1994 JAGUAR XJS 6.0 V12
MIKE FREEMAN, CHESHIRE
‘I used to be a car killer, buying old bangers with as long an MoT as I could find and running them into the ground before scrapping them. I must have gone through more than 30 cars in my twenties! My local garage had two used cars on its forecourt in 2004, both with a full MoT and priced at £300 – a Vauxhall Nova and a Jaguar XJ40. I test-drove the Jag and instantly fell in love. Owning this £300 Jag led me to my first XJS, a 4.0-litre facelift edition, which I ran as my daily transport for three years from the age of 26. Then, after much searching, I found my current XJS 6.0 V12 in 2012.
‘I knew that I couldn’t afford professional rates to maintain the car with my income so I realised that I had to get my hands dirty, gaining skills and tools along the way. However, some jobs really need the specialist touch, which is why it helps to build a local, trusted team that you can call upon.
‘I enjoy learning as I repair and working on the car myself allows me the time to be a perfectionist. Routine tasks such as changing belts led me to strip the entire front end, remove any traces of corrosion and re-build as new. To take this light restoration approach if a garage was doing the work would be unaffordable for me.
‘With my XJS I’ve always worked to a principle of remove, then repair or replace. Damaged wooden veneers, for example, had to be replaced, whereas tired chrome trim can be repaired. When owning a car like the XJS, it’s inevitable that a really big job will crop up from time to time, and for me recently this was the scuttle. I discovered extensive rot that can lead to water getting into the cabin and destroying the electrics. I was quoted £5000 for repairs, which was what I’d paid for the car, so I cut out the damaged metal and my friend Andy Scott at A&B Autos in Northwich (northwichgarage.co.uk) helped me to fabricate and weld the repair. We help each other out and without such friends I couldn’t fix things like this.
‘With help, and by learning skills via online forums, I’ve been able to slash the running costs of my XJS. It can be difficult finding correct advice due to the 20year production run and the huge number of design changes over the years, but I’m pleased to say that I am evolving from car killer to car restorer!’ TOTAL MILEAGE 58,000 ANNUAL MILEAGE 1500 ESTIMATED ANNUAL MAINTENANCE COSTS £1000 RECENT EXPENSES OVER-AXLE STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST PIPE (£275), EXHAUST TUNNEL MOUNTING (£3.38), BOOT BADGES (£160) ENGINE 5994cc/V12/OHC POWER 308bhp@5350rpm TORQUE 355lb ft@2850rpm MAXIMUM SPEED 161mph 0-60MPH 6.6sec FUEL CONSUMPTION 15-20mpg TRANSMISSION RWD, four-speed auto