the prices of XKS's doing now?

 

Indeed, already one sitting like that, tho it runs and drives, I've been searching parts for 20 years for its eventual restoration. In the meantime, I had already decided my next toy car I'd just pay top dollar for one that's already sorted and just try to keep it that way. Whether it will be an X100 or not will depend which of my long wish list of cars comes available at the right moment once I finish this latest project and clear a space.

 

Maybe a 20-30% premium for the XKR. Here's a 2000 (pre-facelift) XKR with 20K miles at a classics dealer in Florida for $24K.
http://www.mercedesexpert.com/vehicl...107ddf66e30ada

 

I'm familiar with this dealership. They have nice cars, an impeccable reputation, and seem to like X100's.* They produce interesting (and often funny) videos for the cars they sell - the above one, at almost 20 minutes, being no exception.
*not meant as an endorsement - just stating the facts.

 

I painted my 2 Harleys bright red, which decreased their resale value. Bright red Jag should go much higher than ugly dark green, "Jaguar classic" color. I had a few dark green ones, always hated the paint.