RE: Lister-Jaguar XJS Le Mans 7.0 | Spotted

RE: Lister-Jaguar XJS Le Mans 7.0 | Spotted

Tuesday 4th May 2021

Lister-Jaguar XJS 'Le Mans' 7.0 | Spotted

A bored out V12, leggier gear ratios and no shortage of steroids went into Lister's 200mph behemoth



Thanks in part to the success of its resurgence, it would be easy to forget the turbulent story of the Lister brand. Despite having made its mark in racing through the fifties, achieving global recognition with its terrific Knobbly, the British brand was largely done and dusted by the late sixties. Much of it was to do with a failed and very costly Le Mans attempt with a racing Sunbeam, but some was attributed to heartbreak felt across the company after legendary driver Archie Scott Brown died in a crash while racing a Lister in 1958. Boss, Brian Lister, was said to have lost his spark after the tragic incident, making the firm’s slow decline into outright dormancy seem almost inevitable.

While plenty of original Lister owners and experts kept the passion going, it wasn’t until Laurence Pierce bought the company in the mid-eighties that the brand would make headlines again. Returning Lister to its Jaguar-tuning roots, Pierce’s company decided to take the 5.3-litre V12 XJS and do something positively mad with it. Boring the engine out to 7.0 litres, engineers gave the block four extra fuel injectors and throttle bodies, Cosworth conrods and specially forged pistons. Then they bolted on two superchargers and fiddled with the engine management to extract over 600hp, which more than doubled the standard XJS’s output and beat the Ferrari F40 by 120hp.

The 1989 car received a makeover to match, with bigger bumpers, wider arches to cover extended tracks and a set of divisive headlights. But it retained wood veneers and leathers inside, making for a Lister-Jaguar that stayed true to the original ethos. It was about as strong a statement for rebirth that this company could have been expected to make, and with a six-speed manual gearbox complete with leggier ratios for the rear-wheel drive machine, this British behemoth could do more than 200mph. In a nod to the Mulsanne Straight-worthiness of that, this twin-supercharged XJS was christened the Le Mans. Lister was back.



Pierce’s ambitions from that point proved to be similarly bold, with the firm then following up its V12 brute with the infamous Storm racing car, which contested at Le Mans from 1995 with a race-grade 7.0-litre engine. While it didn’t achieve the 24-hour success of its GT1 class rival, the McLaren F1, early mechanical issues were eventually ironed out so the Storm could eventually win in the British GT and FIA GT series. The firm even went on to build a Le Mans prototype racer in the early noughties, although that project provided limited success and, with the financial challenges of a global economic crash, Lister’s future seemed uncertain again.

As we all well know now, the story gained a new chapter under the father-son leadership of Andrew Whittaker and Lawrence Whittaker from 2013. Since then, the Lister Motor Company has embarked on a familiar business strategy with 675hp V8 F-Types and F-Paces, and no shortage of recreations. There’s plenty in the back catalogue worth celebrating, of course - yet it's quite possible that nothing has been bolder than the 7.0-litre, 200mph Pierce-era Le Mans. It remains absolutely bonkers. And with only a reported 90 7.0-litre Lister-Jaguar XJSs having ever been made, and even fewer built (or converted to, like this car) £100,000-plus twin-supercharger Le Mans spec, the £70k price of this example doesn’t seem bad value at all.


SPECIFICATION | LISTER-JAGUAR XJS 7.0 LE MANS

Engine: 6,995cc twin-supercharged V12
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 612@N/Arpm
Torque (lb ft): N/A
MPG: N/A
CO2: Ehem
First registered: 1990
Recorded mileage: 29,000
Price new: from £100,000...
Price now: £69,995

Click here for the original ad





Author
Discussion

ecs0set

Original Poster:

2,471 posts

283 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Gorgeous, and they sound amazing. cloud9

You would NOT want to drop an important washer into that engine bay though!

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Cooler than a penguin’s feet cool

sidesauce

2,456 posts

217 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Sorry guys but to me this car has aged horribly; it's the motoring equivalent of a former Hollywood beauty who aged badly and had too many plastic surgeries IMO.

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
It's not a Lister Le Mans; it's a Lister Mk III. The Le Mans had a 'droopsnoot' long nose and optional faired-in back window.

scottygib553

507 posts

94 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
I’ll be honest I want to own it just so I can use that car phone.

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Hear one in action, described by Mark Hales, in this legendary recording that was issued as a cassette tape with Fast Lane magazine in 1990, along with an Aston Vantage, Countach and Porsche 959.


smithyithy

7,192 posts

117 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Very, very cool. Bet it sounds great too

Jon_S_Rally

3,385 posts

87 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
I think it looks rather good from the front. Less so from the rear, and the fussiness of the rear does spoil the side profile a bit too.

That being said, it's most definitely a car of its era, and the fact it exists should be celebrated. Delightfully bonkers.

cerb4.5lee

30,189 posts

179 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
That would've been one seriously fast car back in 1990 for sure. Lots of want from me. smokin

DaveCWK

1,979 posts

173 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
These are pretty cool, they are a right bodge together though & as a result they never ran right. It just uses the standard cars ECU fuel mapping with an increased fuel pressure & perhaps some sensors bodged with resistors IIRC.

Gameface

16,565 posts

76 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Crying out for some wheel spacers.

jbforce10

509 posts

174 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Gameface said:
Crying out for some wheel spacers.
Yes, it seems a bit odd to widen the wings and flare the wheel arches but not to space the wheels out to match.

CeramicMX5ND2

7,611 posts

72 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Like the power and imagine the noise would be awesome - Never liked the bodykit on these, it just ruins the lines..


jbforce10

509 posts

174 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
sidesauce said:
Sorry guys but to me this car has aged horribly; it's the motoring equivalent of a former Hollywood beauty who aged badly and had too many plastic surgeries IMO.
You might not want to check out a Koenig XJS body kit then ;-)

BigChiefmuffinAgain

1,054 posts

97 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
Perfect for shy retiring types... Even seems quite good value for the times, though you wonder how much re-conditioning work is actually needed ( as mentioned in the ad )

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
That would've been one seriously fast car back in 1990 for sure........but now a Merc hatchback monsters it
hehe

cerb4.5lee

30,189 posts

179 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
s m said:
cerb4.5lee said:
That would've been one seriously fast car back in 1990 for sure........but now a Merc hatchback monsters it
hehe
hehe

thumbup

Volvolover

2,036 posts

40 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
s m said:
cerb4.5lee said:
That would've been one seriously fast car back in 1990 for sure........but now a Merc hatchback monsters it
hehe
Which Merc hatch does 200mph?

sly fox

2,220 posts

218 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
cerb4.5lee said:
That would've been one seriously fast car back in 1990 for sure. Lots of want from me. smokin
It was a seriously fast car given the state of tyre technology at the time...

cerb4.5lee

30,189 posts

179 months

Tuesday 4th May 2021
quotequote all
sly fox said:
cerb4.5lee said:
That would've been one seriously fast car back in 1990 for sure. Lots of want from me. smokin
It was a seriously fast car given the state of tyre technology at the time...
Definitely. thumbup

It is still fast even now, back then it would've blown my mind for certain. Back in 1990 I was only driving around in a 1982 Skoda Estelle with 49bhp though! hehe