All metal (except the rockers and bumper covers) wide-body, stanced XJR-S

While I don't subscribe to the "stanced" trend, which is gaining popularity these days, and its a shame that they chose a rare, early XJR-S as the base for the modifications, there is no denying the talent and craftsmanship that went into the car.

 

Although I can certainly appreciate the effort, I believe this sort of thing should be saved for the appliances exported from Japan, not an English heritage vehicle.

 

 

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different strokes for different folks!

i do know it would be a big hit at a rice rocket show, and old guys British show would be a no-go!

HEY, some people are snotty and some aint!

i'm kinda in the middle, whatever floats your boat.

 

Any shots of the interior?

 

These guys are wearing mask because either;

1. They are the builders and are ashamed.
2. Show attendees who are afraid to get too close, lest they catch something evil.

Mark

PS...just having some fun. ;-)

Lots of work but not my style.

 

I'm somewhere in the middle too. While I'm a bit of a stickler about a Jaguar being powered by a Jaguar motor, I'm pretty open to most other tasteful modifications. In fact, I'm still undecided whether to go with a variation on Group44 flares, or, to spread the flanks in a more subtle manner. Most likely, I'll choose whichever I decide makes the car look the most brutal.

Akira Matsuura, the builder of this XJR-S, is based in Japan, but, he builds a wide variety of cars for international clientele.

 

I'm confused with the rims and fit of the rear quarters. It looks odd to me. I like to see some sidewall on my tires.
There was some fantastic bodywork and mods done. Some not so fantastic.
I'm sure they love it and thats what counts.

 

The deal with the rims/tires is all part of the "stanced" style. A trademark of that style is that the tires are purposely stretched onto wider rims, causing the sidewalls to protrude outward, and, Ideally, the rims are flush with the lip of the fender, which in turn, is radiused in such a way that it forms an evenly spaced concentric arc around the rim.

Here in the US, several states have outlawed such fitment of tires on rims, deeming it to be unsafe, as it places the sidewall in direct contact with the pavement.

 

I do have to say, there is NO room for rear suspension movement. This is only important if you actually drive the car. Not my taste, but interesting build. Too bad you can't drive it.

 

I am sure they built this on air bags- if not you would not even be able to load it onto a trailer.

I will share a quick story about when I first heard about this car. I work with some young men who just love cool cars. When I had brought my XJS to work a few years ago they checked it out but you could tell it was to big and not their style. When this lowered yellow and black car hit the scene -well lets just say all of a sudden it was cool owning a XJS and it was on their radar.

IMHO this is the type of exposure we need to get the XJS into the minds of the younger generations. Whether it is or is not our cup of tea is not the point-it is a compliment to the XJS that a builder put the time and energy into this XJS. This car has been seen by millions of younger kids all over the world and many of those kids had never heard about the XJS and most likely never would have if not for this type of build.

 

See, he gets it!
This is exactly why I started this post.

I was waiting, and hoping that someone would see it from that angle.

Most people out there see the XJS as either a cool old classic car, or, as just an old car that's quirky, and hard to work on. At any rate, they see it as a car mostly owned by middle-age to older men, who basically just use it as a weekend cruiser...a fringe car which is not considered relevant to the larger automotive scene, driven by guys who are not in touch with the current style and performance trends within that scene.

Yet, here we have a guy in Japan, Akira Matsuura...an internationally renown professional builder...a man who builds cars for billionaires and royalty...a man with his finger on the pulse of one of the hottest segments of modern car culture, who has chosen to use this quirky, old, irrelevant car as the basis for one of his high profile builds.

It doesn't matter whether you've ever heard of Akira Matsuura. It doesn't matter if you, or, I like what he has done to the car. The people who are the driving force behind today's custom automotive world know who he is. They buy his cars, and this XJR-S is significant because its showing those people what is possible with this car.

Akira Matsuura, and his Yellow & Black XJR-S are (or should be), important to each of us, because they have exposed the XJS to a new generation, and made it a player in an automotive segment populated by young, creative, and influential minds. In so doing, they have done their part to help make the XJS relevant once again.

