Jaguar XJS Details, Photos and Videos

The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, fixed-profile and full convertible body styles. There were three distinct iterations, with a final production total of 115,413 units over 20 years and seven months.

Originally developed using the platform of the then current XJ saloon, the XJ-S was noted for its prominent rear flying buttresses. The styling was by Jaguar's pioneering aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer — one of the first designers to apply advanced aero principles to cars. Sayer died just before the XJ-S body styling was frozen for production.

In its final iteration produced from 1991 to 1996, was manufactured under Jaguar's new owner Ford, who introduced numerous modifications — and eliminated the hyphen in the name, marketing Jaguar's longest running model simply as the XJS.

The XJ-S was introduced on 10 September 1975. The development, directed by William Heynes had begun in the late 1960s by the code name of project XJ27, with an initial shape penned by Malcolm Sayer, but after his death in 1970 it was completed by the in-house Jaguar design team, headed by Doug Thorpe. Power came from the Jaguar V12 engine with a choice of a manual or an automatic transmission, but the manual was soon dropped as they were left over from V12 E Type production. V12 powered production automobiles were unusual at the time; Italian luxury sports car makers Lamborghini and Ferrari produced such models. The specifications of the XJ-S compared well with both Italian cars; it was able to accelerate to 97 km/h (60 mph) in 7.6 seconds (automatic models) and had a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph). The first series of XJ-S cars had a BorgWarner Model 12 transmission with a cast-iron case and a bolt-on bell-housing. In 1977, General Motor's Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmissions were fitted. The TH400 transmission was an all-aluminium alloy case with an integrated non-detachable bell-housing. The XJ-S was originally supplied with Dunlop SP Super E205/70VR15 tyres on 6K alloy wheels; British police upgraded their Jaguars to a higher-performance 205/70VR15 Michelin XWX tyres.

Jaguar launched the XJ-S in the wake of a fuel crisis, when the market for a 5.3-litre V12 grand tourer was small. The buttresses behind the windows were criticised at the time as German authorities feared these would restrict rearward vision, and refused to give the XJ-S, and the similarly designed Lancia Montecarlo, type approval — necessitating German XJ-S buyers to obtain road approval for each individual car on registration.

Italian styling house Pininfarina introduced a 1978 concept car based on the XJ-S, called the Jaguar XJSpider; which did not see production.

From July 1981, the XJ-S was renamed the XJ-S HE and received the new High-Efficiency V12 engine for much better fuel economy. With the Fire Ball combustion chamber designed by Swiss Engineer Michael May, power output was increased as a by-product to 220 kW (295 hp) or 196 kW (263 hp) in North America. At the same time, the XJ-S HE received changes to its exterior and interior (body-coloured trunk plinth in place of the standard previous black, new five-spoke (starfish) alloy wheels, chrome inserts on the upper part of the bumpers, burled elm inserts on dashboard and door cappings). In 1982, the new V12 XJ-S HE won first and second at the RAC Tourist Trophy race at Silverstone.

In 1983, the new 3.6-litre Jaguar AJ6 straight-six (I6) engine was introduced along with a new convertible model called the XJ-SC. The coupé's rather small rear seats were removed in order to make space for the removable soft top, making it a 2-seat car. The XJ-SC was not a full convertible but was a fixed profile variant with a non-removable centre targa-type structure and fixed cant rails above the doors and fixed rear quarter windows. The six-cylinder cars can be identified by a raised bonnet center section.

Between 1983 and 1987, the six-cylinder-engined cars were only available with a five-speed manual transmission (Getrag 265), with a four-speed automatic (ZF 4HP22) offered from 1987 onwards (along with improved fuel injection as used on the XJ40). The earlier, manual models were not imported by Jaguar into the United States, which had to wait until the facelift manual 4-litre XJS coupé and convertible became available. A V12 powered XJ-SC was introduced in 1985.

The two-seat XJ-SC targa-type model, never a great success in the marketplace, was replaced by a two-seat full convertible in 1988 which proved to be a great hit.

From 1986, a full convertible version was available through some dealers, modified by Hess and Eisenhardt in the USA. The Hess and Eisenhardt coachbuilding firm was located in Ohio, USA, and built about 893 of these cars under contract from Jaguar before the official Jaguar-built XJS full convertible became available in 1988.

