How mad would you have to be to take this on?
Discussion
Daimler 4.2 Coupe. Documented 25,000 miles from new. Not run for "a few years". Wheelarches fairly rotten. God knows what's under the vinyl roof or what the floors and sills look like. I have been invited to take it away for not very much money at all. I want it so badly it hurts.
Wonder what it might cost to put it on the road and then restore it to the condition it deserves to be in...?
Wonder what it might cost to put it on the road and then restore it to the condition it deserves to be in...?
Not worth doing even if you get it for free.
By the time you sort out the mechanics, repair the bodywork and then get it painted and trimmed you could have bought an immaculate car and had several thousand pounds left over.
Looking at the wear on the seats the low mileage looks questionable too.
By the time you sort out the mechanics, repair the bodywork and then get it painted and trimmed you could have bought an immaculate car and had several thousand pounds left over.
Looking at the wear on the seats the low mileage looks questionable too.
Edited by mph on Thursday 5th May 20:52
Its not logic. If it was logic, then you wouldnt touch it.
If you love it, then take it.
At a guess.....£4000 to get it back on the road & MOT'd, assuming it will need an engine partial rebuild, new carbs, chassis & rust welding etc.
Might be worth it for a laugh, if your not in a hurry
If you love it, then take it.
At a guess.....£4000 to get it back on the road & MOT'd, assuming it will need an engine partial rebuild, new carbs, chassis & rust welding etc.
Might be worth it for a laugh, if your not in a hurry
It apparently had a full engine rebuild before it was laid up. I was suspicious of the state of the interior, but have been told the mileage is documented, although I haven't seen this yet. Will have a good look at the history when it is available and also get it up on a ramp and have a good poke around underneath. Hoping to hear it run!
Assuming that you are not totally insane, I see two possibilities here, each one matched to YOU.
1 ... You have space to store this car where you can work on it without thought of the elements.
2 ... You have a deep desire to own and drive a car like this.
If it's a labour of love sort of thing and you have an itch for it, scratch it. What harm can it do?
On the other hand, if your better half dislikes the idea of having a beat up old, non-running Jag on the drive, it may be time to think again.
If I had the space and the tools to do the DIY stuff, I'd go for it, but that's just me.
1 ... You have space to store this car where you can work on it without thought of the elements.
2 ... You have a deep desire to own and drive a car like this.
If it's a labour of love sort of thing and you have an itch for it, scratch it. What harm can it do?
On the other hand, if your better half dislikes the idea of having a beat up old, non-running Jag on the drive, it may be time to think again.
If I had the space and the tools to do the DIY stuff, I'd go for it, but that's just me.
xkrGiles said:
Its not logic. If it was logic, then you wouldnt touch it.
If you love it, then take it.
At a guess.....£4000 to get it back on the road & MOT'd, assuming it will need an engine partial rebuild, new carbs, chassis & rust welding etc.
Might be worth it for a laugh, if your not in a hurry
If you are happy with a car that will get through an MOT and no more then you may just get away with £4k, though I doubt it.If you love it, then take it.
At a guess.....£4000 to get it back on the road & MOT'd, assuming it will need an engine partial rebuild, new carbs, chassis & rust welding etc.
Might be worth it for a laugh, if your not in a hurry
That's assuming that you don't have too much corrosion to worry about, including the petrol tanks.
Leaving aside the engine and gearbox and assuming there was nothing major wrong with the car when it was parked up, you will have to overhaul the braking system,renew many of the rubber bushes in the suspension and dozens of other jobs.
Then you have tyres, hoses, electrics, wiper blades, door seals .....
At the end of which you will have a car with poor paintwork and interior.
If you want to return it to it's former glory and have a friendly restoration specialist on your doorstep you should budget around £30k
It's always nice to save an old car and I particulalry like the coupes, but it isn't even a nice example and I can't believe the mileage looking at the condition. Why was it taken off the road and stored so badly in the first place ?
The car was taken to a specialist to have an engine rebuild. After the work had been done the owner decided he didn't want to/couldn't pay for it and it has stood there ever since. Outside, uncovered, deteriorating. It was apparently in fairly decent condition when it was parked up. There's no doubt that there have been things living in it!
There's a black XJS-R 6.0l sat almost next to it that has a similar story!
There's a black XJS-R 6.0l sat almost next to it that has a similar story!
I absolutely love XJ6 coupes.
However, to get it fully restored would probably cost you the best part of forty grand should you pay someone to do it, and this is if it isn't completely rotten underneath.
To put it into perspective, I spoke to a chap about getting my old Honda CX500 restored to concours condition and he reckoned, depending on condition and the amount of work that needed doing (that bit is always the killer) it could cost anything up to twelve thousand pounds, and that us just a motorbike.
Good luck with it and keep us updated with lots of pictures should you choose to take on this lovely piece of British engineering.
