Hello everyone - I’ve been a member for ages, but not been around for a few years and sadly, I’m coming here with a sad XJ-S story which has resulted in a bit of soul-searching and the need to make a decision.
About 10 years ago, my XJS was about to fail its MoT due to corrosion so unable to do anything about it at the time I laid it up, taking care to protect it as much as possible with waxoyl and other products. It was already showing corrosion in all the favourite places (front wings, sills, base of the rear window, around the rear bumper, floors, etc) and although much of that is no worse, I hadn’t noticed that there was water getting in at the rear screen, and unfortunately the rear jacking points and radius arm mounts are all now a rusty mess with holes in the floor and probably a lot of other unseen corrosion present.
I’m wondering how far gone is too far gone - is it time to sell it off for parts and get something else, or is there any hope for resurrecting it? I’ve had a look around to see what’s available and although there are a fair few XJ-Ss for sale, there’s nothing of the same spec as mine or that I would like as much as mine if it were in better condition. My car is an early 3.6 manual, with cruise control and extra performance after a visit to TWR early in its life, and the fact that it’s black means that the bumpers and panels behind the rear windows are body-coloured which I think makes it look better than any other colour.
I’ve been offered a low-mileage 1990 3.6 manual by a dealer, and although I’m sure it would be a fabulous car and I trust them to prepare it for sale, I’m still not sure I want a late car and I’m not too fond of the colour. The new car is £15k. To be honest, I’d made my mind up to buy that car and sell mine as for parts until I started wondering about the logistics and cost of repairing my own car.
Why not a late car? - well I much prefer the pre-1987 interior and switchgear - the later cars always seem a bit more flimsy than the old ones. I hope it’s not an unpopular view that the more the XJS got facelifted and ‘improved’, the more its charms seemed to become diluted - the later cars are fabulous motor vehicles, but perhaps lack some of the character and ‘jaguarness’ of the early ones.
I guess the question I’m mulling over, is how much of a restoration does £15k get you these days? - and would it even be worth it to plough all that cash into an early XJ-S with 106k miles on the clock. I’m sure I’d be looking at new front wings, new floors, sills, and a load of other bits that can’t be seen - I know that the panel that the headlights screw to is also pretty bad, for example, and the inner wings are shot where the subframe and suspension units are - the original reason it was taken off the road.
The engine and gearbox are fine but it will need a complete suspension overhaul - something I’d plan to do myself.
You can see a few pics of my car here: Jaguar XJ-S | Flickr
As you can see - one of the cruel ironies is that I now have the undercover space to store it properly and look after it. It’s just a shame that it didn’t spend the last 10 years in my new workshop!
I’d be interested to hear your opinion about the best way forward.
I’m located near Cambridge in the UK and have always loved the Jaguar marque, although I also have an interest in other old British cars, particularly Rover and I drive a late Rover 75 Tourer as my other car. It’s great to meet you all 
I have had people mention how (stealthily) quiet Superblue is on the road. 
, but like that is a bad thing (again, a “sheep in wolf’s clothing” 
). My thoughts on that subject are that back in the day of our XJSes the idea of making a sports car run super quiet was “cool” - nowadays it seems the going thing is just the opposite, esp. with the young(er) crowd. They want their sport cars as loud/noisy as possible … 
I guess to call more attention to it when going down the road, maybe? 