And how would all you Jag aficionados valuate a classic 88 Jag VdP with original engine, maintained meticulously by Jaguar, driven very gently and maintained showroom new? (seriously the leather interior still smells like fresh leather) Hopefully all that loving care increases it's value?

I know my mom believes her car is priceless and would be horrified to hear of the low valuations given to these classic sweet cars.

 

Correction:

94 Cadillac Sedan Deville.

A beauty of a mid seventies modified CAd. asking 15K???
sixtie

 

Amy. Although your car is similarly marked as those generally being discussed here, it is not the same model. Yours is a XJ40 series car not a series one two or III.



Unfortunately the 87/88 year XJ40 has never been a car that carried a high degree of desirability amongst Jaguar enthusiasts. So therefore will not be rewarded with a high resale value. To get the most in resale value for your mother’s car you would be advised to search for a buyer outside this group of knowledgably Jaguar enthusiasts.

 

Hi Bob, thank you for your reply!
The car Mom has is an XJ6 like you said, I was not knowledgeable to realize that it was not the same as what was being discussed here since it fell into the date range and is marked as XJ6.

What makes the XJ40 series years 87/88 an undesirable car to Jag enthusiasts? Who says there can't be exceptions to this generalization? I believe that this car may be an exception.

The car my Mom has was fully built in the UK by Daimler and she's had it maintained and kept up meticulously by Jaguar dealerships. All replacements and upgrades were done as recommended by Jaguar technicians since she had it serviced there and they did not ever hesitate to offer long lists of things to be repaired, replaced or upgraded constantly.

Most people don't maintain cars like my mom does. She always did everything recommended by service techs and does with any car she's had. Most people do the really necessary things. Mom is the type if they said, blah blah may go soon and they recommended replacing it, Mom would agree. (she is a bit excessive IMO about maintaining her cars, but she's never had an issue with a car ever in her entire driving life and she's 82! She was a real estate broker for much of her life driving continuously.)

I would think that this increases the desirability of the car, since any model 'glitches' or issues have long been taken care of. Why wouldn't it be possible to do so much maintenance and service work on an XJ40 car so as to make it a desirable car? At some point it has to become about the owner of the car and how the car was cared for and what work was done on it and not the model and series since the ownership of the car negated any ingrown 'series issues' along the way. Also whether there is are complete records showing all that has been done.

What makes the Series I, II and III (obviously out during the same period as the XJ40 series) more desirable? I would think a poorly or a "just-do-enough to-get-by" maintained Series I, II or III would be LESS desirable and valuable than a XJ40.

 

Amy, the early XJ40s such as yours were known to have reliability and design problems. Yours has obviousy stood the test of time but reputations linger on. Speaking broadly the 1990-newer XJ40s are more desirable as most of the bugs were worked out.

But, beyond that, many enthusiasts simply never liked the styling as much as the preceding "Series" cars or the "X300" style that followed.

Truth is, though, none of these older Jags are worth much. You can buy average/decent examples for $3500 or so. Maybe $5000 for an exceptionally nice car when/if the "right" buyer comes along.

The Ser III V12 that was the original subject of this thread is considered very desirable by most Jag enthusiasts and what was the final price on that one? $3900 or something? That should give you an idea. It was a very clean car as I recall.

Cheers
DD

 

Sure that is possible. You have me convinced your Mother car is acceptional but it does not change much unfortunately.

A very brief piece of history. In 1987 when the XJ40 came on the market replacing the series III cars, they sold really well at first. However after the buyers had taken delivery of their new XJ40's they wanted to return them to the dealership and get back their old series III.s that they had part exchanged. In addition when the XJ40's that were out on lease came off lease, the dealerships could not resell them. This resulted in many of the Jaguar dealerships being clogged with these cars forcing them out of business. This happened particular in North America.

