Hi, so I won this car, a Jaguar XJ6 1975 on a auction. But I have no idea if it’s a reasonable deal or not. So I would really appreciate some advice.
The price ended on 2,200 $.
Here is a link, the text are swedish, but there’s a bunch of pictures.
The previous owner did apparently put it in the garage for 27 years because he planned to fix the rust. Honestly I don’t think it looks that bad in the pictures, but I haven’t seen the car in person yet.
Mechanically speaking, the car was supposedly fine when they stored it away. But after all this time the engine is kinda stuck, so i probably have to check if the cylinders are “clean”.
I was thinking on fixing it to a “drivable” condition without spending to much money. Any thoughts? I can still cancel the deal if I want to.
Is this one worth buying, or is it a big No?
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Two issues from the description, Robin; ‘rust in lower body, and the engine cannot be turned by hand’…
If the car has been stored untouched for 27 years; it is unlikely to be a straight forward, and cheap, ‘fixing to a driveable condition’ - I do not know your competence and equipment. You will likely need dedication…
So you have bought it yes? You are about to commence a very steep learning curve. I think if it has been laid up for 27 years this is a positive thing. I am sure the engine will be fine, and the body interior looks OK. However long wheelbase series 2 autos are not highly valued. Better if it was an early SWB or manual gearbox.
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
4
Most Jaguar owners agree these cars do better when driven regularly than when “laid up”.
No, it’s not a big No, but It all depends at the amount of rust and your definition of " without spending to much money."
Rust is the most important, difficult and time consuming job.
As there are no visible signs at the body you might be lucky.
Interior is salvageable and overall ok.
Seized engine could be from easy to complete teardown.
I also wonder why the front suspension sits so high up. So high that at the beginning I thought that it had no engine in it.
Besides that consider seized brakes, probably rusty tanks, rotten hoses, hardened seals etc etc, the list can get very long.
Never the less, the body looks very clean, well taken cared and very low mileage, a good base for a restoration.
It also depends on doing the work yourself or not. If not it will not be without spending to much money.
It’s a project I would embark in, but I would do the work myself.
But even without any major rust issues I foresee minimum a 2 to 4 months project.
I can smell the damp from here… IMO I would find one that’s being driven or at least road worthy. In any case do by all means buy an XJ they are great cars.
it depends a lot on where you’re located. In this part of the world nice SII cars don’t tend to pop up every other day, so - if you really like it - the car doesn’t seem wrong at 2200 US. There are three things that kind of turn me off a bit.
Leather doesn’t like it dry, but too much moisture will make a perfect breeding ground for mildew, mould - as Mike put it “I can smell the damp”. Looking at the pic with the steering wheel and the trunk makes me suspect you will have to replace many parts of the interior to fix this issue.
If the car was laid off 27 years ago it was running till 1993 and in 1993 it was already 18 years old. Many things may have happened and some things make the car look strange to me. It is an LWB model, but doesn’t have “XJ 6 L” on the trunk, but “XJ 4.2”. It is a 1975 car and has the old style door cards, but not the narrow pleats interior - in fact it seems to be a much later or even Daimler interior, at least the rear bench. The black ski slope is from later cars as well. It looks like the roofliner was missing and the pic of the rear screen corner makes it look like it had a respray at some time. Exhaust tips are uneven and don’t look original either.
Finally, though the engine is in the car the car seems to ride sky high front - what is wrong?
Other than that, many positive issues: original steel wheels with hubcaps and rimbellishers in good shape. “Elephant ears”, common in Scandinavia, may have saved sills and rear quarter panels. Original steering wheel, looks like period head unit. Veneer almost certain to be saved. Brightwork looks like it could be saved as well. Also the creases along the sills behind the rear doors are still there. Gaps look good.
Engine bay looks original with twin HS8 carbs and original AED. The hot air duct for the intake air heating is missing though. Depending on where you’re located the lack of climate control may be bad or good - it certainly comes in handy if you wish to work in the engine bay. The engine bay is extremely clean given the general state of neglect of the car. The front cross brace is super clean like the t-stat housing and the intake manifold.
Thanks alot for the detailed answer, I really appreciate it.
I did notice that the number on the trunk seemed strange when I compared the car with others onlie. However I have no guess why thats the case.
In regard of the high front, I was kinda thinking to myself that it might be a combination of a weird suspension (maybe the springs?) and that the car has flat tires on one side. But in any case, I do hope that it only affects the car in a aesthetic way.
Going to inspect the car sometime next week, so i’m really grateful that im more informed now about what to look at.
And in general, a big thanks to everyone who has written so far.
It has been very informative. Because I agree that it would be a steep learning curve, since I dont have any previous experience about jaguars. And I was aiming on doing the work mostly myself. And honestly I might overestimate my own ability, but I have time to learn and tools.
Money is always an important factor, but at this stage it sure is hard to guess how much a renovation would cost.
Much to think about, so every bit of advice is greatly appreciated.
Since the car seems to have stood outside (mould) and has flat tyres, it could be that the car is stood on blocks that you can see on one or two pictures.
My best guess is that the spring pan eventually had enough of the bad weather and gave up, which is okay if it happened on both sides, very dangerous if one is about to give. It also means that the rest of the underbody is likely not great. Exhaust. Brakes likely gone. What about the rubber parts of the suspension? Take a screwdriver with you, stab at the car in the following locations:
All four jacking points/ sills
The area just behind the rear wheel at the lowest point
Inspect the bottom of the C pillars
Look above the outer headlamps. Rust?
Same for doors at the bottom.
Wheel arches are often rusted. No big deal if you repaint the entire car… for a driver, which I like if you do that, walk away if it’s too much. Headlamps or arches or doors are not a big deal and from what you’ll see it might be okay. It was deemed fixable half a century ago, but do make sure that this car hasn’t stood outside all these years.
There will be a point where the car is no longer worth saving.
A stuck engine would set you back ~1000€ if you swap it yourself with a running one. Nothing terrible.
Less if you can get rid of the stuck one. I doubt the engine is worth much effort.
The interior will need to come out and maybe you can get to keep it after drenching it with vinegar… maybe not. The veneer will have suffered underneath the lacquer. With all that dampness the electrics might have lost some smoke and more will happen (or less).
It’s a semi-big no from me. The price is okay if the rust isn’t tremendous and you are open to spend a week or two of work on the engine DIY. The mould is not okay. I wouldn’t have trouble ripping it out, but not sure if you can save any of it and carpets alone will run you a few hundred, so you’ll be in ~5000€ Plus the 2200 and you’ll have a driver you can enjoy. That is without rust and paint.
I bought a S3 in 2017 for the same money (but RHD and a decent price), barely running, some rust but good below, it is the kind of car that gets to enjoy a few years of happiness and of constant attention for little money after decades of neglect, but is slowly dying now. It needs a new engine, the alignment is slightly off and it needs a repaint with light repairs. The AC needs to be completely redone. The interior is so-so. Brakes are great by now.
Now I have another XJ, one of the early S1, that has been stored since the early 90’s with a broken engine. The interior is immaculate and almost everything looks quite good, little rust but only in 3 places. It would need paint, but I’m leaving it as long as possible. I’m calculating 6000€ including the car (or a little more to get it back on the road, and about a year unless something gets in the way, which it naturally will). I paid 3500 for the car. Browse around the classifieds before the inspection so you have an idea of the market, because the truth is that a few thousand more do go a very long way in saving money and frustration later on. It doesn’t have to be a low mileage piece of perfection, but it should not be many little things that are wrong. Better to have a broken engine or a bit of rust, but a good interior.
Time, tools and interest are great though, you should definitely stay with us and get an XJ to enjoy! You’ll like it, I’m sure.
