As we’re fast approaching the official start of winter, the West Coast isn’t the only place getting an early taste of snow. I was out doing a few errands in the GLK yesterday morning when I saw this Jaguar XJS convertible – covered in the accumulating snow no less. And good news, it’s “IV Sale”!
Quarter-century year old Jaguars, at least running ones, aren’t commonly seen in New England. I’m not a Jaguar expert, but this one is a pre-1991 facelift model, making it a Hess & Eisenhardt conversion, as a factory XJS convertible wasn’t offered until 1992.
It’s hard to tell because of the snow, but the body appears to be in good condition. That said, I’m inclined to believe that this XJS isn’t in perfect mechanical condition. I can’t say if it’s because of the non-origninal wheels and hood ornament, or the unconventional sales advertising, but it’s just a hunch. Regardless, it’s the first car I’ve ever seen that’s “IV Sale”.
How many Denarii?
Assuming the 2000 on the rear battering ram is the price, it converts to about 100 Denarii 🙂
With the top down and some wire wheels (with extending spinners), it might make a nice chariot for the races.
He might accept something for barter. Perhaps some silk or exotic spices?
Treasure From the Orient!!!!
Only ovned by a little old lady that used it to drive to the orgy and back.
Come down to Honest Neros Vsed Chariots, acceptable terms, easy payments, drive like and Emperor, pay like a street vrchin.
10 Locations across the Empire!!
Closed Svndays.
Nice. Nice. Not thrilling, but nice.
That’s more creative than 4/S.
I see 4/S on lots of cars “for sale” around NYC. They are usually in the same/worse condition than this Jag.
Given that the owner is using roman numerals, shouldn’t this practice be restricted to Italian cars?
Coventry was occupied by the Romans, so it’s good.
I thought this was built by the fat man from Wiltshire? Proper payment would therefore be in Styca coinage.
I like Jaguars but twice I’ve chickened out of buying them and bought something sensible.One of the best bits of advice I was given was there’s no such thing as a cheap Jag.Cheap Jaguars very quickly become expensive ones.
I suspect that’s a big reason they play up the mystique of Jaguar ownership. Over the sensibility.
You, too? I really, really, really, really want a Jaguar . . . . but I’m always coming up with something almost (repeat: almost) as classy that I’ve got a lot more faith in regarding maintenance costs.
This car, and the ’85 Mustang GT (red with T-Tops!) , were my first loves of the automotive world. Fell out of love with the former years later. A friend from college had a beautiful XJS that would occasionally have the electrics go wonky, causing him to pause briefly in conversation to whale on the dash (ala Marty McFly in his Flux-Capacitor DeLorean) until they miraculously came back on. I was not prepared to pull a Clark W. Griswold and go through the miles of wiring (in his case, ten thousand Italian imported twinkling Xmas lights) to replace each corroded connector. He had at least had Rusty to help him.
The convertible version of this car wants to be better looking than the rather awkward coupe, but it never quite pulls it off.
I think the XJS actually needs the flying buttresses for the styling to work. Without them (as on the convertible) the rear lacks sufficient mass and can look a little un-balanced and over-tyred from some angles (including picture 1 above!).
This is evident on the convertible when the roof’s up, and also on the de-buttressed coupe prototypes Jaguar themselves tried (see AROnline for pics etc). The rear three-quarter of a roof-up XJS or a de-buttressed coupe can look quite bulbous and odd because of the curvature of the sides into the bootlid.
By the same token, when the convertible’s roof is down, it sits above the rear deck and thus provides enough visual mass to mostly balance the styling out again.
That’s my amateur-styling-analysis done for this year! (And I love XJSs in all their forms, even the cabrio!).
Since it’s “IV Sale”, shouldn’t the price be “MM”?
I think the person who might consider buying this might have trouble grasping the “MM” price. The “IV Sale” might even be a stretch
Oh, I thought it meant that after the first repair bill, you would need something administered intravenously to revive you 🙂
I’m considering buying two Jaguars–one to keep one running and the other one to steal parts from. It’s a good plan except I really don’t have anywhere to keep the non-running car that won’t piss off my wife or the neighbors.
IV Sale, how classy.
Its the I top model the II piece top model that still had somewhat of a roof structure like a Nash.
Or a Triumph Stag, a statement that’s probably a good way to start a fight with someone…
HAHA
How about the sexy curves of the saab 9-3 in the adjacent parking space? A guaranteed future CC in my book.
I did take an extra long glance at the 9-3 🙂 but sadly no photos. While we’re on this subject, on my way into work the other day, I saw no less than 5 of these in the parkinglot. There was also a 2011 9-5 and, wait for it… the jackpot of late-model Saabs to see, a 9-4x! I did snap up a few pics of the 9-4x that might make it into a CC Outtake soon!
I saw a 9-4X in Boston about two years ago…I haven’t seen another anywhere since.
Oh yeah you need to post that 9-4X, something like 147 sold total. I saw one a couple of months back but sadly did not have my camera…
By the way, Brendan, there is an excellent article on Jalop by a guy in Norway that bought one of the new Saab 9-5 WAGON prototypes at the Saab asset auction and after quite some time actually found a way to register it and now drives it around. You will love the story. It’s a couple of weeks old at this point.
It’s licensed in Mass, yet has a Vermont phone number…btw when driving VT 5 into Bennington, gotta fill-up at Hemmings Motor News Sunoco.
There’s nothing more expensive than a cheap Jaguar.
…unless it’s an expensive Jaguar.
Ow, some wrong statements said here. Most importantly this is NOT a Hess & Eisenhardt convertible. A simple clue is that a H&E conv would not have the little triangle bit of bodywork just after the doors. Also the triangular window behind the door is typical of a (standard) Jaguar conv., H&E had a more rectangular window. The H&E top would fold down flat into the bodywork. A H&E would also have small badges on the lower front wings after the wheels.
“I’m not a Jaguar expert, but this one is a pre-1991 facelift model, making it a Hess & Eisenhardt conversion, as a factory XJS convertible wasn’t offered until 1992.”
Not true. Yes it is a pre-1991 facelift version. Jaguar started building proper convertibles in 1988. H&E convertibles were available from 1986 up to when the factory produced convertibles.
So this is a common-as-mud pre-1991 convertible by Jaguar. There are still many around whereas the H&E version is much rarer. I would love to find a good H&E.
Amazing to see on this site that everyone with some mechanical knowledge are so scared of owning a Jaguar. Come on, you only live once! And the Ford era cars (1990 – 2007?) are pretty reliable. There is a wide and friendly community. Most work can be done DIY and parts availability is excellent and cheap.