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Jag 3.8S

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Sownman

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Any comments on these cars. Just saw one in my parking lot at work. Gorgeous interior, poor paint, long time Calif car. I left a note "Wanna Sell ?"

Thanks for any advice

Steve
 
Steve, the 'S' Type is a wonderful car, has the good looks of the MkII but also has the independent rear end of the later cars. Best of both worlds. One of our members owns one of these, and he loves it!
 
I just saw the owner sitting in the car and introduced myself as the guy who left the note.

With remarkable luck it turns out he is interested in selling possibly, but only to someone who would appreciate what the car is. By leaving the note I qualify to him. I told him I spent all day the prior Sunday at a Brit car show in Ventura Calif. I went to see Tigers specifically but I love 60's era Jags and always have. The highlights of the show for me other than the Tigers were a Mk2 Jag and a Tr 1800. Both very similar cars.

This car is a black plate Calif car and this guy is the original owner. The wood and chrome and wires are stunning. The green paint is quite faded but its all original. I see no sign of rust despite the faded paint. I feel almost like I've run into a barn find.

I need some info quickly to learn some details on rarity, years of manufacture, everything I can learn and fast. We are going to discuss purchase next week. He says he has no idea what its worth and quite honestly I have no interest in trying to "steal" the car, just in arriving at a fair price. Any book reccomends or Jag registry links ?

Steve
 
I encourage you to pursue this Jaguar. My experience with my 65 S Type is that it is basically a 4-door XKE. It is the best handling saloon Jaguar ever built.

There is a wealth of information available on Jag-Lovers (www.jag-lovers.com). Good luck.
 
These are not rare in the UK, but never achieved the popularity of the Mk2. Even though it is a far better car.

Value depends very much on mechanical condition. If the car is mechanically perfect and as good as you describe, could be worth $20-30K. If it needs a bit of work mechanically and the paint has to be completey refinished (most likely) it is worth nearer $10K. I am assuming that in any case it's a good driver.

Check out more info on Motorbase:

https://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/946/

Don't miss this chance, I wish it was near me! If the car has been well looked after and serviced and is still in good mechanical condition, you will not regret it.

Please let us know how you get on!
 
Thanks for the responses. That Motorbase website is quite a nice tool. I've purchased a couple Jag books searching out info as well.

I looked at the car again yesterday and see that I had some emotion clouding my vision on first inspection. Second time around I noticed a small paint bubble on lft frnt fender (probable rust) and about 2 sq inches of rust and missing paint on the sheet metal plate between rear bumper and body. I ran my hands over the ext chrome and despite my original "perfect" feeling there is pitting. There is also wear to the frnt seat armrest and a spot on the rear seat leather where it appears a wet magazine stuck to the seat. I still have not crawled under. All ery minor for a 40+ year old car. Hopefully today I'll get with the owner and drive it as well as poke around under the hood and in the boot. Despite that I've now found a bit of rust I can't imagine it is much of an issue being a black plate Calif car and the orig owner
who drives it daily. I got a response from a guy on a jaglovers board who gave me some price guidlines based on his tracking of ebay prices for 8 years.

This car is in such nice shape that I would have the inclination to attack the couple rust spots and do touchup paint there only and leave it as a very nice unrestored car.
I do think the paint might come back pretty nice. I've heard said "you can restore a car ad infinitum but its only original once".

I guess this deal is just in the hands of the seller and what he thinks a fair price would be. I don't even know what year it is yet and he thinks it was only made for 2 years rather than 5.

Steve
 
I picked up a Mark 2 several months ago.
So far, all the rust is surface.
Paint is in need of work (and doing the touch-up, preservation now), interior new, lots of other stuff "done".

Check on getting the paint work done.
Around here, almost 3 months of looking, NObody wants to touch a Jaguar.

The "best" price so far is $5K.

Figure that into your calculations.

Interior "kits" are what, $4500?

I paid three grand for mine, drove it home, and other than some days when new parts were en-route, it has been driven every day.

You need to look at not only value of the car on the open market, but what it's going to cost to bring it up to the same level as those for sale.

There was a 2.4L MK2, RHD, OD and wires, bare metal, you paint, for $2K locally.
That should give you some idea of where the value lies.

Add in chrome work, so let's say the car is worth, open market $20K for a really nice one.

