Why can't I stop watching these stories about the British car industry? They are like a never-ending Greek tragedy.

My dad worked for jaguar in the Midlands. Always thought the XJS was something out of space. Beautiful car for sure

My favourite car of almost all time, although not the one I'd most like to live with forever.

I had one in the 80s and I've just invested in a 4.0 convertible. The Celebration model 1995-6 Is the culmination of 21 years of constant improvements, having many body modification such a galvanised & strengthened chassis, while under the bonnet were more than a 100 updates including a stiffened alloy engine block, improvements to the cylinder head and air-flow, 10-1 compression etc. and for me no huge overhanging body over skinny wheels.

Living in the Netherlands, I own since 10 years a 1995 convertible 4.0 in pristine condition, which was inported from the US / Arizona. She is a real beauty and very rare here and only a handfull are for sale. Once, Princess Diana had one 🙂

I was in California on business in 1981. We were provided with a Jaguar to “get around”. . . It would quit for “no good reason”, and we’d have to wait a good while before getting going again. Finally, 40 years later, by watching this program, I know why. Thank you.

Favourite car. I have had 3 V12 HEs over the years. All well sorted and never had any problems.

Great video- Just a couple factual inaccuracies. The V12 was never dropped from the XJS lineup. In fact, '94 was the year they enlarged the V12 to 6.0 liters. That engine was offered through the end of XJS production in 1996.

I've lusted after these for years, ever since I was a kid when one of my schoolteachers actually had one of these as a daily driver.

Loved seeing the xjs in Return of the Saint when I was a kid

First time I saw one was in the city in 1987 (rural Australia wasn't exactly awash in Jags), it was a light metallic blue and and the flying buttresses just ticked my boxes. Also, I couldn't believe that such a large car could be made to look so small. Have liked these ever since, never been in one, let alone driven one, but I still want it.

Great video. Those XJS's practically ooze style and effortless cruising

Lovely car...very. To me, its clean lines put the convertible among the prettiest of all time...

I never liked the rear of the coupe with its (flying) buttresses, etc. So I bought a 1995 4.0L convertible. It was delivered in Aug 1994, and I've had it, ever since. Love it.

We had a 1995 XJS for 14 years until 2009. Overall, a great car that I think is still one of the most beautiful ever made!

I was 10 years old when it was first spotted by car magazines and I loved it! A few years later, a schoolfriend with rich folks, had a three-year old model given to him for his 18th birthday and it was the first car I ever drove (I was 15) and IT WAS FANTASTIC! What a wagon: took off like a scalded cat and was utterly silent! Alas...that car never went more then 50 miles without breaking down! But it was lovely and comfortable to sit in, waiting for the breakdown truck....

For my son's sixteenth birthday, I offered any car he wanted (of course within reason and budget).. he said I want the 86 xjs that I had stored for years..it was my wife's daily driver. Never skipped a beat.. my son and I have now spent the year creating a custom xjs for him. All hand polished engine, all intakes were removed shaved and filled any holes and highly polished, custom 3" snorkel custom interior, blasted and powder coated suspension, every nut, bolt, screws and springs are in stainless steel.. custom 18"×8.5" wheels, original TWR body kit. All other components are either chromed or powder coated.. should be on the road this summer.. it is worth every penny being with my son and daughter working on this car, talking, laughing and learning.. they almost didn't know this joke covid FLU existed... now all his friends are dying to help or find an old jag.. I have worked on almost every jag, the xjs is still the most beautiful.. no doubt, the most beautiful lines to me is XJ220..it's unfortunate, corrupt egotistical executives always ruin companies..

It's great that now the styling of the XJS is being appreciated...especially the older tail light models in coupe form....great video and information.

It looks much better now than at release.

I have a 94 XJS with an LS3 under the hood. Love it!

I had an early rubber bumper Squadron Blue manual XJ-S in the late 80's the last of the 16 Jags I owned. Wonderful ride, super quiet, the only trouble that 16mpg thirst. With a young growing family it had to go and be replaced by more mundane family friendly machines.

