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Glutton for Punishment

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I’ve been staring at this ’87 Jaguar XJ-S V12 for a couple days now. “I firmly believe that everyone who is worth anything at all should own a 12-cylinder car before they die,” the late and outspoken David E. Davis once said. It’s for sale on Craigslist. But I’ll spare me the embarrassment by leaving out the link lest you judge me further. Oh, all right, here it is. It barely runs and was owned by someone who passed away. Someone also hit the driver tail light.

With 62,000 miles, it’s got ’bout half the typical mileage for the price point. But at the price point, it’s also got ’bout twice the videos, forums posts and random people on street corners telling you to run away. The maintenance cost will kill you unless beating your head against the wall “problem solving” does first. I think Paul Duchene at Hagerty said it best: “Ultimately, this car suffers from comparison to its predecessor and mechanical notoriety. That means that bargains abound, but upside potential is very limited and if you can’t afford to buy the best Jaguar XJ-S, you certainly can’t afford the worst.”

I might take a look. There’s no harm in looking right?

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