2010-05-08 15:54:13 | pauls writes:

Ebay item 5/8/10
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jaguar-E-Type-XKE-Roadster-Silver-Convertible-Gorgeous-N ...
Opening bid $34,000, no reserve, no bids yet 9 days left in auction. Buy it now price $42,000.

Sellers description:
1974 Jaguar XKE Roadster -- NO RESERVE. Losing my garage space.

This is a beautiful, straight XKE convertible, a very good driver and quite enjoyable. It came out of storage when I bought it last year and, as noted below, a number of things have been done to make it reliable. The classic jaguar restoration shop which has done the work for me indicates they can find no indication of any damage history. There is no known rust on the car, and folks refurbishing it have been all over it. The rockers are solid and coated with preventative, and the boot area under the spare tire is not rusty, etc. The incredibly low mileage, 28,397 at the moment, is accurate. I inherited a variety of service records, some from decades ago, and while these are not complete, looking at the entries on those and at the registration odometer readings, they all work up gradually to this total.

I drive this XKE around town, and have been on the highway at full speed and it tracks smoothly. The car starts immediately every time, and idles smoothly. It has never stalled as I have driven around central Virginia, and if you step on the gas going 60 it leaps forward with lots of untapped power. The automatic transmission shifts appropriately and does not "slip" while driving around. The car has never overheated during my ownership, and has consistent good oil pressure.

The car came out of long term storage last year and over the past several months the following maintenance items were done on the car:

1 Replaced the fuel filters.

2. Flushed the cooling system and replaced fluid.

3. Flushed the brake fluid reservoir

4. Filled the air filter

5. Replaced spark plugs and cleaned or replaced along with plug wires as needed.

6. The Carbs showed signs of old gas, so we had the carb diaphragms replaced, and had the carbs cleaned thoroughly.

7. Drained /flushed rear-end oil.

8. Greased suspension

9. Flushed, blew out, and refilled the brake lines.

10. Replaced muffler on one side (the car has the correct dual track quad exhaust)

11. Replaced the float sensor in the gas tank to make the dash gauge work properly.

12. Replaced several (but not all) cooling hoses.

13. New exhaust header on one side (transport company bashed the exhaust pipe which cracked one of the headers, so new header and new exhaust pipe were installed).

14. New power steering rack.

15. New genuine Nardi steering wheel with proper XKE attachment boss and the proper horn button ($600 package). This gorgeous laminated wheel is slightly smaller than the original steering wheel, and thicker, and is MUCH more comfortable to drive with. Also makes entry and exit easier for the driver.

16. The car came to me with a luggage rack (chrome, in very nice condition). I had it professionally removed, but left the little chrome mounting studs on the rear deck, visible in the pictures. The rack comes with the car and can be reinstalled easily if the new owner prefers that look. Otherwise you could remove the mounting studs, plug and repaint those holes, and sell the luggage rack for $400 on e-bay.

17. Replacement springs were installed recently installed in trunk boot lid so it properly holds itself open when you open the boot. The proper knob in the rear of the cockpit opens the boot. There is a spare tire on another wire rim, though that spare rim is not as pretty as the four we drive on.

18. New fuel pump

19. New battery

DESCRIPTION
The paint is in very good, and beautiful, condition. Looks to me like metallic silver with a clear coat. There are a few small chips on the edge-lip of the bonnet where it closes on the driver's side, shown in one of the photos. I am not conscious of other noticeable chips in the surface of the paint around the car, and the chrome is all present and in good shape. The four tires are brand new Dunlops, less than 200 miles on them.

Things that would be on the agenda to perfect the car: replace upholstery on the two seats. There is an inch and a half tear on the top of the driver's seatback (shown in a photo), and both seat leathers are tired. The leather cover for the little console compartment between the two seats is intact but very tired, and I would order new leather for that along with the seat upholstery.

The door panels have no tears or bad marks. The color on the door panels is not as bright as new leather seatcovers will be, but my wife assured me I did not need to replace the door panels since they look good. See the pix. The carpeting is solid overall. There are a couple of very small holes the size of a pea in the top floor mat on the passenger side (see pix), so renewing the two replaceable carpets directly under foot would look good. The square maquette behind the seats, in the appropriate red velvety material, does not need replacing since it looks great.

