I saw a guy in a Bricklin at a gas station. After he filled up the car, he climbed in the window and drove off.
And that’s the point, they don’t even need to be great cars or even good cars, they just need to touch you in some way, my collection would include an apache step side, a 71 Eldorado cab, X1/9 and a Morris minor traveller, completely shite cars but totally adorable…
I seriously doubt the reluctance in ownership is tied to reliability issues. It has more to do with the attitude of automobile buyers in the U.S. What is ironic about the situation is that two seaters and coupes have always been a marquess flagship models, but were never the best sellers. BMW’s 3.0 coupe, 633, and 635 CSI cars were always hard sells in the secondhand market. Same goes for the Mercedes 126 SEC coupe to name just a few, and Jaguar coupes are no different. Coupes have larger doors that swing out wider to allow passengers to enter into the rear, sedans on the other hand have smaller doors but allow much easier entry. Coupes & two seaters are not family friendly, and are contrarily regarded as Playboy type vehicles which have long phallic shaped noses that women pick up on. The images of the 80’s & 90’s are well in our rear view mirrors, and the structure of our society has pretty much moved away from the unabashed acknowledgment of sex appeal as though it never existed, and has no place in the hearts and minds of young men today. Anyway, that’s my small take on one of the reasons that these cars continue to suffer price appreciation pressure.
I think owning ANY classic car is like owning a boat or RV. If you can’t afford the maintenance, then you can’t afford the vehicle. If you can’t afford to pay someone to do it, then you must learn yourself. That’s why I’m here! 
Well, there’s no way I could afford to have someone else work on my cars, let alone perform the attention to detail that would satisfy.
But, isn’t this thread about the arriving at a price that these cars are worth? The original poster has yet to comment, so I’m not sure if any of his concerns have been addressed.
It doesn’t really matter what we think they are worth… because the answer is “whatever someone is willing to pay.” I can’t imagine paying more than $20K for a really nice v12 XJS with a 5 speed that was built and maintained by someone who knows what they are doing. That would be my top dollar for a pretty specific car that may not exist. If I was in the market. That’s just my personal opinion, which isn’t any more valid than anyone else’s.
If I was going to do a car for my wife to drive, for example, I’d expect to spend $10K or so for a complete nice clean rust-free running car where pretty much everything works, then I would spend 500 hours and $3-$5K getting it up to my standards so I wouldn’t have to worry every time it left the garage.
“All original” doesn’t mean squat to me, because original wasn’t that great. 4 catalytic converters + 2 honeycomb inserts, a wimpy aux fan, air pump, leaky heater matrix, multiple engine oil leaks, rear diff that likely leaks… if I bought an “all original” car (mine was) it would get taken apart pretty quick.
Gary, I’d say put the car up for what YOU think it’s worth. If you sell it, good on ya. If you don’t, or if you end up taking significantly less, well then it wasn’t meant to be. If I was in the market I’d fly out there tomorrow to take a look, it appears to be quite nice and I know you know how to take care of these cars.
-Bob
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As I have long held–and is vindicated in the high prices for AMC Pacers–all it takes to determine a car’s spot value is two things: A willing seller, and a winning buyer.
Bradley Smith’s car?
It looks you and I are pretty much on the same page although we would arrive a little bit differently. I bought the current XJS that I am working on for my wife, paid (I think it was) $6,000 and it’s been in the shop and on the lift ever since. Now that I have started to se the finish line (just waiting on hopefully the last few parts from SNG) I recently thought that it was about time to see how much I was into this car so far. Before the tally I was pretty sure that I was about as equal in parts as I was to the purchase price (no such luck.) Turns out I’m just over the 10 grand mark, so my 6K car turned into a 16K car. The big difference here, though is, excluding the engine and transmission virtually all other parts on her car are not only brand new, but once the alignment is completed and the car is back on the ground, all moving parts are able to be equally bedded in at the same time, which should result in a harmoniously balanced running vehicle. Translation = here are the keys and don’t call us we’ll call you 
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Bradley’s car is truly a one-off type of vehicle with countless hours and a ton of money poured into it, but how in the world could it be valued higher than 10 grand?
Question is… SWMBO still want it?
