For sale by owner.

Up front:  it runs but you’ll need to get an intermittent problem with the throttle fixed before you can drive it – more info below.

This XK8 coupe is certainly one of the sleekest, prettiest body styles ever produced!  The convertibles were more popular in the US, but they missed out on the beautiful roofline of the coupe.

This is a great GT car, especially if you live somewhere with lots of fast curving highway. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received compliments on the beauty of this vehicle, both from people that know nothing about cars and others that live and breathe automobiles.

I bought this example from the original owner with a lot of freeway miles on it.   Has always been in the Los Angeles/OC area.

Current mileage is 163,618 miles.  Starts up just fine, so this engine appears to have avoided the problems they had with some pre-2000 cars without steel sleeves.

I had the front end resprayed to repair a scraped bumper and some stone chips and the front end still looks good.  The roof and trunk paint is now very worn and needs to be repainted.  The Amaranth body colour is kind of like eggplant – a beautiful dark purple with a touch of natural brown.

It’s about as solid feeling as you can get.  The bonnet, trunk and doors all close with a very reassuring thunk.  On the road, the only sounds are the excellent sound system and the highly-tuned exhaust note.  Jaguar tuned the exhaust with seven resonators that give it a fantastic snarl when you put your foot in it.

The smallish (4.3L) V-8 loves to rev and it is a very sweet engine with plenty of power.   Definitely a driver’s car.  The valves are making some noise, so it will need some attention, but it runs great.

Body is very straight – just needs paint.  I was told by the original owner that it had never been in an accident, but then they handed me some receipts from a body shop – I think they probably scraped it up on the garage entryway (they had a right-angle entry into their garage and I suspect that’s also how the bumper got scraped up).

I had both front wheel bearings replaced, so you shouldn’t have to worry about those for a long time.  The Pirelli P-Zero tires still have plenty of tread.  It’s been sitting for a few years other than when I start it up and move it back and forth so they could have flat spots – I can’t tell.  In any case, the P-Zero tires don’t last very long as they are pretty soft and sticky.

The cooling system in these cars works great as long as you keep it maintained. It is a low-volume, high-velocity flow system, which is efficient but it has no margin for error.  The black plastic coolant necks and other parts have to be replaced every 10 years or so because they eventually develop hairline cracks that are next to impossible to spot.  The water pump has few miles on it and is OEM.  It’s amazing when you compare the Jaguar part with an off-brand replacement.  The Jaguar part is like a jewel while the off-brand part looks like someone cast it in their backyard.

The Harmon/Kardon sound system is fantastic.  The fact that the body is so solid and insulated makes all the difference.  The 6-CD changer is in the trunk (this was state of the art in 1998) and works well on anything but really nasty railroad crossings.  It has a cassette player in the dash, as you would expect.  I never used it except with an adapter to play my iPod.  This car had a factory cell phone, so I believe it is equipped with remote microphones, but it requires some serious hacking to make use of it with today’s devices.

Although English electrics were a lot better in the 90s, it does have a few quirks.  Sometimes the center console lights go out at night, but a tap on the cruise control button brings them back on.  Don’t ask me why, I have no idea but this was one of the first cars that used a digital data bus, so that can have some unexpected results.

The interior is very cozy and in very nice shape.  I had the driver’s seat recovered and recontoured a bit (the original was very flat), so it still has some life in it.  I also had the sagging headliner replaced.  Quality materials and feel throughout.

 Sorry to say, but you will not be able to test-drive this car.  I let the registration expire since I don’t drive it anymore so it is not street legal.  You will need to bring a flat-bed truck pick it up.  The reason I stopped driving it is because it developed an intermittent problem in which the throttle would abruptly stop responding.  This is certainly disconcerting when in traffic and could be dangerous in intersections, so I am not going to re-register it.  Don’t drive it in traffic until you have had this repaired.  I would suggest taking straight to a Jaguar repair facility first thing.  It may be as simple as a bad throttle body or maybe it’s a software issue – I don’t know and I have other cars that need attention, so I’m leaving it up to a fresh owner to deal with it.

 

Minor flaws that I am aware of:  console lid doesn’t latch right, plastic high-mount brake light housing is deteriorated from the sun, hood struts need replacement, ABS light comes on (a common problem due to a bad solder joint on a card – search the web for the replacement options).

Battery was recently replaced and I keep it on a charger.

OK, some of that sounds bad and I want to be totally upfront about it, but when it’s working right this is a fantastic machine – fast, beautiful and solid.

 Local Pickup Only (or have a shipper pick it up for you).

26 year old car, lots of miles, consider it a project car – no returns, no warranty (but no rust, either).