Another job (almost) well done

Last weekend I saw ms M in London and manage to finalize the list for their move to UK in September. The initial budget was €200.000 but I think we can go well below that. With this kind of job I have a rule of thumb that say the purchase price should be around 60% of budget. The rest is for repairs, cosmetics, papers, taxes, insurance, transport and the rest. So we had €120.000 to buy our 5 cars.
And the winers are:

Car	year				price
Land Rover Defender	2001				18.000
Land Rover Discovery	2008				40.000
Jaguar XJS	1991				8.900
TVR Tuscan	2000				19.000
Mini Clubman	new				23.000
	total				108.000

We are well under budget witch is not bad since the XJS will probably need a lot of (well deserved) attention. Those wonderful cars were designed to be "the quietest, most comfortable and luxurious high performance car on the market” according to the press release from 1975.
Meant to be the replacement for the legendary E-type, XJS was not so much a sport car but a grand tourer. The car’s shape was created by Malcolm Sayer (also responsible for the E-type), who worked closely with company founder Sir William Lyons. The V12 engine catered for an exclusive market. Direct competition were the Mercedes 450SLC, Maseratti Indy, Lamborghiny Espada, Ferrari 365GTB or Aston DB6, ranging respectively from 20% to 90% more expensive.
Maintenance on the V12 is more costly than on a 6 cylinder car, not only because there are twice as many plugs, wires, injectors, etc... but because with such a big engine access is limited; this is the price to pay for the V12 badge.
Rust is a problem and can be very costly to fix.
With any luck and some €15.000 for a complete overhaul, I'll be able to deliver to my dear M's a glamorous V12 cabrio.
I love the others to but XJS and the Tuscan are clearly the jewels of the collection. The Defender is for hunting, the Clubman is a perfect city dweller with plenty of room in the back for Lassie (yeah, I know, such an "original" name for a collie) and the Discovery for everything else.
The Tuscan I didn't saw yet. I'm to go in Chester near Liverpool to see it.