Those drunken eBay evenings

[Betaboy2.0]

Never go onto eBay after a few too many glasses of vino. We all know that, but how many of us abide by that small, simple rule?

 

I had a mate down the weekend before last, and once we had finished pottering on in the garage, had dinner, we agreed that we wouldn;t look at eBay. However, the temptation proved too great, and we logged on. BUT, we agreed that there was no way we would bid on anything, as he had just bought a Golf VR6, and I already have far to many Lancias.

 

40 minutes later we were the high bidders on an Jag XJ-S. But that was fine. We had put in such a silly low maximum bid, that with 4 days still to go there was absolutely no way we could possibly end up winning a 1989 G plate, red XJ-S 5.3v12 HE, with cream leather, red piping, all original, never welded 56k mile example.

 

Tuesday night, him at one end of the phone and me the other we watch the bidding count down, still laughing and joking that there was no way that amount of money would bguy that sort of XJ-S. How we laughed. 21.04hrs, we stopped laughing as we became the proud owners of said Jag. Bugger. That wasn't planned! No one else had bid on it. What did they know that we didn't? Good job it was local - NOT ! Skegness. I'm Wiltshire and my mate is Oxon. Well, we still weren't too worried as the seller would definately pull it on that bid....... he didn't. Bugger x 2.

 

So, after various telephone calls and arrangements we made the date to go out to the wilds of Lincolnshire last Friday to collect said beast. What a day!

 

We set of from Chippenham on the train at 08.55 to get to Paddington. My mate "doesn't do" cattle class, so first it was. I did the economy tickets, he paid for the upgrade, and very nice it was too. Leather, coffee, the Times... nice but somewhat pricey!. At Paddington it was tube round to Kings Cross then Kings Cross to Grantham. Again, we had to do first, so the £206 per person extra quoted by the train attendant raised eyebrows. Happily, we must have misheard, as it turned out to be £52 to upgrade, which was a bit of a bargain when you take into account what was included. So, we arrived in Grantham spot on time in the pissing rain.

 

And that's where the trains all stopped. Grantham was underwater. No trains to take us onward the 5 more stops to Wainfleet. Bugger x 3. What to do now??

 

So, a quick call to the eBay seller, and he instantly offer to make the hour and a quarter drive out to Grantham to collect us. Phew!

 

So, after getting drenched, moaning about the state of the country, the weather, the roads, the trains ect north of Watford, we were collected and off we trundled. Ow, I live in Wiltshire. I am fairly rural as there are only 8 houses in my village. But in comparison, where we ended up made my place seem as if is in the centre of a metropolis! But, we were there, (remind me never to travel in a mk2 Focus ever again as they are the most sick inducing, pitching, vomit wretching car ever devised) And there was our steed home.

 

Oh. Well, it could have been worse! It looked solid, the eBay pics although somewhat flattering, I suppose were a fair representation, apart from it looking like it had been cleaned for the last 2 years with a brillo pad. Anyhow, we weren't going to argue, it had by now stopped raining, the seller had taxed it as agreed, so we were fully road legal to make the 250 mile journey home.

 

After a cuppa, and a brief natter, we set off. Fuel gauge not working. Hey ho, it had probably given up the will to live anyhow, seeing how much of its life it must have spent whizzing up and down like a roller coaster. Other than that, apart the the aircon that didn't, everything else appeared to work.

 

So the journey home. NOt a lot to report. A cruise control that controlled at the speed it thought we should be traveling at, and not the speed we wanted to be at, wipers that merely moved water around the screen rather than clear, a heated rear window of which one element felt like working and the others were at a party with Red Robbo - it all added to the fun!

 

On the plus.... WHAT A CAR! Wafting along like royalty we lapped up the miles. A slight whine from the diff, but other than that just bliss! Effortless power. Golden silence and when the trip computer felt like playing ball, apparently 19ish to the gallon.

 

Sadly, in my excitement, I took no pics of the journey home, but then again, it was such a pleasant, uneventful trip that there wasn't much to take pics of.

 

We arrived back in Wiltshire relaxed and refreshed, blissful in our ignorance of the XJ-S of just what could have gone wrong!

 

So, that was Friday. Saturday, after 9 tonnes of gravel being delivered for my drive, we set too with the cleaners. And it truly was FILTHY! I did the bodywork with the G3 and the Autoglym, and my mate did the interior with the special secret interior "clean the bugger" treatment!

 

And attached are the results.

