A 1952 silver XK120 SPT (located in Kansas City) and a 1954 red XK120 RDSTR (located in Phoenix) have been in the family for decades. They have been in enclosed storage but have not been driven for decades. When originally acquired they were drivable probably are not now, due to length of time not being driven. The 1954 has an "S" at end of vehicle ID number on title (I believe this is engine number and S means special edition). It does have the wire wheels. I was told it had been used in at least one race.

Owner recently passed and I am trying to help figure out best way to sell. Any advice anyone can give me on auction houses that sell undrivable cars would be great. And/or any places that buy such cars in the Phoenix and/or Kansas City area would be great.

Any other tips, ideas, suggestion would be greatly welcome.

Thank you!

 

Several ideas.....in my experience car auction sites that have international exposure bring the most potential bidders and by implication the highest possible sale price. Ive used Bring A Trailer to sell a few Jaguars and had a good experience. There are non running project cars on their site. One caveat, the process involves taking a lot of photos and being actively engaged with commenters during the auction, so you have to invest some time and have information about the cars.

Another way to go is to use an estate sale auction house. Useful if you have other household goods to sell in addition to the car. One in the Phoenix area is https://www.fidelityestateservices.com

You might try contacting Sports & Collector Car Center in Tempe AZ, https://www.sccarcenter.com. Not sure if they buy cars, but they will have clients asking them to find such cars.

Do you have asking prices in mind for the two cars?

Cheers, Richard

 

They're special enough cars that some of the big auction houses may be interested. RM Sothebys, Bonhams, Gooding, et cetera. They'll do all the work of listing and photographing the car, plus advertising the auction, but they'll take a larger cut for their troubles. If it were me I'd at least reach out and ask their opinion.

 

Thank you so much, Richard. I'll look into all those places you suggested.

Right now we do not have an asking price in mind. After talking to an auction house in Scottsdale we got a really rough idea. It sounded like they were saying it depends on who is looking at that time. But they thought somewhere between $5000 (if we are unlucky at that time) to $20,000. Prior to passing, the owner thought they would sell for around $30,000 each. So maybe the $20,000 would be after commissions, if we happen to find the right buyer. Hopefully once we start contacting more places we'll have a better idea of what to ask.

 

Thank you! It's great to have specific names to contact. We are so new to this. We will definitely reach out and see what they say. I also really appreciated the comment that they are special. We think so, Thanks again for the suggestions and specific names of auction houses.

 

UPDATE: as a result of my originals posts here a fellow member who lives in the Phoenix area reached out and has provided so much help it's unbelievable! He spent 3-4 hours going over the car, helping to educate me and letting me know what info I needed to provide the bidders. I won't say his name as he might want to remain anonymous, but we can't thank him enough. What a great site and community you have here that would help a newbie like me find so much help. Thanks so much!

In case you want to see the car that we got so much help with, the Phoenix area XK120 M(SE) Roadster is currently in auction on BaT (Ends Monday, 10/31 at 1:20 pm EST, 10:20am PST/MST: 55-Years-Family-Owned 1954 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster Project for sale on BaT Auctions - ending October 31 (Lot #89,153) | Bring a Trailer

 

ENGINE update - This ENGINE TURNS AND THE PISTONS MOVE FREELY!!! Watch the video ( ) where Jaguar Forum member RM9700 offered his amazing help to teach me what I needed to know in order to auction the car. AND HE ALSO removed the spark plugs, added some oil, waited for a while and was able to turn the engine and note that the pistons moved freely and there was not water in the plug compartment or in the oil! YAY! How amazing is that considering it was parked, not driven and not started after 1969? That’s 53 years! And, considering that the car was fairly young when my brother bought it in Oct 1962 and it had a replacement engine and he only drove it recreationally, I’m guessing this engine has very few miles on it. And the engine was working perfectly when it was parked. The vandalism was only to the exterior of the car. This engine PURRRRS. My sister-in-law loved the roaring, rumbling, purring sound it made and said “No wonder it’s called a Jaguar! There is no other experience like it.”

Oh, and remember that amazing aluminum body XK120 that sold for 121K last month, well the winner of that beauty is also bidding on this car. YAY!! Here's the link to the auction if you want to watch or even better, bid. It ends in less than 24 hours (Monday 10/31 at 1:20PM EST).