Judith the Jag

[Grey the Floydian Sergal]

A little back story, a couple of weeks after I sent my Talbot Alpine (Annie) away for engine rebuild in November 2019, I was working the delivery vans for my job at Euro Car Parts when I was sent to do a drop at a unit in St Georges, Telford. When I walked in, I saw a car shape under a load of blankets in the corner of the workshop, I saw the tailpipes & asked "Is that an old Jag?". He confirmed my suspicions & pulled off the blankets, telling me "Indeed it is, it's an XJ40 4.0 Sovereign. I bought it after converting it to LPG & it's been the run-a-round for my wife & I until 2016. It's yours for £600 if you want it".

To say I was tempted is an understatement. The XJ40 is my favourite Jaguar & when I first saw the Morocco red paintwork & heard that the car had LPG, I pretty much bit his hand off. So a deal was made & I gradually paid off the £600 over several months while he made sure that the car was in fine fettle, servicing the whole LPG system for me at no extra cost. All I needed was a new alternator (for £92) & I bought a battery from work with my delicious staff discount.

In May, I found that some local garages were still doing MOTs during lockdown so I got her booked & bought a set of part-worn dunlops (£80 in all).

Imagine my delight when she passed with only one advisory, a number plate bulb which fixed itself in a week!

So now Judith's a little more polished up & I'm super happy with her. She's the cheapest car I've ever had to insure & she's so capable, very comfortable & surprisingly agile in the bends though the low-speed ride is nowhere as good as the Alpine. With the LPG too, she's super cheap to run & £20 of petrol (she still has her petrol tank as you need it to warm the car up & keep her going when the gas runs out) can last her about three weeks.

The previous owner also rebuilt the top of the engine with new timing chains & sprockets when she was at 120,000 miles (now on 173400), as the LPG was installed at 80,000, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't need much decoking, one benefit of LPG

A good car all round but there are a few issues. A tailpipe fell off while enroute for the MOT, there's a small blow on the O/S exhaust,  the headlining is just starting to sag, the auto-dipping rear view mirror doesn't work, the paint has reacted on the roof, bonnet & boot & the aircon pump is seized. Otherwise a great car with a tidy interior with an even tidier underbelly.

So, that's Judith, my £600 Jaguar Sovereign 4.0, what do you guys reckon or is the shite not strong with this one?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Great to see you back on here. The Jag is undoubtedly shite and more than worthy of gracing these pages. As for that MOT pass, just wow. They're normally a bit ginger underneath so this one must have been looked after. What a total barg! 

How's the Alpine engine rebuild? 

[Grey the Floydian Sergal]

Just now, Dick Van Diesel said:

Great to see you back on here. The Jag is undoubtedly shite and more than worthy of gracing these pages. As for that MOT pass, just wow. They're normally a bit ginger underneath so this one must have been looked after. What a total barg! 

How's the Alpine engine rebuild? 

Thanks Dick! Unfortunately Annie needed a new block but I found one from a chap in Hinckley who's a member of the Simca Owner's club (& used to drive people around in XJ40s incidentally) so I paid up the £100 for that on Sunday & dropped it off at the engine builders on Monday, admittedly getting a little giddy when they asked "what colour do you want us to paint your engine?"

[Grey the Floydian Sergal]

I also got this nice shot at my pal's house, I did own the 306 for a short while (for £200, it was good value)  but we intend to do a comparison video on Judith &, his X350 Sport, Jeremy

[Shite Ron]

That looks a great buy and a nice spec. too. The XJ40 has aged very well, it is a great looking car , huge bonus that it has lpg too. Well bought! 

[TheXUDfiles]

£600 is crazy cheap for even a rough XJ40 now, and that looks quite nice.  I've seen breakers go for more than that. Even after the engine rebuild and exhaust work, you'll still be in clover. The XJ40 has always been my favourite Jag too, in fact, it's the car which got me interested in old cars in the first place (a family friend had a Kingfisher blue XJ6 which sparked the interest) so there's always a bit of nostalgia involved when I see these.

If I was asked what colour I'd like my engine painted, I'm not sure what I'd reply with..."Engine colour, please.", perhaps. 

[eddyramrod]

Just now, Grey the Floydian Sergal said:

is the shite not strong with this one?

Are you kidding???  It's meat and drink to a Shiter!  There's a lot of Jag love here, including at this very keyboard, so keep those updates coming.  You did well there in every way.

[Grey the Floydian Sergal]

1 hour ago, TheXUDfiles said:

£600 is crazy cheap for even a rough XJ40 now, and that looks quite nice.  I've seen breakers go for more than that. Even after the engine rebuild and exhaust work, you'll still be in clover. The XJ40 has always been my favourite Jag too, in fact, it's the car which got me interested in old cars in the first place (a family friend had a Kingfisher blue XJ6 which sparked the interest) so there's always a bit of nostalgia involved when I see these.

If I was asked what colour I'd like my engine painted, I'm not sure what I'd reply with..."Engine colour, please.", perhaps. 

I should clarify, the Talbot is having the engine rebuild at the mo, the jag doesn't need any engine work

1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

Are you kidding???  It's meat and drink to a Shiter!  There's a lot of Jag love here, including at this very keyboard, so keep those updates coming.  You did well there in every way.

