1981 Jaguar XJS HE 5.3 V12
(Featured on 25th April 2011)
Make: Jaguar
Model: XJS
Year: 1981
Registration: RGY 366X
Sellers original description:
A beautiful 1981 Jaguar XJ-S V12 5.3 HE automatic.
Cherished, never intentionally used in the wet, correctly garaged under covers in the hands of just two Jaguar enthusiasts since 1987.
Extraordinarily rust free and presented with all of its original panels and the vast majority of its paint finish being over a quarter of a century old.
Launched in 1975 the Jaguar XJ-S had quite a mountain to climb, for it was seen by some as the successor to the glamorous and hugely popular E-Type. However, in reality, the car was never envisaged as a direct replacement for the E-Type - being more of a grand tourer than an out and out sports car.
Largely designed by Jaguar’s legendary Malcolm Sayer the XJ-S had a top speed of 150mph and 0-60 time of under 8 seconds it slipped through the air far more efficiently than the E-Type and its excellent ride, comfort and handling were justly praised by the mid Seventies motoring press.
In 1981 the XJ-S received the new HE (High Efficiency) engine providing improved fuel economy and taking the top speed to 155mph making it the fastest automatic car in the world. In March 1988 a facelift was introduced.
Thirty six years after launch the XJ-S has, as did the E-type before it, become a classic with early original and unmolested pre facelift HE’s becoming extremely rare, very collectable and a sure fire sound investment for the future.
This is a very rare opportunity to acquire an excellent and very usable example of this sure-fire classic.
The car will be of interest to Jaguar enthusiasts, investors and collectors. However, you may well just want to own this suburb car to use day to day -and why not.
This is a lovely rust free example of an early XJ-S HE that is 3 decades old. It is very honest, and reliable it has served its last 2 owners well for the last quarter of a century and kept in this condition we see no reason why it would not do the same for its next owner and increase in value to boot.
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