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I guess I just don't get the humor. Personally I just see a car that someone cared about and made into their own. I think it externally looks a lot better than a normal XK8. The interior is definitely not up to my standards, but overall, interior and exterior, this car is in better shape than most of the cars I buy.
I wish I was able to do body work and paint as well as the guy that did this.
Actually, this thread does present some interesting philosophical challenges, doesn’t it, to do with taste and opinion.
My view is that the car is hideous throughout. These vehicles are artistic masterpieces, and I think most of us who own them feel that way. Hence most modifications available tend to be relatively modest and subtle - a tweak here, a tweak there, and designed, in the owners view, to enhance the existing beauty. I think those modifications generally fail to enhance, but they do not detract much, either. This example has been modified with a paint job which detracts and effectively hides the elegant lines of the XK8, and the subtlety of design is swamped.
Shall we buy some oil paints and improve the Mona Lisa? Get a chisel and refashion Michelangelo’s David? Cover the Pyramids in glitter pink paint? Attach a hotel block to the Parthenon?
I hate that he put AM badges on it, I hate the Viper headlights, and I hate that he used DB9 tail lights. I understand modifying a car to your tastes, but trying to pass it off as something it is not is the biggest crime here. This is like one of those Fiero based Lamborghini replicas. It may look like Lambo, but never looks quite right. In this case, he started with a car that in its standard guise, was already one very beautiful machine and ruined it.
As for the paint job, the two tones hide the curves and body lines of the XK8 making it harder to look at it. The interior is a mess.
Actually, this thread does present some interesting philosophical challenges, doesn’t it, to do with taste and opinion.
My view is that the car is hideous throughout. These vehicles are artistic masterpieces, and I think most of us who own them feel that way. Hence most modifications available tend to be relatively modest and subtle - a tweak here, a tweak there, and designed, in the owners view, to enhance the existing beauty. I think those modifications generally fail to enhance, but they do not detract much, either. This example has been modified with a paint job which detracts and effectively hides the elegant lines of the XK8, and the subtlety of design is swamped.
Shall we buy some oil paints and improve the Mona Lisa? Get a chisel and refashion Michelangelo’s David? Cover the Pyramids in glitter pink paint? Attach a hotel block to the Parthenon?
To each their own i suppose, I definitely don't think the XK8 is a very attractive vehicle.
If you were to swap the body parts of a 67 camaro with a corvette body I would likely be just as emphatic about hanging the owner responsible as you are here.
You are in the minority, and I don't mean just within this forum.
You beat me to it. Aside from the original XKE, my opinion is that the XK8 was in the top few of most beautiful cars ever designed. The car looks spectacular from almost any angle and the proportions are perfect. And it does all this without being "in your face" like many of the current exotics. To me the XK8 is really a timeless perfect design.
One yardstick for me is how mods are executed. I have seen many that are not to my taste, but they have been done so well that I appreciate them for the skill and effort.
This car is just a mixture of (IMO) poor execution and half-finished jobs - and that's just the bits you can see.
I'm totally in accord with Seismic on the design but - as always - drive what makes you happy.
Could This Be Your Next XK8 ?
Well yes, if the seller was willing to do a straight swap for my XKR.
SH*T !!!
Did i just say my XKR
Sorry i meant to say my old petrol grass cutter that i have in the shed,
The one that hasn't worked for the last two year's.
Joking aside..
This Xk8 will appeal to some and not to others (fact)
As they say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
She will never, ever, ever, forgive you for posting that magnificent picture, which from now and for ever more is in the public domain, to spread hilarity and terror for years - nay, decades, even centuries and millennia - to come. You are in for a hard future, I am afraid, for which you have only yourself to blame. I wonder what her first act of revenge will be, and I hope it will be seen on this forum.
She will never, ever, ever, forgive you for posting that magnificent picture, which from now and for ever more is in the public domain, to spread hilarity and terror for years - nay, decades, even centuries and millennia - to come. You are in for a hard future, I am afraid, for which you have only yourself to blame. I wonder what her first act of revenge will be, and I hope it will be seen on this forum.
Not a problem...
As that picture is ME...not the wife!
Not a problem...
As that picture is ME...not the wife!
In which case, unlike the Jaguar which is the subject of this thread, I suspect that this is an improvement on the original. Please pass my sympathy to your wife. Tell her to be strong.
To each their own i suppose, I definitely don't think the XK8 is a very attractive vehicle.
If you were to swap the body parts of a 67 camaro with a corvette body I would likely be just as emphatic about hanging the owner responsible as you are here.
Mr. Hater, Could it be that you are in the wrong Forum? This Forum is for Guys that love our X-100 Jaguar's...not GM Products.....If you don't care for X-100's and love those "Jimmy" products so much, why not go over there and quit ragging us about it?
(Shoo!! You Goose!)
I am sorry, it is my mistake that I am using this forum.
I had incorrectly deduced that the forum was for learning and sharing information about these cars.
Now, I see that it is in fact your forum exclusively.
I have never heard the derogatory term "Jimmy" and I imagine if you have to put it in quotations, it may be incredibly out of touch with the culture at hand, or limited to your own imagination.
