2022-09-03 08:22:52 | pauls writes:

Ebay item 9/3/22

www.ebay.com/itm/234682401705

Opening bid $1,500 no reserve 0 bids, 6 days left in auction, seller luthient_1067, 105k miles.

Seller's description:

I’ve owned this car for about 15 years and it’s been beautiful until it wasn’t. I always used this car as a runner to enjoy driving, not showing, so the ripped seat was far from my concern. As you can see in the photos, the paint failed and I had a dent repaired on the driver’s side getting it ready for paint. Unfortunately, that is when I discovered some serious rusting on the undercarriage that made me rethink a second restoration. While I paused to think and not really wanting to give up the dream some disgruntled neighbor or some kids, who knows, decided to vandalize it, taking out the rear tail lights and putting the dents in the drivers side making it even harder to want to jump into a restoration.

To answer your questions, yes, she runs great, the engine and transmission are in perfect condition along with everything else that makes this car a runner. You could hook up a battery and drive off in it. The convertible top works as it should including the small rear side windows that still work when the top goes down, and I even had the AC blowing cold after some repairs (XJS people know how impossible that is...)

The issues are the rusting and the cosmetic, not the mechanical. One of the rear stabilizing arms disconnected due to rusting and I had the area cleaned and welded to reattach the stabilizing arm, but I can’t speak to how well that repair was made. It made the car drivable again even though I haven’t driven more than a dozen miles since the repair, I’m just too concerned about the undercarriage rust deterioration.

Is this car a candidate for restoration? Only if you are a true body shop kinda guy. If I had the ability and access to the type of skilled labor needed without the retail cost then maybe this car could be beautiful again since mechanically it’s great. But, I don’t and I won’t BS anybody about the condition. I hate that kinda bad buyer beware behavior so I won’t sink to that level and I’m being completely honest about this car's condition.

So, what’s the best future for this car? Honestly, I just don’t know, it’s beyond my ability to cost effectively restore… If somebody works at or owns a body shop and can perform rust restoration then maybe this is the car you’ve been looking for. But, I would advise against a weekend wrench taking on this project without the resource of a body shop to deal with all that, it obviously doesn’t make any sense.

So, I’ve started this auction at the minimum for a parts car. No, I’m not going to entertain any BS offers either. Anybody who knows XJS’ knows that parts are impossible to find, nearly everything has to be repaired with used parts so the market is crazy expensive and all the mechanical and electrical on this car is in working condition sot I know how valuable all these parts are. I’ve started the auction at $1500 and the two headlights alone are worth $500 each, the front spoiler is worth a grand, so someone who wants to part this car out could eventually pull $10k to $15k out of it, easily, if they know how to dismantle and sell all the little bits that command hundreds each in the used market.

2022-09-13 06:02:50 | pauls writes:

Car returns to ebay 9/13/22

www.ebay.com/itm/234693037742

Car has a buy it now price of $2,500 for 6 days, same seller.

Previous auction had a Winning bid of $1,500 after 1 bid, must have been withdrawn.