If you think of the 12 as the papa bear and the 6 as the baby bear then today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Jag with a Chevy 8 should be mama bear just right, right? That is of course, if its price doesn’t require too much of your gold to unlock.
In Just Because, Jane’s Addiction asks when was the last time you did something for yourself? While narcissistic and most likely answerable with “right now (fapfapfapfap),” it’s still good reason reason to consider treating yourself to yesterday’s 1986 BMW L7 as that luxury ride is the ultimate in ‘80s German indulgence. Sadly for its seller, 57% of you felt that paying the asking price wasn’t something worth doing.
That L7 was BMW’s first real full-on assault on the modern luxury car market, a place where the British had been playing for years. Marques like Rolls Royce (now owned by BMW), Bentley ( owned by VW), and Jaguar/Land Rover (owned by Indian mega-corp Tata) all could have shown that Bimmer a thing or two when it came to stately extravagance.
This 1982 Jaguar XJ6 Series III is pretty posh, and instead of the the expected 4.2-litre DOHC straight six under hood, this one sports an LT1 V8 late of a 1995 Chevy Corvette. That means 300-bhp instead of 176 and 340 lb-ft of torque replacing 219.
That doesn’t just represent a pop in power, as the Chevy mill should also be substantially more reliable than the Lucas-encrusted Jag six. Hell, it’s probably lighter too. And for the of you poo-pooing the plebeian Chevy taking up residence in the stately Jag - Demezla Poldark-like - keep in mind that here it the States we never got the Series III with Jag’s glorious and inscrutable V12.
I’ve driven lots of Jags, both 6 and 12-equipped and can say from personal experience that there is no other car quite like the “gentleman’s club” that is the XJ. They drive like the world’s most nimble freight train while offering only the most necessary of tactile sensory experiences throughout. The cars are expansive on the outside, a visual cue for your lessors to stay out of your way, while on the inside they are intimate and luxuriously appointed in fine materials.
That’s just how this one appears to be kitted, however there’s no word on whether the thirty-two different shades of biscuit in the interior is a fact or just a trick of the F-stop. Regardless, it looks tidy in the multi-hued single image, with only a Grant steering wheel to spoil the mood. A 700R Automatic does transmission duties through what looks to be the standard spindly Jag shifter.
On the outside, the car is claimed to have fresh paint and it rolls on a set of later-model 16-inch wheels rocking Pirelli rubber. There’s no word on how all the gauges are hooked up, only that it’s a “nice ride for the wife,” which I guess means the seller isn’t voting for HRC. There’s also a sunroof if you’re into such things.
The engine installation looks no less professional than the orginial Coventry-installed 6, although the radiator fill does make you wonder if Will Robinson is in danger. Hey, at least there’s room for the brake booster! This sort of conversion goes way back and is a pretty nice way to experience the Jag mystique with some semblance of reliability.
In fact, described in its ad as SWEET!, this Jag seems to be the best of both worlds, old school class and new world dash. Would it be the case however, that such a melding might be worth $12,000 American?
What do you think about this Chevy-imbued Jag for that kind of scratch? Is twelve grand a fair price for so SWEET! a ride? Or, is this Americanized classic Jag priced just too bloody high?
You decide!
Rapid City (awesome name!) Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Jeff W for the hookup!
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