1976 Jaguar XJ6 ute-to-be now for sale

[devilishdesigner]

I have a bit of a big drive to do this coming Friday and Saturday and thought a few of you on here may enjoy the concept.

I have been looking for a ute or van for my business, something with style and a good load carrying capacity, and was struggling for inspiration when I came across this photo:


Given that I have loved the limited amount of driving I have done in the Daimler Shitbox and have completely fallen for the lines, interior,comfort and power of the car, I decided it was time to build me a ute.

As a result of this and a slightly impulsive online auction purchase I am now the proud owner of a reportedly rust free 2 owner 1976 Jaguar XJ6. The only problem is it is in NSW, around 900km from me.

So at 5am Friday morning I will be leaving home in a wheelchair accessible vehicle which I will be delivering to it's new owners on the NSW coast mid afternoon. A 3.5 hour train trip will then take me to the current owner of the Jag. All going well I will collect the Jag after a good once over and make it 2.5 hours back down the coast before midnight.

Provided I make it to the accommodation that night with no issues I have 2 choices; I can drive down a straight 110kph road for 800km home, or I can drive down a 100kph coast road for 900km.

Here is the new toy which will hopefully provide a trouble free journey:



Any recommendations for tools and spares that are a must for an XJ6 on such a journey?

[80mojo]

What's 100km between friends..? Go the scenic route if you feel confident.

Don't know anything Jac specific, but tool wise I'd take a couple of screwdrivers, common spanner sizes (8, 10, 13,15), pliers blunt and long nose, insulation tape, waterproof hose tape, couple of lengths of wire, couple of terminal blocks, get a bottle of water or two. And a breakdown card. Basically all the things I should have, but didn't last take, but did need week when I went to pick up a Dodge van. Except the breakdown card that is.

And good luck!

[MonzaPhil]

Hurrah for shonky road trips. Take one of everything including a spare car.

Gaffer tape!

list as above really, looking forward to the results.

Good luck!

[g111mds]

Oct 31, 2012 7:14:31 GMT devilishdesigner said:

I have a bit of a big drive to do this coming Friday and Saturday and thought a few of you on here may enjoy the concept.

I have been looking for a ute or van for my business, something with style and a good load carrying capacity, and was struggling for inspiration when I came across this photo:


Given that I have loved the limited amount of driving I have done in the Daimler Shitbox and have completely fallen for the lines, interior,comfort and power of the car, I decided it was time to build me a ute.

As a result of this and a slightly impulsive online auction purchase I am now the proud owner of a reportedly rust free 2 owner 1976 Jaguar XJ6. The only problem is it is in NSW, around 900km from me.

So at 5am Friday morning I will be leaving home in a wheelchair accessible vehicle which I will be delivering to it's new owners on the NSW coast mid afternoon. A 3.5 hour train trip will then take me to the current owner of the Jag. All going well I will collect the Jag after a good once over and make it 2.5 hours back down the coast before midnight.

Provided I make it to the accommodation that night with no issues I have 2 choices; I can drive down a straight 110kph road for 800km home, or I can drive down a 100kph coast road for 900km.

Here is the new toy which will hopefully provide a trouble free journey:



Any recommendations for tools and spares that are a must for an XJ6 on such a journey?

whereabouts are you? Sounds like it may be melbourne way? we did the coastal route from Sydney to Melbourn back at easter time and it was fantastic!

[devilishdesigner]

Yeah, about half an hour out of Melbourne. I do 3/4 of the coastal route every year at christmas for a family holiday, but have never done the full road in 1 trip. it is quite a nice strip of road with many nice views

[g111mds]

Oct 31, 2012 20:34:49 GMT devilishdesigner said:

Yeah, about half an hour out of Melbourne. I do 3/4 of the coastal route every year at christmas for a family holiday, but have never done the full road in 1 trip. it is quite a nice strip of road with many nice views

we split the journey over three days stopping overnight at jervis bay and then at bairnsdale. completed in a run of the mile toyota camry hire car.

[PandaSelecta]

don't forget a mixture of spare bulbs and fuses, its a british car after all

[dodgerover]

Used to be a nice campsite on the lake at Yass if your taking the Hume highway + the food at the RSL was good...

[devilishdesigner]

MADE IT BACK!

Epic trip, probably wouldn't do it quite the same way again but I'm home with the Jag and happy.

Soo...

Friday 5am I set off to deliver one of the vehicles I help to engineer to the south coast of NSW.


all necessary roadtrip snacks packed


A little over 800km of mostly freeway driving with only 1 stop for fuel and another to give the car a wash sees me arriving at around 2:30 to meet the lovely new owners and hand over the keys.
A little after 3:30 I'm on a train for a 3.5 hour train ride up to suburban Sydney to see the Jaguar for the first time in the flesh, hand over the cash and start my drive back.
Around 7 I meet the previous owner of the Jag, who has driven the car down to the train station to collect me. On the ride back to his I get to have a bit of a look around. There's a weird sticking when hill starting which I think is a gearbox brake band loose (he had written it off as handbrake pads sticking), front end seems a little floaty and there's a rattle from the front left when cornering and a some cracks in the dash veneer but overall it looks good.
I will add some photos and a description of what the car same with later but suffice to say it was very well looked after,with a full documented history from day 1.

