Very Special Jaguars

[skodaku]

First time on the Jaguar bit - thinking seriously about a used XJ8 and found Broadbean747's post to be wonderfully informative - thank you.

Used to live in Essex and regularly visited J D Classics in Maldon for a drool. Lovely people and fabulous cars - but at a price. Site address is below and it's well worth a browse. I'm saving up for a rebuilt MkII with the XJR bits. Calculated I'll be able to afford by the time the Queen sends me a telegram.

I have no attachment to this company but thought you'd like to see what they do. Doubtless a number of you are already aware of them, so apologies to those folks.

www.jdclassics.co.uk/

[a8hex]

skodaku said:

First time on the Jaguar bit - thinking seriously about a used XJ8 and found Broadbean747's post to be wonderfully informative - thank you.

Used to live in Essex and regularly visited J D Classics in Maldon for a drool. Lovely people and fabulous cars - but at a price. Site address is below and it's well worth a browse. I'm saving up for a rebuilt MkII with the XJR bits. Calculated I'll be able to afford by the time the Queen sends me a telegram.

I have no attachment to this company but thought you'd like to see what they do. Doubtless a number of you are already aware of them, so apologies to those folks.

www.jdclassics.co.uk/

They certainly have some great looking cars. XK's are my thing, which is their main speciality. Personally I prefer them looking a little more original but I can see why others like what they do in the way of rebuilds.

Last year there was a write up of one of the their XK150s in Jaguar World. It was producing 360BHP! with normal aspiration.

[cardigankid]

Great, but not what you'd call cheap.

[Cooky]

Aren't all Jaguars special ?

[a8hex]

cardigankid said:

Great, but not what you'd call cheap.

Hard to say, JD don't normally advertise their prices. I've never tried to ring them up to ask how much they want for one of their cars. As well as over refurbished XKs they often have nice sounding very original ones. But I suspect they work on the basis that if you have to ask, then you can't afford it.

[dunstan21]

Been toying with the idea of a special car for occasional use and commuting to work on sunny days. Research has taken me to adverts for Porsche 993 (practical but not THAT special) and Ferrari 456 (I love the shape and the thought of that V12...). Then I came across this advert...
Just wondered what other's thought with regard to a) Practicality, b) Value for money, c) modern updgrades to classic cars, and d) other choices to consider

Regards,

Dunstan

[url] www.pistonheads.com/sales/146713.htm [/url]

[pic ]www.pistonheads.com/sales/images/146713-1.jpg [/pic]

[mistralblue]

Hi - I have an XK150 coupe and use often at weekends and have commuted to work in the summer.

Mine, though, is not 'concours', has original moss box etc and cost far less than this.
So far in last 2 yrs has cost very lttleto run and always starts first time (even after sitting in garage for 3-4weeks without use).

I love the car - buy one and enjoy.

- Julia

[a8hex]

mistralblue said:

Hi - I have an XK150 coupe and use often at weekends and have commuted to work in the summer.

Mine, though, is not 'concours', has original moss box etc and cost far less than this.
So far in last 2 yrs has cost very lttleto run and always starts first time (even after sitting in garage for 3-4weeks without use).

I love the car - buy one and enjoy.

- Julia

I'd have to agree with Julia here, I've also got an XK150. Great cars, loads of fun to drive. Mine is also not 'concours', not my scene, I like to drive her, took her on a track day a couple of weeks ago. I also have the normal Moss gear box in the car and it's not really the problem many (JC again) says.

If you are after a hotted up one, then this months Octane mag had an ad from Racing Green Cars (they advertise here a lot too) with two very tweaked 150s. You could give Peter Hugo there a call, Chris who it the head Jaguar techy there really knows his stuff.

In original form they go from the stock 3.4L and 3.8L models, to the "S" versions, the engine from the 3.8S was the unit that went on to power the E-Type at launch.

There are three body styles fixed head coupe (FHC) which is a 2+2 which is OK for kids till about 7or8. Then drop head coupe, which is the open top 2+2 should be the same size in the back as the FHC, lastly there is the OTS, Open Two Seater, which was the cheaper version when new, but the most valuable now.

XK150s had all round disk brakes, there was theoretically a drum braked version but there is no record at the factory that one was ever made, although there is known to have been at least one car which was subsiquently fitted with drums. Anyway, it's disks all round so they are OK in modern traffic conditions so long as you remember you don't have ABS.

Good luck.


P.S. Julie, how about some pictures of you 150 on your profile page.

[bigdavy]

Stunningly beautifull cars, i prefer them to e-types. However £50k for one? Each to there own old boy but if i had 50k i think i would be looking at a new XK, have you considered any?

[skodaku]

bigdavy said:

Stunningly beautifull cars, i prefer them to e-types. However £50k for one? Each to there own old boy but if i had 50k i think i would be looking at a new XK, have you considered any?

No, not in the market at that level, I'm afraid. There's just something about their rebuilt MkII's with all the XJR running gear that appeals to me. There again, so does a Miura and a DB5 or the last of the Aston Virage-type Vantage's.

[dunstan21]

Thanks for the comments and thoughts. Agree that £50k is too much to spend, even for an upgraded version. In fact I'm thinking that an uprated/tweaked XK150 falls in between two stools - no longer an original XK, but still not up to holding it's own against a moders sports car. Interesting that Julia and a8 find them to be reliable in original form. I might keep my eye out for a nicely worn example and give it a go.
Regards,
Dunstan

[cardigankid]

I don't have to ask, I know I can't afford it. I almost bought a 1958 XK150 3.4 FHC four years ago. they were asking £18500. It was immaculate. Oops.

[a8hex]

dunstan21 said:

Thanks for the comments and thoughts. Agree that £50k is too much to spend, even for an upgraded version. In fact I'm thinking that an uprated/tweaked XK150 falls in between two stools - no longer an original XK, but still not up to holding it's own against a moders sports car. Interesting that Julia and a8 find them to be reliable in original form. I might keep my eye out for a nicely worn example and give it a go.
Regards,
Dunstan

Hi Dunstan,
One thing in there favour when it comes to reliability is that they are much simpler than modern cars. There is much less to go wrong. The XK is still based on a separate chassis so they don't have some of the issues that E-Types and mk2s have.

If you are interested in an XK then you might want to look at the XK club, www.xkclub.com

The Jaguar Enthusiasts club magazine and the XK clubs mag both had ads for XK150s in this month. You can access the JEC's ads either from there website www.jec.org.uk or from www.jagads.co.uk. The XK clubs ads can also be accessed online from their website, but the 150 that was in the mag which came through the post yesterday isn't on the site today.

Other places you might like to look on the web is www.jag-lovers.org and look in their XK forum.

In terms of performance even a basic 3.4L XK150SE (in theory there were non SE models but the factory has no records of ever having built one) was reckoned to hit 60 in about 8.5s, the 3.8L 150S models (which is where the E-Type got it's engine from) was about 7.5. So although they won't keep up with a modern performance car, they are by no means slow. In terms of top speeds they reach illegal speeds extremely easily and I hit over 5000rpm in top on the Lavant straight at Goodwood the other day, this should be over 120MPH. Mines is a standard 3.4L model. XK150s have the advantage over the earlier XKs in that they came with all round disc brakes.

Other places to look for ads would be "Classic and Sports Car" or Octane as mags, of www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/


Cheers
Ken