Thanks for the video. Had 2 of these. An XJ-SC and a late model XJS. Both wonderful GT cars. I have not been in anything that had the unique feel of its ride, including later Jaguars. A 2 seater that was longer than an estate Volvo. Bonkers... but what a way to travel.

I still love the love Jaguar!!!

I remember seeing (in the 70s) an early XJS. Orange (lemon) peel paint. Always in the garage being fixed.

I had the first model XJ6 and then two of the longer models. All were great to drive but were badly assembled and were in for service often. When the XJS was introduced I got one and, although it isn't mentioned here, it wasn't fuel injected and had 6 SU's. It was also at the time that emission standards were being introduced world wide and although the car was extremely fast, it drank petrol and on a trip you had to stop for fuel often. Another problem was the Dunlop 'sticky' tyres that were fitted as standard. There were many high speed tyre failures with more than 10 fatalities. I only found out about this when I had a blowout at over 200KPH and the car ended up inverted 600 metres later spinning on the roof. Three broken ribs (seatbelt) and a dislocated shoulder! The car was a right off and I replaced it with the new fuel injected model.It was smooth and nice to drive, but lacked the fantastic acceleration of the SU Carbies! The tyres on existing cars were replaced by Jaguar. The fuel economy was hopeless. It was setup to comply with the new emission standards and that waa a factor. The 90 litre tank needed topping up all the time. There was a cartoon in a Sydney daily showing an XJS (mine) being refuelled by an attendant and the caption was, "Mr Watts, turn off the engine, it's gaining on me". The cartoonist was a friend of mine. When I got rid of it I switched to Mercedes and at 85 still drive one today. Reliable, comfortable and practical. But I'd love to have a Jag in the garage for 'fine days and feast days'. David Watts.

That DB7... its design is for eternity!

Great video.Had a black manual V12 way back in 1978.Thirsty but Great to drive,got the H.E in 1981 at is launch.Nice to see they are regarded as classics.Fast forward 40 years and I have an EV,which is probably as fast and as quiet but not quite the same.And where as in the XJS you could glance down at those instruments for one second to see all was well with that single line I am now presented with a tablet thing to do anything.........

When I see one, I always think it looks like a shark. It is a very sexy beast.

No one has ever mentioned that the XJS has a similar front end to the 1961 Rover Gas Turbine (P6 shape).Love the XJS.Subscribed.

This car was the one I worshipped at brigadoon marina. My dad was in secret competition with the owner of this car. If dude had a 37 foot boat. My dad bought a 39 foot sundancer. Thanks to jaguar my dad bought a zr-1.

Can always remember blasting past an old codger in his New XJS with old P5 3litre coupe and it's re bored engine and Panels that looked like a paint mishmash in the 1970's down the old A2. I had just run in the engine and given her overdrive for the first time. The look on his face was priceless.

I love the Lister Jaguars with the V12 bored out to 7 ltr (and even supercharged too!) Always been a big Jag fan.

I fell for the charms of the mighty V12 XJ-S when a friend turned up in a Guards Red black leather 1976 example (he worked for a car dealer Mann Egerton at the time). Off we blasted into the middle distance and 14 years later, aged 25, I bought my own 1982 H.E. V12 in light metallic Blue. So began a two year long financial disaster which could be summed up nicely by my then mechanic "Staf" saying "Whoever sold you this car wants putting up against a wall and shooting". However, the car itself, when behaving, was incredible. It could do 90mph in first gear and with the limited slip diff I could out accelerate anything away from the lights going home along Baker Street. Would I have another one? Yes indeed I would! I have my eye on a gorgeous mint 1994 convertible being auctioned at Yorkshire based Mathewsons! P.S. The XJ-S V12 holds the unofficial "official" record for completing the legendary "Cannonball Run" in the quickest ever time.

From the 90’s on the XJS was actually very reliable. Ford spent a lot of money revising it.

it was always a lovely car, had it not come after the etype it would have been loved from the outset

The first time I drove an XJS I was 19 years old, this was in the late 1990s. Delivering it to an auto sales lot about 30 kms away. I wondered why people seemed to be driving so slowly that day. Looked at the speedo & I was going 170kms/hour. Effortlessly. Impressed, I then set the cruise control to a more near legal speed. There was (is?) a special quality Jaguars have.

