Jaguar XJS 1975-1996
The Jaguar XJ-S (later the XJS) is a luxury grand tourer produced by the British automaker Jaguar Cars. The XJ-S replaced the legendary Jaguar E-Type (or XK-E) in September 1975, and was based on the XJ saloon. It had been developed as the XK-F. The last XJS was produced on April 4, 1996, with the XK8 taking its place. The manual gearbox V12 version was produced from 1975 until 1981. During this time only 352 manual vehicles were produced, making it a rare machine. The purpose of this registry is to try and establish how many of these original 352 cars are still in existence today.
The first XJ-S appeared in 1975 as a 1976 model. Power came from the V12 version with a choice of a manual or automatic transmission. The XJ-S was one of only three V-12 automobiles at the time, the other two coming from Italian makers Lamborghini and Ferrari. The XJ-S could hold its own with both Italian cars, being able to accelerate to 60 mph (100 km/h) in 6.5 seconds and reach 157 mph (240 km/h) in manual form.
For 1977, the Group 44 racing team had a very successful season in Trans Am with a race car based on the actual production XJ-S chassis and running gear. The team won the series’ 1977 drivers’ championship cup for Bob Tullius but missed winning the manufacturer’s title by 2 points (only one Jaguar was competing in the Trans-AM series compared to many more Porsche entrants). In 1978, a purpose-built tube-frame “silhouette” style XJS race car was constructed which greatly reduced the weight compared to the full production chassis car campaigned in 1977.
This silhouette car had only the production cars roof panel as the sole piece of factory XJS sheetmetal on the car. Group 44 succeeded in again capturing the driver’s championship for Bob Tullias and also captured the manufacturers’ title as well by entering Brian Fuerstenau driving the 1977 car at some venues to gain additional manufacturers point for Jaguar. The silhouette car survived and has surfaced recently in the SVRA historic sports race series. The 1977 factory chassis race car is believed to still be in the hands of Group44’s Bob Tullius.
Jaguar did seize promotional opportunities with the television series The New Avengers and Return of the Saint. The New Avengers featured Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt) who drove an XJ-S. Reliability issues meant that three XJ-S cars were used. Return of the Saint saw Simon Templar (played by Ian Ogilvy) driving an early XJ-S with the number plate “ST 1”. Miniature versions were made by Corgi and proved popular. A decade and a half before, Jaguar had turned down the producers of the earlier Saint series when approached about the E-type.
Jaguar XJ-S production figures (1975-1996)
1975 1245
1976 3082
1977 3890
1978 3121
1979 2405
1980 1057
1981 1292
1982 3111
1983 4808
1984 6028
1985 7510
1986 8838
1987 9537
1988 10,284
1989 10,665
1990 9255
1991 4649
1992 3638
1993 5192
1994 6643
1995 5802
1996 3361
Jaguar Project Codes Relevant to the XJ-S
XJ8 E-type 2+2
XJ21 1968 E-type
XJ25 E-type Series 3 2+2
XJ26 E-type Series 3 Roadster
XJ27 XJ-S Coupe
XJ28 XJ-S Convertible
XJ41 F-type Coupe
XJ42 F-type Cabriolet
XJ57 XJ-S six-cylinder Coupe
XJ58 XJ-S six-cylinder Cabriolet
XJ63 XJ57 with projected Getrag manual gearbox
XJ71 XJ-S mules for XJ41 development programme
XJ77 XJ-S V12 Convertible
XJ78 XJ-S AJ6 Convertible
XJ79 4WD XJ-S
XJ87 facelift V12 XJS Coupe
XJ88 facelift AJ6 XJS Coupe
XJ89 facelift XJS Cabriolet
XJ97 facelift V12 XJS Convertible
XJ98 facelift V12 AJ6 Coupe
Manual Jaguar XJ-S Registry 