Why don’t you ever see an XJ40 on the road?

Despite being the most highly produced XJ6, it seems you seldom EVER see them on the road.
(I live in Florida btw)
Are there any NON owners who have noticed they seem to be the unicorn of the jaguar world? :nerd_face:

Not only don’t see them on the road, but the XJ81’ are rarely for sale either

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I see a few every week and of course mine is seen quite a bit too as it’s been my daily driver for 10 years.
Depends where you live I suppose …a lot were sold in Victoria BC and that’s where I am.

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Only in the back garden,

Wow Larry! I was wondering where they were all hiding.

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Someone who lived on the other side of my condo complex owned and daily drove a silver one, circa '90-'94 MY (i.e. had the “block” headlights instead of quads). Funny thing is back then (about 10 years or so ago) I also drove my '88 XJ40 (“Layla”) and even owned a second '88 that was a “rolling restoration” thing, and yet we never seemed to ever run into each other. :slightly_frowning_face: When I moved out of there about 5 years ago (I no longer owned by XJ40s then) he was still owning and driving it. :oncoming_automobile: When I moved out of there I moved to an apt. complex just a few blocks away. Turns out there is someone who owns a red XJ40 in the complex on one side of ours. It also appears to be a '90+ MY (looks kind of like the one in Lover’s “garden pic” hmmmm :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: ). Although I never see anyone driving it, obviously it is drivable b/c sometimes it is parked there (has a regular parking “slot”) and other times it isn’t. :confused: Oh, and back at my old condo place, there was a fellow who did end up buying and driving a pre-'90 XJ40. I did manage to meet up with him one day (someone(s) had gone around our complex the night before, knocking off/stealing hood ornaments, inc. his leaper and mine, as well as the star off of a Mercedes in our complex :angry: ). One thing I noticed right off the bat about his cat was that it came with wire spoke wheels on it, which as we know are a safety no no on an XJ40, due to weight issues. :no_entry_sign: I warned him about this hazard, and he kind of blew me off at the time – he thought the wire wheels were so “cool” and Jag-ish. Sure enough, he admitted to me less than a month later he was driving his cat on the highway when he heard the “ping ping ping” of wire spokes snapping, one after another. :open_mouth: Thankfully, he realized what was going on in time (maybe b/c of my warning?) and was able to pull it off to the side of the road w/o losing control of it. :pray:

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I think it’s merely a “time marches on” type of thing.

Twenty-some years ago, when I first go into the whole Jaguar thing, it was common to see XJ40s and Series IIIs in daily use in most any medium-sized or bigger town. And even XJSs were not an unusual sight.

Attrition claims some. Age and miles eventually take a toll and make 'em difficult to keep as regular drivers for most people. Most survivors are now hobby/sunny weekend cars.

I’ve used my Series III as a daily driver for several years now. Great car…although it has been testing me a bit lately :slight_smile:

Cheers
DD

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You’re right there, DoubleD. As to the XJS marque, one thing I think I’m finally beginning to realize and accept after many years on here is that, to own one “effectively” (unless you are fortunate enough to have bought one that has already had all needed work done on it :triumph: ) is (1) you have to have big money :moneybag: (e.g. for parts, tools, etc.) and (2) you have to have your own fully-equipped workshop with car lift. :thinking: (oh, and enough time to work on it yourself, which I suspect many, if not most, of our XJS lovers are “fully-retired” and therefore time is no problem in that regard - right? :confused:). Of course, the more $$ you have the more likely you can find and have someone else do the work for you. The less, then the more time you’re going to have to spend in your workshop yourself doing the work. Someone like me, who ain’t rich, works fulltime for a living, and lives in an apt., is mostly s.o.l. in that regard :shushing_face: :slightly_frowning_face: Maybe I should trade all (3 - inc. my non-running '00 XJ8 “Harlem”) of them in now for what I can get for them, use the $$ to buy a good 'ole pickemup truck/SUV (like seems everyone else but me drives around these parts :roll_eyes: ) and move on in life … ? :confused: After all, my 20+ years of Jag ownership hasn’t made me famous around my 'burb (except for a few “nice car” comments in passing), it certainly hasn’t gotten me any ladies (i.e. I’m still single and alone @ 60), or, in reality, done anything else materially for me. :thinking: I haven’t even been able to sell any of them off for any good $$ - they usually eventually die on the vine and end up getting towed away to parts unknown, despite my time and $ “investment” in them. :cry: Hell, I wonder if in my obit (if someone does write one, since I have no family) they’ll say, “(but) he did love his Jaguars” :roll_eyes: Whoopie …

