RE: SOTW: Jaguar XJS V12

[Marquis Rex]

Ah, Claude Bailey and Wally Hassans finest hour!

[300bhp/ton]

Raoul Duke said:

Whats brave to one is stupid to another - at that price I suspect it would be less painful to go to your local garage, drop your trousers and let the mechanics take turns at shoving monkey wrenches up your backside....
The one in the add looks suspiciously like one that a mate purchased cheaply a couple of years ago, he quickly got shut when a large number of potentially ruinous faults started to show. However it was a lovely looking thing that drove nicely while he had it.
Wouldn't try and take one at shed money unless i was more competent with the spanners, but one at a more realistic value would be a nice thing to tool around in.
That one posted by Sonofbearfoot looks lovely though!

????

[tommy vercetti]

soad said:

LotusOmega375D said:

John Prescott eat your heart out (but don't throw it up again):

My Dad had these 30 cylinders of trouble. Still got the left and right ones.

Nice collection.

+1

[Twoshoe]

300bhp/ton said:

My wasn't. I had the gearbox rebuilt (think it cost £200-250 at the time).

Slightly O/T, I wonder how much a BMW 8-speed autobox would cost to rebuild in 20 years time?

[405dogvan]

British Beef said:

I think the same applies to virtually all cars old and new, use them and look after them and they should be reliable.

Absolutely - few cars can be left in garages for months without being moody thereafter, the key to having a good car is using it and fixing it's niggles and issues as they appear (which, if you leave them for any period, will be EVERY time you drive it!)

As for the Jag V12 - there was a place around here that opened to train kids in basic mechanics and he used a Jag V12 engine to demonstrate this, which I suspect reduced the number of people who left with any sort of grasp of the issue to single figures at best

[M@1975]

Mate of mine inherited an JXS with a Lynx kit from an old boss of ours, sort of gave it to him to sell which he never did but had it all signed over to him, very strange. It was a real hoot to drive about in, did no miles to the gallon, hated corners and had a terrible autobox. We did consider keeping it and stripping it for a bit of trackday sillyness but realise dthe potential for going bang was WAAAYYYY too high!

BTW, what is it with older jags and drooping headlining?

[405dogvan]

M@1975 said:

BTW, what is it with older jags and drooping headlining?

Almost every car over 10 years old stands a chance of this - either water (from leaky sunroofs or seals) or condensation gets into the lining and slowly, but surely, it starts to droop/glue starts to give up and it drops/discolours/whatever.

Good headlining is usually a big selling point on anything remotely classic - because getting replacement cloths is often bloody hard (I cannot, for example, get a new headliner in decent condition for my 405 Estate because it's a sunroof model and every one I've found which isn't grotty is from a non-sunroof).

[OzzyR1]

sonofbarefoot said:

My old man bought one of these with an MOT 2 years ago for £500 it was the 3.6 sport model that is meant to handle better than the V12 and is def far better on fuel (never gotten below 20 mpg yet but never over 23 either!) the V12 well known for being around 8/10 mpg when driven as intended.
The body was a bit shabby it needed a new front cross member the interior needed sorting and it needed some head work. Parts are easy and cheap enough especially 2nd hand with quite a few renowned genuine Jag specialists about. Now it is finished it runs great very comfy picks it’s feet up nicely and sounds lovely, it really is an underrated car I would think sooner than later prices will increase. It gets many nice comments off passersby and he loves it to bits!
A few before and after pics:






http://s687.photobucket.com/albums/vv240/Toehold1/...

Edited by sonofbarefoot on Friday 8th June 12:06

Good work there, fair play for giving the old girl another lease of life when many would have scrapped it.

[matt9k]

300bhp/ton said:

B10 said:

Mr 300BHP is that a Jowett Jupiter in the background?

I think it might be. It was housed in what was a barn, sadly the barn completely fell apart in a storm (damaging several other vehicles). I was tempted with it, but it belonged to someone else and needed huge amounts of work.

Beard moment: it's a Javelin. The Jupiter was the drop head coupe that won it's class at Le Mans in 1950

[vixen1700]

Had two XJ-Ss in the past, a jaded grey 3.6 many years back that I loved and an immaculate 4.0 recently that I just didn't like at all.

The 3.6 felt far sportier and was an everyday car that was used all the time, whereas the 4.0 was a third car bought on a whim and due to lack of use, things started going wrong in the 1000 miles or so it did in 9 months. Think I sold it for £4k in the end.

Always imagined the V12s to be ruinous.

[McSwerve II]

Is it only me who keeps thinking of the opening sequence from 'The Return of the Saint'.

V V Cool.

[Stuart]

A few years ago Autocar did a series of features called "150 for 150" in which they, rather obviously, tried to break 150mph in a car which had cost no more than £150. I don't think they ever managed it but it basically revolved around them buying a succession of ridiculously cheap old sheds and trying to VMax them before the engines seized up for good. It was an amusing feature - I think the closest they got in the end was trying to tow a V12 XJS to 150 behind an E55 (or some other such brand new uber saloon) after the poor thing had finally expired trying to achieve it by itself.

You'll probably find it somewhere at Bruntingthorpe, even today...

[thewheelman]

Always thought there was something rather cool about the XJS.

[Big Rod]

B'stard Child said:

What could possibly go wrong

I used to own one.

Everything can go wrong.

But when it works the're fabulous!!

[Toby C]

leon9191 said:

I think the xjs with a good set of wheels is one of the best looking cars ever, to be honest even better than an e-type in an 80's kind of way. I would love one.

I rarely comment on these forums, but I couldn't agree more. Holidaying in Devon last year there was a tiny classic car get-together in Ilfracombe, and I said the very same thing to brother-in-law.

Great looking cars.

[vixen1700]

thewheelman said:

Always thought there was something rather cool about the XJS.

Yep, especially the early manual models. 1975 Seems a very long time ago.

[varsas]

Bought a V12 to do LeMans in. Had an awesome time (joined some 911's for the drive down) and when I came back I just sort of kept it. Awesome, until the doors went rusty.

vixen1700 said:

Yep, especially the early manual models. 1975 Seems a very long time ago.

XJS manual on E-bay

Edited by varsas on Friday 8th June 13:34

[heppers75]

Well if everyone else is posting their XJ-S pictures it would be rude not to follow suit...

And all those that have suggested MPG is terrible I have news for you.................. You are spot on 8-10MPG on my 12 mile jaunt to work cross country and circa 15MPG on a decent NSL run. Mine is going to France next month so a 2000 mile road trip in the old girl... Can't wait!





And finally the two current steeds side by side last weekend...

[vrooom]

I loved those, I first rode in those V12, when i was 8, i got car motion sick. so smooth. I would like have a v12 for a track day car.

[Gorbyrev]

B10 said:

Mr 300BHP is that a Jowett Jupiter in the background?

Lovely resto. Used to book keep for a businessman who had an H plate Le Mans special edition that had been signed up for at the motor show after a complimentary tipple or three. Very similar green and gold theme going on there and, if I remember rightly, a pukka V12. Wafty, wafty!