Why pay $300 for a known money pit?
I suspect the seller wants WAY more than $1000
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You have my condolences.
To some.
Good price would depend on what’s really wrong with it. If it only needs a battery and fuel system flush, not all that expensive. But then you also need to find out the original problem that caused the car to be sitting long enough for the gas to go bad. And that may be very expensive. After all if the original problem was cheap and easy to fix wouldn’t the car be running. I think your title should read.
I’m about to make the mistake of buying an Jaguar lawn ornament, and the owner won’t tell me what’s really wrong with it.
I would echo the others. Unless you have a lot of money just lying around that you can set fire to without financial pain, old Jaguars should be avoided like the plague. Especially if they don’t even run when they’re being sold.
The old joke about Jags, especially older ones, is that they spend the winter in the shop getting repaired so you can drive them a couple months in the summer. They are exceedingly unreliable and expensive to fix - which didn’t matter to the well-heeled original buyers because the Jag was generally one of several cars in the fleet, and $5,000 to them was like $50 to normal people.
In short, if you can afford to keep this thing on the road, you can probably afford a new luxury car.
Guys,
In my opinion, after over 60 admonitions, comments from skeptical people, and outright warnings, I believe we have reached a consensus…
If you are making a serious inquiry and knowing only what has been presented, I wouldn’t buy this car if I were you.
(Psst… We haven’t heard from lovemynew_149293 in a couple of days.
I think it could be time to put a fork 
in this one. 
)
CSA
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You mean?
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Exactly!
That’s funny because I wanted to post a graphic with something to do with a dead horse being beaten, but I’m not as computer savvy as you are.
Thank You, texases!
CSA
Totally dead on arrival. Run away from this Jaguar. Trust us and me on this one.
I am with CSA on this thread . It does not need to be closed on the very remote chance that the OP will return . But can we at least have some kind of banner .
Nothing to see here , please move on to a active thread .
Yeah… This is a discussion forum. If people want to discuss, they should be allowed to without self-appointed forum police telling them to shut up. It’s completely fine if you don’t want to read a bunch of similar answers - that’s your prerogative. I would suggest that if that’s the case, you should go read something else and leave the job of closing threads to @cdaquila.
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This is less of a reply to shadowfax than an addendum. For those who are truly bored/annoyed/put out by a thread and you just wish everybody would leave it alone, you do have the option to choose to mute the discussion via the button below the wrench/bookmark/share/flag/reply buttons at the bottom of a page. If you choose mute, you won’t get any updates about it and it will not show up on the Latest Discussions.
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Are you kidding? And miss all this banter? I didn’t say I wanted it closed, (I’m the free-speech guy) but with Texases’ help, indicated that without more input from the original inquirer, we are beating a dead horse on very, very limited information.
So, please, lovemynew_149293, if you’re out there in cyberspace someplace, please come back and get this old glue horse back on its hooves! Rein this conversation in and get us back on the track. It would behoove you to do so.
CSA
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ah yes, an 85 Jag is definitely a horse of a different color
Thank you for being so positive and supportive! I certainly didn’t intend For my post to Bore/annoy/put out anyone. I simply had a question about a car and I knew this would be a great place to come for help from expert car lovers. That being said, I realize that my question was waaaay simplistic. Thank you everyone so much for your input. I ended up NOT getting the Jag. For my own reasons, as well as the reasons brought to my attention in your answers. I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet, so I just wanna say thank you guys and I’m still on the lookout for my new car! If anyone comes across an awesome Datsun 280z let me know! Those are sooooo pretty!!!
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The Z cars are getting harder to find in good shape. I worked on quite a few of those back in the 80s and 90s. Like any car, they have a few quirks but all in all they’re pretty decent vehicles sans the stiff ride.
A guy whose Toyota I used to work on came in one day with his 240Z Fair Lady. Right hand driver, purchased new in Japan, and shipped to the U.S. Immaculate in and out with very low miles. He said he was thinking about trading it in on a used Pontiac Grand Am. I told him no,no, hxxx no, and he did it anyway.
As for the Jag I think you have dodged a bullet. Odds are the engine is bad; a fact that will not be known until it’s running. If it’s able to run…
You’d still want to have any 280zx you find inspected by a mechanic who’s familiar with these cars. This one is much less scary than the one on Autotrader for $5,000 with a cargo area full of parts/manuals and visible rust in South Dakota. A recent dealer auction purchase according to the carfax so they might not know much about the history other than what carfax tells you.
https://www.lot99llc.com/vehicle-details/1982-datsun-280zx-gl----5-speed-manual-----nissan-fairlady-z---hatchback-6f3c64975ad1ff49814e25ad3823f441
Thank you for the kind words and welcome back. I do like the looks of all the “z” cars.
Is this to be a second car/week-end vehicle or a car intended for every day driving? I’m not exactly sure when they quit making the 280z, but keep in mind that newer cars are quite a bit safer to drive than older classics. Here in Florida, I see “z” cars every time I’m on the road, many newer ones.
With this in mind and if you accept driving a vehicle with inherently more risk, and this actually applies to ANY vehicle, always check with your insurance company and get a quote before purchasing.
Not all cars cost the same to insure. For a more accurate estimate than one which you can get from Year/Make/Model, write down the VIN (vehicle identification number) located in the driver’s side lower corner of the windshield to give to your agent.
Do you have a budget in mind for your dream car? That would help narrow advice to a more meaningful stream.
CSA
Yeah, we really need to know what the mission of this car is. I have a Toyota MR2, which has a Camry engine and is therefore one of the most reliable sports cars ever made. But it’s also 26 years old (much younger than a 280z) and even though I only drive it in the summer (and even then only on nice days), I still have to throw money at it every year to keep it roadworthy. Even though I do all the work myself, it’s expensive, and problems ground the car once or twice a summer. That would be a serious problem if I were using it as my daily driver or I didn’t have the money to waste keeping it viable.
Have you considered a Miata? Lots of fun per dollar.
A 280Z I suppose a great weekend car, but not a good daily driver.