I have a soft spot for the elegant XJS...never really comparing it to the XKE....It's somewhat controversial design has aged gracefully and it seems there is a new resurgence in its popularity among collectors who forsee the XJS as an investment...also a little note...The Mercedes SLC was the lengthened 2+2 version of the SL...easily identified by its longer wheelbase and its silver slats/gills behind the glass in front of the C-pillar...the car you were showing throughout the video was the SL...great video, very informative and helpful in organizing the crazy owner and production chief turnovers at Jaguar during these years.

My neighbour had a 1992 V12 model. Unlike its rivals it was relaxing to drive. A gentlemans express.

My late step-dad was a senior test driver at Jaguar Browns Lane. He would occasionally take me out in the cars he was testing, and the first time I went in an XJS they were still very much in the experimental stage, surrounded by a plywood casing to stop pictures being taken of it. Inside, the car was bereft of a lot of its final interior, instead just a whole lot of wires. To a small child this was like being in a spaceship. Fast forward to the late 90's and I finally got myself a V12, 5.3 model. What a car, but sadly it had massive rust issues. Now, in the early 2020's these cars have at last become the collectable (and subsequently expensive) classic I always sort of knew they would be.

I had one of those in a roadster. Went like the wind and handled like a go-kart but a mechanical nightmare and to get the combo roof up was enough to make you sell the damn car. What a shame we can see our futures, eh?

Fun Fact: One of the first monster trucks ever built (Cliff Starbird's Frankenstein) originally used a jag v12 that was salvaged from a wrecked xjs as its engine.

I remember a friend's Dad paying around £45k for a brand new XJS in 1995. It spent 8 out of 12 months he owned it in bits at the dealership. He had 2 replacement gearboxes in an that time and had a multitude of other issues. It always amazed me as Jaguar had had exactly 20 years to get the car right. He did receive a full refund, using it against a new XJR ( X300 ), which was faultless.

I was watching the video and I was like "Huh that first shot is familiar." Its familiar because it was at the classic motor show in November, I went there for my birthday and saw all those cars. Very funny to think that I am now watching a video that includes one of them

Got to ride in one of the first XJS's in So Cal back in the mid 70s when I worked at Auto Trends in North Hollywood. We did the proverbial high speed run up the I 5 Grapevine Hill and we were def passing cars like they were standing still.... :)

The two Mercedes shown at 8:46 and 13:38 are both SLs not SLCs. The SL is a two seat convertible with both a folding soft top and a removable hard top. The SLC is a similar looking but longer 2+2 fixed head coupe. There never was a 560 SLC. By the time the 560 engine was launched in 1986, the SLC body style had been replaced by the W126 based SEC.

This is my favorite channel in all of KZfaq. Keep up the great work!

This is an odd case of a car that looked more distinguished as it got older. I knew two people in the 1970s with them and they both spent more time being fixed than driven in the first year.

It has buttresses not flying buttresses. Buttress is attached at the bottom, flying buttress is like an angled pillar. with a gap under it.

Another well-researched piece. I didn't realise the car actually made any money, so that's news to me.

I've owned three. It was cheaper to buy another one when it would, inevitably, fail its MOT. A true labour of love and I loved every minute of my time with them but my bank manager did not. In the end I gave up.

Started at jaguar in 1983 on xjs then xk8 then Xk then f type .....xjs loved it

Brilliant channel, the best on KZfaq! Welldone!

Many thanks for a fantastic documentary. I can’t help but think of Gambit and The New Avengers!

Have always liked the looks of the Xjs even if it's not stunningly beautiful like the E Type. A friend had a late 80s V12 many years ago which was quite an impressive bit of kit. A shame they dropped the manual gearbox option early on only offered the rather lacklustre 3 speed auto.

Jeremy Clarkson drove an XJS in The Top Gear India Special. Apparently the one he bought was The Celebration Model.

