Well, a nice guy named Bryan took the XJR off my hands tonight for $7200. I think he got a good deal, and while I’m sad to see the car go, I’m now going to be able to bring Reggie, the ’63 MGB roadster up here.

The easiest way to fix up a house or a car is to sell it. All those little jobs you put off for months and months suddenly get fixed, and you wonder why you didn’t do it ages ago. Am I the only one who does this?

Case in point: The driver’s seat of the XJR has one motor that makes noise but doesn’t do anything. It is supposed to raise and lower the front of the seat base…and now it does. It took all of five minutes to fix, too. I’ve been living with it inoperative since I bought the car…

I took the XJR across on the ferry today to show a potential purchaser. All went well, but the minute he went on his way, the idler pulley for the supercharger seized and immediately went to pieces. How’s that for timing?

(The photo shows the seized bearing, the remains of the plastic idler that used to surround it, the belt, and the beltless nose of the supercharger.)

I drove it home sans supercharger–it wasn’t as much of a slug as I expected, but it was still much less powerful than it normally is (duh!). The idler has been squealing for some time and I just hadn’t got around to replacing it. I will now. It was all of $35, plus I bought a new belt for $12 as insurance.

I use Coventry West for my Jaguar parts and the service is pretty darn good.

Now if Mr. Potential could just turn into Mr. Actual Buyer, we’ll be all set to bring the ’63 back home.

If it’s so easy to get “suckered” into buying a used Jaguar of recent vintage, why is it so hard to find someone else to do so when it’s time for it to go?

The answer is certainly more complex than I’d give it credit for (“they’re all jerks!”). A used Jaguar is still an expensive car (relatively, I want $7500 for mine) and there is a long list of luxury items that can go wrong. Indeed, a few of those items are non-functional on my car:

• The sunroof isn’t sunroofing. Broken plastic piece, approximate value: $2. Repair option: replace entire roof system.
• The radio aerial isn’t aerialing. This has been a Jaguar problem for years…glad to see it’s still not fixed. Repair option: new motor and mast.
• The climate control readout backlight isn’t. No problem during the day, but at night, you can’t read what temperature it is. Repair option: $10 bulb and some disassembly.
• The driver’s heated seat switch is jammed. I wonder what caused it to happen, but there it is. Repair option: entire clock assembly.

None of these items take away from my pleasure in the car, and mechanically and cosmetically it’s very nice. I never use a sunroof, I produce enough heat in my own seat, and I listen to CDs. However, they don’t look good to prospective purchasers.

The other negative is that I think buyers have changed. No one is willing to accept imperfections in anything any longer. People seem to expect that a 10-year-old car with 100,000 miles is going to look, smell, perform, and be in the same condition as it was when it left the showroom…but they’re unwilling to pay for that condition. So you get people shopping for $7500 Jaguars who really should be shopping for $15,000 Jaguars, and compare your car unfairly to those.

Maybe I’m just too defensive, but this is a good car and it puzzles me no one wants it.

Among certain enthusiasts, the call of the Jaguar isn’t a snarl, it’s a sweet siren’s song. It lures us towards the rocks where we’ll inevitably be smashed, yet we’re powerless to resist.

And who can resist a beautiful, luxurious sedan–with a supercharger? I mean, c’mon, that’s worth a few seconds of considered silence when opening the bonnet for the guys at the pub. Well, I’ve found out who can resist–buyers! I’m trying to sell this car for a few reasons, the number one of which is a lack of parking at our current house, and a desire to bring my 1963 MGB out of storage. I also need a tractor, which will be an exciting new chapter in my mechanical adventures.

Blue Book on this car, in this condition, is about $10,000, maybe a bit more. I started out there, and am now down to $7500 and I’m still not getting any real bites. It’s the Curse of the Used Jag. Once they’re out of warranty, and before they achieve classic status, they’re almost unmovable. I’ll expound on this sometime soon. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me.