Rarity

[poprivet]

Interesting article from KWE reporting on UK numbers either taxed or SORN'd being just under 8000 E Types yet only 3500 for XJS's

I suppose XJS's are still being scrapped but very unlikely for E Types to be. Thoughts?

[almcl]

Some while ago when I was up at the specialist Jaguar garage in Newcastle under Lyme, I saw a similar age XJS to mine being parted out. The body didn't look bad but I was told that an essential part, for which there was no replacement, had failed and scrapping it was the only course left open to the owner.

Don't know what part it was, hydraulic, autobox, induction system? But given the number of engine and transmission variants, not to mention electronic bits and pieces, I can see how the lack of spares support could easily be a problem. I had great difficulty sourcing a transmission cooler hose some time ago. The guys at Pirtek did eventually agree to make one up but it was clear they were not supposed to. That alone could have written the car off if they hadn't been willing to bend the rules a bit.

[ptjs1]

Pop,

There's some confusion and a bit of misinformation here.

Part of the difficulty is the differing ways that Jaguar used in the naming convention of how XJSs were registered. And that causes confusion and inaccuracy when people quote the numbers as they don't bother going through the records properly. There are 15 different naming conventions for XJSs in DVLA records. Mind you, there are over 60 different classifications of F-Pace vehicles, so it could be worse!

Anyway, I've been monitoring the figures for XJSs for the last 8 years and they are broadly level, with a slight increase in recent years. There was a slight rise from 2015 to 2016, when there was a total of c8700 XJSs either licensed or SORN'd. The figure for the 4Q 2022 was 8955, so either more had been dragged out of barns or else there has been a number re-imported.

By comparison, the total number of E-Types either licensed or SORN'd as at 1Q2023 was 7852, so XJSs win it! However, the number of E-types has more than doubled in the last 20 years, indicating both Barn Finds resurrected, but more significantly the number of cars that have been re-imported from the US and restored.

I suspect that E-Types will continue to slowly increase in the coming years as they continue to come in from the US. But I also think that XJSs won't materially decrease in the short-term as values start to increase. And places like Clarkes are even doing LHD importing and converting to RHD.

Paul

[PaulGover]

...
I had great difficulty sourcing a transmission cooler hose some time ago. The guys at Pirtek did eventually agree to make one up but it was clear they were not supposed to. That alone could have written the car off if they hadn't been willing to bend the rules a bit.

What rules? Surely Jaguar cannot prevent 3rd parties making hoses for a car that's been out of production for over 35 years! Or is it something that Pirtek have technical problems over?

[almcl]

Or is it something that Pirtek have technical problems over?

As I understood it at the time (may not be correct) Pirtek franchises were not supposed to do automotive applications. If anybody knows different, it would be good to hear if this has changed?

[PaulGover]

A glance at the Pirtek web site says "automotive", but reading more carefully, they seem to be talking about repairing hydraulics used by automotive manufacturing plants rather than their products - cars. Googling "car hydraulic hose repair" brings up several companies (the first of which is Pirtek!), none of whom I've ever tried.

[poprivet]

Some years ago I had a split steering rack hose re-made locally. They used the existing ends with new hose. All very easy, I can't remember the company name now but it wasn't Pirtek.

The transmission hose is a bit difficult as I seem to remember it includes one or two steel sections and has to form a certain pattern to fit around the engine. Certainly not enough of a problem to be terminal for the car.