This is another one of those cars I just accidentally bought one day. It happens annoyingly frequently to me, and most people just won’t believe it’s possible to purchase a car by accident. I can assure you it is, as the state of my driveway currently will testify.
I’d heard about this particular car third-hand, but was put-off specifically by all the issues I’d had with another Jaguar in the recent past.. that and the guy selling it was something of a character, but you take that as normal now.
Anyway, it’s a 1998 Jaguar XJ-S v12:
Reddest thing ever?
It’s got 70-something k on it and about two years ago it had a full pro respray in OEM Grenadier Red. The seller claimed it had taken a full week of wet sanding and re-cutting to get it looking this good.. and boy, does it look good. The paint is absolutely flawless, and it’s a red that’s just different enough to be interesting.
Unfortunately, spending several grand on a paint job means you can’t afford to fix any of the car’s actual problems. The seats are a bit worn, the dash wood has seen better days, one of the rockers has a minor oil leak, and it’s got no headliner. Yes, really.. the headliner is gone, leaving you looking up at the shiny fibreglass backing pad that’s supposed to have foam and over-ostentatious cloth trim affixed to it.
Mechanically, it’s a mixed bag too. The car was actually taken off the road because of a severe brake fluid leak (which is as good a reason as any), which turned out to be a bodged back brake union. Jaguars with inboard brakes are notoriously difficult to work on, and hacks such as this are all too common.. especially when Jaguar want $90 for a four-inch piece of brake pipe. Also, I suppose the complete absence of any rubber in the transmission mount did go some way to explain the annoying clonking every time you drive over anything resembling a bump.
On the other hand, all of these little niggles have now been fixed, and it ventured gingerly out onto the road for the first time yesterday. I love XJ-S’s, especially the late 80s ones – partly because they’re downright sexy and a blast to drive, but mostly because they’re one of the few cars that actually look fast when they’re sitting still.
Oh, what to do.. what to do.