I had a 1996 Ford Ranger Extended cab. Purchased it in 1998 and had planned on keeping it. It had the little side facing jump seats behind the regular seat, figured that it was good enough for hauling my kids around when the wife was at work with the family car. Wrong. Found out that since Florida passed the laws conserning child seats, that I was now unable to use my Rangers back seats for children.

Since most of my 100 mile daily commute to work was by motorcycle, and that the car I was going to get was going to be for weekend use mostly (when my wife is at work and I'm home with the kids), the only real requirement was that it had a back seat. Fuel economy wasn't a concern.

Since I live in Florida, I figured I'd see what was out there as far as convertibles. I typed convertible in the search box and limited my search area to 200 miles. 45 mile to the south, in West Palm Beach where I worked every day there was a 1989 XJS vert. Other newer verts were farther away in Lauderdale and Miami and looking at the pics, they had back seats. Called up the guy with the '89, crammed 5 grand in my pocket and headed to West Palm.

Went and took a look at the car while he was moving other vehicles out of the garage so we could get the XJS out. Just wanted to get it on the road, if it ran on all cylinders, no smoke and shifted in all gears...it was mine. Looked in the window and was astonished to see....NO BACK SEAT!

No back seat was a deal-breaker. The whole reason for off-loading the Ranger and buying a car was so I could haul kids. Wife would have killed me if I showed up with something that I couldn't use for that purpose.

Since I knew the facelift verts had backseats (not all of them, I've since learned) I limited my search to them. In Bradenton, just south of Tampa, I found an ebay ad for a 1992 coupe. Wasn't a vert, but had a back seat and the where as the planet seemed to be littered with facelift verts, the facelift coupe seems to be in shorter supply. Bid and won.

Planned to take a bus to Bradenton to pick it up. Bus would have gotten there after the dealership closed (after driving me all over Florida all day long). Fly? If I wanted a fairly direct flight from West Palm, it was over 800 dollars. Cheap flight would have a connection in Raleigh, NC and would arrive in Tampa about the same time as the bus. Rent a car? One way rental could only be done at West Palm airport and had a premium added to the price. What to do??

U-haul truck. Dealer just down the road from my house in Port Saint Lucie, could rent one-way with no premium and get there before the dealer closed so I wouldn't have to spend the night in a motel and take an additional day off work.

howlinowl

 

Unique styling and V12. Love that sculpted front end and rear 3/4 view is of something on the prrrrrowwwlll. Used it as a daily driver, just the occational spin and tour now. Waiting in line for a twin SC project.

 

I love the fact that when I get off the train and walk to the car park peopl expect me to get into the Ford, or the Nissan, instead I stand next to my big cat and it always makes me smile. My wife told me that I was too young for a Jag... Couldn't have disagreed more, wish I had one at 17.

 

Glutton for punishment??? Wanting to learn new skills??? short of frustrating things to do????

I went for this particular one as I loved the colour and it wasn't too rusty. Finally got it finished. rust repaired/ welded, Painted, interior wood refurbished elctrics all working, fully Dinitrolled, interior refurbished plus lots of other jobs. It now looks amazing, drives really well. So............


I may well sell it to fund my XJC project, much bigger project, much rustier, lots more work.

Am I mad????

 

maybe you are just bored,with time on your hands!

i sold a 1975 XJ12C coupe, it was with 4 spd manual trans. that could be considered RARE, ran great ,wonderful attractive car,many complements!

but after my XJS restore, i wanted no more RUST projects!!

oh! i learned a lot,but not much interested in more of that particular knowledge!

 

Sold it a few years ago but I'm sure the answer would be "yes" :-)

Cheers
DD

 

choice was simple, it's my dear wife's car. For the last 15 years she has been driving a very large Ford LTD that was the first love, but that I could not come to grips with (basic hunk of cast iron & no style at all)

However my darling had on many occasions stated that she would only part with the LTD if exchanged for an XJS.

So the solution was really quite simple, i.e. find & buy an XJS. which we did and was "love at first sight" for my wife, who promptly drove it home.

the best part of the story is that whilst I was driving Porsches I could not come to grip with the style of the XJS. For reasons that I do not fully understand I now find it (25 years later) very attractive & sexy. I also find the look of that wonderful V12 stunning. the end result is that whilst I have a partner who is in heaven with her new car, I have found something that I am very happy to spend time & effort on to get the XJS back to it's original glory.

by the way, the car is really in good shape with an excellent interior, most ancillaries working and engine sound at under 120k kilometers. But the cooling system needs attention. some idiot in the past has removed the spoiler (which we have found).

looking forward to exchanging ideas & tips with this team.

My last "project car" was a 1925 Austin 7 which was built from scratch in a spare bedroom and driven out through a new set of external doors on completion. interesting cars to date include a very, very hot MGB, 4 x Porsche 911's (including a 72 Carrara 2.7RS), Riley Pathfinder, Essex Super 6 and a 1926 Buick Doctors Coupe.

have fun & stay cool
Bernard

 

I'm kind of a car nut, (I own 9 classic/sports cars) and look at cars as works of art as well as fine running machines. I have owned and restored several british cars and enjoy the looks and driving feel of the british sports car, the electrical leaves alot to be desired, but over the years, I've learned my way around it..
With that in mind, I always loved the XKE roadster and had a chance same years ago to pick one up for a give away price of $3000, but had 3 children in school and bills to pay, so the purchase was not possible at that time. From that day on I promised myself that someday I would own a Jag. roadster.
Last year I found another great deal on a 93 XJS conv.. (A beautiful looking car and reminds me of the older XKE). The XJS had some issues, but was drivable and solid. The Jags. owner made me an offer I couldn't refuse at another give away price of $1500. The P.O. had already bought his wife her new Jag. and he just wanted this one out of the garage. The price was right, the time was right and the purchase was made.
I have been driving and working on it for the past year and love the feel of it's ride as well as the sleak lines of the car. It is one of the smoothest driving touring cars I've ever driven.
Over the past year I have been learning alot about the brakes system, CPU, air intake, etc., but this is what I enjoy about owning and driving classic/sports cars.
This winter, I'm completing some body work on it and will paint it in spring. I guess it's like my canvas and my artwork. I only hope the finished product will look as good as it does in my mind.