Keeping the XJS in the family
Discussion
I have always been into GT cars from a simpler time but I have never started a readers cars thread before. However this new car is different and I think it deserves a thread of its own to keep track of events as they unfold.
My dad bought his first xjs back in the mid 90 s, it was a manual 3.6 in dark green. That car gave me my first experience of driving a large front engined, rwd GT car, and I was hooked. Sadly that 1988 car was from an era when Jaguar didn t galvanise the steel. As a daily car, kept outside and used all year round, it succumbed to the dreaded tin worm.
In 2004, dad replaced the 1988 car with a 1992 4.0 auto xjs. This second xjs was built under Ford ownership and was galvanised. By this time in his life, dad was winding down at work a bit so the car did fewer miles and was kept garaged.
Skip forward to summer 2026 and my dad is now in his 80 s and due to advancing years isn t able to get in and out of the jag. The car has been sat unused for approx 3 years now. Dad charged me with the task of selling the car, so I began the process of recommissioning it and looking at ways to sell.h
First off, it s hard to value a xjs. Look at the classifieds and you could be forgiven for thinking it s worth £20k all day long .. but those cars aren t actually selling. Auction results provide a more accurate picture and tell me the real value is £5-7k depending on the day.
The car itself wouldn t start when pushed out of the garage. After much fiddling and googling, the cause was lack of use. Reseating the starter motor relay got it spinning , but no fuel. It would run on easy start but it was clear the fuel pump wasn t delivering any fuel. The fuel pump relay was shot so a simple fix.
Amazingly it then passed its MOT with only a couple of advisories.
Feeling full of confidence from the mot pass I decided to drive it the 170 miles back to my house to prep it properly for sale. Only to discover a few more issues en route:
1. No air con
2. No radio
3. Next to no windscreen washers
4. Gear box in limp mode with only 1 forward gear.
Clearly the last issue was most significant so I took it very slow to keep the temps down.
Oh and then the instrument cluster failed..
More tinkering on the driveway discovered a blown fuse for transmission power, a failed alternator and a connector that had fallen out of the instrument cluster.
It took me a fortnight to get that lot diagnosed and fixed, but now it s running beautifully. A damn good clean has got it looking good too now.
Now it comes to price. For the estimated auction reserve price of £6k it seems a shame to sell it, having been in the family for so long. And so I made a deal with my dad to buy the car for £5500 and keep it in the family. Yesterday I discovered his original purchase invoice from 2004, showing he paid £5600 for it. So that s depreciation free motoring
I will keep this thread updated as I now begin the process of gradually improving the car. I still need to fix the air con and stereo. I want to get the underside stripped back and any rust treated. The trim on the front bumper needs re chroming. There are a couple of clonks from the suspension that probably need looking at etc.
My dad bought his first xjs back in the mid 90 s, it was a manual 3.6 in dark green. That car gave me my first experience of driving a large front engined, rwd GT car, and I was hooked. Sadly that 1988 car was from an era when Jaguar didn t galvanise the steel. As a daily car, kept outside and used all year round, it succumbed to the dreaded tin worm.
In 2004, dad replaced the 1988 car with a 1992 4.0 auto xjs. This second xjs was built under Ford ownership and was galvanised. By this time in his life, dad was winding down at work a bit so the car did fewer miles and was kept garaged.
Skip forward to summer 2026 and my dad is now in his 80 s and due to advancing years isn t able to get in and out of the jag. The car has been sat unused for approx 3 years now. Dad charged me with the task of selling the car, so I began the process of recommissioning it and looking at ways to sell.h
First off, it s hard to value a xjs. Look at the classifieds and you could be forgiven for thinking it s worth £20k all day long .. but those cars aren t actually selling. Auction results provide a more accurate picture and tell me the real value is £5-7k depending on the day.
The car itself wouldn t start when pushed out of the garage. After much fiddling and googling, the cause was lack of use. Reseating the starter motor relay got it spinning , but no fuel. It would run on easy start but it was clear the fuel pump wasn t delivering any fuel. The fuel pump relay was shot so a simple fix.
Amazingly it then passed its MOT with only a couple of advisories.
