Daniel,
Your prospective XKE sounds suspiciously like my close friend
Ricks, aka "The Constitution" when he got it. To wit:
>1967 Jaguar XKE 2+2 4.2L. The owner is asking $9000 but will
negotiate.
Bet he will. Rick's is a '68 Series 1 1/2 roadster, the guy wanted
$12,000 in 1988 "But there are three offers ahead of you". He
should have run then. Ah, the lure of what Henry Manney III called
"The greatest crumpet catcher known to man". (Duck, here it comes)
Of course, Rick got The Phone Call. Something about "Gee, the other
three offers fell through, so it's yours if you want it" and "I'm
selling it to make room for a new XJS" Yeah, sure. As you probably
figured out by now, Rick bought it.
>Minor rust on rear quarter panels and rockers panels, roof in
primer.
Whoa! No such thing as "minor rust" on an E-Type! Rick's showed
none. BTW, we just are putting the finishing touches on the new
Martin Robey shell. 'Nuff said, IMO.
>no noises or smoke
Sounds like he did a real cheap "rebuild". Ricks didn't smoke on
the test. When he put oil in it & started it he had no mosquito
problems for a month. The slime that sold it to him HAD NO OIL IN
THE SUMP!!!
>doesn't drive it much.
Run the other way as fast as you can!
>Is the 4.2 engine as unreliable as the 12 Cyl.
Sounds like you've been reading John's Cars ads. Jag engines are
VERY robust, If you're dealing with an almost 30 year old car,
yeah, it may be plain worn out, so isn't a '67 Chevy. And would you
be looking at more than the purchase price to bring it up to snuff?
Get a Hemmings, figure a new paint job, too & you'll see (the
answer is a resounding yes, in our experience.
Run away, now, it's cheaper to spend more on a nicer car initially,
IMO.
Hope this helps.
Colin WA1KWA
bracec@a1.mgh.harvard.edu
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