I don’t care what Karl, the owner of this Ipanema Brown Jaguar XJ8L says, thirty-five grand is not a budget build. If it is to him, so be it. But that is the only thing that I can nitpick about Karl’s car. I always did like the looks of the Jaguar XJ, more than the typical German sedan. They didn’t look like an absolute tank of a car…they looked light, like they would be playful and romp around. Was it reality? Couldn’t tell you for sure, but I see more late 1990s and early 2000s Mercedes Benzes and BMWs than I ever see Jags from the same era. They weren’t particularly awful off of the floor, but they were long in the tooth and the performance wouldn’t knock your socks off unless you opted for the supercharged XJR version.
Karl is a man whose vision I can admire. He looked at a dirt-cheap XJ8L online and thought, “That’s the car for me!” Underhood, the AJ-V8 was launched into the bin in favor of a Lingenfelter-massaged GM LS3, hooked to a T-56 that is equipped with a gated shifter. There are small body mods, details that the camera doesn’t catch, and the wheels…well…they aren’t for everyone, let’s leave it at that. But the noise that this Jaguar makes, combined with it’s near-sleeper status, calls out to me. How about you?
Language warning: Matt Farah really likes this car…like “multiple F-bombs” like.
Great looking cars these. But it woulda been nice to work the original engine though, instead of the run of the yawnful mill LS, be it Lingenfelter or not.
nice car, I LIKE British cars with Chevy engines, (have SBC MGB)
How did I guess that there would be the usual hunka shit LS under the hood?
Because you guys certainly have a hard-on for them – and continually bombard these pages with otherwise fine cars that have been polluted by them. Any body with half a brain would either have bolted on a huge blower (as Jaguar themselves did for the performance versions of this fine motor) or fitted twin turbos.
Still – with that shit-brown paint job and those hideous wheels this car will probably end up gathering dust anyway!
Get some imagination guys – there are plenty of better ways to increase a car’s power then going down the LS route…
Sorry Geordie but there isn’t anything better!
Just saw an XJ8 in the local C/L for $650 and has a rust free body! Pick up a wrecked 99-02 Silverado and have some fun!
The ghost of the creator of Jaguar, William Lions, has very sharp teeth and has you on his dinner menu!