The Hess and Eisenhardt convertible differed from the later Jaguar-built XJS concertible as its unpadded top folded down deeper into the body structure of the car resulting in a cleaner rear profile when the roof was lowered. To accommodate this design element, the Hess and Eisenhardt convertibles have two separate fuel tanks, positioned to allow for the roof to fully retract. The process of converting the stock Jaguar XJS coupé into the HandE Convertible included the post-production removal of the roof, cutting the body in several sections, the addition of steel reinforcements behind the driver's seat, and 9.1 kg (20 lb) weights placed just behind the headlights to eliminate harmonic resonance caused by the significant modifications to the car. HandE XJS convertibles are easily identified by the lower folding top, as well as two small badges located just behind the front wheels. The later Jaguar full convertible had a heavier padded top that did not fold as lower as the HandE convertible, but retained nearly all of the original components of the coupé.

The number of HandE Jaguar XJS produced is unknown, partly because a fire at the Hess and Eisenhardt factory destroyed most of the records pertaining to the Jaguar XJS conversions. According to some sources, a total of 2,100 cars were converted.

From 1988 to 1993, a special high performance XJR-S version equipped with the 5.3 litres (5,344 cc) HE V12 engine was produced by the newly formed JaguarSport, a separate company owned in a ratio of 50:50 by Jaguar and TWR Group Limited specialising in developing high performance Jaguar sports cars. The car had a distinctive body kit, special alloy wheels, a unique suspension system utilising modified coil springs and Bilstein shocks, a luxurious interior with Connolly Autolux leather along with walnut wood trim, and handling improvements. The first 100 of these cars were named "Celebration Le Mans" to commemorate Jaguar's 1988 win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and were only sold in the UK. Between 1988 and 1989, a total of 326 XJR-S cars were produced with the 5.3 litres (5,344 cc) engine which has a power output of 237 kW (318 hp). After September 1989, the displacement of the engine was increased to 5,993 cc (6.0 L) and it was now equipped witb with Zytek fuel injection and engine management system. This was different from the standard 6.0-litre engine used in the late XJS models and was unique to this model. The power output was raised to 249 kW (334 hp) at 5,250 rpm and 495 N⋅m (365 lb⋅ft) of torque at 3,650 rpm due to a higher compression ratio of 11.0:1, a new forgedsteel crankshaft, increased bore and forged alloy pistons. A modified air intake system and a low loss dual exhaust system was also standard on the model. The engine was mated to the 3-speed GM400 automatic transmission utilising a recalibrated valve body and had faster shift times. The car was equipped with Dunlop D40 M2 tyres for better grip. These modifications resulted in a top speed of 260 km/h (160 mph). During a comparison test conducted by Motorsport magazine in 1997, the XJR-S outperformed the other competitors which included a BMW 850i, Porsche 928 GT and a Ferrari Mondial.

A total of 787 coupés and 50 convertible cars were built for the world market. In the United States, to commemorate the XJ220 launch in 1992, a limited number of 100 XJR-S coupes and convertibles were produced for the American market only. These included 22 Signal Red coupes, 22 Signal Red convertibles, 22 Jet Black coupes, 27 Jet Black convertibles, 2 Flamenco Red coupes, and the Silver Frost 'Press Cars' of 4 coupes and 1 convertible.

Jaguar considered a luxury Daimler version to be marketed as the Daimler-S, notably without the buttresses and with only a single prototype built in 1986. Paul Banham did produce some custom notch back coupés without buttresses, larger rear side windows, and a narrow C-pillars. In the mid-90s, Banham also made a re-worked version called the XJSS based on the XJS.

The XJS was re-launched in its final form in May 1991 under Ford Motor Company's new ownership, as a division of its Premier Auto Group. Ford dropped the model name's hyphen, marketing it as the XJS. The rear side windows appeared enlarged despite having identical glass apertures as the earlier cars, and the buttresses remained, minimised by the new side window trim. Designer Geoff Lawson noted the buttresses were part of the car's character.

The car received a new 4.0-litre version of the AJ6 straight-six engine. In 1992, a convertible model having the same engine was added to the range. The V12 engine's capacity was enlarged to 6.0 litres in May 1992 and it had a power output of 227 kW (304 hp). Outboard rear brakes replaced the more complicated inboard brakes of previous models. With the introduction of the 6.0-litre V12, the transmission was also updated to a GM 4L80E with a fourth-gear overdrive, whilst the automatic 4.0-litre models continued with the electronic ZF4HP24E transmission. A 2+2 convertible was also introduced, as was a customised insignia line. At the same time, the car received more aerodynamic front and rear bumpers.

In April 1994, substantial revisions were made to the 4.0-litre AJ6 engine and it was given a new name of AJ16, now equipped with coil-on-plug ignition. In 1995, the final specification changes were made and the car was referred to as the Celebration model to celebrate the 60th year of Jaguar Cars. Celebration cars feature diamond turned wheels, Jaguar embossed seats and a wooden steering wheel.

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