My boss had one of these. Turned into a submarine when he drove through a puddle.

Have never been into Jaguar, but thanks so much for the effort you place into your videos. I like the references and comparisons you make, you seem to really do your research and never take too much time digressing with them. Cheers!

I think the XJS looked amazing. One can’t really compare it to the E-Type, they are completely different cars. A word on Porsche: pronounced Porsch-eh. The final e is not silent in German.

Ese modelo jag es precioso!!👍😀

They're just buttresses, not flying buttresses. They're architectural/structural terms. A flying buttress is hollowed out rather than being a solid triangle - the hypotenuse appearing to be suspended in the air, or "flying". Not sure why so many car people don't get that. Also, the May Fireball combustion chamber wasn't conventional - that's the point! It was a new swirl chamber that only really works with 2-valve heads but did, with huge ignition advance range and taller final drive ratio, give an approximately 40% improvement in fuel economy.

Can you do one on the original Range Rover (classic)? Nearly 30 years of production, and in many ways carved out a path for the SUV market worldwide, especially in the US. This was interesting though - I've come so close to buying one of these things over the years. I know it would be a nightmare to maintain, but when she's running good I feel like it would absolutely be worth it. My first impression when seeing one of these things today is that it's an absolutely beautiful car - probably because they've just become so rare.

Mr MacVeigh , that video was very well narrated and a joy to watch, I am looking forward to seeing your other videos ( maybe you could do one on the history of the Rover 800 with a special extend part on the 800 vitesse sport ( the vitesse std is not the same ) but I will check your other videos out ) also become a subscriber. Good work and thanks.

Great video, but although seen in the background, no mention of the racing versions. - it would be nice to see a video about them and maybe about the TWR/Jaguar partnership as a whole.

Great! A very informative video.

My love for V12's came from this car right here. I drive a V12 Maybach 57s.

Love theses, tried to own one but I'm 6 ft and the cabin feels so low and cramped, I never understood how a car that big can be that claustrophobic. (Same feel with the first XK8's)

Nothing better than the XKE only one worth having.

My brother had three or four of these from the 80's till 91. TBH he had few problems with any but could never understand why he needed 7 keys!

I would love to see a video about Leyland buses.

I've had two. First was burgundy 1980 with a Chevy 350 conversion. 2nd was 1984 v12 dark metallic custom green.

Yup not a great looker - but somehow became a great looker. The magic/mystery of the XJ-S!

XJ-C for me

I love the XJS. It has real flaws that would not be accepted today, but also immense charm like nothing else, and it's still an astonishingly capable car when it's in its element. It might not be perfect, but they did get a lot right with it too. The engine is effortless and smooth. It's not trying to be a sports car, but it can grip pretty firmly, has a lot more feel than you would expect, and the ride quality is the next best thing after a hydropneumatic Citroen. It shames just about anything else I've driven. It's the closest thing any of us will get to Concorde these days. Very 1970s long & sleek design with a long and troubled development, uses vast quantities of fuel, was a flop at first only to gain more success later, only useful on certain routes, doing its best to be luxurious despite being cramped; but wouldn't you just want to fly on it anyway? I know I would. For driving around towns, it's completely hopeless. Can't think of anything that's worse for a daily driver. The turning circle is a joke and you sit so far back that almost every turning becomes blind. Not to mention fuel economy will be single digits if it spends a long time in traffic. I took it to work once, ~12 miles and used what looked like 1/4 of its 90 litre tank. Don't even bother! But for going long distances on an open road, it's magical and worth every penny to make an occasion of it. Maintaining them in this day and age isn't a big deal if you've worked on cars before. Parts availability is almost total, parts are not mega money, access to most areas is easy, and they're well documented; once you understand their unique quirks, they're really not too bad. The worst thing is the mix of metric and imperial bolt heads, and the ignition system, but both aren't dealbreakers.

Brilliant thankyou.

When you mentioned the F-Type being dropped. It seems that someone at Jaguar decided to revive The F-Type and put it into production with either a hardtop or convertible model and a choice of engines a V6 or a V8 both of which are on sale right now. Though the hardtop version has a bit of a drawback. The lack of rear window vision.

