sawn-off shotgun still under drivers seat
Discussion
Some of you might remember I bought a 1996 xjs 4.0 convertible three years ago. I sang its praises here, tho perhaps with a different username as I seemed unable to use it this morning.
Well top marks to the XJS. Three years and 20,000 miles later I've decided it is a keeper. In 25 years of motoring it's the first car I have just enjoyed more and more.
Meanwhile OH has fallen for her 1985 ex-MOD Landy 90 rag top. We've had it for five years and it generates more smiles per mile than any other vehicle. So that needs work if we want to keep it. Oh, and OH fancies a silly v8 upgrade with art the chassis, suspension and brakes concomitant.
So we need a runaround which is smart enough for me and tough enough for her (and muddy dogs).
Enter, at £1700, our new courtesy car. 1996 Jaguar xj6 3.2. Never destined to be a classic car, more like King of the Council Estate, hence my comment about the sawn-off shotgun.
Bought it on Saturday after looking at LOTS of rust ones. Loads in fact. I had almost given up hope. Dark green with full leather, wooden steering wheel, curvey, series 3 remembering bodywork. Massive history folder with invoices going back 20 years and almost all from the same Guy Slamon. Bought by Unilever and then sold to a retiring director, so one owner for 15 years, followed by a wedding car company who kept it garaged and loved.
The plan was to fix the XJS, then tha Landy, then sell it. But all our friends think we should keep it.
A Keeper? If so I will look at (teeny) rust on windscreen pillars, probably caused by quick fit windscreen as I see it had a new heated screen a couple of years ago). If not, it will live another couple of years then scrap.
Well top marks to the XJS. Three years and 20,000 miles later I've decided it is a keeper. In 25 years of motoring it's the first car I have just enjoyed more and more.
Meanwhile OH has fallen for her 1985 ex-MOD Landy 90 rag top. We've had it for five years and it generates more smiles per mile than any other vehicle. So that needs work if we want to keep it. Oh, and OH fancies a silly v8 upgrade with art the chassis, suspension and brakes concomitant.
So we need a runaround which is smart enough for me and tough enough for her (and muddy dogs).
Enter, at £1700, our new courtesy car. 1996 Jaguar xj6 3.2. Never destined to be a classic car, more like King of the Council Estate, hence my comment about the sawn-off shotgun.
Bought it on Saturday after looking at LOTS of rust ones. Loads in fact. I had almost given up hope. Dark green with full leather, wooden steering wheel, curvey, series 3 remembering bodywork. Massive history folder with invoices going back 20 years and almost all from the same Guy Slamon. Bought by Unilever and then sold to a retiring director, so one owner for 15 years, followed by a wedding car company who kept it garaged and loved.
The plan was to fix the XJS, then tha Landy, then sell it. But all our friends think we should keep it.
A Keeper? If so I will look at (teeny) rust on windscreen pillars, probably caused by quick fit windscreen as I see it had a new heated screen a couple of years ago). If not, it will live another couple of years then scrap.
No but I'm aware that by becoming the 4th owner I have probably depreciated it down to that kind of figure!
It came with 11 months MOT and started off for sale last month on Car and Clasaic for £2950. I'd been keeping an eye on about 10 cars within 50 miles of me for a while but, as I said, most have terminal rot, saggy headlining a and Numerous electric bits that no longer function. I really fancied a Daimler version for all the chrome and the sunroof but alas, the good ones are up around £5000, which seemed too much for a shed to wreck around in.
I have a couple of lurchers who need transport to get to and from the farm where they go Walkies most days. If the Land Rover goes off for surgery, then the XJ6 will be their mobile kennel. Fortunately the coffee leather is fairly easy to scrub the mud off. All the Daimlers seem to have pale cream leather!
It came with 11 months MOT and started off for sale last month on Car and Clasaic for £2950. I'd been keeping an eye on about 10 cars within 50 miles of me for a while but, as I said, most have terminal rot, saggy headlining a and Numerous electric bits that no longer function. I really fancied a Daimler version for all the chrome and the sunroof but alas, the good ones are up around £5000, which seemed too much for a shed to wreck around in.
I have a couple of lurchers who need transport to get to and from the farm where they go Walkies most days. If the Land Rover goes off for surgery, then the XJ6 will be their mobile kennel. Fortunately the coffee leather is fairly easy to scrub the mud off. All the Daimlers seem to have pale cream leather!