Extras such as scrapers had been added to stop the wheels being marked on gutters


and this sticker may mean something to a few of you. It was cheaper to buy a luxury car like this in the UK and drive it for 3 months over there then ship it back then pay the import duties in Australia. To give an idea these had a list price around $23,000 in 1977!


I checked over the vital fluids, oil was well topped up, water still had pressure in the catch can which seemed odd, bubbled over when I opened it and was a bit dirty, will definitely need flushing, but overall all loked good enough. I left as the proud new owner around dusk with a bit over 200km to cover until my final destination for the day. With my phone battery dying and the car's cigarette lighter not working as a charger I navigated Sydney's maze and made i back down onto the coast roads, then helped by the 100W high beams (those things are insane!) made it up a 13km windy back road to an ancient little pub with a lovely $35/night room before 11pm.




I left around 7am Saturday morning with a now dead phone to make the journey down the coast road, a little over 900km to go in the journey. I made it around 100km before my first breakdown. I had been warned that there was some rubbish in the fuel system that could clog the fuel filter and cause poor running, backfiring and other associated unpleasantries. Uphill on a windy 100km/h road the Jag started to miss and lose power, thankfully there was a pull-off spot just ahead which I managed to make use of in a cloud of smoke.


I popped the bonnet and could hear a little water pushing out of the overflow. Oil looked fine though and nothing seemed overly hot, so I got the spare fuel filter (much larger than the then current one) out of the boot and fitted it. The Jag fired up and had more readily available power than it had had since I collected it


Breakfast stop at the best pie shop on the coast Milton Rainbow pies) showed no issues, no more running dramas, oil stayed just under 40 pounds at cruising speeds, water stayed at the cold side of normal, alternator charged happily.


From there on aside from rather high fuel consumption compared to what I'm used to (filling 2 45L tanks is eye-watering) of around 12.5L/100km on windy 100km/h roads the trip was relatively hassle free. I can hear the left fuel pump whenever I turn that tank on which makes me think the pump is on its way out, and on a steep hill at 100km/h it will miss on the left tank under load, but otherwise all is well.

We made it home in relative comfort before 9pm, looking forward to having a good look over it today

[dodgerover]

Congrats on a relatively uneventful trip, it looks a nice old thing. 12.5l/100 km works out about 22mpg I think that sounds pretty good given the engine size and weight?

[waveman1500]

I agree with Dodgerover that 12.5 litres/100km is very good for a Jag. Look forward to using a lot more fuel around town!

[devilishdesigner]

Yeah, I knew fuel consumption was going to be bad, it was mostly having to put 70L into a car in one shot that hurt (the Volvo only has around a 40L tank so I've never had to put in more than 35L at a time)

Had a chance to have a proper look over it today. adjusted one brake band in the gearbox but it is still slipping a little (possibly less). will read up more on them soon.

anyway, more photos:
2 friends:



All the rust I have found so far:


Proof of the journey


previous owner obsession 1, contact to protect the step trims (there is also 2 layers of cloth on the dash, felt on every surface of the glovebox, parcel shelf, inside the centre console (which also had a cover on it) plastic over the sides of the boot, custom made mat for the floor of it...


Obsession proof no 2 - reprinted handbooks, 2 copies of the parts manual (1 for in the garage, 1 for in the house!) and a log book with every bit of work dine since 1976, every long trip and yearly mileages since 1987, original advertisement and research from when the previous owner bought it in 87...


Interior (recoloured at some point)




did I say NO rust



The immaculate engine bay that sealed the deal when I bought it:


complete with choke replacing the AED


Electric thermostat controlled fans with handmade blades


and rather awefully welded headers

[oxb1l]

Cool old cat

When does the grinder come out to play ?

[devilishdesigner]

Not until next year sometime. I'll be putting the Jag on full reg for the next little while and giving my Volvo Amazon some much deserved TLC (rust repairs that I've been putting off since I bought it 6 years ago!). Once the Volvo's tip-top then the grinder get's to have some fun

[devilishdesigner]

ridiculously that 1 bubble of rust is in one of the 2 doors reskinned after a carpark accident, the rest of the car is reportedly original paint!

[PandaSelecta]

Bet you didnt tell the seller your plans

[devilishdesigner]

I told him it'd be getting many more years of use, so I was honest...

[waveman1500]

Nov 4, 2012 7:25:30 GMT devilishdesigner said:

Yeah, I knew fuel consumption was going to be bad, it was mostly having to put 70L into a car in one shot that hurt (the Volvo only has around a 40L tank so I've never had to put in more than 35L at a time)

I've just recently had the opposite experience, going from my Holden ute with a tank of at least 70 litres to a 250cc motorbike which only holds 8 litres in the main tank and 4 litres reserve. The ute would happily take about $110 to fill, whereas the bike can rarely squeeze more than $10!

[Mark]

Nice purchase! If I'd seen this in time I would have given you my number in case of disaster..

G'wan, how much?

[devilishdesigner]

$2.5k