Well, I’m still getting questions followed by statements. The questions generally pertain to things like “are you still waiting on parts?” Or “I thought you had all the parts that you needed already” or statements like “if I’d of known it was going to take this long, I would have bought an F150” or “if you knew what you were doing, it would have be done by now.” Also, “I trusted you because you said that you knew how to fix these cars” or “I don’t understand, If you drove it from California, then why in the world would you have to take it apart.” There’s more, but you get the gist.
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Sounds perfectly inline with SWMBOs Ive known.
Carry on.
My wife, who is as far from a gearhead as I am a ballerina, back in 2010, when I tore Tweety’s engine apart to rebuild it, she came out during the winter and saw all torn apart: She looked at me with a very sad and sincere look on her face, and without a shred of insincerity in her voice asked, “Will it ever run again? It used to run.”
I assured her that I was quite sure that it would run again… 
Hi Mike.
I can confirm the 5-speeds are very nimble; and it’s true that original spec 5-speeds aren’t that rare in Europe - especially in the latin countries. 4 years ago I got from Madrid a 10k€, very sound but not perfect, 1992 4.0 Coupe.
I fixed the headliner, new carpets, some paint corrections, new water hoses and revision on all suspension and brake components. Later I swapped the 15" Lattice wheels for 17" wheels from an XK8…
It drives like a charm and looks great (at least so I think).
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Yup. We had ours for about 18 months before I did the initial tear down. We drove it pre-tear down and it left me stranded a couple of times (engine speed sensor and crank position sensor… both were flakey.)
My wife was was very patient during the “Beautification and Reliability Upgrades” phase, but I definitely got the “it ran fine why did you take it all apart!?!” interrogation. The shakedown cruise was Phoenix to Palm Springs and back. I was nervous the whole time but it worked perfectly and has been basically flawless since! Now we have come full circle and I am half way thru the 5 speed project, so 3:54 gears and a TH400 transmission… no longer a freeway car! “Why would you do that? I can’t drive on the highway?”
Fortunately she’s enough of a gearhead that she loves manual transmissions, so she is hanging in there.
I am scratching my head on this. My car is a 94 4.0 with the factory 3.54 rear and the 4 speed automatic, it drove just fine on the highway. I can’t see why a 5 speed manual box wouldn’t be even better.
So, here’s the question, though. Would you consider selling it, and if so, at what price?
Nice looking ride, I doubt you could find something like that on Ebay
I have not put the 5 speed in yet. Still a TH400 SO for the moment it is 3:54 with a 1:1 3rd gear as the “top” gear. Once I put the 5 speed in and gain the overdrive all will be well. I changed the gear as “Phase 1” of the project. Phase 2 was the pedal box, Phase 3 will be the trans and clutch.
Yeah, that’s gonna be a nice conversion, no doubt.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking to buy your car, but I asked if you would consider selling it as a rhetorical type of question, expecting an “NO” answer. I just believe that the best cars among us are rarely for sale.
There is no way that I’d be looking to sell mine after all the work and time that went into it.
I don’t think I’d sell it. Like you, I have too much work and time into it. I am emotionally invested.
Once I get the aluminum rad, 5 speed and upgraded stereo that I am plotting, I think it will be pretty sweet. Its fun now, but this will take it to the next level. It’s one of the few cars that I think is 1) really good looking 2) somewhat rare/unusual and 3) is interesting from a performance and history perspective. It has character and heritage.
Even if someone were to offer me some completely crazy number, like $30K, what would I get instead? Stuff that I like includes…
- Cobra Replica? Not exactly a “touring” car and I am light skinned Irish so after 30 minutes in a convertible I look like a boiled cabbage.
- Pantera? Not for $30K…My neighbor has a creamsicle orange one but he is not selling…
- eType? Absolutely… but not for $30K and someday I will get Dad’s SIII coupe that we already put a 5 speed in, he’s owned it for 40 years so for obvious reasons that is my favorite eType in the universe.
-308 Ferrari? I am not sure I can grow a good enough mustache
For me cars have to be emotionally appealing. That’s a big blind spot, I admit, but I think life is too short to drive boring cars. The satisfaction that comes from doing the work myself, knowing every nut and bolt, and having stuff that (usually) works when I am done cannot be beat. I also selfishly like situations like happened the other day… I pulled up to my alignment shop in the XJS and one of the younger guys behind the counter said “Holy Sh!t what is that!!!” That’s pretty cool (Sorry AJ that is a very long answer to a simple question.)
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