Probably a sucker for punishment, but I really fancy a Daimler Double Six. The Series 3 Jag version and in addition to the overpriced S****ra of course.
Has anyone any experience of running or working on these?
Prices go from £300 to £15000 for a brilliant one, so the margin for getting it dramatically wrong seems massive. I have £10000 to spend. Checked out the South African Autotrader as the best UK dealer ones seem to come from SA and a few classic mags have bought other marques from there as they are rust free and cheap. Has anyone tried this? In the A Trader, the best ones are 9K tops inc shipping so there is a big saving.
Your chance to ridicule starts.......now!
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Nothing wrong with the Daimler.
My personal preference from that family of cars is the Jag XJS V12 but I have to confess I don't know much about them at all.
If you find a well cared for example that's had all the right stuff done to it, you could probably get if for less than £10k. I would tend to look outside the enthusiasts circle, where sellers see them as an expensive toy rather than a classic. But then that's probably a good rule of thumb for most marques.
Hugo
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Hugo, are you saying that enthusiasts tend to put higher prices on their cars? That may be so.
The other side of the coin is that enthusiasts may well have been more meticulous in their care and maintenance of their 'expensive toy', which I'm sure most of them know are 'classics'.
So the higher price may be justified in that they are less likely to dump a 'dog' on you.
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15k sounds like an awful lot to me - you should get a really good one for 5k tops I would have thought (based on what I have seen in classic mags over the years). Take a look at this one which went for £1230 on Ebay this week :
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...1
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I've had one of these since 1993. It was laid up in New Zealand while I was in UK from '97 to '02, but it's back on the road now. I really missed it. Best source of info on this, is on the Jag-lovers website. There is a free download of what they call "the book" which is a 700+ page distillation of collective wisdom on XJ-Ss. These are mechanically almost identical to the Double Six. It's at www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/
It has some very good sections on what to look for - and avoid. It also has time tested solutions to most of the problems that crop up.
If you are looking for one of these, there are a couple of milestones. Be sure to get an H.E. model, as they are much less thirsty and have other improvements. This happened about '82. The interior was facelifted about '84, and these have a taller centre console with clock or trip computer, whereas the previous console was the same as the series 2. Later on, about '88, I think, ABS was fitted. If so, the battery will be in the boot.
Biggest thing to look for is that the engine shows no signs of having been overheated. Clogged radiators lead to overheating which leads (in extreme cases) to dropped valve seats and great expense. Faults in the distributor mechanical and vacuum advance can also cause problems, but these are usually easily rectified. A compression check is also fairly important, as one or two cylinders bad out of 12 isn't noticeable.
Good luck on your search, my Jaguar Vanden Plas H.E is now just like an old friend, I'll probably never sell it.
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I had an XJ-S V12 a few years ago and while the effortless power is very relaxing you need to have your eyes open when you buy.
Check for wear in the suspension bushes and all over in the rear suspension, rust can be a killer all over these cars and the Lucas (Prince of Darkness) electrics can mean that mirrors, wipers, switches etc are unreliable. Check under all the carpets for evidence of leaks which lead to rust and the engines need to be checked for overheating and correct servicing. The aircon pump covers one of the spark plugs so often that one never gets changed! It takes a trained ear to tell if it's running on 10, 11 or 12 cylinders and most people can't tell with the performance either.
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