1981 Jaguar XJS 5.3 V12 HE - Gold, Same owner 32 years SOLD

1981 Jaguar XJ-S XJS 5. 3 V12 HE - Gold, Same owner 32 years - 55, 454 miles


We are very proud to offer this same-owner-for-32-years Jaguar XJS… and to tell its story.

The service history shows that the car was owned by the first keeper for just 1, 200 miles. We suspect the car was a dealer demonstrator but cannot be certain. In the history file is a beautiful hand-written letter from the second owner to the third, dated 15 June 1984. This letter confirms that he had the car until 12, 000 miles and only sold it as because at the age of 72 he found it difficult to get in and out of.

We can only assume that the third owner did not keep the car long as that October the car was sold to Mr Soo who lived in Surbiton in Surrey. Mr Soo kept the car from October 1984 until the summer of 2017 when he passed away. Sadly, for the last decade of his life Mr Soo wasn't well enough to drive the car and it just remained in his garage - apparently, he just could not bring himself to sell it.

Bizarrely, Mr Soo's house was sold with the car still in the garage and so was then taken over by the new house owner. (The V5C confirms this by showing the same address for both people.)

There the car sat for a short while longer until one of the neighbours enquired with his new neighbour what happen to the lovely old Jaguar. He was very pleased to learn that it was still in the garage where it had lived for the last 33 years and offered to get it running for them.

This saviour, John, then spent a small fortune getting the car up and running:

- Reconditioned gearbox fitted
- Power steering rack replacement
- 4x new tyres
- Spark plugs
- Rear brake discs, pads and caliper seals
- Driver’s door lock and handle
- Headlight
- HT leads
- Rotor arm
- Distributor cap
- Water pump
- Belt kit
- Coolant hose kit
- Wheels refurbished
- Full service including coolant and air filter
- Ball joints
- Track rod ends
- Thermostats and gaskets
- Oil level switch

We have receipts for all of this work as well as an original service book with a good number of service stamps from the car’s early life.

And then we got hold of the car and concentrated on the physical appearance. There was some corrosion starting around the arches (way better than most unrestored XJSs of this age) but it wasn’t too bad, however, the whole paint was lacklustre and there were quite a few minor dents and scrapes.

Because the car is solid underneath we planned to just repair the damage and the start of the wheel arch corrosion, however, it all got out of hand and we have repainted the whole car as well as fitted a few replacement trim pieces.

We accept that the colour will not be to everyone’s taste but it’s the original and correct shade and we adore it! It suits the era of car extremely well and the level of interest the first pictures of the car attracted on social media were outstanding. Most people really really like the very gold colour, which makes us happy!

Please do consider that the car has not had a show-quality bare-metal respray, it has had a very good tidy up to make it presentable. The interior has been left untouched aside from a little cleaning.

It drives well and looks great but has been priced according to the condition. It’s not a bad car in any way but I would be upset if anyone viewed the car expecting a £20-25, 000 show car.

What would really make us happy is for the next owner to complete the final few percent of the restoration to make it everything it could be… and to have fun driving it around in the meantime.

We have lots and lots of additional photos, please just ask to be sent them all.



ABOUT US:
Chatsworth Park Automobiles are a small and very friendly company based in West London. Appointments for viewings can be arranged 7 days a week from 8am-7pm. We specialise in taking the best possible care of our customers as is humanly possible. There are absolutely no pushy salesmen, and we are happy to do anything whatsoever to help. Part-exchange cars very welcome. Every car we sell comes with a 24 hour no-quibbles refund policy, so if for any reason you are not 100% delighted with the car you buy, you just bring it back for a full refund.

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