www.jec.org.uk

My tales of woe are getting worse. Hopefully my little story won't bore you, but for those who know me I hope this will explain my predicament...

Rewind a couple of years.
1. Wife has an old but reliable Citroen Xsara for getting to work, shopping etc. I have a motorbike and the XJS. I use a firms van for work and everyone is happy.

2. My dad has a knee replacement op which 'goes wrong' suffers a heart attack and kidney failure. He survives but with a poor prognosis, obviously he cant do much for himself so I make the decision to leave work for 6 months to look after him. He can't get into, or out of the XJS and certainly not the motorbike, so I sell the bike, take the XJS off the road and look for a 2nd hand Citroen Berlingo for my daily transport. The idea being that eventually the wife can get rid of the Xsara, have the Berlingo and I can have the XJS back on the road.

3.The wife didn't like the older Berlingo's so I dig deep into the savings and get a one year old facelift model.

4. Dad makes great progress and becomes more independent again, like many elderly folk he begins to resent my running his life for him so I look to go back to work.

5. The recession hits, the company I left goes bust, I have a great difficulty getting any sort of work except short-term rubbish but at least it covers the main bills.

6. I'm overjoyed to get a full-time job, even though it means me staying away, going home at weekends only. I use the Berlingo as its reliable and economical. The XJS is buried in the depths of my garage, on SORN, no tax MOT and needing a fair bit of work to get it lovely again.

7. Last week the wife is involved in a car accident, she was treated on the scene for possible whiplash but luckily is ok, unlike the car which has been written off. Being away, I can't work on the XJS so we have to buy another car for her, digging to the depths of our savings to get anything half reliable and decent for her.

8. So there we are, no chance of getting the XJS anywhere near roadworthy for at least this year. I should sell her and give up but the market for these cars is down, it has no tax or MOT and it needs a fair bit of work so it really wouldn't be worth much. So I aim to keep it and who knows, someday my luck might change for the better. I don't know if I will be renewing my club membership later this year, there doesn't seem to be a lot of point.

Sorry for going on, I felt I needed to get it off my chest and I've always considered the good people on here my friends.

Cheers, Pop

Pop,

sorry to hear of your troubles , i can only wish you the best of luck with getting everything back on track again asap ,


with regard to the value of the XJS , you are spot on, the market is depressed, and a car with no MOT and Sorn'd with be worth minimal , if at all possible, keep her locked away with the basics being looked after, start the engine once a month , leave the windows open slightly to allow the air to circulate and stop the interior going mouldy , and try and keep her off the tyres if laid up for extended periods by putting on axle stands etc

all the best

BB

ps, i will still be painting my own XJS Jaguar White as soon as funds allow.......

Pop,

So very sorry to hear of your latest turmoil. I'd hoped that your recent new job over in our neck of the woods might have been the start of better things for you.

As others will probably concur, the market for cheap XJSs with no MOT is pretty depressed. I suspect it has more emotional and tangible value for you to hang on to it and get it back on the road as funds, time and family health improve in the future

As regards club membership, I understand that you're feeling like letting it lapse. But keeping your membership might just keep you interested to get the car going one day. I've had my old TR6 off the road for 20 years now but I've kept my TR Register membership going and look forward to the mag each month. I still go to the annual weeekend show and each year it does give me that little spur to think - next year my car might be there....

I do sincerely hope that everything starts to turn for the better very soon and I hope that your wife recovers very quickly. You mentioned that you might be staying in Dartford during the week for while. I'm only about 25 mins away. If you fancy a beer and a drive out in my car, do please drop me a line or give me a ring. It would be good to see you.

Take Care

Paul

Pop

Sorry to read that, I know how much you love your car.

I do believe that the market is full of cheap reliable cars of all sorts if you have the time and the wherewithal to go and look at them - could we help here? What does your wife want? It's quite possible someone here knows someone who is selling

Do let us know if there's anything we can do.

V Best Wishes
Tony

Pop

Sorry to here about your bad run I hope you get a break soon you deserve one best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovey. Hope you don't let the membership lapse I read most of your posts the 4 corners tour was brilliant probably the best post here ever.

As the car is off the road for a while and you only get home at weekends and probably can't afford to spend much time working on it.Why not break all the things needed down to small steps and do the ones you can do yourself first this may give you some encoragement as one by one you can see something going the right way for once.

Selling car may seem like the best thing to do now but if you don't I bet you will look back and be glad you didn't "give" the car away.

All the best and hope your luck turns for the better.

Best Regards Mark.

Pop

Sorry to hear of your woes.

Like the other members here, I hope your luck picks up.

I think Mark has a very good point. When looking at the mountain it's easy to be overwhelmed, but looking at the individual steps, maybe even making a list and crossing items off as and when you can set aside time to do them, has proved productive for me in the past.

If you do decide to get rid (and I hope you don't and that one day we will read another in the Pop Rivet's Grand World Tour series) then you may find that the car is worth a lot more in pieces than as a whole.

Pop try not to worry about it, everything comes out right in the wash eventually.
Try to think of it in a positive aspect the car being off the road, mine was for ages.
However i just sorn'ed it didnt have to shell out for tax, and spent ages in the garage doing bodywork , cutting out,welding,grinding etc.
This can be a really usefull time, to spend time working on the car and not worrying about having to get it back on the road asap.
Get those axle stands and ramps out!

Pop
Just been reading this post. Hope all turns out good for you.
Please don’t sell the XJS.
A few weeks ago, probably about the time you posted this, my son, who is five wasn’t very well. My wife and I were up and down most of the night. As with most sleepless nights, you lie awake there staring at the roof. The world seems a much darker place.
Amongst my ‘worries’ that night, and I use the word loosely compared to your problems, was my worrying high credit card bill I am working to clear, and my XJS.
“Will I sell now whilst it’s got 8 months MOT, 6 months Tax. It’s got to be worth at least 3k, I could buy a nice Ford Focus for that”. “What if that little bit of rust gets worse, MOT” etc etc., and so it went on in my head. Trivial things I know, but at 3am, they seem a hell of a lot worse.
Got up next day, drove to work in my XJS and all was good again. The sun was shining, and the car runs like a dream.
It got me thinking. What car, for under 5K gives you the feeling an XJS does? I park it at work with pride. Delivery drivers stop about their business at work to take a look. The feel good factor of owning this car is immense. I spend endless hours cleaning and keeping it in the best condition I can with what spare money I have. I had a guy in a car park come over to me some months ago. Turns out he has an E-Type. Instant friendship over a common interest. I can tell you now, the Focus cannot do that.
F@ck Gordon Brown and his high petrol taxes, F’ the high road tax for owning such a car. I’m keeping mine. Whilst I cannot help in your own personal problems, we can all help to keep these beautiful cars on the road. Think about it this way, for 5K we can buy a standard run of the mill car. Or for 5K, we can do a lot to these cars to help keep them on the road, long after the Focus has been forgotten about.