Getting there on pics... 
Just took the X300 down to my local garage for a pick over. The sort of thing you should do before buying rather than after! I have paid for pre-purchase inspections before, but this time it hardly seemed worth the bother. It starts, drives and stops in a straight line, and has an MOT. That will do.
The paid-for "specialist vehicle" RAC inspection I had done for the XJS 3 years ago picked up nothing I had missed. But it missed some poor previous repairs any 2nd hand motortrader would have spotted. Not £250 well spent. And what the RAC man decided "drives like a 2 year old" then went in immediately for new rear subframe, bushes and four shock absorbers. Nor did he clock the tyres were inflated at about 22psi to disguise the nasty clonks from weary suspension items.
Amazingly, down in the inspection pit, the x300 bodywork really does look that good. Rear subframe looks rusty though, possibly a future MOT fail. The slight warp to rear disks looks like it was caused by standing for too long in the same place (not good for any car) rather than a physical cause (usually split caliper piston seals, caused by a shoddy service engineer - often the one with FJSH after his name).
Otherwise, looks a great buy and one I might consider keeping. I'll give it a year to see if that bodywork holds up or if it sprouts tin-worm.
Interestingly, there are some real character differences between the XJS AJ16 4.0 automatic and the X300 AJ16 3.2 automatic. The XJS old-style 4 speed box seems really lazy at changing gear but with all that torque it doesn't matter (first gear is almost pointless unless doing steep hill-starts). The X300 has a newer (still 4 speed) J gate which is much more free revving through the gears and needs them all. So, oddly, my smaller engined saloon car feel much sportier to drive than my convertible.
The XJS is showing its design age on the road too (that floorpan dates back to 1948, though it continued with Astom Martin until 2007). In spite of big bucks I have thrown at the suspension, brakes, tyres, etc... stopping from speed is still alarming in the JXS. Very alarming in winter, when it becomes obvious that the rear end is designed to overtake the front. Stopping the X300 however, I can (with weary suspension, warped rear disks and floaty steering) stop in a straight line stamping on the brakes at 70MPH+ and, even with the hands off the wheel, it will glide to a perfect halt.
Just took the X300 down to my local garage for a pick over. The sort of thing you should do before buying rather than after! I have paid for pre-purchase inspections before, but this time it hardly seemed worth the bother. It starts, drives and stops in a straight line, and has an MOT. That will do.
The paid-for "specialist vehicle" RAC inspection I had done for the XJS 3 years ago picked up nothing I had missed. But it missed some poor previous repairs any 2nd hand motortrader would have spotted. Not £250 well spent. And what the RAC man decided "drives like a 2 year old" then went in immediately for new rear subframe, bushes and four shock absorbers. Nor did he clock the tyres were inflated at about 22psi to disguise the nasty clonks from weary suspension items.
Amazingly, down in the inspection pit, the x300 bodywork really does look that good. Rear subframe looks rusty though, possibly a future MOT fail. The slight warp to rear disks looks like it was caused by standing for too long in the same place (not good for any car) rather than a physical cause (usually split caliper piston seals, caused by a shoddy service engineer - often the one with FJSH after his name).
Otherwise, looks a great buy and one I might consider keeping. I'll give it a year to see if that bodywork holds up or if it sprouts tin-worm.
Interestingly, there are some real character differences between the XJS AJ16 4.0 automatic and the X300 AJ16 3.2 automatic. The XJS old-style 4 speed box seems really lazy at changing gear but with all that torque it doesn't matter (first gear is almost pointless unless doing steep hill-starts). The X300 has a newer (still 4 speed) J gate which is much more free revving through the gears and needs them all. So, oddly, my smaller engined saloon car feel much sportier to drive than my convertible.
The XJS is showing its design age on the road too (that floorpan dates back to 1948, though it continued with Astom Martin until 2007). In spite of big bucks I have thrown at the suspension, brakes, tyres, etc... stopping from speed is still alarming in the JXS. Very alarming in winter, when it becomes obvious that the rear end is designed to overtake the front. Stopping the X300 however, I can (with weary suspension, warped rear disks and floaty steering) stop in a straight line stamping on the brakes at 70MPH+ and, even with the hands off the wheel, it will glide to a perfect halt.
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