Thanks very much, I'm very much chuffed with this car

[ChinaTom]

Me. (Not him, he just helps). 
Regularly.

 

[Grey the Floydian Sergal]

18 minutes ago, ChinaTom said:

Me. (Not him, he just helps). 
Regularly.

 

pretty sure you're not supposed to drag them on their rear wheels. I'm guessing Lucas electrics are what's letting you down?

[PhilA]

Nice. Gotta say I've always preferred this shape with the big fish tank headlights. Suits the design better, I think.

 

Edit: Also, they don't really feel fast. Up until you realise that the cars you are passing aren't doing 25 mph despite it looking like it...

Phil

[ChinaTom]

No, electrically well overhauled and in great state. This was a hose letting go and boiling on Westminster Bridge Road in the traffic. Limped to Kennington Tesco car park with the gauge off the scale and doing a decent impression of a steam powered car. Survived intact. These 6.0 jobs are surprisingly robust and after 170k miles this one will be properly run in soon.

[Shep Shepherd]

That is excellent in every way! 

Check out the stickers in the X350's windscreen ^^

[vulgalour]

That's lovely.

[Eyersey1234]

Chodtastic XJ40 you have there 

[outlaw118]

Good work Sir, there's been 4 Jaaaags in the Outlaw/Nev stable, an S3 XJ12 (strictly speaking a Daimler) a 2.0D X, a 2.2X and an S Type R. Never even been inan XJ40, it's on my "to do" list.

 

[Skizzer]

As others have said, a £600 XJ40 is very much core Autoshite.  Lovely.

[ChinaTom]

I have to say the bodywork on that Morocco Fishtank holder looks amazing. Dare I ask if you have checked the base corners of the rear screen and the bulkhead? That killed most of them. What’s the last 6 numbers on the VIN? I had a sneaky glance at the production data for the 40’s once and mine was flanked on each side by 4.0 Sovereigns both Morocco and Magnolia. Mine is 686276.

[motorpunk]

Sold gold (brown?) shite. Love it.

[Broadsword]

Top Shite right there! £600 is a bargain for an XJ40 that passes an MOT. Most really are scrap now. The 4.0 is the best engine and indeed what a delight being able to run one as a daily on account of the LPG! I had a 4.0 Sov on a G-plate and it held the road nicely and indeed was deceptively fast. It was all great until someone rear-ended me at a zebra crossing and that wrote off the car. I’m more of a X300 man myself due to liking the old Jag looks, but the XJ40 (essential the same underneath) deserves real respect as a very forward looking move from Jag at the time. Moroccan red is a gorgeous colour on these. Top marks, well done. Will follow with interest! These are always dead cheap to insure for some reason. I paid £120 renewal on my classic car policy for a supercharged XJR the other day. Unbelievable.

L-reg is pretty late in the run of the XJ40 so it will be much better built than the earlier ones. Also at that point production has almost transitioned to X300, so lots bits of the transition carried through the late XJ40s making them better again. Your car may have been built the same year as my XJR6 which is built late in 94.

[Grey the Floydian Sergal]

23 hours ago, ChinaTom said:

I have to say the bodywork on that Morocco Fishtank holder looks amazing. Dare I ask if you have checked the base corners of the rear screen and the bulkhead? That killed most of them. What’s the last 6 numbers on the VIN? I had a sneaky glance at the production data for the 40’s once and mine was flanked on each side by 4.0 Sovereigns both Morocco and Magnolia. Mine is 686276.

The bulkhead's perfect & there's a tiny bit of bubbleage at the bottom of the rear screen, repairable area though

[ChinaTom]

Great news on the bulkhead. The rear screen needs to come out to effect a ‘lasting repair’ - it’s a proper design flaw on that rain channel. I had mine done comprehensively about 10 years ago and now one side needs doing again. The sunroof, once the edges have gone is a replacement job too, although they aren’t as hard to find as they used to be.

whilst I’m happy for you to have picked up a proper decent one for 600 it does depress me that these are still so cheap! I’m holding onto mine in the vague hope that one day it will be worth something like the amount I have put into it. Just in time for the banning of fossil fuels I imagine....

[somewhatfoolish]

That is indecently good. 13.6/10

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

On 6/19/2020 at 7:10 PM, ChinaTom said:

Great news on the bulkhead. The rear screen needs to come out to effect a ‘lasting repair’ - it’s a proper design flaw on that rain channel. I had mine done comprehensively about 10 years ago and now one side needs doing again. The sunroof, once the edges have gone is a replacement job too, although they aren’t as hard to find as they used to be.

whilst I’m happy for you to have picked up a proper decent one for 600 it does depress me that these are still so cheap! I’m holding onto mine in the vague hope that one day it will be worth something like the amount I have put into it. Just in time for the banning of fossil fuels I imagine....

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

[dome]

17 minutes ago, Magnificent Rustbucket said:

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

Me! Me! Me! 

Well I've not got it yet, soon though! Although it's not moved in 18 years so might be a bit of a challenge...

[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.

[Cord Fourteener]

The Shite is high with this one.

{Extremely wanting!

[SRi05]

I miss having a Jaaaaag (sigh)

XJ40's still look extremely classy 

[Grey the Floydian Sergal]

I completely forgot to link my videos on the car!