Pininfarina XJ12 prototype found!

[Finlandese]

The 1973 Pininfarina XJ12 has been found in Finland and is up for auction. An interesting prototype, that had a clear influence on the XJ40.

https://www.trianglemotor.com/portfolio/jaguar-xj-...

Edited by Finlandese on Friday 6th May 19:56

[threespires]

Good find. I hope it gets restored.

[MarkwG]

Imagine a world where that had made it into production: how might that have influenced Mercedes, BMW, Audi in their future styling plans?

[gruffgriff]

Ooo that's fabulous! A stretched 504 coupe!

[Johnspex]

That's quite some thing. Nothing about it says Jaguar apart from the wheels.

[Dapster]

Shades of the 130 Coupe

[skeeterm5]

Looks like a 4 door Ferrari 400 to me.

[SpeckledJim]

Smart and interesting…

…but not ultimately as beautiful as the actual production car, for me.

[Finlandese]

SpeckledJim said:

Smart and interesting…

…but not ultimately as beautiful as the actual production car, for me.

Well, compared to series II XJ, I’ll have to disagree. Very Italian take, which is probably why it was not picked up by Jaguar, but the front was definately an inspirarion for the XJ40.

[LotusOmega375D]

Unfortunately the front was the worst bit about the XJ40 design. Didn’t Jag keep the S3 design going for the V12 saloons, long after the introduction of the 6 cylinder XJ40?

[Finlandese]

LotusOmega375D said:

Unfortunately the front was the worst bit about the XJ40 design. Didn’t Jag keep the S3 design going for the V12 saloons, long after the introduction of the 6 cylinder XJ40?

That was because, as a protective measure for BL putting the Rover V8 in the XJ40, they designed the engine bay so narrow, that the V12 would not fit. XJ81 took more time, after Jaguar had become independent.

[a8hex]

LotusOmega375D said:

Unfortunately the front was the worst bit about the XJ40 design. Didn’t Jag keep the S3 design going for the V12 saloons, long after the introduction of the 6 cylinder XJ40?

And for the X300 they went back to a more series III style front because it's gorgeous

[MCSV8]

I like it.




...but then I have an X351






I've also had an XJ40, X300, X308 and X350

[TarquinMX5]

Finlandese said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Unfortunately the front was the worst bit about the XJ40 design. Didn’t Jag keep the S3 design going for the V12 saloons, long after the introduction of the 6 cylinder XJ40?

That was because, as a protective measure for BL putting the Rover V8 in the XJ40, they designed the engine bay so narrow, that the V12 would not fit. XJ81 took more time, after Jaguar had become independent.

I don't think that's strictly accurate, although it is a story that's been circulating for many years. Jim Randle (therefore a reliable source), when interviewed a while ago, reportedly said that whilst BL-management did ask about fitting the RV8, he basically replied that "they'd have to redesign the crush tubes & bulkhead to get it to fit, thus negating any cost savings". He said that it was BS but nobody asked any further and it wasn't tried. They didn't want to fit the RV8 but the car wasn't specifically designed to prevent that happening.

It is true that Jaguar wanted to fit a straight six but only because they'd earlier tried their own V8, which wasn't smooth enough, and at the time it was believed that the V12 wouldn't be wanted by the markets due to fuel costs etc., although when the XJ40 was actually launched, there was still demand for the V12, hence the Series III V12 continuing alongside the XJ40 and the eventual reworking of the XJ40.

[105.4]

Dapster said:

Shades of the 130 Coupe

My thoughts exactly.

Whilst the Fiat 130, Peugeot 505, similar vintage Maserati QP aren’t ugly cars, they’re just not Jaguars.

As nice and as interesting as the Pinninfarina prototype is, I don’t think it would have suited a big Jag IMO.

[finlo]

TarquinMX5 said:

Finlandese said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Unfortunately the front was the worst bit about the XJ40 design. Didn’t Jag keep the S3 design going for the V12 saloons, long after the introduction of the 6 cylinder XJ40?

That was because, as a protective measure for BL putting the Rover V8 in the XJ40, they designed the engine bay so narrow, that the V12 would not fit. XJ81 took more time, after Jaguar had become independent.

I don't think that's strictly accurate, although it is a story that's been circulating for many years. Jim Randle (therefore a reliable source), when interviewed a while ago, reportedly said that whilst BL-management did ask about fitting the RV8, he basically replied that "they'd have to redesign the crush tubes & bulkhead to get it to fit, thus negating any cost savings". He said that it was BS but nobody asked any further and it wasn't tried. They didn't want to fit the RV8 but the car wasn't specifically designed to prevent that happening.

It is true that Jaguar wanted to fit a straight six but only because they'd earlier tried their own V8, which wasn't smooth enough, and at the time it was believed that the V12 wouldn't be wanted by the markets due to fuel costs etc., although when the XJ40 was actually launched, there was still demand for the V12, hence the Series III V12 continuing alongside the XJ40 and the eventual reworking of the XJ40.

Back in the 80's I helped a workmate fit a Rover V8 into his series 2 xj6 so they certainly will fit.

[a8hex]

finlo said:

Back in the 80's I helped a workmate fit a Rover V8 into his series 2 xj6 so they certainly will fit.

The XJ40 was very different to the original Series XJs which had been engineered to take the V12.

[shih tzu faced]

Looks gorgeous and from a time when Pininfarina were right at the top of their game. The Jag wheels are frumpy and there’s maybe a bit too much bulk behind the rear wheels: looks like it could do with a wrap around rear bumper though that would probably spoil the clean lines.

Looks better than the contemporary XJ6 and more modern than any Jag saloon from the 20th century, amazing that it’s from 1973. However I do agree with other posters that it just doesn’t look like a Jaguar.

[Carfield]

Don’t get me wrong, the various XJs are beautiful cars, even the XJ40, in an 80s sort of way.

But you can’t help wondering how much better Jaguar would have done if they’d built a modern forward looking car like this, rather than doing the styling by taking a rolling pin to a Mk II. (That’s probably sacrilege, but XJ6 was never really modern looking, even at launch)

[Yertis]

Dapster said:

Shades of the 130 Coupe

Frontal treatment made it on to the Lancia Gamma?