An American automobile shopper in search of a brand new V12-engined coupe in 1985 had two selections: Spend the present-day equivalent of several hundred grand for a Ferrari or Lamborghini … or get a Jaguar XJ-S for a few third that price. Today’s Junkyard Gem is one among those cars, present in a Denver automobile graveyard recently.
Jaguar began bolting V12 engines into the E-Type starting in 1971, then into the XJ12 sedan soon after that. By the point the E-Type was discontinued after 1974, Jaguar had spent the higher a part of a decade grappling with the near-impossible task of developing a successor that looked just as beautiful.
This ended up being the XJ-S, which was based on the chassis of the XJ sedan and debuted as a 1976 model in the USA. Production continued through 1996.
These cars were mean-looking, powerful and full of English wood-and-leather luxury, but they were also temperamental and dear to repair. I’ve documented quite just a few discarded XJ-Ss during my junkyard travels.
This can be a DOHC 5.3-liter engine, often known as the HE for its improved combustion chambers and rated at 262 horsepower and 290 pound-feet. This was serious power for a yr through which a brand new Corvette’s engine made 230 horses and the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC coupe chugged together with a 184hp V8.
A 3-speed ZF automatic was the one transmission available on this automobile.
The MSRP was an excellent $36,000, which amounts to something like $107,170 in 2024 dollars. That compared favorably to other European luxury coupes; the 1985 BMW 635CSi was $41,315 ($122,993 after inflation), the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC listed at $57,100 ($169,985 today) and the Porsche 928S cost $50,000 ($18,848 now). Detroit offered the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz coupe for $24,850 ($73,977) and the Lincoln Mark VII Bill Blass Edition for $26,659 ($79,363).
The XJ-S was notorious for expensive-to-fix electrical and mechanical problems, so it is a struggle for third or fourth owners to maintain theirs in driving condition. Some quit on the V12 and swap in small-block Chevrolet V8s.
The gauge cluster on this one was purchased by a junkyard shopper before I arrived, so I could not get a final odometer reading. It appears to have been reset in 1987, anyway.
Here is V12 power wrapped in soft leather, paneled in rare wood, equipped in complete luxury.
A mixing of art and machine.
British Leyland was so happy with the XJ-S that it opened this iconic TV industrial with a mid-Seventies Playboy Bunny climbing into one.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
