This 1986 Jaguar XJS quite literally appears to be stored in someone’s living room. I can’t explain it, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit wanting to occasionally walk downstairs in the morning and see my pride and joy sitting next to the breakfast bar. Still, this is either the case of a very nice garage (too nice?) or a very nice spouse (again, too nice?) Find it here on eBay with a $4,999 Buy-It-Now.
Of course, as is often the case with listings like this, not one word is said about the surroundings the Jaguar is stored in. Upon closer inspection, this is likely still a garage, just one with really nice floors and some furniture that’s more likely to be found in a bedroom. The XJS is described as a project that the seller won’t get around to, and mileage is under 50,000.
The body presents nicely and the interior is also quite tidy. The black leather bucket seats show little signs of wear. Paint looks nice on the outside, and no reason is given as to why this XJS was parked. Of course, given their spotty records for reliability and high maintenance costs, it’s not exactly a surprise to see it sitting idle.
This is a 12-cylinder car, which is a glass-smooth performer when running well but a vacuum-hose infested nightmare when it’s not. Many of these have been scrapped over the years or undergone an SBC swap in order to address the costly maintenance requirements, but this one looks too solid not to at least attempt to fire the massive 12-cylinder mil once again. But first, you have to get it out of the living room.
Where is Jamie when you need him?
If they’re crazy enough to put it in living space, you probably don’t want it.
Buddy of mine rebuilt a SBC for an S10 project, in the comfort of his living room. He didn’t have a garage heater installed before winter rolled in, and his wife didn’t object. OCD they were not.
LOL. “Don’t have the time to put into it”. Yeah, you and 6,999,999,999 other people.
This is the definition of a money pit. They’re known to be a nightmare of problems, and even if you did get it running well, it’s not worth very much in the marketplace when you’re done. Gosh, what could go wrong?
Living room uh?? Fitting place for a jag as that’s generally the place to go when you just want to sit idle.
Is that a 10 pound pail of kitty litter under the right front? If sooooo….
Yup! Looks like tidy cat and a jug of varnish haha. The jackstands are an excellent touch. It’s as if it’s got it’s feet kicked up on the coffee table saying “I aint going NOwhere! You know it’s bad when the owner has to convert his garage to a living space as staring at it is the only means you have to enjoy the car.
Someone please grab this thing dirt cheap and LS swap it.
A Chevy swap will cost much more than fixing whatever is wrong with it in the first place. I mean how much does some vacuum hose cost anyway? Unhook one end and trace it to the other end replace. Repeat until finished. While you’re at it replace the coolant hoses. They’re getting near to 40 years old!!!
The real difficult part is wire connections. Even if you swap in a Chevy problem will persist. Loose wires, pooor ground is 90% of the issues. Plus the car is heavy! 4200 pounds! Plus fuel and occupants!
The engine itself is massively overbuilt. Great big bearings, high quality forging, more than twice the number of fasteners than a comparable V8 has and extremely high quality ones at that!
Besides a Chevy Ls is metric while the Jaguar uses regular American sized wrenches.
Speaking of American the Turbo 400 transmission Jaguar uses is the extreme heavy duty one used in Ambulances and Tow trucks. Not a car or pickup light duty one! The Dana 44 used in the rear end is the one used in the 427 Cobra and modern high powered Corvettes.
The reason for all that heavy duty?
A V12 has 3 cylinders producing torque for every 2 a V8 does!
Plus a V12 is inheratedly smooth. while a V8 has adjacent cylinders firing between 90&270 degrees apart which gives a 2nd order harmonic.
Black leather is unusual, it is in the U.K. anyway.
It’s in a garage, you can see the door in one of the pics.That Grandfather clock looks like the one my Grandparents had, my brother now has it.
I like XJS’s but the market for a pre HE is low, low, low. Converting it to a small block costs money and only addresses one of the problems. Ventilation is non existant, so you need functioning AC. Check out the complexity of the fuel delivery system. An XJS that has been sitting will have expensive problems.
I have owned 6 six old Jags including a 1990 XJS Rouge Collection Coupe. I am kinda looking for a 1993 up 6 cyl convertible; so I’m either a so learner or a fast forgetter.
Not sure about the HE. My ’85 XJS was an HE. My info says 81-91 for the HE.
But hey! I had a ’90 Rouge Edition as well! Man, I cannot begin to count the hours I spent polishing and waxing that sucker, not to mention cleaning the lace wheels! But is was well worth the effort.
You got me beat on quantity though, I had an XK120, a 340 (late Mk2); and the two XJS’
Very simple, obviously his ol-lady kicked him out of the house and he wants back in! So he’s selling it! Is any woman on this earth worth it?
My first XJS was an ’86 Coupe. Love at first sight! Had several subsequent XJS’s over the years, most recently was a red-white-blue trio of convertibles.
The V12 engines were exceptionally reliable and overall easy to work on. Many parts with similarities to GM vehicles of similar years. Those that ignorantly scrapped the V12’s in favor of a “SBC lumping” have no love for the romance of owning a XJS.
Fantastic! All this XJS talk has me looking for a project … it’s bad to log on here.
I just picked up a ’76 XJ12 … had it running in two weeks! (Fuel delivery issues). XJSs are a little easier in that department because the XJ sedans have two fuel tanks, with the associated switches, valves, pipes, hoses, etc. As others have stated, these are great engines. The problem with the cars are primarily with the Lucas connectors. This car looks like a great opportunity.
FYI, many Jaguar XJS’s had a problem with gas smell in the trunk (boot!). Turns out there was a pointed screw, possibly for grounding purposes, that would eventually wear a pinhole in the tank. Just a heads up if you get that smell!