2019-05-10 11:54:00 | pauls writes:

Ebay item 5/10/19
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233222026933
Classified ad price: £12,000 seller the_market.

Seller's description:
This car is in auction on The Market website. The auction is LIVE now and finishes on 16th May. Price is a lower estimate.

With just 4 previous owners (the last of which had it for a decade or so) and a recorded mileage of just 44,000 miles, this pre-HE version of the Jaguar XJ-S V12 is one of the very best in the country. With only a very gently patinated finish inside and out, it’s in rude good health, too. It has a full MOT and the mighty 5-and-a-bit-litre engine starts on the button and ticks over as smoothly as anything this side of a Rolls-Royce.

It drives as well as it looks, feeling tight and solid and much, much younger than it is; we’d have been very happy to have felt this good on the run up to our 40th birthdays…

It's in auction at No Reserve, and being here in Abingdon, it's accessible no matter where in the UK you are, so why not make a day of it and come to the heart of the British car manufacturing industry and take a look for yourself? We promise you won’t be disappointed.

Just take a look at it! Magnificent in Sebring Red, there’s no denying the quality of what you see; the panel gaps are even and consistent and the paintwork gleams after having been recently detailed. The doors themselves open and close as easily as any we’ve ever experienced, with no sag, and the door shuts themselves are clean.

Having had a respray at some point in its carefully curated (but not recent) past, we’d describe the final paint finish as very good and fuss-free but not perfect. There are, for example, three small spots of rust (one on the bottom edge of the front nearside wheelarch, one on the boot lid, and one under the nearside rear window) plus the odd dust-spot and patch of orange-peel. Please, please take it from us that we are being picky and honest with this description, it is still better than 99% of the other early XJ-S’s out there - and we're not expecting to reach the £25k+ that is being asked for some cars.

If it were ours, we’d probably leave it at that - and you could leave it at that because the structure itself is utterly solid and seems completely free of rot thanks to a regimen of aftermarket professional Waxoyl over the years. The access points they used in the 1980s, sealed with black rubber bungs, are still there so topping it up would be an easy job should you want to maintain the same level of protection in the future. And it appears to have down its job, this car has been inspected bodily and no serious problems found - the well in the boot behind the rear wheels being a good example. There also appears to be no evidence of repairs or replacement panels, all the panel edges are generally strong, it might seem fanciful to claim an early XJS has never seen a welder's torch, but we haven't found any evidence yet.

Speaking of which, the underseal looks to be the original. It could be left as it is but we might be tempted to top it up while you’re faffing around with the Waxoyl.

The wheels are, for us, a real high point; they’ve been fully restored (we’d say ‘refurbished’ but that doesn’t come close to describing the attention to detail that has clearly been lavished on them…) and impeccably finished in the correct colours, including the spare which still has its original vinyl cover. The owner has even thought about what tyres to fit, in this case aesthetically pleasing Dunlop SP Sports at each corner.

Oh, and he’s fitted period-correct number plates too, including the proper big one at the back. It’s the little details, isn’t it?

2020-12-06 09:08:00 | pauls writes:

2018-10-08 Car offered at:

www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/jaguar/xjs/jaguar-xj-s-5-3-pre-he/9074 ...

Seller's description:

1980 Jaguar XJS 5.3 Auto V12 (Pre-HE)

Finished in Sebring Red with black leather interior

44,100 miles

Supplied new by Henleys Jaguar of London on 11th February 1980. The Jaguar Heritage Certificate shows that the vehicle was built on 9th November 1979 and dispatched to Henleys a week later. The history file includes a wealth of service invoices from various Jaguar Daimler specialists including Prestige Motor Company of Bournemouth, Nene Jaguar Specialists, Just XJS Ltd and most recently XJK Ltd. The V5 shows just 4 registered previous owners from new, the last of which acquired it on 14th February 2015. A key element to this examples survival was a professional cavity wax-oil treatment in its early life. It comes with an original handbook pack which includes vehicle handbook, warranty/satisfaction card, various supercover literature and the instruction booklet for the original Phillips radio which is still fitted today.