Deduct $10K for paint and interior.
Another $4K for chrome (that stuff ain't cheap!).
Figure any mechanicals and rubber, and you're down to $3K to $4K.

And that's if you do the work!

Add in an upholstery shop to install your interior, whoa.....
Take it to a Jaguar shop to have mechanicals done?

Factor that in, how much does he want to pay you to haul it off?

Granted, that's a spread.

You've seen it, I haven't, but the pricing on the car has to be somewhere between $3K and maybe $8K.

Don't make an offer.
You will be too high, which he will accept and you will kick yourself over, or too low and upset him.
Let him open the bid.

Work up or down from there.
 
TOC said:
I picked up a Mark 2 several months ago.
So far, all the rust is surface.
Paint is in need of work (and doing the touch-up, preservation now), interior new, lots of other stuff "done".

Check on getting the paint work done.
Around here, almost 3 months of looking, NObody wants to touch a Jaguar.

The "best" price so far is $5K.

Figure that into your calculations.

Interior "kits" are what, $4500?

I paid three grand for mine, drove it home, and other than some days when new parts were en-route, it has been driven every day.

You need to look at not only value of the car on the open market, but what it's going to cost to bring it up to the same level as those for sale.

There was a 2.4L MK2, RHD, OD and wires, bare metal, you paint, for $2K locally.
That should give you some idea of where the value lies.

Add in chrome work, so let's say the car is worth, open market $20K for a really nice one.

Deduct $10K for paint and interior.
Another $4K for chrome (that stuff ain't cheap!).
Figure any mechanicals and rubber, and you're down to $3K to $4K.

And that's if you do the work!

Add in an upholstery shop to install your interior, whoa.....
Take it to a Jaguar shop to have mechanicals done?

Factor that in, how much does he want to pay you to haul it off?

Granted, that's a spread.

You've seen it, I haven't, but the pricing on the car has to be somewhere between $3K and maybe $8K.

Don't make an offer.
You will be too high, which he will accept and you will kick yourself over, or too low and upset him.
Let him open the bid.

Work up or down from there.
Click to expand...

Good advice.
 
I won't be the first to mention a price and the prices mentioned here are pretty much in line with what I'm starting to see my self and the advice I got at the Jaglovers site.General feeling is that the 3.8 S prices run about 1/2 the Mk2 prices. They shouldn't but they do, at least thats the feeling I pick up. One guy there said he had been tracking S types on ebay for 8 years and average price was under $5K. Highest ever was $22K (I think) but car was never paid for.

I can't recall if I mentioned this here but I am not really Jag shopping. While shopping for a Tiger and attending Brit car events I kind of stumbled on this Jag, and I have always loved 60's era Jags. I have $4.5K in mind as a number that I'll respond "sold". From there up to $8K I'll think about it.
Above that I'm not interested.

I don't know the year or mileage or mechanical condition yet but it is very nice looking and it is being driven daily.
If I can afford a Jag saloon that looks good and can survive a few more years without big expense and the purchase costs me little enough that I can still get my Tiger I will do it. A Jag saloon that puts me out of the Tiger market is not what I want.

Thanks for all the thoughful help

Steve
 
Pricing is a funny thing.
I recall, while I was in the Navy, my Grandfather sold his 1957 3.4L MKI for $750.
That was in Palm Springs, late 60's.

Apparently the heat had killed the plug wires and he wasn't going to spend any more on it.

Man, that was a nice car.
 
Turns out this car is not what I thought. It is not a very good unrestored car. It has had new paint new chrome new upholstry and some modded mechanicals. It is a very nice driving car, but too far off stock for my tastes.

Car was painted a Rolls color and got new leather.
Car should be tan/green leather. Now its green/tan leather

Instead of the MOD S type trans it has a 1969 e Type trans.

Instead of the pwr steering and AC it has a larger modern
pwr steering and no AC.

It is a 1965 with 242000 miles.

It is a nice car and if I were looking for a car to drive and enjoy and it were priced fairly it would be a pleasure. I am more interested in classic cars being factory correct so I can drive a bit but also show without having to undo mods.

I posted some pics and thank everyone again for their help.

https://www.jag-lovers.org/snaps/snap_view.php3?id=1217999664&n4=
 
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