 

So, an XJ-S has now euserped the Beta automatic from its home in the garage. What we are going to do with it, I have no idea. But it is very red, very pretty and I have absolutely no doubt that it is going to cause me more sleepless nights and more arguements with the bank than any Lancia ever created by God!!

 

[Betaboy2.0]

[eddyramrod]

That looks rather jolly! I reckon I'd have happily gone to Skeggy for it too.

[Betaboy2.0]

 

 

 

 

[eddyramrod]

I stand by my earlier comment, what a beauty!

[Spiny Norman]

That looks a cracker, are we allowed to ask how much (or little) was paid for such a beast?

[Lufthansa-Terminal]

.

[Lufthansa-Terminal]

That looks a cracker, are we allowed to ask how much (or little) was paid for such a beast?

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... true&rt=nc

[trigger]

Cor! That is nice, I do like a nice red XJ-S V12, They are cracking cars to drive, It's came up well too, I bet you'll be quids in when you come to sell it.

[KruJoe]

Nice one! I found the listing, it looks way better now than it did in the eBay pics. Can I post the link?

It wasn't as cheap as I thought it might have been, but still looks mega value to me.

Edit: LT beat me to it!

[Betaboy2.0]

The black box is the (crap) battery!

 

Well, yes, as you can see, we ended up paying £1140 for it. That is about £1140 more than I ever thought I would pay for an XJ-S (please note the hyphen - that didn't disappear until the facelift cars in 91)

 

Madness I know, but we just worked on the thought if it was rotten if was worth more than that in spares...... but now, I think I'm in love!

 

So, the paintwork on the Beta auto is on hold, the RHD Gamma Berlina in Belgium with factory leather and aircon will just have to wait and my poor Beta S3 saloon may never get restored!

[coalnotdole]

Looks like a hell of a lot of car for that sort of money. I'd far rather drive that than a golf vr6!

[Pete-M]

That looks like a bloody steal for the money.

 

I've had two XJ-S's, if it's half decent it'll be a bloody nice thing to waft about in.

[MrDuke]

That's probably the unlikeliest entry in my list of "one-day-I-will" cars. I still clearly remember being a wee squirt, running round to the back of every XJS I saw parked, and craning my neck to see the ones that blatted past us on the road, checking if the V12 badge was there, and feeling genuinely let down if it wasn't Possibly the most impractical of any prestige brit classics, but I still would.

[Betaboy2.0]

I did!!!

 

Why do I feel like a naughty school kid, yet still so happy??!!

[Cavcraft]

Uber! Love the XJ-S haven't quite summed up the bottle to own one yet though! That looks an absolute bargain for the money and a really nice car, top work!

[dollywobbler]

That looks a great buy. The first time you accelerate in one of these things, it's almost uncanny. So swift yet with absolutely no effort at all! If it wasn't for the too-light steering and usually-dreadful (better post 1991) build quality, it would be a super motor. Look forward to checking it out in the metal at the weekend.

 

Might want to check the rear diff pretty sharpish if its noisy. Could be low on oil. They have a nasty habit of leaking over the rear brakes, though usually only if someone has got confused about the fly-off handbrake and cooked them.

[triumph1300]

Looking under the bonnet on these scares the crap out of me!

[HillmanImp]

They are one of my dream cars and that looks a cracker to be honest. Good luck with it.

[wuvvum]

That's actually not bad at all for a drunken eBay purchase. Some of the acquisitions I have made on eBay whilst under the influence include a Leyland Roadrunner lorry and a tatty Bond 875, and I think I'd really much rather have had an XJ-S (although the last time I owned a V12 Jag it ended up losing me my license for a year ).

[RedSparrow]

It's beautiful. I have a lot of affection for these as my grandad had one after he retired.

[DSdriver]

E types were cheep old dogs at one time. All you have to do is keep it in one piece for another twenty years and await a resurgence in the classic car market that happens when there is nothing else worthwhile for the city lads to invest in. Oh, and enjoy it while you wait.

[Shep Shepherd]

Amazing!

 

Looking forward to seeing it on Saturday

[Jack_Harpers_Teeth]

Simply splendid, that solid red really pops out, makes it look a little more like a 70s car to my eyes.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

That's genuinely beautiful!

[richardthestag]

stunning and most definately on my want list

 

btw found this today

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/cla ... -XJ-S.html

 

but not sure about his estimates for old cars

 

XJ-S from £4,000 for coupés, £7,000 for soft-tops looks like BB2.0 gotten himself a proper bargain

 

and

 

TR7 From £1,200 to £7,000. A few on here would much wish that

[stuboy]

yes its a beauty