They appeared at the end of the first gas crisis, had a transmission borrowed from GM (the TH400 automatic was used after 1977) and because of the funky buttress shape of the rear glass area, Germany wouldn’t give the car a type approval for road use, instead requiring anyone who bought one to get it road approved individually. The Jaguar XJS was at least one of the more beautiful cars to roll out of the British Leyland conglomerate post-nationalization and it did very well in the hands of Tom Walkinshaw’s TWR racing team. It’s hunkered down and muscular, similar to the Aston Martin V8 of the same era. It looks like a British muscle car, and that’s not a back-handed compliment, either.
Straight off the bat, let’s get it out of the way now: XK-E it is not. But the Jaguar XJS wasn’t a bad looking car in its own right. While the common idea is to can whatever is in the engine bay for a Chevy small block, this Screaming Yellow Zonker is still packing a V12 underneath the expansive hood and unlike the “Jaaaaaag” that James May beat to death on TopGear, the engine doesn’t barf oil like an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico and the electrical system holds up. Mark Hammond and Gordon Lennox don’t waste any time being delicate with the Jag, either…they had no trouble making the tach swing during the 2014 Targa Tasmania, where the XJS took second in Late Classic. There’s no music to get in the way, just a loud Brit breaking the silence of Tasmania.
I almost bought one. But the promised title wasn’t there after driving an hour to the car.