Junkyard Gem: 1985 Jaguar XJ-S
An American automobile shopper in search of a brand new V12-engined coupe in 1985 had two decisions: Spend the present-day equal of a number of hundred grand for a Ferrari or Lamborghini … or get a Jaguar XJ-S for a couple of third that worth. As we speak’s Junkyard Gem is a kind of automobiles, present in a Denver automobile graveyard not too long ago.
Jaguar started bolting V12 engines into the E-Kind starting in 1971, then into the XJ12 sedan quickly after that. By the point the E-Kind was discontinued after 1974, Jaguar had spent the higher a part of a decade grappling with the near-impossible activity of creating a successor that regarded simply as stunning.
This ended up being the XJ-S, which was primarily based on the chassis of the XJ sedan and debuted as a 1976 mannequin in the US. Manufacturing continued by 1996.
These automobiles had been mean-looking, highly effective and full of English wood-and-leather luxurious, however they had been additionally temperamental and expensive to restore. I’ve documented fairly just a few discarded XJ-Ss throughout my junkyard travels.
It is a DOHC 5.3-liter engine, referred to as the HE for its improved combustion chambers and rated at 262 horsepower and 290 pound-feet. This was severe energy for a 12 months through which a brand new Corvette’s engine made 230 horses and the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC coupe chugged together with a 184hp V8.
A 3-speed ZF computerized was the one transmission accessible on this automobile.
The MSRP was an excellent $36,000, which quantities to one thing like $107,170 in 2024 {dollars}. That in contrast favorably to different European luxurious coupes; the 1985 BMW 635CSi was $41,315 ($122,993 after inflation), the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC listed at $57,100 ($169,985 immediately) and the Porsche 928S price $50,000 ($18,848 now). Detroit supplied the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz coupe for $24,850 ($73,977) and the Lincoln Mark VII Invoice Blass Version for $26,659 ($79,363).
The XJ-S was infamous for expensive-to-fix electrical and mechanical issues, so it is a wrestle for third or fourth homeowners to maintain theirs in driving situation. Some quit on the V12 and swap in small-block Chevrolet V8s.
The gauge cluster on this one was bought by a junkyard shopper earlier than I arrived, so I could not get a closing odometer studying. It seems to have been reset in 1987, anyway.
Right here is V12 energy wrapped in mushy leather-based, paneled in uncommon wooden, outfitted in full luxurious.
A mixing of artwork and machine.
British Leyland was so pleased with the XJ-S that it opened this iconic TV business with a mid-Nineteen Seventies Playboy Bunny climbing into one.