Feeling full of confidence from the mot pass I decided to drive it the 170 miles back to my house to prep it properly for sale. Only to discover a few more issues en route:
1. No air con
2. No radio
3. Next to no windscreen washers
4. Gear box in limp mode with only 1 forward gear.
Clearly the last issue was most significant so I took it very slow to keep the temps down.
Oh and then the instrument cluster failed..
More tinkering on the driveway discovered a blown fuse for transmission power, a failed alternator and a connector that had fallen out of the instrument cluster.
It took me a fortnight to get that lot diagnosed and fixed, but now it s running beautifully. A damn good clean has got it looking good too now.
Now it comes to price. For the estimated auction reserve price of £6k it seems a shame to sell it, having been in the family for so long. And so I made a deal with my dad to buy the car for £5500 and keep it in the family. Yesterday I discovered his original purchase invoice from 2004, showing he paid £5600 for it. So that s depreciation free motoring
I will keep this thread updated as I now begin the process of gradually improving the car. I still need to fix the air con and stereo. I want to get the underside stripped back and any rust treated. The trim on the front bumper needs re chroming. There are a couple of clonks from the suspension that probably need looking at etc.
Edited by ducnick on Sunday 2nd August 10:04
Edited by ducnick on Sunday 2nd August 10:14
A fabulous car, i had one and loved it, the smell of the intetior was a mix of leather, wood and old car which was perfect. The power and road presence was also something i liked.
It looked daft parked outside the tiny terraced house i owned at the time and I wish I had kept it but at the time i was aware i was doing more harm than good owning it and parking it outside in all weathers.
Id love another one but ive got 14 cars at moment so probably not going to be buying one anytime soon.
Keep us updated!
It looked daft parked outside the tiny terraced house i owned at the time and I wish I had kept it but at the time i was aware i was doing more harm than good owning it and parking it outside in all weathers.
Id love another one but ive got 14 cars at moment so probably not going to be buying one anytime soon.
Keep us updated!
Nice that you're hanging onto it. Five and half grand in 2004 wasn't much, was it? Values rode the market wave ten years ago, and the appetite for big money restorations and upgrades from the likes of KWE certainly helped save a few cars. Now, as you say, it's very much a buyer's market. Beautiful things. Enjoy!
stevemcs said:
I think they have aged well, it would be straight six and celebration model for me
Agreed, they have aged nicely. They feel old, look old, but drive well enough to handle modern roads. What surprised me was how comfortable they are over our poor roads. I think there’s a lot to be said for soft suspension and high profile tyres. As much as I would love to sample a 6 litre v12, having had to replace the alternator on the straight six, I’m happy to have the easier one to work on! At least you can get all the way round the engine on the six.
Rumdoodle said:
Nice that you're hanging onto it. Five and half grand in 2004 wasn't much, was it? Values rode the market wave ten years ago, and the appetite for big money restorations and upgrades from the likes of KWE certainly helped save a few cars. Now, as you say, it's very much a buyer's market. Beautiful things. Enjoy!
I might have got that wrong. I’ve just found a v5 that suggests he bought it in 2000, so god knows what the other invoice is for.Always a pleasure to read about big old halo-ish cars bought for a song and conserved. (I nearly said beautiful but that XJS is, ahem, not to everyone's taste:-( Reminds me of mid 70s when I bought a tired old Series 1 XJ6 manual with the intention of preserving it. Sadly, corrosion and an irrepairably incontinent engine defeated me. After a couple of CHG replacements (at least it was easy to remove the head) I reckoned the block was cracked, a known XK problem.
ducnick said:
I might have got that wrong. I ve just found a v5 that suggests he bought it in 2000, so god knows what the other invoice is for.
I suppose the XK8 had been out for a few years by then. An XJS may not have been worth much, apart from the end of the line six litre V12s, which held some value for a while.Lovely .. I’d have one if I fitted in them.Old Jags always seem to have a story behind them,and it’s great you’re now keeping it.
Bookmarked!
When you get fed up tinkering,here’s another story for you .. how I came to get mine .
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonhea...
Bookmarked!
When you get fed up tinkering,here’s another story for you .. how I came to get mine .
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonhea...
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