However, to get it fully restored would probably cost you the best part of forty grand should you pay someone to do it, and this is if it isn't completely rotten underneath.
To put it into perspective, I spoke to a chap about getting my old Honda CX500 restored to concours condition and he reckoned, depending on condition and the amount of work that needed doing (that bit is always the killer) it could cost anything up to twelve thousand pounds, and that us just a motorbike.
Good luck with it and keep us updated with lots of pictures should you choose to take on this lovely piece of British engineering.
Mon Ami Mate said:
So, the general consensus is that it's an irretrievable heap of junk and you'd have to be a drooling mong with a string of oilfields to consider it.
Why is this not putting me off?
I think people are saying that it could be a very beautiful car and you either have a lot of money or best be very handy with the spanners and a welder (and have some money). Go for it buddy, but first have a good poke around those sills and all the other known rust areas. As mentioned previously, it's going to be a lobout of love, but the finished article has the potential to be one ofthe most beautiful Jags/Daimler ever produced IMHO. Why is this not putting me off?
I had one of these just a few years back.
It had already had the bodywork done and the mechanicals overhauled by previous owners.
Not concours by any stretch but a nice relatively rust free and decent engine gearbox etc...
I bought it and spent about 6 months fettling lots of things to get it reliable as an everyday car.
Things like petrol pumps, filters, had to drop the rear axle for some reason, new series head etc..etc..
Bought it for £3250, sold it to a guy from Ireland for £4250 about 2 years afterwards.
Thing is, without someone else having sorted the steelwork I wouldn't have gone near it. It was evident from the undersealing and painting that virtually ALL the rear metalwork from the rear window back had been replaced. Oh.. and a lot of other panels.
The condition this one is in reminds me of when I found an old '78 Jag that had belonged to my dad pervioulsy. It had been laid up for a year or so and I bought it from the owner for £150. Went down to the local jag specialist and asked him to go collect and sort it out. He basically refused and told me to go get my money back. He said it would be rotten EVERYWHERE. He told me to check the underside where the rear suspension arms attach to the floor under the rear seats. He reckoned it would be like lace. He was right. The nice lady gave me cheque back and the car went to the scrappers.
I love the Coupes, had a great time driving mine around, going to work etc... but there are limits. Check this one over really carefully, if the metalwork is on it's rusty way it as I suspect then you would could probably buy a really, really nice one for half the cost of getting this one back on the road. Of course it could be immense under the skin... take someone along who knows these cars to have a look at it, I spent a good half hour laying on my back under the one I bought checking for rust and mechanical condition and was still hesitatnt about buying it.
It had already had the bodywork done and the mechanicals overhauled by previous owners.
Not concours by any stretch but a nice relatively rust free and decent engine gearbox etc...
I bought it and spent about 6 months fettling lots of things to get it reliable as an everyday car.
Things like petrol pumps, filters, had to drop the rear axle for some reason, new series head etc..etc..
Bought it for £3250, sold it to a guy from Ireland for £4250 about 2 years afterwards.
Thing is, without someone else having sorted the steelwork I wouldn't have gone near it. It was evident from the undersealing and painting that virtually ALL the rear metalwork from the rear window back had been replaced. Oh.. and a lot of other panels.
The condition this one is in reminds me of when I found an old '78 Jag that had belonged to my dad pervioulsy. It had been laid up for a year or so and I bought it from the owner for £150. Went down to the local jag specialist and asked him to go collect and sort it out. He basically refused and told me to go get my money back. He said it would be rotten EVERYWHERE. He told me to check the underside where the rear suspension arms attach to the floor under the rear seats. He reckoned it would be like lace. He was right. The nice lady gave me cheque back and the car went to the scrappers.
I love the Coupes, had a great time driving mine around, going to work etc... but there are limits. Check this one over really carefully, if the metalwork is on it's rusty way it as I suspect then you would could probably buy a really, really nice one for half the cost of getting this one back on the road. Of course it could be immense under the skin... take someone along who knows these cars to have a look at it, I spent a good half hour laying on my back under the one I bought checking for rust and mechanical condition and was still hesitatnt about buying it.
Hi, apart from the fact that I'm the last person you should take/ask advice from when looking at secondhand cars to buy, (re my XJ8 that worked for 10 days). Here is my 10 pence worth.
The last tax disc ran out in dec 09, so the car has not been off the road for that long. Having said that it looks well rough, however if I had a garage to keep it in and it was less than £200 I'd snap it up even if it was to just say that I own a Damiler Coupe lol
good luck!!!!
The last tax disc ran out in dec 09, so the car has not been off the road for that long. Having said that it looks well rough, however if I had a garage to keep it in and it was less than £200 I'd snap it up even if it was to just say that I own a Damiler Coupe lol
good luck!!!!
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