You know, I wish I could own some of the 60's and 70's muscle cars and exist in those communities as well. But, since I am nearly broke, I will have to just stick with my Jaguars that I bought for roughly $2,000 each. I definitely can't afford any of those $60,000 collector cars.
Mr. Hater, Could it be that you are in the wrong Forum? This Forum is for Guys that love our X-100 Jaguar's...not GM Products.....If you don't care for X-100's and love those "Jimmy" products so much, why not go over there and quit ragging us about it?
(Shoo!! You Goose!)
Billy Clyde
Originally Posted by Mad Hatter
Ah lovely, crisp wit at its finest.
I am sorry, it is my mistake that I am using this forum.
I had incorrectly deduced that the forum was for learning and sharing information about these cars.
Now, I see that it is in fact your forum exclusively.
I have never heard the derogatory term "Jimmy" and I imagine if you have to put it in quotations, it may be incredibly out of touch with the culture at hand, or limited to your own imagination.
You know, I wish I could own some of the 60's and 70's muscle cars and exist in those communities as well. But, since I am nearly broke, I will have to just stick with my Jaguars that I bought for roughly $2,000 each. I definitely can't afford any of those $60,000 collector cars.
Clearly MH has never beheld the glory of "my" XK8 in person.
Its easy to think of our cars as old ragged jags if that kind is all you ever buy. Its like never being exposed to indoor plumbing - everything is sh!tty until you are.
Still I wouldn't mind owning an old muscle car. I can think of a few models that were works of art.
Oh I definitely don't think of them as old. This 97 XK8 is the newest vehicle that i have ever owned.
The largest part of why i don't like the aesthetics of these newer cars is because they aren't made entirely of sheet metal anymore and the paint that they use doesn't look pretty like the older steel body lead paint cars.
Think some of my favorite cars are 60's and 70's muscle, but then also a lot of the older jags, mark 4, 5, 10, s1 xj6, e type. 70's Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
Ultimately my interests really stop after the 70's. I can't think of one car that I would earnestly be interested in that was made after the 70's.
That doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to be excited and proud about your XK8. I personally just bought this XK8 to have a daily driver while I am restoring my old XJ6. This makes me the outlier here on a forum where most of the members are smitten with their cars.
I will likely end up selling this XK8 here in the next year or so as I try to hunt down a pre 75 muscle car that I can go learn how to weld and paint on.
Someone on the forum might be able to snag this car from me and get a great deal.
So far into my XK8 ownership I have driven 40 miles and replaced:
Octopus hose
Valley heater hoses
Thermostat housing ( aluminum )
Wheel speed sensor wires
Upper shock mounts ( poly )
Abs module
Door modules
Door module wiring harnesses
Transmission rebuild
Timing chain tensioners ( upper and lower )
Spark plugs
Water Pump
Radiator Hoses ( upper and lower )
Chime Speaker
Radio Antenna
Dash tweeter
Seat modules
Serpentine Belt
Alternator
Rear Main Seal
All new gaskets in throttle body, intake, cam covers, thermostat housing, water pump, oil pan, timing chain cover.
New battery
And I have a lot more to go before the car is back into a pristine condition.
I was trying to turn the car on yesterday to circulate transmission fluid into the torque converter and I had the misfortune of experiencing the cylinder wash problem resulting in me now not being able to start the engine.
Someone somewhere should surely be laughing at me for buying this car and putting all of this work into this car that was destined for the junkyard. But I am happy of the decision to revive it and give it a whole second life ( it only has 100k miles on it lol ). It is better than seeing another Jag go to the junkyard.
My XJ6 isn't old and ragged, and with the attention I am giving it, it may just outlive me.
Well, being generous, there's always the possibility that the humour was 'a swing and a miss'. Can't say that's ever happened to me, though.....
'2K and build them up', great strategy, especially when you're young. Quite a while back, mine was a 500 cubic inch Cadillac Eldorado, back in the days when men were men and GM line workers occasionally just threw the bolts into the body when they were behind. Learned to weld on that car, no finesse required. 8 whole miles/gallon if driven conservatively, a bit better if the catalytic converter inexplicably 'developed' wide holes in the direction of exhaust travel.
I think mostly what i was responding to as crisp wit was calling me by the name "Hater" instead of "Hatter".
Which is actually kind of funny because most people do it accidentally and I am very used to responding to it even when it is not meant in a derogatory manner.
Yeah, when I started with the $1700 1974 XJ6 it was because I had more time than money.
Now I have more money than time, but also have student loans to pay off, and then have to enter the housing market in an area where a home costs at minimum ~$400k
On top of that I doubt I will be able to conveniently put any money towards retirement, unless the economy changes drastically for the better in my lifetime.
I may have been better off avoiding the $2k XK8. But the $1700 XJ6 has been my favorite vehicle I have owned, maybe aside my bike.
Mad Hatter, despite the gentle and good humoured criticism if you I this thread, and despite your claimed lack of love for the xk8, you are certainly doing right by her. Hats off to the Hatter, Sir!
01-18-2020, 01:28 AM
Mr. Hatter...The Jimmy Guy...
