Dues anyone here run a shed?

[poprivet]

Firtly, I'm not having a go at X Types in general. I like them and it's a shame if some people think of them as Mondeos in posh knickers.

There seem to be many X Types hanging on to the bare threads of life available for a few hundred pounds. For someone with technical ability, a code reader, a new battery and a welder I think it would provide cheap motoring.

Does that sound like you? I think it would make a great article for the magazine.

Al

[J44EAG]

All I can say Al is that on various visits to a Jaguar independent, I was shown three seemingly great looking X-types up on the ramp. All were totally rotted out at sill and floor pan level and without a massive amount of welding, time and labour expense, they were completely beyond economic repair. Each one was scheduled to be broken for parts. No owner with any economic sense would have thrown good after bad into a rotter that was worth little more than a few hundred quid when his option would have been to go and find a good, sound replacement for less than £2k. Given the amount of stripping out and fabrication of steel sheet, not to mention re-finishing and re-fitting, any restoration work to a rotten example would have cost greatly more than £2k. Every dog has its day and in the case of the MY52-54 plate cars I viewed, the time had come for humane and sympathetic disposal. Who wants a car that has had patches welded over patches?

The problem isn`t only confined to X-types but also to steel bodied X300/308, XK and S-type models. I jumped ship from my S-type when at the age of thirteen years, the first signs of tin worm were noted around the sill area and sub-frame mounts at MOT time. Getting out and away from that decaying pile was the best thing I ever did and I moved onto the ali bodied X350. The model survives the years without disintegrating, is a hugely improved drive and has an enviable life span. I read somewhere that over 90% of all X350 models ever produced for the UK market are still on the road and that with model production having finished over ten years ago. If you view the August 2019 edition of Practical Classics, you will see and X350 overview article in which I had some input. The model came out at top level as a solid prospective classic and one that was likely to be set to have a great future without too many longevity issues.

I see no point in running end of life sheds when there are so many good relatively problem free examples around for moderate money. I have an aged friend who has run bangers for years. He buys them because they appear cheap and because he thinks he can fix them. After a couple of weeks ownership, the trouble starts. One clutch leads to a knacked engine. That fixed the suspension is found to be hanging, the screen has MOT failing chips, emissions are off the clock and galloping tin worm is found. At that point he throws another wheel barrow load of cash at his pride and joy. A week after he has fixed that lot, the rad fails on the motorway which wrecks his newly fitted engine. Eventually, my friend concedes defeat and he goes and buys another pile. Then the above starts all over again. Thousands get spent over the years and the visible monument to this folly are a collection of cars on his front lawn and on the pavements outside his house and also those for fifty metres in all directions. None of his cars will ever see road use again and will probably hang around for the next five years before social pressure forces him to get the scrap man in. This tends to annoy his neighbors and depress local estate property prices. Forget the SORN or road tax. He ignores that until the DVLA threaten legal action.

Running a shed is a mugs game. Skin flints run sheds because they can`t foresee the eventual outcome or costs involved. They stagger from one financial crisis and money pit to the next. A 2k loan from the bank would sort the problem and provided they have a suitable income, then their attempts at running a dangerous shed could become a thing of the past.

I`ve no time for bangers and no inclination to start trying to start polishing turd or rolling it in glitter! My time is better spent drinking G&T with a few friends at the weekend.

Mike K

[Zennan101]

Hi Mike,

Bangernomics don't make sense to me either. No matter how much you are attached to your car there's a point when it reaches 'end of life' and it is time to move on. There are plenty more out there!

I am surprised however that you have time to drink G&T with your friends given the aero model production line that you have going!

Rod

[poprivet]

Good replies, makes total sense.

Just as the price of dead-donkey cars can get dragged up by 1st class specimens (think E Type, XK140, even XJS etc.) I think it's also true that very good cars get dragged down in value by models that are out of fashion/undesirable (think S, X Type and maybe XJ40 etc).

I'm sure that there are some for sale that were cherished rather then trashed. Enthusiast/long term owned, maybe the owner has passed away or unable to continue driving for whatever reason.

Some advertised have, shall we say, optimistic pricing aspirations but the sellers need to realise that without continued care they are likely to be a couple of MOTs away from the scrappy and are really worth very little.

Al