Jaguar XJS: Old but Gold

Photo by Theodor Vasile on Unsplash

We live in a world where attention spans are reducing hour by hour. As soon as someone makes a materialistic purchase, it’s a week before they are looking on social media or Google for what their next shiny toy will be.

Cars are the same, most editions of a car have around a 6-7 year life span before they are discontinued, with each model having around 2 facelifts and updates to ensure the masses don’t get bored of their current offering.

But wind the clock back a few decades, and Jaguar made a sports car that was on sale for 21 years.

Hard path to follow

The Jaguar XJS was first released in 1975, filling the void of automotive royalty, the Jaguar E-type, a car adored for its grace, beauty, and the image that the car portrayed.

The XJS was a big contrast, the smooth curves of the E-type were gone, and the bold, harsh, and long body of the XJS was here. And as with any big change, the public was resistant.

And while Jaguar has long built a reputation for glamour, high performance and luxury, they have simultaneously built a reputation of questionable reliability, quality and longevity.

Both of these qualities were reflected perfectly in the XJS, there was no doubt over its long career it was deemed handsome, and its big V12 and grand touring nature made it a true Jag. But its tendency to rust, break down and just decide not to work, again, made it a true Jag.

21 years of XJS

But enough of the doom and gloom, who wants to focus on that when we can discuss a big V12 GT car.

The XJS featured multiple engines, on release, a 5.3L V12 developing 285 brake horsepower, with subsequent Edition 2 and 3 models featuring 6 and 12 cylinder engines, with Jaguar moving more towards a car that could be more dependable, fuel efficient and one that wouldn’t empty your wallet half way through the month.

In 1983, Jaguar then cut the roof off the XJS, making the big cat a fan favourite in countries where you can enjoy having the roof off for more than 9 days a year.

Over the 3 editions, styling updates were made, keeping the XJS at least looking as if it was made in the right decade.

Those updates were crucial, in fact, I don’t think crucial is a strong enough word, the XJS would’ve been done by the early 80’s if Jaguar didn’t take action, and thank god they did.

A complicated cult hero

The final version of the XJS ran from 1991 to 1996, with the boldest styling changes occurring. The harsher lines of the first two generations were swapped out for a smoother, softer look, almost a hidden clue that this was the XJS in its twilight years.

By the 90’s, that focus on comparing it to the E-Type was gone, the XJS had created its own lane, it was its own car, people weren’t perceiving it as the E-type successor, it was just an XJS.

It truly aged like a fine wine, with many believing the final album was Jaguar’s best edition of the trilogy.

Many companies after hearing the early reputation of the XJS could’ve cut their losses, and found a new platform and design to spearhead their grand tourer range heading into the 1980’s.

But Jaguar clearly saw potential in the XJS (or had no choice but to stick with it for other reasons), but irrespective of that, each new facelift that came by made the XJS more loveable, and while it was never perfect, that is what gave it its character.

If a Jaguar was a character in a film, it would be the unconventional hero, it would trip up over the littlest things, it would be flawed, complicated, but it would get there in the end and would be loved for it.

And that is the XJS to a tee, it was by no means a perfect grand tourer, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Aston Martin arguably made more well rounded GT cars, but the XJS had an unexplainable charm that drew people in.

And this was achieved in the persistence of Jaguar, acknowledging that you could be better, and then doing it.

And that is how you age like a fine wine, and how you keep a car going for 21 years, no matter the dwindling attention span of the public.