Now's The Perfect Time To Buy A Jaguar XJ-S V12 Convertible

First things first - I’m not buying this particular Jag. It’s currently on eBay in south Florida, with a reserve-not-met price of $7000. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it (save for the rather infuriating posting - more on that in a moment.) I’m just not yet ready to swap out the good ol’ Infiniti I35 for another used car fling. But this XJ-S caught my eye as I was conducting my semi-daily perusal of eBay and Craigslist, and it reignited an interest I’ve had in these cars for quite awhile now.

A little about this particular find; it’s a 1989 XJ-S V12 convertible, and while I’m by no means a Jag expert, I would prefer to go for the older pre-Ford models because hey, if I’m going to have a Jag, it needs to be a Jag. This one also has just 50,000 miles, it looks positively stunning from every angle, and it’s the last chance for sellers to buy an example like this in such pristine condition. I know this because the seller says so right at the top of the insanely lengthy sales pitch cleverly disguised as a terrible auction description.

I know I’m normally one to harp on at people for not being descriptive enough in online vehicle ads, but somebody needs to take away this person’s internet card. Telling me about the car in detail is fine, but 15 minutes (yes 15 minutes) into this literary assault comes what appears to be an attempt to name-drop someone named Jerry that apparently once owned 1000 cars. I don’t know if an XJ-S was ever among them - at least then there would be some teeny connection to this auction.

Mind you, that’s all in addition to educating everyone on XJ-S convertibles from coachbuilders (of which this one isn’t ), the collector car market (for vehicles completely unrelated to this one), numerous mentions of awards, step-by-step instructions on how to fill the fuel tank, philosophical lessons on life, flagrant misuse of the ellipsis (you know . . . this . . . thing . . .) and approximately 66 mentions of their telephone number. Because apparently they don’t actually want people to, you know, bid on an eBay auction.

And yet for all their information, the seller apparently doesn’t know that the XJS designation (without the hypen) wasn’t used on these cars until 1991. Score one for the muscle car fanboy.

Gripes on the excessive auction description aside, I remain astounded at how cheap these V12 Jags sell for. I know they’re heavy, and they’re somewhat maintenance intensive. But I bet this car struggles to sell for $15,000 and it’s one of the really nice ones. I’ve seen other V12 convertibles sell for less than the current $7000 bid on this car.

Yes, such a cheap XJ-S would likely need a fair amount of maintenance, but I’m not unfamiliar with a wrench. I mean, have you seen all the freaking Taurus SHOs in my Car Throttle garage? Taking care of an XJ-S can’t be any worse than that. And when the repairs are done, instead of a front-wheel drive V6 sport sedan I’d have a rear-wheel drive V12 drop top. Tell me how that’s a bad thing?

So there you have it. Perhaps someone else might be interested in this low-mile garage queen XJ-S, because I still have a couple more months before convertible weather embraces the Black Hills of South Dakota. But thanks to this eBay find, I just might divert attention from the Mustangs I’ve been stalking and sample my first English cat. Got any advice for me on that?