Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Maybe it wasn't exactly a "Great Garage Massacre."

One down.

This makes two!

Originally, I had thought of this process  primarily as "the one thousand dollar parking spot!" That's how much I'd lose by just donating my car to a charity to empty that spot at the curb. 

I like to be socially responsible, but I also like to get a bit of money back from selling my possessions. 

I have been discussing selling some of my cars for quite a long time. It's a subject that has provided a lot of content material. 

It seems that I could never get any traction with getting things sold. I tried on two enthusiast forums with no interest, whatsoever.

I had sold my ailing Explorer to a wrecking yard chain a couple of years ago. It wasn't the ideal solution, but it solved my immediate problem of the car being down in So Cal and gave me a few bucks.

While I didn't want to scrap the XJ6, I did want it gone. With two cars in the garage and two cars in the driveway I wanted to replace the XJ6 at the curb with my truck. 

I considered selling it to CARB, (Calif. Air Resources Board) for a thousand bucks. However I would have to provide a failed smog check and then apply for the program. If accepted I'd have to drive the car to the designated facility.

I looked on the internet for a scrap car buyer, found Pick Your Part, but also saw a site named Carvio.

Starting the process with Carvio was easy. Just fill out the info and submit it. They responded with their offer, which was 1,175.00. That was more than I would get from CARB and they would provide free towing to their facility within two days. The company was very good at keeping me informed during the process, which was handled entirely on line. The only hiccup for me was my burner phone and old man attitude. The site wanted pics of documents sent to them via cell phone, and they would stay in close contact via text. Luckily my Wife has a smart phone and knows how to use it. I wanted to run everything through my burner phone which went on the fritz for almost a entire day. I'm not sure if it was lack of service or lack of paid minutes but my phone was inoperative for a whole day. My wife contacted the company and had them switch to her phone, which cleared up the problems. In any case the car was picked up this morning just two days after I accepted the offer and submitted my documents. Not too bad.

1,175 bucks. Well, I would have sold it to an actual human buyer for 1,000 bucks. Of special importance was that I avoided the whole CraigsList selling experience. Believe me I've been there before, many times. Dealing with flakes and the bottom feeders that contact me with their offers, "Five hundred dollars, no questions asked!" To be completely honest I've also had some good experiences.

An even grimmer prospect was selling the '51 Jaguar, as it is currently not running and firmly ensconced in my side yard. This car also did not receive any interest after being listed on either the Jaguar forums or on the AACA forum. In reality there wasn't any real need to sell the car. It's out of the way and it can sit as long as I want it to. That's how yard cars are born. It's not taking up any really usable parking space, although I've had many cars parked in there. Once I even had two cars in there at the same time! The '22 Dodge hot rod project and the '75 Datsun 280Z! Both the XJ6 and the XJS have spent their time in side yard purgatory. 

I decided to to reach out directly to the source and e-mail Jaguar Heaven, a wrecking yard in Stockton. I described my car and offered it to them for 1,000 dollars. They contacted me for some pictures and more info which I provided. I also explained that I would give them everything I had for the car, but I was firm on the price. They agreed and would send out a tow to pick it up in a week or two. 

Of course I won't believe that it's gone until it actually is. I don't plan to store any more cars in that side yard. I've got the garage able to hold two cars now, and I will keep the number of cars way down! 

Today the guy showed up with a trailer and a check. 1,000.00 dollars is a fair price in my mind. 

The Mark rolled off my property still not under it's own power. Oh well, the bast laid plans, etc....

I still think that the '51 would have been a worthy subject as a project car, it's just that I couldn't make the commitment to it. There were too many other cars lying around. There might be guys around that can manage several car projects at once, and I applaud their abilities. But to be honest, I found that isn't me. 

I feel as though a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I plan to devote some of my newly freed focus, energy, and money into doing something with my XJS.

The Mark needed all kinds of things, body, paint, interior, mechanical, chassis etc. And many of the needed parts were expensive and difficult to source. In it's favor was the fact that it was solid, complete car that had all of it's trim accounted for. I never intended to do a full restoration, that would have been prohibitively expensive. It was just going to be a "fixed up" old car.

The XJS has bodywork and paint in very good condition, the interior needs a bit of work though. It does need a new top, but the engine runs really well and I replaced the transmission a while back. I'd actually driven this car a bit. Like every old Jag it needs suspension work and the ABS brakes recently developed a problem and now needs some sorting. It's not that far away from being a driver. This is a much wiser place to invest my efforts.

What lit the fire under me to sell the XJ6 so quickly? I needed the spot for another car, of course. I also feel a change coming in my feelings about old cars.  As I feel myself getting older, I feel like the tide has turned.

I usually find that it is better to secure a replacement car before I let one go! The dangerous part of that policy is that it is hard to sell/get rid of most of my cars and they tend to sit around.

My success with the XJ6 really motivated me to do something with the '51. I figured that I'd reach out to a potential buyer that is focused on Jaguars. I thought that might be a better plan than just listing it on CL, and I was right!

Now it's time to move forward. 

Yeah, an empty space, I do see this as an improvement.

I feel like I've finally making some progress. It's been a long time since I felt like that.