Sold 1992 XJS V12, MoTd, 91K - £SOLD!

[Bear]

Very Important Things completed on the XJS.

Really does look a lot better. And this feels like good solid metal, so worth the £55.

 

[Partridge]

I'm actually getting quite tempted.

[Bear]

I'm actually getting quite tempted.

 

Just look at that style...

 

[Six-cylinder]

That 500 SEC does look like a fat monster next to the XJS!

[hairnet]

youll give it a complex

 

everyone keeps saying hyowj

[Bear]

When i got home in the SEC, and was working out the interior lights, I went and sat in the passenger seat. Then sat sideways. Then curled up and figured that yes, they did cost as much as a house when new - but then, you can live in one and the double glazing lasts 30 years, not 10.

 

You can get three intact bodies in the trunk. With the XJS, you need to dismember even with only one.

[Bear]

Pulled the XJS out for better pictures of the new leaper...

 

 

Gotta love that grille badge.

 

 

Not so obvious square-on.

 

 

Is it too modern a shape? It's what was installed if the base is any indication... except the casting suggests I've replaced a cheap leaper with a genuine Jaguar item.

 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Is that the ex SixCylinder Merc? If so:

 

a) You lucky sod*.

 

B ) It's an S500 Coupe, not a SEC. Strictly speaking, like. They were renamed CL around 1996 ish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* i would of brought that

[Bear]

Is that the ex SixCylinder Merc? If so:

 

a) You lucky sod*.

 

B ) It's an S500 Coupe, not a SEC. Strictly speaking, like. They were renamed CL around 1996 ish.

 

* i would of brought that

 

 

it's a 500 SEC... They were launched as 500 SEC, renamed S500 for '94MY, renamed CL500 for '97MY.

 

Have a look in the OCD thread about it. I had doubts too, it was registered in September '93 and I suspect that one of the owners (probably the one that had the numberplate MB 15 on it) rebadged it as an S500, but the factory data sheet calls it a 500 SEC, it was built when they were called a 500 SEC, the logbook says 500 SEC and the S500 badge is in the wrong place. So it's getting badged properly when the parts arrive!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Aaah, I saw the L plate and assumed she was a 1994.

 

What are your plans for it? I saw it had rusty wings but given the monumental cost of new ones from DB AG and the lack of used ones, I reckon removal/grit blasting/new metal is the way forward. I did have dirty thoughts about it on the way back from Cylinder Towers with a Volvo full of E36 trim.

[Bear]

New genuine MB wings - £324 each (I doubt there's much variation for with/without side repeater light as that's from the USA-site part number). That's the plan

[Bear]

Aaah, I saw the L plate and assumed she was a 1994.

 

September '93 registration. If the badge were in the right place I'd suspect the dealer of having "updated" the car for the new owner.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

New genuine MB wings - £324 each

 

SRSLY??

 

That's worth doing then - I imagined £800 a side plus VAT, but MB prices can be quite reasonable. Nice dark blue metallic so paint off the car from the colour code and it'll be spot on. Probably £200 to paint two new wings, bolt on bish bash bosh, plenty of Hammerite and waxoyl on the insides.

 

I like 140 Coupes. As pretty as the later CL is, they're now becoming very council and an increasingly worthless well known mechanical and electrical disaster area. The 140 Coop is so rare that the average great unwashed CL buyer wouldn't buy one because 'it's the old shape'. That, as we know, increases true desirability.

 

Top bombing either way. Proceed to sell XJS and pour funds into Benz until full.

[Bear]

This is why MB is my comfort zone. Almost everything is available instantly, bolts on, and isn't unreasonably priced. The SLK is getting new wings too.

[barefoot]

...pour funds into Benz until full.

 

 

LOL

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

This is why MB is my comfort zone. Almost everything is available instantly, bolts on, and isn't unreasonably priced. The SLK is getting new wings too.

 

 

It's my main beef with BMW. Mercedes Benz really support their old stuff and their huuuge stand at Essen proves this. BMW's answer is to keep a collection hidden away and charge frankly ludicrous prices for their 1990's parts.

 

E34 5 Series instrument cluster back plate with circuit board - £2300. I shit you not. Heater matrix £350. Standard plastic E36 four spoke non airbag wheel. £320. But they have 330 of them in stock.   

 

You'd man up and swallow if these cars were worth £150'000, but they're not. They're still in the banger phase.

[Guest Hooli]

I would utterly love that XJS, but like most others mad enough to buy it I don't have the funds

 

Swap 4 goona? lolz?

[Bear]

That moment when you've decided you absolutely will not go below a certain figure, and there's an offer for £50 less, and it's like, FFS man...

 

So sold, once payment arrives. Which will probably be before the distributor cap shows up at this rate!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Let us know when you have the $$$$ and the twin exhausts are seen heading down the road.

 

There will be a collective sigh of relief!

[Bear]

I have the $$$$s and have spent them already, and the twin exhausts will be seen heading onto a flatbed to be trailered away apparently!

 

It's been a good experience. I like how the XJS drives, and I have an appreciation for what they are and what their nature is. Also know that if I tried to run one the way I like to run something like a Mercedes, I would not only be bankrupt, I'd be very, very frustrated with the build quality and components.

