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V8 Powered Coupe: 1975 Jaguar XJ6

This 1975 Jaguar XJ6 is a rare coupe body that’s lost its factory engine is favor of a V8 swap. In addition, the Jaguar is listed at no reserve as a non-runner. It has rust issues in the roof, C-pillar, and lower quarter panel. Still, a V8 Jaguar two-door selling for whatever the highest bid can muster is pretty tempting. Find it here on eBay where bidding is still safely under $1K.

These XJ6 coupes are some of the prettiest Jags ever built, and tend to command fair money when in restored or preserved condition. If this example had a perfect body, I’d consider it sacrilege to swap in a modern V8; however, with that rust in the C-pillar and lower quarters, it’s clear this XJ6 hasn’t been treated like a trailer queen in many years.

The seller says the floors are solid but does not address the rust in the rear quarters (he does acknowledge a vinyl top caused the rust in the roof. ) The interior certainly isn’t the worst we’ve seen, as this era of Jaguar relied heavily on leather and fragile wood trim to entice customers to buy – and when left in the sun or neglected, it can look exceptionally dilapidated.

The seller claims to know nothing about the V8 engine swap, from the engine manufacturer to whether it even runs. The engine has not been inspected in any way, but the odds are good it’s a simple fix to get it to fire once again. The potential for a cheap, fun project combined with the Jag’s handsome body makes this one an appealing candidate as a rat rod.

Comments

  1. Avatar Scot Carr

    ~ The car has been relisted with a US $2,395.00 Buy It Now.
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/183953738507

    Like 1
  2. Avatar JOHN Member

    The engine manufacturer is easy, it is a Chevrolet small block with the old style rams horn exhaust manifolds.

    Like 2
  3. Avatar Kevin Harper

    These all came with vinyl roofs because the torque of the straight 6 would kink the roof and the vinyl would hide it.
    The v8 will not help this problem

    Like 2
    • Avatar Ken

      pffff. good joke.. seen several during my times in the UK, D, E, etc.. without vinyl and no problems.. the vinyl was asccording to their own brochures etc.. and the “time” due to the exclusivity and the similar/at the time competitiors on the US market all had it…

      Like 0
  4. Avatar canadainmarkseh

    Why is a rat rod always the go to. Why not a resto mod or god forbid a restoration. In my opinion there is nothing more halfa$$ed then a rat rod. I would repair the body and repaint it, get the SBC running right do the brakes and steering and just enjoy it as a daily driver

    Like 10
    • Avatar Skorzeny

      Agreed.

      Like 0
  5. Avatar JOHN Member

    The stock 4.2 6 cylinder only has 225 or so foot pounds of torque, I’m willing to bet that the roof kinking from engine torque is more of an urban myth. The decision to equip all coupes with vinyl tops was never explained, could be poor build quality or maybe the designers thought it gave the car a more luxurious look and feel. These were the days when US built cars had these crazy “designer” editions, Bill Blass, Gucci, etc. The coupes did however have a problem with window sealing, but they figured out a pretty cool fix involving cables and pulley’s. But all in all, these were really nice looking cars, especially with the vinyl roof removed.

    Like 5
  6. Avatar jpb

    no title

    Like 1
    • Avatar Steve R

      It closed with a high bid of $1,025, but didn’t meet reserve. The seller listed it again with a buy it now price of $2,395.

      Steve R

      Like 0
  7. Avatar Osti

    Would make a awesome donk!

    Like 0
  8. Avatar luke arnott

    Junk!

    Like 2
  9. Avatar PRA4SNW

    Back when dropping a V8 in these was a popular thing, my father went looking for one but could never find one that wasn’t done half-ass.

    Like 2
  10. Avatar Bill

    About the only redeeming factor is it is not rusted completely out and the interior is in fairly good shape for as old as it is. But I still would not buy it for any price

    Like 1
  11. Avatar Andrew Franks

    I really like these cars but I too am concerned about the body. I’m not sure about the costs including doing the interior and refinishing the wood. I’m going to guess that I’d be North of
    $35,000.00 to get it straight, hoping for no surprises, which there always are in a Project.
    So I’ll pass. I’d probably watch it at $1500.00, but not at $2300.

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Ross W. Lovell

    Greetings All,

    I own an XJ12C……fun but the 12 can have issues. Mostly ignition, try finding good distributor caps. Crank trigger and coil packs work better.

