The 1997 Jaguar XK-8 Coupe. Very earlier production version.

Peter purchased this low production Coupe in JANUARY of 2004, only 4 months after the Countach purchase. It is the rare GREEN color with a beautiful tan leather and burl wood dash.

"I love this car, period.
I first time I had seen one, in the late 1990's, was on RT 9 in Connecticut. It was white and I was in a truck, so looking down on this low Coupe was amazing. Never pursued these cars but it was always in my head. They were, like, $70-$80,000 new I think."

We all would think that after purchasing the Countach, Peter would've been wrapped up in that car. No. Let's remember it is winter you know!

Yeah, I know (laughing and shaking his head).
I don't know what happened really. I don't remember why I was looking or what brought it on. I did know I wanted a 1997. I know I did not want the convertible. I not a convertible guy though I did have a Porsche Boxster that was a great car but under powered. The combination of the first year production and the rarity of the Coupe were the main ingredients.

On a cold winters night a beautiful GREEN Coupe came up on eBay....eBay again!

"I'm not humping eBay, it's just coincidental that, so far, the cars I have came from eBay sales. It is, no doubt, the least expensive way to advertise a car....worldwide exposure!"

He did nothing. Peter kept-an eye on the auction. He went back and forth on whether he wanted this car. At the end of the auction the reserve was not meet and the car went unsold.

" I was not surprised. These cars were very expensive and most people set prices quite high.
And let me not forget, the car was in the suburbs of Boston. Great 2.5hrs away. Perfect. I love it when the cars are close.
Soon after the auction ended I contacted the seller. We made arrangements for a weekend viewing. It was cold, damn it was cold. I remember because while I was on my back partially under the car I kept saying to myself..."this goddamn wind, god, it's cold! Hahaha. But first, it was great. Arriving in the quaint little town, I could see the car sitting sideways on the front lawn of this old Victorian neighborhood. I was impressed. The color was extraordinary. It was extremely clean, almost perfect. Had to have it. The interior was perfect, as new. The interior, for the era, beautiful...tan leather with burl wood......I just love getting into this car. Underneath was clean clean clean. And no signs of bodywork. Perfect, had to have it"

Time for negotiating. Peter always dreads this but he almost all way gets the car.

" it was weird, both of us grown men tucked into this car because it was so cold out. We did not look at each other, instead just looking straight ahead. Of, course he lied to me about the important updates that the '97 & 98 XK's needed. He said "done!" I laughed in my head because I knew they were not. However, I did not fault him on this as he, for sure, did not know about them. To this day, I think he was thinking that I was talking about maintenance and scheduled services, which were in order. He did not come down to my offer. I had to come up a little bit. You have to understand, a few thousand, or even several thousand, is irrelevant to me...as long as I get the car I want and feel it was a good deal. I have never been disappointed because I overpaid. As long as we're both happy, that's what important. Everyone has to make money."

Now the car was bought. The seller has all the paperwork in his hands and Peter has all the funds in his. They exchanged. Then the dilemma of getting the car home. Peter did not want to have to go back up to get the car home. He says it is always very tempting when the all the paperwork and funds are ready. At least if one or the other person has to get the funds or title, then that is reason to have to come back.

"Damn. I did something that I said I would never do ever again. The temptation and convenience was too good. I took one plate off the car I came up in and put it on the Jaguar. I hate that and looking back, if I could do it over, I would have come back up and trailered it home. That was the first time I did that since I was a kid. And it was the last. You see, all my cars are registered, insured, emission, license....all up to date and perfect. I will never be stuck in a situation if the police pull me over, no way."

So begins the journey home. But not long after getting on the highway, the car mysteriously stalls in the center lane. But Peter knew..........

" just driving along, scared because of the misuse of plates, unregistered, uninsured. The car stalls on I495 with a boat load of traffic around. Luckily I was able to drift over to the breakdown lane.
But I knew what was going on. The updates! Remember? The car fired right back up and drove home without problem."

As soon as the car was home, the stalling problem was fixed, temporarily. Again, Peter was just happy to have the car in his possession.

"You see, there are several weak links on the early XK-8's. One is the stalling, one of the tiny holes in one of the breathers gets clogged and the computer senses no air flow and shuts the car down. Easily fixed with cleaning but a real fix has to come from Jaguar. Many of us owner, a few years back, rallied Jaguar to make it a recall. They resisted. But with increasing pressure they did. Just a reflash of the computer takes care of that problem. But there are others. The secondary timing chain tensioners are plastic and crack and take out the entire motor. The wheel bearings go bad in a bad way. Control arm bushing go bad and cause the alignment to go out and wear the tires right down. The water pump fail, the fins break off and two things happen. The debris tries to go through the system and the since the fins are gone, the fluid won't circulate. I think the secondary chain guide finally went under recall or something. It was irrelevant because the
 following summer I brought it to the dealer and had all these thing replaced, whether they needed it or not. Wanted those problems behind me. I think that was over $3000. But I never had a problem since!"

Peter has owned the car for 6 years and has put 16,000 miles on it. He said he has driven it less and less over the last few years because he is not comfortable with the miles getting higher. He is firm that these car will be collector cars and valuable in the future.

"Right now, they are worth nothing or not much. But, then again, most cars are not worth what they use to. And that brings down the playing level with all cars. Then you will see, when the economy recovers, which are the real players and those, that are special, rise. Basically, it will weed out the fakers and what suppose to be valuable will be. Plus a car has to bottom out in the market before it can rise and catch the eyes of collectors.
I think the XK Coupes are one of them. There are low numbers, mine seems to be a rarer color and it represents the era when Ford owned Jaguar. That, also being, a short time in Jaguars long history. That and it represents when Jaguars finally became reliable! Do I think it'll be a $100,000 car, no. But you can expect them to rise.