hello everyone
This is my first time posting in xj section , I own several xjs’s and i know a bit about them.
i have found a local 74 xj12 that I want to buy however i do not know the price range .
it is not running , it has sat for 20 years in a garage and a year outside .
there is evidence of moisture inside and the car does not look bad for a 74 .
how much should i offer?
Same rules apply for the XJ Gourgen.
Need to know more though.
Rust, interior condition, seized or not engine and so on… After Max’s recent experience we all are more sceptical for car that sat for 20 years… and it was a car with a very well known history.
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Sorry, but I wouldn’t touch that car except for a parts car.
It will need fuel tanks, pumps, carbs just to see if it runs, then piles more money.
If you really wanted one of these models, it would be cheaper to buy one done, that someone else has put $20,000 into, and is now for sale for $7,000.
If it was a series 1, it would be worth a little more, but the same applies.
If you are looking for something to do, that’s different.
Good luck,
Rob
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I do not want to rain on your parade but I would not offer much. I now own 2 cars and have spend the better part of 5 months working on it and it the Problems seem to never end. Still haven’t been able to get it running… but then again I am learning a ton. So there is that. It is just very frustrating and expensive. YMMV
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I understand , I do not need another headache. thanks
As a owner of a '74 XJ12L (hopefully for not much longer), buy a picture book of the XJ series. The real thing is more of financial burden than it’s worth. Beautiful cars? Yes. Reliable? No.
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Stephen,
maybe I miss your point, but I’ve been using my 1975 car from 2007 through 2019 in regular service including business trips over 400 mls, probably 50 or 60 airport rides (each approx. 50 mls) and it never let me down. Only two years ago a fault developed that took me one and a half year to identify and fix. - Tomorrow I’m set for the airport again. Fair enough, it is a very original car, check book serviced for its first 15 years, largely unmolested and treated well.
So, I’d say “buy a picture book series Jag” to avoid a lot of the nightmares involved in straightening out samples that have been abused over +40 years, but - at the bottom line - a decent series Jag can be made a very reliable companion.
Best
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
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… to add on my last mail: the Jag took me to the airport in a breeze and safely home again. Only today I used the car at 35°C (no AC!) for purchasing six crates of water (actually one had to be transported in the rear passenger footwell). Still, it is an enormously practical classic car.
Best
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
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Hi Jochen,
I see that you also have issues with the boot (trunk) lid staying up! I also use an umbrella for that purpose 
Regards,
Bob
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Actually, only during the last few months the hinges regained a kind of friction they need to just about stay open. Still, the point where they keep the boot lid is at a height where the boot lid lock and my forehead collide - and my learning curve is not very steep in this respect. The umbrella props it open just about four inches higher - high enough to go above my head - and fits perfecty into the boot.
As I wrote, perfectly practical …
Best
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec
Practical and absolutely necessary as my bald head will testify………
When it comes to the purchase of an old denizen that has not run for decades, the old formula is simple. “Willing seller to willing buyer”. In whatever coin and amount. Even FREE? “Just get it outta here”!!! Oh, caveat, it will not be free, trust me… but, fun and challenging. definitely… Those are not measured in currency.
Carl
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Food for thought.
Just Curious
Is this a XJ12L or XJ12? The reason why I ask is because according to my research Jaguar didn’t make a V12 SWB Saloon. But after reading their incongruous service manuals of the same time frame. It wouldn’t surprise me if British Leyland lost track of the cars that were actually produced and maybe did make a SWB XJ12. If so, then that would be the only one (that I’m aware of).
What killed the Series II besides British Leyland dying on the vine
The 70’s was the decade of earth tones, turd brown and olive household appliances, and keeping with the theme at British Leyland. Rust. The largest contributing factor of so few Series II’s rolling around today. Besides what the Feds did to the car on on this side of the pond. Forcing it to sport the mandated high mounted rubber baby-buggy bumpers (say that 10 times fast);
Fit an finish wasn’t great and either was the quality of the steel. If I jack up my Series II at the Jack point, I can’t open the front door.
The next question is does it turn over? I most certainly wouldn’t attempt it with the starter because chances are the rings are more than likely stuck to the cyl walls. Was the car stored properly? Coolant will eventually turn aluminum into gray goo. Sadly it’s more common to have pitted heads where the water gallery meets the head than not. Another sad thing, is with a car stored as long as it has been you have to think worst case and hope for the best.
The cost to rebuilding a V12 providing all the hard to get / expensive bits are in good condition and you decide to do it yourself. This endeavor will lighten your wallet about 7 1/2 grand for parts and machining. Pay someone? just south of twice that number.
What do you plan to do with the car?
Keep it?
Which do you love more? Money or the car?
Flip it?
If the car was a runner, then I’d have a $ figure to through out. Then evaluation comes down to the bits as if you were parting out the car. Good interior is sot after. V12 - then it’s got a power loc IRS, Transmission BW 65 or 66 automatic, '74 then it’s probably got a 3:30 or 3:07 to 1 gear ratio - desirable, chrome bits in good shape add what you think you could sell them for.
this is how I’d evaluate a non-running Jaguar
Now…
If the car has some fabulous History, like Cindy Crawford was conceived in the back seat or Boe Derek was schtupped in the car, then find track down that certifiable fan. hope he’s got deep pockets and sell him the restored car. Otherwise it’s pretty unlikely. This is why there are so many lumped XJ12’s.
look at hagerty car evaluations, as well as search bring a trailer dot com for Jaguar’s XJ’s by date.
Sorry I don’t have a definitive answer. Too many unanswered questions, like Interior condition high $$$ item, rust in the usual places? overall condition of the car. Pictures would be helpful.
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