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Yes it’s the journey innit not the end result sometimes. Sometimes I wonder how much simpler life would be and all the money I would have saved if I only bought/drove/worked on classic minis. But then again, even those are becoming a small fortune.

I visited my nearest Jaguar dealer a couple of months back and many of the staff came out to look at it as they had never seen one before. I see 90s cars but not the 40 I have.

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XJ40’s are also quite rare here in the UK. Whenever I attend Jaguar meets or classic car shows I see far more E.Types, Series XJ’s and MK2’s on display and in the car parks than XJ40’s.
When I bought my first one in 2003 they were still quite common, the classified section in the JEC magazine used to occupy two or three full pages of them. Now there’s seldom more than two or three cars listed. I think the sheer numbers available back then made them less appealing and repairing one would exceed any value they had so lots were scrapped and they were also popular on the banger racing circuits. I bought my second XJ40 in 2011 and by that time I had to search quite far to find a decent one but they were still far from being considered collectable or cherished. Nowadays when I attend Jaguar meets or classic car shows my car attracts a fair bit of attention, especially from the 20 to 35 age group and it is often complimented on even when just filling up at a petrol station. To me it seems like they were a victim of their own success, at least here in the UK.

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Well mine was on the road this past weekend with my local British car club for a drive to the Oregon coast so some folks must have seen it on the road. It has recently turned over 73K miles, all in my ownership. But I think the previous poster is right. Time marches on. How many Toyota Camrys or Ford Taurus do you see on the road that are 30+ years old?

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Yes - that’s what happened to my pristine '91 Sovereign. :frowning:

When I became unable to do my own maintenance and repairs and hated the thought of giving those tasks to a local dealer, under family pressure (and the gift of a new Range Rover!) I decided reluctantly to sell the XJ40.
I advertised the car and assembled the complete service history, manuals etc. and spare parts collected over the years to hand over to the potential buyer who, surprisingly seemed less than interested in those but very keen to take the car at the asking price. Later I learned why - he wanted it for banger racing… my beautiful car!!!

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Damn Bryan that must have had your heart drop below your stomach.:tired_face:
Hope you are keeping well.

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That must have been soul destroying after all that hard work and effort you put into keeping that car in A1 condition Bryan. It beats me how anyone could use any well maintained car for banger racing let alone a beautiful Jaguar like yours. :sob:

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I have a mint 92 Majestic, 57,000 miles on the clock. I haven’t had the time to drive it this year other than a few around the block s to keep the fluids flowing. I have a 94 XJ12 that has a bad harmonic balancer. Out it in the garage and it has sat for some time.

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Hope he sent ya video!

:wink:

Casso, it’s about emotional attachment. He wasn’t moved by a classic XJ40. Like me with the Porsche 911s. They have a huge and very loyal followers and I like those cars just don’t feel attached to them emotionally. Does it mean I’d banger race them? No. A Chevy Beretta that I had, YES! Or a better one, that damn Chrysler Maserati.

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Yea… all the Biturbos would have been a better choice for Fastmasters!

:smirk:

Funny you say that, hs, as back when I had my XJ40s I remember driving up to a dealership in Layla (was needing a part that I hoped they had in stock) back in the day and NO ONE even came out to greet me. Who ever heard of that happening to an “up” (as they are called in the car sale biz)??? :open_mouth: It not only ticked me off but made me wonder if they were having just such great sales of late they didn’t feel the need to. :thinking: Turned out also they didn’t have my part, b/c “we don’t even stock them (parts) for models that old” … wth??? :angry: