jaguar

What happens in the barn… stays in the barn

There’s a lot of talk about the mystery of the “barn find”. People imagine million-dollar Rolls-Royces and Bentleys sitting in barns up and down the country, just waiting to be discovered. They imagine a quick wash and instant fame and fortune at the nearest fancy car auction. The reality is much different…

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This is a 1986 Jaguar XJ6. It sat in a barn in sunny Oregon for roughly 20 years. As you can see, it’s covered in several stages of green mould and spiders, and all the tyres are flat. One would also not be surprised to find the interior full of mice/rats/cats/sharks, trees growing on the floor, and suspicious holes in the carpets/seats/headliner. Additionally, as this is a British car we’re talking about, one would also expect the woodwork to have the consistency of Swiss cheese.

So, to prove a point, I unloaded it and washed it. This is what emerged:

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This is the same 1986 Jaguar XJ6. The paintwork is shiny and dent-free, the body is rust-free, and the chromework is excellent. The interior is in great condition, with no rips or tears on the seats – and the woodwork is pristine.

The secret?

Air.

Yes, really. Storing a car under covers – and perhaps full of newspaper – is an excellent recipe for a rusty, mouldy, rotten disaster. Despite this car being utterly filthy externally, the fact that it was stored in a dry, well-ventilated barn completely saved the car. Aside from the flat tyres (which were, obviously, British), you’d never know it had been stored at all.

By tedlit, ago

…and it’s off to the golf club…

I’ve had a few older XJS’s over the years – all coupes, and the newest was an ’86.. but last week, I became the proud owner of a ’94 XJS convertible. It’s a 6cyl and has a list of issues as long as my arm.. but hey, it makes a change from switching head gaskets on Land Rovers. I drove it 75 miles home and didn’t hit any real problems… which I count as a result, right?

So far, I’ve fixed:
-Convertible top goes up but not down (bad relay + contacts)
-No turn signals (bad flasher contacts)
-No left-side lights (bad contacts at headlamp)
-Terrible throttle response (throttle cable stretched almost 1″)

…and need to fix:
-Both front seats are mostly destroyed
-Front footwell carpets are missing
-Right rear turn signal lens is cracked
-Driver’s door is dented
-Some genius removed the rear spoiler but didn’t fill the holes in
-Clearcoat on trunk is bizarrely faded
-Stereo is truly, truly awful
-Steering clunks like it has no bushings in it at all
-Car pulls to right under braking

I count that as not too bad a list….. for now.

The car apparently has quite the history – it came to me with a sticker for a well-known retirement home in the back window and a story that the previous-previous owner had to sell it because he had his license confiscated. At that explains the bizarre damage to the driver’s door…!

By tedlit, ago

Hair today, gone tomorrow

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.

By tedlit, ago

Perhaps a little too optimistic?

There are project cars, and then there are project cars. I’ve never broken a car, but I’ve had plenty of bits off of other people’s parts cars. This little beauty above isn’t really either of those things, but it’s much more of a project than anything I’ve attempted before – except for the Stag, but that kind of goes without saying.

It’s a 1998 Jaguar XJ8. It’s got 130-something k miles on it, and it doesn’t run. It has one of the more fantastic Jaguar quirks – a gearbox that’s stuck in fourth. The previous owner sensibly didn’t drive it like that, which is a rarity in itself – but unfortunately, it sat for a while.. and thanks to the awesome Northwest weather, the fuel tank got water in it. This means the entire fuel system got waterlogged, so it won’t even start now. Not that you could go anywhere in it anyway.

Aside from this (admittedly fundamental) problem, there’s very little wrong with it. The roof paint is a bit faded, but it’s such a weird colour I don’t think that’s an issue. It’s one of the first “pearl” paint finishes – Anthracite Pearl – which is really just “grey metallic”, but we’ll leave that one for now.

Anyone who knows Jaguars would know that 1998 was the first year for the v8 in the XJ – and the 1998-99 years also suffer from having Nikasil cylinder liners. I’m going on the principle that it’s survived twelve years without a problem, so this is likely not a bad one. That, and it’s not supercharged – which tends to finish the liners off sooner rather than later.

Onwards and upwards, eh.

By tedlit, ago

It’s SO UNFAIR!

I have a 1986 Jaguar XJ-S. I dragged it out of a hedge in Seattle in late 2008, where it had sat for a good few years. Someone had attempted to “upgrade” the headlights (to modern H4 lights) and had burnt out most of the front electrics… and inevitably lost interest in the poor car.

It’s only got 65k miles on it.. and drivetrain-wise, it’s all original.. which means a 5.3 v12 mated to a GM TH400 transmission.

It didn’t take too much to get it running – a new ignition amplifier, new rotor arm, and a good fuel system flush. It did, however, take *months* to track down a persistent misfire (note: a v11 doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as a v12), and a good bit longer to get the electrics working well enough that the headlamps work.

Unfortunately, after all this work, it turns out that the transmission’s toast – it reverses just fine, but slips horribly in any forward gear now. I managed to put about 500 miles on it before this manifested itself, so I’m guessing one of the clutch packs has just had enough. This is a colossal shame, and is hugely unfair.. but I guess I can’t really complain… or can I?

By tedlit, ago