COOL CLASSIC CAR SPOTTERS POST!!! Vol 2

[LotusOmega375D]

The XJS was the opposite of the Tardis. My Dad had one for years as a daily driver. When I got married he promised to drive my wife and me in his 1964 S-Type saloon on the short journey from the ceremony to the reception. It was the only part of the wedding that I had asked him to help out with. Surprise, surprise the S-Type wouldn't start that day, so he turned up in the XJS instead. My wife wasn't best pleased clambering in and out of the back seat of that in her wedding dress.

[P5BNij]

tog said:

P5BNij said:

Ha! I took that photo, and a friend of mine finished up buying the car. It's actually quite a nice 70's yellow, seemingly less garish than the modded one above.



Or with the saturation turned up somewhat:



It also has this redeeming feature:

What a vision of '70s glamour it is too, some would no doubt disagree with that but whenever I see one it instantly conjures up the full jet set cliché in my mind's eye, Martini and Cinzano Bianco, wafting down to Monaco with a smooth V12 up front and not a care in the world. Harry Metcalfe's video of just such a trip in a yellow example comes immediately to mind!

[gothatway]

Doofus said:

For years, the XJS's looks were derided and I never understood that. It was always beautiful to me, up until the facelift when, whilst it became a better car, it lost a lost of the design detail.

I think the reason they were disliked so much was that they replaced the E-type and yet were a totally different kind of car.

[TR4man]

I'm assuming that this is a kit car, but it was parked up today in Nantwich.

[Pericoloso]

Registered as a Chesil ,so yes kit....^^^

[Doofus]

gothatway said:

I think the reason they were disliked so much was that they replaced the E-type and yet were a totally different kind of car.

I think by the time the SIII E-Type came along, it was already a totally different kind of car

People called the XJ-S ugly, but they must have been comparing it to a SI E-Type, because the SIII in particular was no beauty queen.

[gothatway]

TR4man said:

I'm assuming that this is a kit car, but it was parked up today in Nantwich.

It's a Chesil Speedster - a replica rather than a kit car.

[Yertis]

gothatway said:

It's a Chesil Speedster - a replica rather than a kit car.

Hmmm...

[Escort3500]

gothatway said:

Doofus said:

For years, the XJS's looks were derided and I never understood that. It was always beautiful to me, up until the facelift when, whilst it became a better car, it lost a lost of the design detail.

I think the reason they were disliked so much was that they replaced the E-type and yet were a totally different kind of car.

For me, the front and sides look good but the back is ungainly, esp with the clumsy buttresses.

Edited by Escort3500 on Monday 15th October 18:05

[Doofus]

Escort3500 said:

For me, the front and sides look good but the back is ungainly, esp with the ungainly buttresses.

The buttresses are what makes it

[Escort3500]

Doofus said:

Escort3500 said:

For me, the front and sides look good but the back is ungainly, esp with the ungainly buttresses.

The buttresses are what makes it

Nah

[P5BNij]

Thread drifting nicely! The evolution of the XJ-S started from an E-Type base...











To my eyes the chrome bumpers on this look much better than the eventual rubber arrangement.

Edited by P5BNij on Monday 15th October 20:03

[john2443]

Belgian B and Merc in Ypres at the weekend -

[swisstoni]

Maybe I dreamt it but I believe the XJ-S was going to be mid-engined or something and the odd buttress set up was somehow to do with that.
I’m sure someone with the facts will be along in a minute.

[Doofus]

swisstoni said:

Maybe I dreamt it but I believe the XJ-S was going to be mid-engined or something and the odd buttress set up was somehow to do with that.
I’m sure someone with the facts will be along in a minute.

I've heard the same thing. Heaven knows what they wanted a bonnet like that for on a mid-engined car though...

[Yertis]

I don’t think it was ever going to be mid-engined. What was happening was Jag stylists incorporating mid-engined styling features in order to look up-to-date. TR7, designed at roughly the same time, was also trying to look ‘mid-engined’ achieve same thing (IMO more sucessfully).

[daveenty]

No idea if correct or not but I heard that the buttress set up on the XJS was to maximise boot opening space yet retain the coupé looks? Basically, if they'd have put a sloping back window in to follow the line of the c pillar, which apparently was the preferred choice, the boot lid would have been half the size.

Can't remember where I gleaned this snippet of information from but I'm sure that it was mentioned on an early episode of Top Gear.

Or I could have dreamt it...

[aeropilot]

P5BNij said:

C reg.......??

I'm guessing Jaguar dragged out an early prototype test mule XJ6 from storage to use as base for the XJ-S concepts in the early 70's?

[tog]

daveenty said:

No idea if correct or not but I heard that the buttress set up on the XJS was to maximise boot opening space yet retain the coupé looks? Basically, if they'd have put a sloping back window in to follow the line of the c pillar, which apparently was the preferred choice, the boot lid would have been half the size.

Can't remember where I gleaned this snippet of information from but I'm sure that it was mentioned on an early episode of Top Gear.

Or I could have dreamt it...

There was quite a neat XJ-S hatchback conversion for sale not long ago.

https://autoweek.com/article/classic-cars/jaguar-x...

[droopsnoot]

P5BNij said:

What a vision of '70s glamour it is too, some would no doubt disagree with that but whenever I see one it instantly conjures up the full jet set cliché in my mind's eye, Martini and Cinzano Bianco, wafting down to Monaco with a smooth V12 up front and not a care in the world.

I've had the same image, a lot of which came from the brochure for me at least. I recall when I was a kid, walking back to Chester railway station after a day out, popped into Henlys for a look around and the salesman gave me the brochure which, if I recall correctly, was exotic because it had some pages made of tracing paper, and a slip cover. Still got it somewhere.