Thinking in a bracket:


1. Bottom: The first car. an ideal specimen. But, in view of the law there, actually next to useless. What price for useless cars is right? Parts????


2. In between. The other cars, you've seen and rejected.


3. Top. The gorgeous red one. Huge advantage to it's owner as to value. It is legal. It's defects can either be fixed or "lived with".
Not so in example 1!!


As importing a far better car that can be registered , seems legally impossible.


The "kid" next door bought a really nice 98 Dodge 4x4 pickup.
Cheap at $750.00. It's rich kid owner decided fixing it's Smog test fail was a bother. A bit true, as efforts to diagnose didn't go well. Run fine, but "fix engine" light defied a cause much less a fix.


More sleuthing by it's new owner finds a solution. It's getting slicked up some more to be "flipped". I am tempted, but, I'll resist.


Labor rate at $125.00 per hour has doomed many a good car with a minor issue.....


Nanny states.... & countries,


Carl

 

That car looks great in the pictures! Mine is the same color combo. I don't think you should run away. But be careful. If the exterior and top are good that is a big point in it's favor, it looks like the seats are in good shape, that's also a plus. The presence of the rust is probably from water leaks and of course is a huge red flag. If you're considering this car it has to be very good mechanically. There will be enough work in fixing the rust and leaks. Take your time, these Jags don't usually sell overnight. I'll bet you are the only serious buyer the seller has seen. I mean "Who else but a die hard Jaguar nut even wants a car like this?" Make the most thorough inspection you can and drive the hardest bargain you can. Good Luck!

 

Yeah, thanks for the head-up, we will see.
Have appointment for coming Thursday, inspection time!

In the meantime reading myself through all 700+ pages of the Kirby Palm's XJS's Holy Bible.
Man, my hands are itching if I read all stuff the Jaguar engineers did in the pre-electronics area, beautiful stuff.

 

How did the XJ-S inspection go?!!??!?

 

Well, call me stupid, but we bought the car just now.

Spent a fair amount of the morning going over it, and spent an other fair amount of the afternoon to make a decision.
Although the car is far from perfect (and even more from my definition of perfect), I finally decided that the base is enough to take a chance.
The body is hard minus a part of the floor boards, but it has not spread to the sills or further forward. I am sure it came from inside.
Engine seems sound, although it needs a major clean-up and service.

Sooo, this will the beginning of a 2 year project to bring this baby up to perfection, with all highs, lows, happiness and headaches along the way.

A little background here:
The week we bought our X308 VDP was the week that my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.
We bought the Jag nevertheless, and it has become a trophy of good luck, as both her and the car are going perfectly well.
We will be 20 years married in 2 years time, and by then, her XJ-S will be like it left the showroom in 1989!
Sometimes you should not delay the things you always wanted to do...

 

That rust doesn't look too bad to me. Of course, rust is always worse than you can see but rust is a relatively easy fix if the repair is hidden. And you can do miracles in terms of longevity if you treat/prime/paint current rust.

And that car looks good on the outside!

 

 

The roof did not stretch enough, but it started to rain so the pics were in a hurry. Will pick her up in 2 weeks.

 

Good work. A really nice car. it will be well worth the 4's and sweat to
fix it's ills. Well within practicality.


Import a replacement floor board. Pre for a local craftsman to weld it in.


Track down the top folding intricacies. Switches and interlocks. Window top fold interplay... You will get a kick out of the Jaguar engineer's solutions


Paul Novak posts on J-L. he has done a lot to one or two similar cars.
good top issue data in their archives. he writes well and illustrates as well. Great tutorials.


Even though, I don't have an XJS convertible, I am an interested admirer of these beautiful cars....


Enjoy it to the max....


Carl

 

@Eric

Thanks for sharing your story

Sometime once told me "Life is not a dress rehearsal"

The car (and your wife) look great! :-)

I bet you a large bubble tea that the rust is because the car leaks at the seal where the roof meets the top windscreen rail. Mine does the same, not that it is out in rain often.

You can buy complete floor pieces, so do that, cover everything with your choice of rust proofing materials (mine is currently POR15 and our project XJ12C is getting lots of it) and be done with it.

Is the car Marelli or Lucus ignition?

I notice it has 16" rear wheels........ Interesting

Anyway, congrats again and please start a restoration thread as you work through the car. As I mentioned in my PM, I travel to Taiwan about every 2 months, so if you get really stuck on sourcing a part (and its check in luggage sized) let me know if I can help.

 

Well bloody done.

YES, life is way too short for too much procrastination.

 

I will certainly do so, will collect the car end of the month.
Thanks for the offer SARC, I will keep the coffee warm.

The car has the Lucas ignition, and those 16" rears, they look great, right?
Do two more 16" fit in your hand luggage ?

E.

 

Good for you. I am sure you will have great fun making the car exactly as you want it to be. As my original advice was far too pessimistic, and as you are going into it eyes wide open, I am sure you will really enjoy the car. Like you, I believe in plunging in !
Greg

 

Greg,

My wife asked me yesterday afternoon what was withholding me from saying yes, as I struggled to make a decision.
My answer was that besides all others issues, I did not want to fail in front of the Forum which warned me profoundly ... Seriously.

Probably the biggest reason I said yes to this car is the existence of this and the UK Forum, the thought you and the others are out there, always willing to assist where needed.

We will see in 2 weeks, she will probably not start if I pick her up ...

E.

 

Maybe some of us (me!) were a bit hasty in condemning your Car as a 'Rust Bucket' but Photo wise, we didn't have much to go on.

Having now seen more Photos, I have gone 360 and changed my mind, as She does in fact look a very nice Car, apart from the Floor Panels, which may have been caused from a leaking roof.

Probably best to have those done professionally, unless you are 'Ace' as doing body repairs?

But I would also make sure that when it is done they cover everything over, as it only takes a little spark from a 'Grinder' or a 'Welder' to burn a hole in the Leather or something else.

 

Sure does look like a well worth project, wherever it is.
And, considering the local restrictions, as good as it gets.
Wife liking it is a triple + or more. Been there, done that!!!
The XJwuzza six in my garage was/is my dear departed
wife's Jaguar. Oh, yeah, it's budget busting proclivity brought
no fuss from her. One day she decided to invite our pastor and his wife to dinner. As an ethnic German, it was promised as an ethnic
German dinner. Oh, it included chaufered service in her Jaguar. I drove, she talked. I ended up as chef! Wiener Schnitzel. salz kartofel,
butter lettuce and cucumber salad and a fruit torte for desert. No alcohol a need. So, I found white grape juice mimicked a classic German reisling reasonably well. A pleasant evening by all. Pastor
impressed that wife's Jaguar was Cadillac powered, and that I did it...


Well, it will not be long before wifey and I reunite, in the heavens...


Carl

 

I am planning to do some work on the car before I will attempt to drive it home, that just to be sure I will have a fair chance to make it.
It will be the first wrenching on the car, so I am super careful.

I plan to drain the existing fuel (some 10-20 liters), which is probably 1 year old, if not older, and put some fresh stuff in.

I read that draining the tank is not so easy due to the lack of a drain plug, but read some ppl. bridging the fuel pump replay, and drain the tank through the fuel rail hose.

Any do or don't on this method?

Eric

 

That coming from a guy like you gives some confidence.
But, compared to your amazing project, mine is peanuts anyway .

 

Eric
The best way to drain fuel is from the catch tank which is under the battery. You need to raise the back a touch, get under the boot floor, and you will find a rubber grommet under the floor at that battery position. Prise it out and you will see a drain plug (2 and 3 in the diagram below). Undo this and the fuel will drain into your container.

If you are going to do this rather than risk it on the old fuel, then it would be best to take another half hour and also replace the filter in the catch tank and the main fuel filter behind the spare wheel. To do the first, remove the battery and undo the steel cover below it to reveal the catch tank. Carefully knock back the locking ring (hammer and piece of hardwood or brass). Pull out the spout and you will see the sock filter (18 in the diagram below).
Fuel Sump Tank - Parts For XJS from (V)139052 to (V)179736 | Jaguar Heritage Parts UK

Change it and reassemble. behind the spare the filter is obvious, careful to put the new filter in the right way round (ie the same way as the old one should be). You will soon realise that with the XJS the best thing is to do EVERYTHING you possibly can while the relevant parts are accessible!
If the catch tank floor is clean (easy to see when you have the filter out) that is a very good sign. If not get out all the crud that you can before reassembly, which is easy enough with the drain plug out as you can flush it through.
Greg

 

Catch tank, I knew it, read about it, forgot it ....
A long way to go to get familiar with the XJ-S ....
Many thanks, Greg!