1977 Jaguar V12 Xjs Coupe Rare First Version 28,000 Mles One Owner on 2040-cars
Limestone, Tennessee, United States
1977 JAGUAR XJ-S
GRAND-TOURING COUPE (VERY FIRST VERSION
OF THE XJ-S) This is a gorgeous, magnificent, regency-red motor car, with
a 5.3-litre, V-12 engine with only 27,796 actual miles on the clock as of today’s
writing (03DEC13). According to Steve Kennedy’s
wonderful Jaguar book, “Jaguar, The Classic Marque,” only 1,269 12-cylinder,
left-hand-drive first-versions of the XJ-S were built. So, this is quite a rare car. One of the Jaguar technicians who has done
maintenance work on this car told me he rarely sees an XJ-S of this early
vintage any more and it is the cleanest one he’s ever seen. The car has been serviced by John Nance, the
British Motor Specialist in Kingsport, Tennessee, and by Dick Maury at Coventry
West near Atlanta. Both of these gentlemen
are intimately familiar with the car and can give their opinions regarding it
if asked. It has the GM Turbo Hydramatic 400 automatic transmission
which replaces the earlier Borg-Warner model 12 automatic transmission. It is one of the earliest XJ-Ss to be so
equipped. As a Jaguar-club member, I had
already seen the factory bulletin that announced the change to the GM
gearbox. So, when I bought the car, in
early 1978, I asked the salesman at the Jaguar dealer if this car had the new
GM Hydramatic transmission. He looked at
the car’s VIN, which ends in “BW,” and told me, “No, it has the Borg-Warner
transmission.” But, when I examined the
documents that came with the car, I found that it did have the GM Turbo
Hydramatic 400 automatic transmission. Its date of manufacture is September 22, 1977, and it was
dispatched from the factory on November 14, 1977, to British Leyland, Los Angeles. I bought the car new from the Jaguar dealer
in Santa Maria, California on March 7, 1978.
It is therefore a one-owner car, having been owned since new by myself
and never having been sold to anyone else since its original purchase. Mechanically the car is in excellent condition with no
problems that I’m aware of. It drives
like a dream; the low-mileage engine runs like a smooth turbine. It has been meticulously maintained throughout its lifetime. All original documents, service records and
the heritage certificate are available.
It is just about the “best-driving” car I have ever driven. The body has minor damage from burglars or vandals breaking
into our garage in Santa Maria, California, where the car was stored for six
years while we were in medical mission service on the island of Guam from 1985
to 1991. The body damage is of such
minor nature that I haven’t felt it to be worthwhile to spend a lot of money to
repair it. The roof of the car has some
minor ripples but they are noticeable only if examined closely. There are a couple of other minor dents in
one door and on the top of one fender. The burglars also removed and stole all four of the Kent
road wheels off the car. The car was
stored on blocks which made it easy to remove the wheels. When we returned from our six-year tour of
mission service on Guam, all I could find to replace them were used
wheels. So, I purchased 4 used wheels of
the same type and cleaned them up and had 4 tubeless Michelin X Steel-Belted
Radial tires of the original correct size mounted on them. For some reason, even though the boot lid was
not locked, the thieves did not remove the spare wheel and tire and they are
still present and original with little or no use since new. The damage to the roof also caused damage to
the headliner inside the car. There is a
new red, vinyl headliner in the car, which gives it a very nice, neat and new
appearance. The rest of the black interior is still present and in good
condition. The black leather seats are
still the original items that came with the car. The black carpets are still original and in
very good condition. The car still has
that “new” smell. The interior of the
boot is very clean and looks new. The
Die-Hard battery has probably been replaced a time or two. It is constantly connected to the “Battery
Tender Plus” which is computerized and keeps it charged up but not overcharged. The XJ-S comes with a beautiful $200 “BLOCK IT DUSTOP” car
cover made by Covercraft and sold by the Big Sky Car Cover outlet in Montana. The reason for finally arriving at the painful decision to
sell this magnificent car is that I am 85 years old and I am becoming less and
less able to take care of this car and several other Jaguars that we own. It is time to reduce the number of our “fleet.” |
Jaguar XJS for Sale
- 1990 jaguar xjs convertible v12 - 83k original miles - *no rust* *no reserve*
- 1991 jaguar xjs convertable v-12 rebuilder interior fire great deal!!(US $1,900.00)
- Beautiful candy apple red xjsh v12, newer repaint, original interior,
- Jaguar xjs (low mileage)(US $10,000.00)
- 1998 jaguar xj sedan(US $4,995.00)
- 1992 jaguar xjs base coupe 2-door 5.3l v12(US $4,000.00)
Auto Services in Tennessee
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Auto blog
This Jaguar E-Type is an even longer-legged feline
Tue, 12 Nov 2013Paul Branstad loves the shape and purity of the Series 1 Jaguar E-Type, produced from 1961 to 1968, but appreciates the longer length of the Series 3 V12 model, which affords occupants a more comfortable space in which to enjoy long trips. So when Branstad brought his damaged left-hand-drive 1968 roadster from its home in the US to Classic Motor Cars in the UK for a restoration, he had a special request: restore his car, but make it a bit longer.
"This is something that we have never done before. Our client wanted the interior leg room of a Series 3 V12 E-Type but the aesthetics of a Series 1 car," says Nick Goldthorp, managing director of CMC.
For the restoration, CMC added 4.5 inches of length to the floor pan of Branstad's E-Type to create the extra legroom. Goldthorp relates, "The V12 was actually nine inches longer than a Series 1 but a lot of the additional room was behind the seats as storage and was not required on our project." That's because CMC also built a trailer out of two E-Type rear ends that attaches to a custom-made removable tow hitch.
Stolen Jaguar E-Type reunited with owner after 46 years
Mon, 22 Sep 2014Barely six months into owning it, Ivan Schneider had his Jaguar E-Type stolen from outside of his Manhattan apartment in 1968. Now, 46 years later, the somewhat beat-up convertible has been recovered just before it was about to be shipped to a new owner in The Netherlands.
US Customs agents at the Port of Los Angeles found the car during a routine check, and they contacted Schneider to arrange returning it to him. When the feds found it, the E-Type was already in a shipping container ready to go to its new owner. The condition is hardly perfect today, including rough paint and a replacement door, but Schneider is ecstatic to get his classic back.
Understandably, the now 82-year-old never thought he would see his droptop Jaguar again. Schneider told the LA Times that he bought the E-Type for $5,000 after winning a case as a lawyer, and it was originally painted gray. Now, he plans to have to have the vintage convertible restored to its former glory in New York.
Evo pits Jaguar XKR-S vs. Mercedes SL63 AMG in heavyweight droptop fight
Wed, 12 Mar 2014We recently received the sad news that the Jaguar XK is ceasing production by the end of the year, but what better way to bid it farewell than with some big, smoky powerslides? The retirement of the sporty GT isn't actually the topic of the latest video from Evo - it's on hand to compete against the Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG to see which is faster around a track. Still, we can think of it as a wonderful sendoff for the Jag.
Both convertible grand tourers get their laps around the course, and they couldn't be more different. Driver Jethro Bovingdon gets some grins out of them both, but absolutely giggles while behind the wheel of the XKR-S convertible. The SL63 AMG is the more powerful of the two, but as we know, that doesn't always matter at a racetrack. You'll just have to scroll down and watch the video to see which of them is actually the winner.