    Normally the rust in rocker andyou have to be inventive as I have yet to see quality rockers for the coupe.

    The electric windows are problematic. Cheaply made and pillarless design didn’t help along with limited space. Hot rod window kits retrofit well.

    That’s crap about the roof wrinkling, do you seriously think a vinyl roof would hide that. The lead loading in rear pillar to roof tends to craze the paint with flexing but the metal is stable. Flexing due to no center pillar.

    The window mechanisms can’t induce enouh force to keep the windows from pulling out a very small amount around 80 MPH causing whistling, but settle back in place when speed reduced.

    These were the last of the cars that received minor coach building.

    When going through my car, the driver’s door, coupes are longer than the sedans, seemed to have issues as under the door panel it looked to be pieced together from a pair of sedan doors? The skin was one piece though.

    Imagine my surprise when the passenger door was the same. Bigger surprise was that Jaguar built the doors JUST that way. The numbers didn’t warrant extra stampings for frames, just the new skins. Those aren’t available but nit hard to replicate. No one bothers, not enough of these to make money backfrom tooling.

    This example, with a V8 and not knowing if its been sorted out properly……..

    I don’t see more that $1500-2000 here.

    Its a pity Jaguar didn’t offer a sunroof on this one.

    I still have mine, they say the Daimler version, which is a trim level above Jaguar is rarer but back in 76-77, the US wasn’t offered that option as far as I know. There are cars out there titled as 77’s but those were leftovers.production was only 2 years.

    Like 3
    • Avatar Mountainwoodie

      About the sunroof…Ive seen them with sunroofs.I was just about to say I always wanted one with the sunroof. Unless of course I’m losing my mind……One of the prettiest cars made, the Coupes……..

      Like 0
  13. Avatar Sheffieldcortinacentre

    Go for a broadspeed touring car replica they looked awesome & you wouldn’t need to sort the int you could probably recoupe (Geddit recoupe) some cash buy selling it on.

    Like 2
  14. Avatar sullivan504

    As much as I want an XJ6 coupe, No title = no thanks.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Dave

      In my state after 20 years old, no title = no problem

      Like 2
      • Avatar PRA4SNW

        Same here, and then people didn’t bother chasing them down.

        Like 0
  15. Avatar Ken Carney

    The V-8 engine swap was the only way to
    keep a Jaguar on the road back then. Other than the VW Beetle, the Europeans
    couldn’t build a safe, reliable car if their
    lives depended on it. Poor build quality,
    bad engines, and Lucas electrics were
    just some of the problems you got if you
    were dumb enough to buy one of these
    things. Here in Florida, (Polk County)
    exotic cars like Jaguars, BMWs, Mercedes Benzes, Rolls Royce’s, and
    other foreign makes went to the crusher
    in drives in the ’70’s, ’80’s, and ’90’s. If
    the lack of parts didn’t get you, lack of
    service certainly did. If it didn’t say Ford
    or Chevy on it, you couldn’t find a mechanic smart enough to fix one of these cars. Shoot, a friend of mine had
    to wait 3 months to get a water pump for
    his ’92 Chrysler New Yorker! And to make matters worse, he had to have it
    shipped over to Tampa just to have that
    part installed as no mechanic here had
    ever worked on a front wheel drive vehicle! As for this car, too many red
    flags popping up on it to interest me.
    I’ll pass on this one.

    Like 0
  16. Avatar jimmy the orphan

    Kevin’s never given me a bum steer. thanks for heads up on that ! my friend. Six cycl. torque can sneak up on a guy that’s for sure…………………..pass JIMMY

    Like 0
  17. Avatar Reg Bruce

    @ Ross W. Lovell —
    I know that the last of the Jaguar V12s had “Coil-Pack” ignition systems and that there are a couple of horrendously expensive aftermarket systems out there that are claimed to work with the earlier V12 engines. However, I’ve often wondered if there’s a less expensive way to replace the MM ignition system on my ’92 XJ S V12 with a coil pack design that I can afford and will be reliable.
    I’ve read references to “Crank Trigger and Coil Pack Ignition” for these (somewhat) earlier V12 engines before but have never actually seen a photo or a list of what parts one would need to do this conversion. Does anybody have this information or other suggestions — other than an SBC / LS swap?
    Thanks.
    RB

    Like 0
  18. Avatar Poncho

    Parts car. Suspension donor car, maybe the interior, who knows about the engine and trans.

    Like 0

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