JAGUAR XJS 4.0 CONVERTIBLE

The Jaguar Legacy Collection.

A carefully collated collection of landmark sporting Jaguars from the past 65 years, each one bringing something special, museum quality, very low mileage, value for money motoring or, some, simply being the 'best of breed'.

Conceived as a comfortable and long-legged 'Grand Tourer', rather than an out-and-out sports car like the preceding E-Type, the XJ-S made use of Jaguar's extensively developed XJ6/XJ12 saloon platform and running gear. Shorter in the wheelbase than its four-door siblings, the XJ-S debuted at the 1976 Frankfurt Motor Show as a V12-powered coupé, with six-cylinder and soft top versions following in the 1980s and a full electric convertible roof by 1989. Production ran until 1996 and the vast majority were supplied with an automatic gearbox, Jaguar having accepted that their demographic had aged alongside the E-Type and were being tempted away by the automatic SL and SEC by Mercedes and the 6-Series BMWs. Manual gearboxes were usually found in the Targa-roofed 3.6 six-cylinder XJ-S and occasionally in an XJ-saloon, but by the late 1980s, luxury GT cars were virtually all automatic and ironically, the same can be said today.

Gaining a facelift in 1991 that removed the window frames and a hyphen, the XJS was offered with a 4-litre straight-six engine and a 6-litre V12, whilst the original 5.3-litre V12 was discontinued in 1992. With a more modern instrument binnacle, smoked rear lenses, further driver refinements and increased reliability under the watchful eye of the Ford Motor Company, XJS sales were also helped by the success of the Tom Walkinshaw Jaguar Sport race team, and the later Celebration models had their styling heavily influenced by the TWR-Jaguar co-production of the XJR-S, with its curvaceous front and rear, in production since 1988 and until 1996. The rounded colour-coded bumpers of the Celebration model really did suit the XJS and with the convertible hood down, proved to be both handsome and beautiful at the same time.

Remaining with Jaguar Cars since the day of its production on 21st September 1994, this manual gearbox, 4-litre, six-cylinder car is a rare find indeed. Having covered just 306 miles from new and finished in black with a Nimbus Grey leather interior and black soft top, it presents in the condition you would expect for the indicated mileage, even retaining some of that distinctive new car smell. The original books, manuals and service book are all present, joined by a fresh MOT. The car has been part of a private Collection within Jaguar, later joining the Legacy Collection and remains unregistered.

It's interesting to note that British luxury cars, prior to the dawn of the Millennium, were rarely specified with black paintwork, whilst today it is virtually de-rigueur to have a black Range Rover, Rolls-Royce, Bentley or Jaguar. So, a manual, unregistered British heritage luxury car finished in black with a manual gearbox, delivery mileage and impeccable provenance makes this special car unrepeatable.