{"id":5286,"date":"2020-04-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/45-years-of-jaguar-xj-s\/"},"modified":"2020-10-09T12:56:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T12:56:16","slug":"45-years-of-jaguar-xj-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/45-years-of-jaguar-xj-s\/","title":{"rendered":"45 Years of Jaguar XJ-S"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How do you replace a car that had already achieved legendary status during ongoing production? This was the problem Jaguar was facing in the 1970s. The E-Type had passed its zenith. A new grand tourer was needed, because the E-Type hadn’t been a real sports car since the third series and the change from an inline six-cylinder engine to the V12 in the last version. This change wasn’t only due to changing customer requirements, but also to new approval regulations in important export countries such as the USA. For reasons of cost, the base for the new model was the floor plan of the second-generation XJ sedan. However, the new coup\u00e9 got a wheelbase shortened by around 25 centimeters in favour of better proportions. An open variant was dropped from the range for the time being.

The new Jaguar XJ-S celebrated its world premiere at the IAA (Frankfurt Motor Show) in 1975. This 2+2 Coup\u00e9 was powered by the 5.3-liter V12 engine from the E-Type Series 3, which, thanks to petrol injection, produced 211 kW\/287 hp. For power transmission to the rear axle, customers initially had the choice between a manual four-speed gearbox and a three-speed automatic from BorgWarner. Only 352 units with manual transmission left the factory until 1978, although this version accelerated up to 62 mph in only 6.8 seconds, while the automatic version took 7.9 seconds. At the time of its presentation, this was Jaguar’s fastest production vehicle with a topspeed of 241 kph (150 mph). The XJ-S became famous through the British TV crime series ‘Simon Templar’, in which the main character drove a white car with the license plate ST-1.

In 1981, after disappointing sales figures sales figures in the end, a model update was carried out. By means of a more modern petrol injection system and the new high-efficiency cylinder head (HE), the engineers increased the output to 220 kW\/295 hp. At the same time, average fuel consumption fell by more than 20 percent. By contrast, the quality improvements in conjunction with greater comfort and a better interior appearance using wooden trim were much more necessary. From the outside, the Series 2 can be recognised by less bulky bumpers with chrome trim. Two years later Jaguar added  the newly developed version with a 3.6-liter inline six-cylinder engine and 163 kW\/222 hp to the model range. Initially, only a Getrag five-speed transmission was available, followed in 1987 by a ZF automatic, which was ordered much more frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n

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