1978 Jaguar XJS

Coupe

5.3 Liter V12

Automatic

UJ2W54882BW

Clear

Gasoline

History: Grace, Pace, and Space. These were the three things Sir William Lyons founder of Jaguar Cars LTD. said his cars were all about. They were also about winning races and stunning beauty. The company was founded in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company and after WWII the name was changed to Jaguar when the company started producing automobiles. Jaguar went through mergers and different owners including Ford. I would consider the 1978 XJS a "real" Jaguar as it was built on the old Browns Lane assembly line in Coventry England. From the E-Type of the 60's to the current XK's of today every Jaguar on the road stirs passion! My Auction: I will attempt to describe this fine automobile to the best of my ability. All used cars have flaws, please be realistic in your expectations, I will point out anything that I think stands out that may or may not show in the pictures as I believe anyone who doesn't isn't being thorough with their auction. Please ask all questions BEFORE you bid. Please view the link to all the additional pictures I have posted on the Flickr dot com website BEFORE you bid, some of them have captions, I want you to know exactly what you are getting. Please read my ENTIRE auction carefully and maybe even several times BEFORE you bid. Also please be respectful of my auction, these cost real money that I have to work hard for just like you do. Please make sure you have the money in place BEFORE you bid and that you have already asked your significant other or whoever you need permission from to buy a car BEFORE you bid. Thanks and good luck! Link to over 100 pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90784999@N05/ ; If you click on the picture you can make it larger, next click on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the picture, this makes it even larger, next click on "view all sizes" on the upper right and you can supersize the images. They come out much better then they do on Ebay and you can really get a feel for the quality of this car. If Ebay disables the link you can simply cut and paste it to your browser. If that still doesn't work e-mail me and I will make sure you get the photos e-mailed to you. Exterior Condition: This XJS is finished in stunning British Racing Green over Buckskin hides. Every Jaguar is really meant to be British Racing Green, or "Money Green" as I like to call it. The paint on this car is as smooth as glass when you run your hands over it and it shines like a mirror. There are no swirl marks, hazing, fading, cracking, or peeling of the paint. There are no scratches in the paint but there are however a couple tiny parking lot dings and stone chips that you would expect on a 34 year old car. There is one medium sized rust bubble I point to in one of the pictures between the drivers door and the rear wheel toward the bottom. Other then that there are some rust bubbles about the size of a pencil eraser scattered around the car. None of them have broken through the paint. The black plastic bumpers are faded but I have used in the past a special bumper paint that you can buy at any auto parts store to make them look new again and it is easy to do. There are no dents in the body. The chrome is all nice and shiny. All of the glass is crack and stone chip free. Overall the exterior looks like a show car that you would be proud to go to a local show and shine car show and expect to win a prize, it's that nice. The problem with the car is that it has rust underneath on the floor boards. There is rust in four areas. They are the drivers front footwell, passengers front footwell, drivers rear seat footwell, and the spare tire well in the trunk. You will need to weld some new sheet metal in these areas and restore the undercoating. The metal adjacent to these areas seems solid and you will be able to weld onto those clean areas. I lift the carpet and point to these areas with my finger in some of the photos as well as show the solid areas. Interior Condition: This is one of the nicest interiors I have seen on an unrestored XJS and I just love the color! The buckskin and black two tone looks very rich. The headliner is in perfect condition. Usually they are all sagging by now. The dashboard is in perfect condition save for one crack I point to in one of the pictures. The front seats do not have an rips, cuts, or seam seperation. This is amazing, they always split but these have not. The back seats also do not have any rips or cuts but there is some stitching coming undone on two seams right at the top only. If I were keeping this car I would redye the interior. There is a company called Leatherique that I have used before and for about $100 you can make those seats look like they are brand new! Not that they look bad now. This car has a very very expensive Nardi steering wheel on it. Just price these out, they can run into the four figures. The trunk carpets as well as the interior carpets are very clean. Overall I would say the interior looks very very nice. Mechanically: This XJS has been sitting untouched in a garage for the last eight years. My father and I drained out the old gas and changed the ignition coil and she fired up. The car seems to run well but we recomend you go over everything to make sure it is tip top before you drive it. We have observed some problems. Sometimes while the car is running it just shuts off. It doesn't sputter like it is going to die, it just shuts off like someone turned off the key. Then sometimes it will just start right back up right away and sometimes it will be really difficult to start and it will just crank and crank. My dad thinks one possibility for the starting difficulty is a faulty EGR valve. We have gone as far as we want to go testing things. We just wanted to make sure it ran before we sold it. Also there is a leak somewhere in the exhaust, it is somewhat loud when it runs. As it is running there is some smoke coming from the engine compartment. I am not sure if this is just some oil leaking on the exhaust and burning off or what. It does seem to be getting better the more the car has been run. I test drove the car up and down my street a few times. During my limited test drive the transmission seemed to shift fine and the car drove smoothly. It pulls hard to the right so it needs an alignment. The heat works good on all speeds. The drivers window goes down but the passenger one does not. It cold be stuck, or a fuse, or ? The brakes work on the car but it is obvious that they are dragging. One or more of the calipers is frozen. There could be other things wrong with the car that we don't know about so this car will be great for someone who is mechanically inclined and wants a great looking classic Jaguar for very little money. Additional Notes: -Although this car runs and drives you will have to tow it home. If you live locally you can call a local tow company or bring your own trailer. Keep in mind it has intermittent starting troubles and may not want to start when you get here so make sure you have a way to winch it onto a trailer. If you are having the car shipped be sure to mention this to your shipper. -This car is out of my late cousins car collection. We have a clean title in his name that he already signed off on. If you live in a state that requires a notary on the title obviously this won't be possible. Please check this first there are a few states like that. Transfering it in Illinois is no problem. -This car is sold AS-IS with NO warranty expressed or implied. -We have set the reserve price very low and the car is priced to sell. I feel like we are giving it away. Please don't contact me asking me the reserve price, it is unfair to other bidders. If you want the car get in the game and bid and have some fun! That is what owning an XJS is all about!!! Fun, fun fun! -A deposit of $200.00 must be made within 24 hours of the auction closing. You can pay the remaining balance in one of two ways. If you are picking up the car you can pay me CASH in person. This means you will be counting out greenbacks and I will be handing you the keys and the title. Or if you are shipping the car I will accept a bank to bank wire transfer. Once the money clears my bank I will release the car. I will not accept any checks of any kind. You can NOT pay the entire amount with Paypal, that is only for the deposit. -By bidding on this car you are entering into a contract to purchase an automobile, this is not the first right of refusal. -The date was not set on my camera when I took the pictures. They were all taken on 12-5-12. -Only 51,756 miles! -The spare tire is missing, however all of the brackets that hold it in place are there. -If you would like to come out and inspect the car BEFORE you bid or have any questions for me please feel free to e-mail me or call me at 630-334-6974, I will be happy to talk to you. My name is Joe -If you like these big Roger Moorish coupes you will be sure to love driving this car! On Dec-06-12 at 07:41:34 PST, seller added the following information: 12-6-12 I was thinking about it and the car probably pulls to the right because the brakes are dragging. It is probably the right front caliper that is stuck so the car may not need an alignment. Also please, if you wish to contact me either e-mail me through Ebay or call me. No text messaging.