Who owns a jaguar xj220

They longed for the days where you could drive to the track in your Jaguar C-Type, win the race and drive home again. To justify the resources this "Saturday club" consumed, the prototype car had to provide meaningful data for future road and racing cars. The tinkering continued with Group B racing in mind and so eventually the project grew into an all-wheel-drive V12 supercar.

Jim Randle, the car's designer, called in favors from suppliers to build a concept. In fact, the concept was only approved to be shown publicly one week before its debut. The XJ concept was finished in the early hours of 18 October — the very day the car was to be shown at the British International Motor Show in Birmingham. The Jaguar XJ was named in a similar fashion to the legendary Jaguar XK — the in its name relates to the car's intended top speed of mph kph. When revealed to the public, the Jaguar XJ immediately became the star attraction at the Birmingham motor show.

Ferrari brought a bright red F40 to the party, but it looked like a dinosaur next to the sleek new Jag. Jaguar had absolutely no intention of selling the XJ, but when a number of enthusiasts presented blank checks, attitudes changed. After a bit of box ticking and number crunching, Jaguar decided that it would build a limited run to meet the unexpected demand.

In the U. Despite the high asking price, Jaguar found itself with over 1, people expressing a serious interest in buying one. The future was looking bright for the Jaguar XJ, but behind the scenes it was turning into a logistical nightmare. Jaguar lacked the resources to develop the car as its focus was on more mainstream models.

Thankfully, an existing joint venture in motorsport with Jaguar Sport and Tom Wilkinshaw Racing presented a solution. The crack team of engineers got to work and began to study competitors such as the Porsche It was quickly decided that all-wheel drive would be ditched in favor of a simpler rear-wheel drive layout.

Two catalytic converters were standard. Classic in style and clad in leather, the interior sported a considerable number of primary and auxiliary instruments. The racing history of the XJ has its ups and downs; a run in the GT class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in saw the Jaguar finish two laps ahead of the second-place Porsche, but it ended in a controversial disqualification.

When Jaguar and TWR found themselves with more cars on hand than they had buyers awaiting delivery, a brilliant scheme came together: a one-make, made-for-television racing series that would raise awareness of the XJ Oddly, though the car was not certified for sale in the United States, the TV show was an American production.

Ten cars were delivered to the Indianapolis headquarters of TV producer Terry Lingner, who put together a series of races to be driven by big-name, championship-winning pilots, all over 50 years of age. The driver names were, indeed, big, and they were drawn from all corners of the racing world. It was an embarrassment to all parties, now preserved for history on YouTube. Putting nine or 10 of the oversize mph Jags on such a short, tight track with aggressive drivers well past their prime turned out to be a recipe for an expensive crash fest marked by more yellow flags and race stoppages than real racing action.

This pared down the carnage and repair costs without appreciably raising the entertainment value. Lingner tried to have Fast Masters renewed the following year, but was the one and only occurrence of what became known among wags as Crash Masters.

The Competition model, in turn, inspired a roadgoing model called the XJS, pictured here. Six units were built. The Jaguar XJS was lighter and less luxurious than the road car, and the covered headlights were replaced by fixed units.

Placed next to each other, the XJ and the later XJS spinoff show off their similarities and differences. Prices on the supercar haven't quite kept up with those of the cars it was built to compete with, the Ferrari F40 and the Porsche Taking out the powertrain gives a good glimpse at the aluminum chassis of the XJ Our road test of a car as equipped for the Fast Masters racing series reported an even lighter pounds.

New Cars. Buyer's Guide. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. It would still produce an extremely healthy bhp, but it certainly would never have the acoustics and soul of a Le Mans car-derived naturally-aspirated V12, one of the most desirable aspects from the concept car. The cutbacks and changes disappointed many of those who had put deposits down.

The final production car looked almost identical, but had no V12, no four-wheel drive system, and no scissor doors. Jaguar only ever built production XJs. That may make it sound like something of a failure. However, what it did do was achieve its target of becoming the fastest car in the world, a record it held for a year until the mighty McLaren F1 took the crown.

Jaguar took a decatted - which was legal in Europe back then - version of an XJ and raised the rev limit to rpm. The car took to the famous banked Nardo test track and achieved a top speed of mph, which when corrected as if it was done on a flat straight, equated to mph. If nothing else, the XJ had lived up to the number in its name, something that solidifies its place in the automotive history books. If you're thinking of selling a supercar and would like to know more about PaddlUp's unique approach, find out more here.

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