 

On the other hand, despite all the good qualities of the SEC, it does not LOOK like this.

 

 

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Owning an XJS, especially the V12 version, is the automotive equivalent of dating a supermodel...

 

Other men are envious because all they see is the attractive exterior. They are blissfully unaware if the million serious issues that lurk underneath, they don't realise how high the running costs really are and they certainly don't have to put up with the weekly breakdowns !

[Skizzer]

Very true.

 

There's a joke to be had somewhere about mine needing a new coil, but I'm not going to go there as it would lower the tone of this poignant departure.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Is the XJ-S so much more difficult to own than an XJ40? They're easy, trouble free things.

[Bear]

Is the XJ-S so much more difficult to own than an XJ40? They're easy, trouble free things.

 

 

Hmm. Bodywise I think they have some particular quirks closer to XJ6 design and rustability, plus they're very complex due to the generations of design layered in there - you've got BL-era through to Ford-era, subsystem upon subsystem... the XJS might have had a refresh, but it was too old to get the same level of investment the XJ40 got. When you look at the scuttle/door shape you can see hints of E-type thinking.

 

[Skizzer]

It's not so much that they're particularly sophisticated devices, they're not. It's just that the V12 has twelve of lots of things. There's an awful lot of wires and pipes under the bonnet, which makes getting at anything or tracing a fault that bit more involved.

 

Inboard brakes are fun*, too, although of course that's not just an XJS thing.

[Bear]

It's more the haphazard placement of things (outside of the V12) and the generally poor quality of fittings and so forth - the seats are beautifully trimmed, then installed in the car with the cheapest bolts, the body is solid and clever, but the brackets for the relays are cheap afterthoughts with wiring mess everywhere. It's a lack of joined-up thinking throughout the evolution of the car.

 

Thing is, now I've experienced one, the V12 is the LEAST SCARY PART. Like, I GET how the V12 is put together - in fact, I even have a small respect for the Marelli ignition system with the weird-ass distributor design (but would choose a later one if I had the money).

 

And with regard to Ford's improvements on the models and so forth, I would absolutely consider a 1996 Daimler Double Six or XJ12, X305 model.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Is the XJ-S so much more difficult to own than an XJ40? They're easy, trouble free things.

 

 

Yes. Whilst the XJ40 was of pretty dismal detail quality (electrics, switchgear) the body shell was another generation on - whilst nowhere near as rustproof as it should have been it wasn't the rust bucket the XJS was. And the pre Ford XJS was really, really bad. Also the '40 was pretty good mechanically. Apart from diff bearings they were pretty robust and the AJ6 engine is as strong as anything Ze Germans make. 

 

The V12 is just too thirsty and too complex with too many ways in which to fail. Like old Italian exotica, you'd be driving along waiting for that misfire or that warning light or that odd smell. Sod that for a laugh.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Yes. Whilst the XJ40 was of pretty dismal detail quality (electrics, switchgear) the body shell was another generation on - whilst nowhere near as rustproof as it should have been it wasn't the rust bucket the XJS was. And the pre Ford XJS was really, really bad. Also the '40 was pretty good mechanically. Apart from diff bearings they were pretty robust and the AJ6 engine is as strong as anything Ze Germans make. 

 

The V12 is just too thirsty and too complex with too many ways in which to fail. Like old Italian exotica, you'd be driving along waiting for that misfire or that warning light or that odd smell. Sod that for a laugh.

 

Maybe people should think of the V12 XJ-S in the same way as they do an Italian exotic, rather than as a daily driver. The prices would have to rise quite a bit before this became a new reality though.

 

I know I will never convince you RBJ, but the later XJ40s have excellent electrics - with none of the horrors which afflicted the 3.6 litre cars. The switches are very reliable - but the fascia ones have nothing like the visual appeal of the Mercedes items. The whole instrument binnacle is grim and lets the interior down; I agree with that. It almost never goes wrong though.

 

Mercedes have beautiful instruments. I love the dials and the way Mercedes sets out its switches in the centre console - and the switches themselves - are way ahead of Jaguar. They are, for me, the best part of the car.

[Bear]

I've been trying to find a list price for the XJS V12 in 1992 - I suspect it's half that of the 600 SEC (even 500 SEC) or 600SL and was probably the cheapest V12 sportscar you could buy at the time, but... can't find the info!

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I have a price list somewhere but couldn't find it (and only looked briefly!!), but a magazine from 1994 lists the 1994 6 litre V12 XJS at £50,500 - and the (by then) S500 coupe at £74,600 - so a huge amount more.

 

There were very few V12 engine coupes even back then; The S600 coupe was listed at £97,400 - so almost twice as much as the XJS, the BMW 850i was £79,750, with the Alpina BMW 850i Shift-tronic at £116,000, Ferrari 456 at £151,751 and Lamborghini Diablo at £143,947 - though both of those are a real stretch of the imagination to regard as competitors.

 

Incidentally, both the Jaguar XJ12 (£53,450) and Daimler Double six (59,950) were more expensive than the V12 XJS, showing how conscious Jaguar were of the car's age.