1992 Jaguar XJS V12, 92,000 miles, MoT 04/2017, SOLD

Model: Jaguar XJS (Facelift) V12

Year: 1992

Mileage: 92,000

MOT: April 2017

Pics: In the main bit below, yes

Location: LE17 in a field near Lutterworth (not literally in a field, mind).

Price: £3,495

Contact details: PM me, then I'll pass on number & suchlike.



So, this is part of a bit of a fleet reduction, and an unexpected story generally. I bought this XJS in August last year with suspected head gasket failure. After not doing anything much with it at all, I had a look in April and I found that the cooling return hose stub that goes into the thermostat housing had popped out. There were no signs of HGF at any point, so I'd always been confused - it always started easily etc. - but when I bought it the owner was adamant! (No, not Adam Ant).

Anyway, I cleaned and drifted the hose stub back into the alloy casting, refilled it with water, and cautiously ran it up to temperature. Expected steam out of the exhaust or similar at that stage.



Nothing. It ran over & over again, for up to 40 minutes each time (don't ask what that cost in fuel), no overheating.

So I took it for an MoT and it passed, with comments that the underside is in great condition but needs protecting now (there's a past welded repair to one side near a seatbelt mounting, which I think is common), it has some fine cracks on the driver's side mirror which were deemed "okay but deal with it", which I intend to - new mirror glass from Jaguar is about £40.

Having got the test, I set about using it, easing it back into service, and found a leak on the lower radiator hose. So it now has new lower & upper hoses on that side, and a set of hoses to go in if you're really bored. It also has new pressure caps as the ones on it were really weak. Finally, having now covered 500 miles of running about, including A14 rush hour traffic, I'm going to replace the water & dregs of old coolant with deionised water and proper coolant.



There are areas of the body that will need attention and it's not a £10K XJS, but most people reckon it's an easy £5K one. It has little paperwork, the interior needs tidying (trim on passenger side pillar/headlining, couple of plastics like seatbelt catch covers), it has excellent Michelin tyres and drives really nicely, only mark down I can give the driving is it pulls a little when braking and the offside front wheelbearing is audible not not howling. They're tapered and adjustable so can probably be regreased, apparently they're easy to deal with. Handbrake works - on and off.

Windscreen washers have decided to play up so I'll investigate that.

The bonnet has curse word paint, and it's got quad lights which aren't to everyone's taste. There are little bits of rust/bubbling here as you'd expect on any typical Jaguar of this age - not much at all, arches are nice, sills are good but will probably want attention in a couple of years if not protected, roof is good, doors are good.

Visually the worst bit is some delaminating of the windscreen. Without that, and with a new leaper or growler on a properly finished bonnet, it'd look stunning.

I'm selling it because I simply don't have the time or money to run and care for it at the moment - it was always anticipated as a "I'll go through the process of fixing it, tick "owned a Jaguar" off the list and then see where I am", and I'm so impressed with the ride quality and refinement for a car of this age & design the XJ8/XK8 are now firmly on the radar.

I'm getting an indicated 16-17mpg. It hasn't had a service beyond oil & filters so that might improve with some care.

Gearbox shifts smoothly normally, positively when asked to hustle. 3-speed - this is an early facelift car.

Windows work. Cruise control works. Usually no warning lights - sometimes I've had the brake warning light on. Nice radio with iPod lead but passenger side door speaker is tired. Central locking has just decided to play up on passenger side, too. Two birds with one stone! It has a full set of spare wheels in refurbished (one is boxed/new) condition, without tyres.

Priced, looking at other XJSs out there, to sell, but obviously it has things that need attention. I can be a little flexible on price. PX considered but there's a car I want on the horizon, so it'd have to be a very good deal for me to be interested.Also if it's post '80s VAG the Jaguar's price doubles



*actually it's pretty nice for the money, but I'm being realistic because it's not loaded with provenance.