The road to hell is paved with good intentions, a phrase that carries particular weight in the collector car community. The meaning of this phrase basically boils down to the fact that good intentions are meaningless without a supporting action that allows them to be acted upon. For many of us, we have every intent of getting back into a project, but time and interest tend to dissolve at about the same point. The seller of this 1972 Jaguar E-Type coupe listed here on craigslist notes it comes with a long and winding past that led it to this point.
The seller, a broker/dealer helping the older female owner with the sale, is asking $11,500. I give him a lot of credit, as he is exceedingly detailed in the listing and helps paint a picture of what brought the Jaguar to this point. The previous owner, the seller’s brother, began stripping the car for restoration many, many years ago. He broke the car down, had it painted, and then got called to a new job in New York City where he couldn’t store the car nearby. It was shipped to his sister’s house in Vermont, where it would remain for the next several years.
As he traveled for work, there were always plans to get back to the project. However, those plans never materialized, and after passing away unexpectedly, the project truly hit the skids. The sister, honorable as she is, kept the Jaguar indoors and out of view until probate was settled and she could market the car, The interior has been stripped out but it looks like most of it is included. The broker who is selling the car further notes the rear brakes are stick and the engine is locked up – a true bummer for the current caretaker. After all those years of sitting, it’s hardly surprising.
With 272 horsepower and 300 lb.-ft. of torque, the E-Type was no slouch. The shame of the engine being locked up is it looks quite clean and I suspect it was a running, driving car for many years before the restoration project began in earnest. The seller’s brother apparently was still driving it while living in Texas, and that’s when disassembly apparently began. To move a car in pieces from Texas to Vermont shows real commitment, and it’s a shame the gentleman never had a chance to finish his work. The seller is correct that the smarter play is likely stripping it down and parting it out, but our strong preference is to see it back on the road.
Unfortunately, it’s a $12,000 mess. If the featured selling point of a car is the “value” of its expensive parts, you are staring directly into a huge red flag. There is a lot of rust on areas that should already have completed and need to be redone, not to mention whatever parts turn up missing. This won’t be an easy sell and very well may need several rounds of discounts to find a buyer.
Steve R