Great video!I love these in depth behind the scenes tales of car industry,whether British or American.The XJS may not have been perfect but not many cars designed and built in the 70's were (Mustang II PInto Vega etc).Not really a shining era for the auto industry.

A really lovely sweeping design. What cars Jaguars were in those days, perfect for enthusiasts…..before they succumbed to the lure of catering to the “Executive Saloon” class of user…now they dont have a single “halo” model…

One unfortunate aspect for the car was that the public expected a replacement for the e-type with even greater appeal! It could never happen. In any case the cars are fundamentally different, the E-Type being an out and out sports car, a derivative of the racing C and D Types, the XJS is a true GT, the car you might choose to drive at high speed, in comfort to the South of France with a good deal of expensive luggage and the lady from the front cover of Vogue magazine. The car gained a poor reputation in the earlier years due to its poor build quality, following Ford's take-over this was vastly improved avoiding rust issues and with the added benefit of the 4 Liter straight-six engine. While people now buying the early cars, especially the V12s, will need to take great care over the purchase, I believe that the post 1991 cars with the straight-six engines are likely to become desirable collector's items.

Beautiful, sybaritic, classic luxury. I want one as my fun retirement car.

Imagine if Jaguar had somehow managed to escape British Leyland in 1966.

I know the reputation but still a bucket list rust bucket for me!

Woeful build quality was, in my opinion, the main reason this car wasn't a total smash hit. It was somewhat successful, but not what it could've been if it was engineered and built more smartly. In my eyes this car was always attractive. IMO the cars fuel efficiency is not that much of an issue for those that bought cars at its price point.

1:41. Not “2 by 2”; it’s “2 plus 2”, 2+2, meaning 2 seater but with 2 compact occasional seats

Thanks for this one. I never did like the XJS - it was far too large to be sporty. I think Jaguar should have had a mid-step car in between the XKE-type and the XJS.

The last E-Types were GTs but the XJS was built on an XJ floor pan as the name suggests. I never liked the hard top or the big headlights. I have hankered after a late 4ltr drop top with a twin headlights and I'm a big Jag fan and owned a few, the last I miss every day I drive now. A few missed facts on this though Rudy, a bit rushed I think.

Very fascinating and well researched piece - I never liked the early cars but the late facelift cars were really nice, though they taught me more about how to badly package an interior and blind spots then any other car. The V12 was amazing - not for its power but because I swear you could see the fuel gauge drop on any steep hill. The only manual I drove was a late 4.0 and gosh that clutch was heavy! But delivering a customer convertible across great roads on a beautiful day? Yes it was a barge, but what a barge - especially as it wasn’t mine 😁

Don't blame the car for almost killing Jaguar. It was the staff.

the ajv8 would be an interesting story

Good story and history. Shame the footage of the bronze car was on repeat, on repeat, on repeat.

I had a v12, great car apart from the fuel consumption and the rubbish windscreen wipers

Class TRAITOR!

My friend owned one in the early 2000's and it was very unreliable. He liked it when it ran.

Pretty rare car after top gear has crashed half of them

Good video but a few mistakes in the facts presented. Example; The V12 was not dropped from the Xj-S and continued with the car right to the end. Also for stubborn E Type-ists it should be noted that the Xj-S was faster, a lot more comfortable and sold a lot more. True it had to soldier on a bit towards the end but it kept going and kept selling. The last of the E Types were not so easy to shift....I love the E Type, it is a gorgeous car but by the late 60´s jaguar realised it was time for a major step up which the E Type could not provide.

How was the 1975-1978 XJ-C positioned with respect to the XJ-S?

I guess Jag had no insurance to cover the fire?

Now an E-type, light as humanly possible, electric drive... That could be fun.

No matter how good you are, you don't want to follow the E Type.

The XJS had two major problems number one replacing the most beautiful looking car ever made, number two British Leyland

Definitely an ugly duckling to swan transformation -certainly was in my eyes