A jewel in the sand

What can you buy with $1000.00 today?

If photography is your hobby, a new Canon zoom lens can cost you $1000.00

A keen computer gamer? The latest pair of high-end graphics cards can cost you $1000.00

Perhaps you're an audiophile? Even a decent AV-Receiver can cost you $1000.00

But what if you're a car nut?

For $1000.00 you cannot buy a new car. However used cars are easily obtainable at any range. To get an idea of the type of cars you can get for $1000.00, I did a quick search on my local kijiji. And what you find is a list of mid-90s American and Japanese compact saloon cars that have done around 250,000 kilometres (150,000 miles).

Now what car enthusiast would want one of those???

For that money, only on the rarest occasions one finds a jewel in the sand of used car classifieds. An unloved classic car or a beautiful project car the owner simply no longer has the time to finish.

I found that jewel in the sand...err snow?


A 1974 Jaguar XJ12. The epitome of British luxury of days gone by. A 4300lb luxury saloon with a 5.3litre V12, leather seats, climate control, and even a 4 speaker music system. There are only a handful of cars today that can even remotely boast those features.

As a matter of fact, I can think of only two.

The Roller Phantom


And the all time playa the S600 Mercedes-Benz


I paid CAD$1000.00 for my XJ12. Picked her up last Saturday. Has 64k miles (107k km) on the clock and runs pretty damn well for a 34 year old car. Obviously this is a restoration project. The car needs a lot before it can regain its dignity.


Before you know it, she'll be as good as new.