The XJS unjustly gets a bad rap. Anything following the E-Type was likely to be considered ugly. It is also much more a Grand Tourer vs. the Series I and II E-Types, which were trues sports cars. Finally, the V12 also got a justified bad reputation for complexity and poor reliability through the smog-controlled 70s. Of course, the smog Nazis don’t deserve all the blame – the car was British and that affected its reliability.
This car had an epic lifecycle, stretching from the 1976 model year through 1996. That’s a longer lifecycle than even the Porsche 928, which is saying something.
There are three great things about this long lifecycle:
1) There was some level of continuous refinement,
2) This car stuck around long enough to benefit from Ford’s ownership of Jaguar, and
3) This allowed time for some variants, including a weird, framed cabriolet and, later, a true convertible.
Most XJSs have V12s and automatic transmissions, but this late one has an I6 and a 5-speed manual. The manual is particularly rare and was only offered fora few years and only with the 6. Fear not, as the lighter I6 means performance rivaling the 12.
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Morro Bay, CA
$8,551 with 12 bids and reserve not met
07/18/2013 update: Ended at above price – reserve not met.
07/22/2013 update: Now relisted and at $1,050 with two bids and six days left.
Despite haters out there, we think this is a great looking car and wasn’t all that dated after 20 years in the market. We’ll go so far as to say this is better looking than a Series III E-Type coupe (when all were 2+2s).
Flying buttresses were a trademark.
Here’s the shot that REALLY matters. One minor loss in the updates was the drum-style gauges found in the early cars.
