It is my understanding that for the 1996 MY XJS the 6.0 L V12 engine availability was reduced to just special orders so, naturally, this sharply reduced the number of 1996 XJS cars produced with that engine. Is there any source of information available in regards to 1996 XJS cars produced with the V12 engine?
Number of cars, how many coupes / convertibles, where were they sold (any to the US?) date that the last XJS V12 was produced/sold, etc.

It's also my understanding that the V12 power plant was dropped from production for the 1997 MY sedans (i.e. X305) because Jaguar couldn’t meet the OBD-II specifications for 1997. Could this be, as well, the reason why the V12 was restricted for the XJS 1996 MY, in which case I'd ask was there a 1996 V12 XJS sold in the US?. Then, it would be likely that the 1997 X305 was offered with the V12 engine outside the US only. I wonder what could have possibly changed in the exhaust emission regulations from 1996 to 1997 that Jaguar did meet for 1996 but not for 1997. I'll search for more info on this..
Cheers,

 

78 6.0 XJS's were made in calendar 1995, some of those could have been 1996 models I expect. Although, I have seen the 1996 UK market brochure and it only lists the 4.0 cars. So far I have not seen a 1996 XJS brochure that lists a V12. It could still be available by special order, but not listed.

Regarding the X305, they had a different ignition system than the XJS cars, as the X305 used coilpacks, not a distributor. OBDII was required in 1996, my understanding was the V12 couldn't meet the warmup emissions because of the amount of coolant in the engine and the time it took to come up to temperature. I don't know if that was the official reason, or if it was CAFE.

 

There were a number of reasons why Jaguar never intended the 6.0 XJS to be carried forward to the end of production; the OBDII compliance, the emissions issue, the theoretical finish of V12 production and teh fact that the US had embraced the 4.0 litre and there was no real demand for the 6.0.

As you know, in the UK we tend to look at calendar year production rather than MY. There were only 3 6.0 litre cars produced in 1996. One was a Coupe produced on the last day of production in April as the last XJS produced just to got into the Jaguar Heritage collection. Then there were 2 convertibles produced on the same shift in February 1996 as special order cars. These had been "back-order" cars waiting for Jaguar to find all the necessary parts to actually make the cars. One was RHD and stayed in the UK. And one was LHD and went to Holland. My friend has the RHD car, a black one with cream interior and bought it 17 years ago.

So if someone tells you that they have a 1996-produced 6.0 XJS - they don't! (Unless it's my friend or they have a dutch accent!)

Paul