The car has a small oil leak, which the restoration specialists who looked at it quite carefully attributed to sitting in storage long enough to allow the seal between the engine and transmission to get dry. I have not had to put oil in the car for several months so it is a very small amount. However, as was explained to me, a droplet falls every so often on the aluminum heat-shield located over the exhaust pipe connections and when that shield gets hot, that oil evaporates as smoke. If I let the car sit for two weeks it will give off smoke from that heatshield for 5 minutes while the fluid on that heat shield burns off. Once that is finished, there's no smoke or smell as you drive around all day long, and if you drove it a couple times a week or more you would not get a buildup to create smoke in the first place. The transmission has needed no work, but obviously the seal between the engine and transmission is a prime candidate for replacing when any work needs to be done on it. Possibly the exhaust pipes could be rerouted to avoid the tiny fluid drip.

The car has air conditioning which is not working. A fan housing for that, located underneath the glove box, needs to be reattached. The fan turns on when you turn on the air conditioning unit, but the blade scrapes a little because the fan box is not properly attached under the dash on that side, under the glove box, and I have not attempted to recharge the compressor unit.

The extruded rubber around the doors is present but needs replacing for a cleaner look, and for the extra $17, I would also get the rubber that the bonnet sits on when in the closed position, which seems ready to be redone.

Gauges all work except for the Tach, which is intermittent. Some weeks it smoothly reflects the RPMs and other weeks it does not move. Speedo has small wobbles (not completely smooth pointer) but is always functional and accurate.

The brakes work well, but they screech sometimes; the classic jaguar specialists who did the above work told me this fall that the rotors are straight but with surface rust from sitting in storage, and are functioning properly. They said I should drive the car until they stopped making that noise. I am at retirement age and don't get to drive it much, and the disks still screech periodically when you step on the brake.

The top (black) is essentially new and has never seen rain.

So, there are things to be done, but this a beautiful head-turning car that is fully functional and enjoyable at present. It purrs, has smooth power, and drives/handles beautifully. As the pictures demonstrate, the gaps around the doors, etc, are even and close, as they should be. Everything latches smoothly, no slamming, lifting or pushing required. It's very pretty. It makes you smile to get into this car and turn it on. It's involuntary. However, I will be losing my garage space shortly and I'm not leaving this car outside.

2010-05-21 08:03:16 | pauls writes:

Car returns to ebay 5/21/10
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jaguar-E-Type-XKE-Roadster-Silver-Convertible-Gorgeous-N ...
Opening bid $34,000, no reserve, no bids yet 9 days left in auction. Buy it now price $39,900.

Previous auction received no bids.

2011-10-20 07:12:26 | pauls writes:

Car returns to ebay 10/20/11
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jaguar-XKE-Roadster-V12-convertible-superb-driving-vehic ...
Opening bid $44,500, no reserve, no bids, 4 days left in auction. Buy it now price $48,200. Car now said to be in Tucson, Arizona.

Sellers description:
1974 Jaguar XKE V12 Roadster. It has less than 29,000 original miles, with a lot of registration receipts and service records to verify the mileage. It is in top-notch condition. Of the several XKEs I have owned over the past 40 years, this is easily the best.

The drive train serial numbers match. It looks and drives like a dream. Last year I had it checked by arguably the most revered Jaguar mechanic in the area - Scott Fricks. He found no rust or previous damage of any consequence. It has its original floor pans, etc. and has been well cared for throughout its 37 years so as not to need that kind of surgery. It was repainted once, in the same silver color. The following are some of what has been serviced over the past couple of years:

New leather last year
Original automatic transmission was rebuilt and reinstalled (and still is warranted)
Nardi steering wheel (I also have the original)
New Dunlop tires
Speedometer, Tach, and Clock removed, cleaned, adjusted
Rebuilt the steering rack & installed 2 new tie rod ends
New fuel pump
Replaced engine rear main oil seal
A/C serviced, recharged

Included also is the optional rear luggage rack (currently not installed, but easy to put back), tonneau cover, and boot cover.