Besides looking ridiculous, the suspension will be WAY out of it’s specs and it will drive like a dog.
Like David said, I also think that the car stood on blocks and the shock absorbers are stuck.
Not a good thing as it puts enormous strain on the top shock mounts.
I am more optimistic than David.
The ad states that the car was not outside, and it’s clearly shown from the condition of the car.
There is no visible rust on the body except from the rear bumper. The wheel covers are pristine and the paint is in excellent shape.
What needs to be assessed before anything else is the amount of rust under the car.
For me it would be the primary make or brake deal factor.
Interior looks quite good and I think it’s absolutely salvageable.
Seats and carpets can go out, cleaned, treated and even re-dyed, not a huge job.
It even looks like it has a non sagging headliner!
Dash and wood inserts need to be re-varnished, easy enough also.
Front suspension / brakes out and rebuild (300 euros in parts)
Steering rack rebuild (maybe)
IRS / rear brakes out and rebuild (500 euros in parts)
Fuel tanks (maybe)
Cooling system (300 euros)
All hoses
Carbs rebuild
Sorting the electrics will be fiddly and time consuming, but easy and inexpensive to fix.
Engine rebuild or replace, depends on the condition and your mood…
If it refuses to turn, and with such a low mileage engine, before deciding I would tear it down to see it’s condition.
Most probably you have stuck pistons due to rust in the cylinders, and if, hopefully, all journals are ok, you might get away with just replacing the cylinders, pistons, gaskets and seals.
You will have then a close to new engine.
Overall parts are not expensive and 99% available, either new or used.
I also have a bunch of little bits from an SII if you ever need.
It’s all a learning curve.
Get your self a manual and download this: http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/Jaguar.html
Albeit it’s focussed on the XJS, they are 90% identical cars.
Keep us posted, there are many highly knowledgeable people here and you will get all the guidance you need.
It will be easier to put in a later engine from a breaker completely, pistons run ~500, gaskets 60, cylinders might be fine after a light hone but there is no guarantee - but mostly it is a lot of work, since the valves are to be done as well and why not do the bearing shells and clean the crank. Maybe do that one day.
There’s still a good possibility that the engine isn’t actually stuck! I hope the cooling system was drained.
I’m being pessimistic, but if he has a look at the car and is pleasantly surprised, he might take it but if not, he knew where to look and wouldn’t have a hard time passing it.
The work itself is mostly enjoyable as soon as you invested in some large wooden blocks to put the car on and you have some space to work on, must be better than my single garage.
When I viewed the car live, it was actually better looking than I expected. No noticeable mold smell, (so there’s hope for the interior). Nor did I find any major rust underneath, when inspekting with a flashlight. The underbody seem to have quite a good rust protection, In fact.
I haven’t had time to check the engine that much yet.
However, the radiator was empty but seems corroded on a spot, so It might be leaking. I did just remove it, so that I can have a closer look at it tomorrow. The coolant doesn’t seem to have contaminated anything else that I can see. (Oils seems fine etc.)
Congratulations Robin! Not only for owning a SII Jaguar, but also for having taken a good decision as it seems.
For the moment, I’d start by getting to know the car by cleaning inside and out. If you remove the rear seat bench, which is a quite simple operation, you have access to the rear part of the floor pan and the radius arm mounting points. If you unbolt the front seats you can take out the carpet and inspect floor pan and inner sills. Chances are that, without significant rust there will be surface rust allowing you to remove, prime and paint before putting everything together.
Leather and vinyl love to be cleaned. The vinyl will come out almost as new while the leather will need an extra mile, but as I guessed intially, may be rescued. Then go around the body, wash, polish and wax and find out where you there is surface rust and rust from inside.
Making the car driveable is another story. Address all liquids and change rubber hoses, fuel lines etc, as they are comparatively cheap and - if left alone - call for future dismay. Again, once you’re in there (especially while the radiator is out) clean up everything around and get to know the car.