 

Lots of talent as a builder complete lack of taste as a designer. Of course good taste was not a goal of the designer. Does this make my XJS worth more or less?

 

Not my taste , I'd be ashamed to drive this car .. Love the look and lines of the XJS and would steer well away from this style of design ..

 

I want to present a few examples of why exposure is so important to put a vehicle back into the minds of younger generations.

The delorean is a great example. If not for the movie series " Back to the Future " the delorean would have quickly been forgotten by younger generations. For that matter it would never have been remembered by them to begin with. I can not think of too many cars that have been more modified with gaudy crap hanging all over it but it put the car on the radar of kids all over the world and still today if you say delorean that car comes to mind to everyone who has seen the movies.

Another great example is the movie series " furious ". This is a great example because the movie series had many newer smaller 4 and 6 cylinder cars that are highly prized by the younger generations. Mixed in with all the newer cars is the old Dodge Charger-highly modified I might add but there it is in front of millions of kids showing why it was so popular in our generation and why it is relevant today.

I am 51 years old and grew up as a young boy when all the muscle cars were coming out in the 60's and 70's. I also grew up in an area that had plenty of European cars around including E-types, Triumphs etc. I loved seeing all these cars out being driven and you just knew when something was cool and you dreamed about owning a car like that when you could get one for yourself.

Now since I was a young boy in the late 60's and early 70's a car like the '55 Chevy looked old and outdated to me. It was not until I started seeing cars like the '55 Chevy lowered and with high performance engines etc. that I simply fell in love with the 1950's classics.

I am a bit of purist when it comes to my cars - I like a few tasteful mods like high end factory wheels -chrome vs. polished or the best steering wheel available etc. but for the most part I want my cars to show the beauty of the car for what it is. That being said I realize how important it is for the older cars to get exposure and be relevant.

I take it as a huge compliment when any car I find worth having is given the attention and effort it takes to keep it up, restored and modified. I do not always like certain modifications but the fact is the car was seen as worthy by someone to put the time and money into it to bring it back to life-it is relevant.

I get the most joy owning my XJS' when the younger generations say things like " cool car " or give me thumbs up. They have so many cool cars to get excited about but they recognize the XJS for it's classic lines and low wide stance-for that I have give thanks to builders like Akira Matsuura for their vision and efforts to make a car like the XJS hip and relevant in today's world.

 

i'm betting that car will push the prices in Japan thru the roof, for an XJS!!!!!

 

[QUOTE=LuvmyXJS';1355856]I am sure they built this on air bags- if not you would not even be able to load it onto a trailer.

Yes, I should have thought of that. Thanks.

 

I'm not one for stanced cars, never have been. I think it makes a good car look like crap. Just my $0.02.

That said, I think you hit the nail on the head with the idea of this bringing younger drivers to the XJS scene. Some people see crazy cars like this and then they look up what they look like normally and think "now that's kinda cool, I could see myself driving one of those."

Being of that younger generation myself, it would be great to see a few younger people that are interested in our cars. I've loved the XJS since I was a little kid. I've owned mine for almost a year now and I still can't believe that I get to drive it whenever I want. I've only seen a few others in my area, though, and every single one was being driven by a middle-aged gentleman. Not that there's anything wrong with that either; it's nice to actually be able to talk about the XJ-S with other owners and speak with them intelligently about it. Every XJ-S owner that I have talked to seems to actually know a bit about what they're driving, not someone who bought one just because it looks cool and doesn't have a clue about what they've got. But if we want the car to stay popular enough to become a true classic some day, the younger generations have to get involved.

I take my XJS to the local cars and coffee meets and I always get a lot of comments from people my age like "woah, is that really a V12?" and "what year is that? Why haven't you gotten antique plates yet?" So I like to think that I'm doing my part! I also have to explain to almost everyone that yes there is, in fact, a 25 year old that owns a V12 Jag and isn't just driving around dad's weekend car.

[/rant]

 

xjsman89,
My 19 year old son commandeered my '88 over 2 years ago, and, its been his daily driver ever since. He loves it, and swears that after college, he'll own at least a couple of them.