The XJS (XJ-S in its earlier years) was a “grand tourer” produced in England from 1975 to 1996. Three body styles were offered, including the convertible that you see here. Jaguar was acquired by Ford in 1991, but that was long after the seller’s drop-top was built with a V12 engine. The seller’s 1989 edition is a barn find that may or may not run, and she’s looking to free up the space as soon as possible. It’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $2,500 (originally $4,500) and can be found in Ripon, Wisconsin. Thanks for the tip, “Lothar of the Hill People”.
Across three generations, the XJS saw production of more than 115,000 units, so a plentiful supply was seen back in the day. Yet, you don’t see many of them anymore, in part due to Jaguar’s quality control problems back in those days. My neighbor had one, and it was constantly in the shop. The XJS was based on the XJ sedan (or “saloon,), and aerodynamics played a role in its layout. This edition was produced during the second generation that began in 1981 and concluded in 1991.
Under the hood of this beast should be a 5.3-liter “High Efficiency” V12. The transmission should be a TH-400 3-speed automatic sourced from General Motors. Horsepower was upgraded to 263 (for imports to the U.S.), and we understand the cars were more fuel efficient than their predecessors. These were luxurious automobiles that likely appealed to buyers who just had to have a Jaguar.
The seller admits to knowing little about this car, so perhaps it came with the property it occupies. It may or may not run, but considering the hood has been removed, we assume the latter is the case. The seller is uncertain about the model year, but the title should be able to confirm that. If you’re looking for a project that may be easy (but probably not), would you take a chance on this XJS?
Barn cat 🐈
Find a Jag mechanic first….
The seller says he has the title…. but doesn’t know what year it is. Sometimes I wonder how some people have the sense to get through a day.
Ain’t that the truth!! Here is a car that had some value when it was ‘put away, wet’ in its current position… now there is algae growing on the paint! It tells quite a lot about those that owned this car…. Me? I would stay away from this one…far away….even if I was doing the work!
Does anyone want to purchase the body from me?
There is a junk yard/salvage yard in the outskirts of Chicago that has a YouTube channel showing cars they get, some they try to resell, others get crushed and they explain why. Some of the cars they try to sell have been featured on this site. The guy in charge has a soft spot for older cars and Jaguars like this. They’ve featured several of these, for less than this cars asking price but in similar condition. A few weeks they featured one of these, which was on several selling platforms they use, last week they did an update. They had a total of one response, so they crushed it. That’s the path this car is on.
Steve R
If it wasn’t over 1600 miles away I would consider it Looks like it could be a easy flip for only a few hours work to get it running and cleaned up
Dream on Troy! It’s a Jaguar, and if anything needs cleaning up you must know that it’s going to cost you a LOT of money to get it roadworthy again! I have owned somewhere between 2-300 cars over the last 70 years and the one and only Jag that I ever bought was so heavy on petrol that having bought it on a Friday evening I returned it on the following Monday morning, early! When the salesman/owner saw me driving in he knew exactly why!
I’m a retired automotive technician, for G.M. I took an intrust in these cars about 12 years ago. Especially the Jaguar V-12. So I bought all the special tools and manuals, and sent my self back to school. The cost of getting this car back in running condition is not what most people want to spend. So they generally get scraped.
leave this bird poop covered wreck where she lays. i would not pay 25.00 for it. find a better example.
In Wisconsin on a dirt floor??? Bad combination
Definitely, a possible rust bucket coming from Wisconsin. I spent a very pleasant day in the spring on a sunny day in Illinois driving one of these around. It belonged to a very close late friend of mine. He insisted that his car was a very special car. As he had owned it since new and NEVER had an issue with anything. It had been perfect for 5 years, (at that time) but was getting scared as he knew it wouldn’t last. He sold the car last year as he knew his health was failing. And he had still never had an issue with the car. He dove it about 5,000 miles per year and maintained it himself religiously. But he “lived in fear ” for the inevitable that never happened. He always made sure that the car always had towing insurance.
I bought two of these used that were about this year; one sedan for my wife, one a coupe for me.. Had small block Chevy engines put in both of them thinking years of worry-free usage. The electrical gremlins forced me to sell them both. At a huge loss of course.
I paid $4K for my 90 XJS convertible with no rust, beautiful paint, slightly worn interior and 70K miles. I’d love a parts car and an 89 would suit. If it were close by, I’d offer $500 for this and come up to $800 cash. Lots of great parts hopefully without a rusted out body (Wisconsin after all).
NOTHING more expensive to restore than a CHEAP NONE RUNNING JAGUAR!
For those people “who just had to have a Jaguar” actually having one should erase that thought from their mind. They are/were beautiful cars, but had many quirks that can do serious damage to your bank account. Trust me on this. If you really have to have an XJS you should ensure that complete service records are available. Even those that have been pampered are still like rolling the dice.
As a long time classic car dealer back in the day I intended to use a Jag XJS convertible to take my wife to the opening of a new Convention Centre where a collection of my cars were being displayed, that was to be opened by Nelson Mandela. As I put the gear lever into reverse the gear lever moved back but the car stayed in Park! In the end I used my ’67 Mustang coupe and had to have the Jag towed to the dealer as a cable had broken!
If it were in good condition but with a blown donk, I would say buy it and do an engine swap and you’d have a sweet ride but in this condition, it will end up as a 1 meter square compacted cube and be converted into frying pans.
These were junk EMF’s straight out of the factory. An old, abused one should be the basis of a horror flick.
Funny with that attitude, what led you to even look at this listing? I skip by cars I hate.
To see what guys like you have to say.
Me too. Anything to do with Ford model A’s. Corvettes, Tri 5 Chevs etc. Not that I have anything against them, but they just don’t interest me due to them being like backsides, everybody has one!
I don’t know what an EMF is, but while XJS’s have their quirks, they’re a wonderful driving car and that engine is bulletproof if it gets normal maintenance. Occasional electrical quirks do occur, as they do in Italian, French, Swedish, and German cars. I’ve worked on all of them and it ain’t fun. Of course, American metal never fails which is why you almost never see an American car in a junkyard.
Modern cars seem to be so much more robust from a mechanical perspective, but when their electrics/digitals fail, watch out.$$$
Also, has anyone read about all of the Tesla vehicle fires, particularly after an accident when the software that opens the doorlocks fails and the riders are incinerated alive with even passersby unable to help them?
When I had my XJS numerous people suggested I should do an engine swap usually with a 350 Chevy. I had to tell them over and over that I had no issues with the V-12. It was the rest of the car that had me pulling my hair out.
EMF- Every Morning Fix
Run away! Run away!
Where is it, behind the rabbit? No, it IS the rabbit!!
If i was a bit closer I’ld get it just to have it sitting in my yard as yard art. I live in the country so could get away with that.
Hey, you can tell it’s a Jaguar XJS – cuz it says so on the windshield. .
My dad was gonna buy the family one in the mid 80’s looked great ran great had lots of service records. Put it up on the lift to check out the leaking exhaust …..the whole car was rotted out. We were in Kenosha WI. At the time. We definitely dodged a bullet. So rust is definitely a issue in the Midwest.
You can’t scare me, lol! My son bought an 89 XJ-S for $2K 10 years ago. Drove it home despite the dropped valve seat (yeah, that’s a thing with these). Pretty much went through the whole thing and it still runs great, drove it yesterday. Just another machine held together with bolts, if you are good at working on things you can fix it just like any other car.