To combat this problem in Canada at least, in 1991/92 they revived the series III V-12 Jaguar for one more limited production run using the European model of the Daimler Double six as the base vehicle. Eventually Jaguar improved the XJ40 model by giving it better rust proofing, a larger engine and getting rid of that very troublesome dash. Not totally sure about this but I think they also deleted or radically modified the very terrible/dangerous air ride suspension. ( Would have a nasty habit of popping up in the air when at high speed on the highways.)

So to sum up... When a car gets itself a bad reputation as the early XJ40 did it, never seems to go away. Unless you are really lucky, only those that don't know will be interested in your car. That is why I advised you to try in a alternative market. It is a "Jaguar" so It will sell there.

 

I started this thread about a year ago, just noting the sale of a 1988 Jaguar Vanden Plas V12 at a Barrett Jackson auction in Palm Beach for $3,850.00.

I'm not in the market right now, but I do the occasional google search for SIII V12 cars and saw that the same car was listed in January, 2014 via auction america.

Lot 25: 1988 Jaguar Vin #SAJBN1842JC478994 - Auction America | AuctionZip

It was just listed by lauro action, but did not sell and is available if any of you are in the market. The lauro auction site actually has a lot of photos of the car. 120K miles.

No affiliation, and I don't know what they are asking for it. Perhaps some one could make a deal, armed with the information that it sold for $3,850 a year ago.

1988 Jaguar XJ 12 Vanden Plas 4 Door Sedan - Lauro Auctioneers*|*Lauro Auctioneers Lauro Auctioneers*|*1988 Jaguar XJ 12 Vanden Plas 4 Door Sedan - Lauro Auctioneers

 

Hey guys, im new to the jaguar world I now own an 1988 Vander plus xj6, and I have done most of the restoring on it, but I was wondering how can you fix the hydraulic brake system when it is leaking.

 

Hi there

Sounds like you have an 'XJ40' type Vanden Plas. That model has it's own section. Best to post your question there

Cheers
DD

 

how can you tell the differance?

 

The "XJ40" body style looks like this

http://www.mgexp.com/registry/pictur..._Brill_001.jpg

The Ser III body style looks like this

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/atta...7_9ee_0409.jpg

In your posting you mentioned '1988 XJ6 Vanden Plas', with the 'XJ6" suggesting a 6 cylnder sedan. In 1988 a 6 cylinder sedan could only be the XJ40 style.

If you merely mentioned 'Vanden Plas' with nothing to suggest number of cylinders, you might have a Ser III car with a V12, as it also carried the Vanden Plas name.

For a period of time, roughly fall 1986 to spring 1987, Jaguar was building both the Ser III type XJ6 and the newer style XJ6. Complicating this is that model year designations get muddled in international discussions as not all countries use the same designation method. So, to differentiate the old style from the new, the newer cars became known as 'XJ40'....with that designation acually being the factory engineering/design code.

After spring 1987 the older Ser III body style continued on, until 1992, but only with the V12 engine.

A few years later similar confusion arose and that's why you'll see 'X300' mentioned.


Cheers
DD

 

Thank you, my car looks just like the first one, i posted pictures, tomorrow i will post motor pictures, the motor is a straight 6 with a twin overhead camshaft

 

JJD:

Wow, I just reread your post on tax in Ireland. Love the word, "extortionate". Coined by accident or was that your intent. Perfectly descriptive. If you don't mind, I'll use it.

Yeah, just renewed my Jeep's license. $69.95 for SMOG inspection .Best deal I could shop. Care needed, bait and switch very popular in advertisements. But, this is needed only every other year. Our "extortionate" legislature tried to make it annual. Fortunately, it died along the way. Then $84.00 for registration. this includes a value tax. Some semblance of reason, although my Jaguar is eleven years older, it's cost to register is almost the same. Good thing, for budget reasons, the SMOG for each is in alternate years.

I've an idea that Ireland is much higher.

Carl

 

Then you have the 'XJ40' style XJ6 and should post in that section to get the best replies.

Cheers
DD