Magnificent Rustbucket

18 years of the road is quite a while! I suppose it depends on why it went off the road in the first place and how it has been stored as to how easy it is to revive it. I find my XJ40 to be particularly tolerant of non-use - it just shrugs it off.

I don't think it would be easy to find another one like this for only £600 - I think he has found a real bargain here. I wonder how many people have an XJ40 on Autoshite. I know you and I have both had one for a great length of time but I tend to think of them not being that much of a 'shiter's car, possibly people think the're too heavy on petrol? Mine, joining the bonnet up theme: P1130239 by *D*B*, on Flickr

I have never driven on a motoring holiday in France, but when I went as a kid and I went with my parents we would have occasional bursts of speed on the Autoroute like that (generally when my mother was complaining we would never get there on my dad's meandering route) - but we never did it consistently. My father liked a powerful car and I remember we once covered the distance between two peages too quickly and were made to park up and wait for a period. My father was quite relieved there was no fine. People used to drive in far faster in the UK way-back too. I remember kneeling on the back s

When I was a small child on holiday in the South of France in the late '70s, I remember my dad talking to a fellow who had driven down there in an A30, all the way from the North East of England with his wife and two children. They were camping somewhere IIRC. I wasn't particularly impressed - but my father was (his first car was an A35), which is why I remember it. In those days it was a 'thing' for people with a powerful car to do the journey from Cheshire where I lived to the South of France in one day. You could do some real speed back then. It was an anathema to my dad who preferred

What a superb spotting thread.

Yes, they drive quite well actually, in an old-fashioned gung-ho fun sort of way. I like the Z3 2.8.

I'm surprised an Eventer was ever cheap enough to be bangered. I don't remember them being down to 'throw away' money like the ordinary XJ-S and the XJ saloons. I guess the man was prepared to spend a bit to race a rarity.

1941 Cadillac Series 60 Special.

Ford LTD in the early 1980s.

My Jaguar was initially registered with a K plate, but had a private plate put on it when it was still fairly new. Some years later the private plate was removed and put on to another car. The DVLA re-issued the original K plate to the car, but marked it 'Non transferable.' Some years further on, the same private plate was put back on to the car. The private plate is not marked non transferable and can be removed and put on to another car. If I was to do so, it is highly likely the DVLA would re-issue the car with the original K plate which would again be non- transferable. As stated by other

FANTASTIC car. Wow.

I haven't visited Autoshite for a while, but have enjoyed reading this.

A Lendrum and Hartman right hand drive Caprice - a rare car. Sad to see it in this state.

The XJ-S has a fly-off handbrake.

Talking of Audis, the Audi 200 of both shapes are a good fit for this thread. They were good cars and very competent against the likes of the Granada, but comedy over-pricing pitted them against the XJ6, the S Class and the 7 series. Vanishingly few were sold - and discounts were huge. I only ever saw one at a dealership, never once on the road.