For some reason that little thing bugs me to no end. Much more than a leaper on the hood.

Is there any reason not to cut it off? We all know Jaguars never need to be towed! Well, maybe once in a while but that's what roll-backs are for.

So, what say ye? Cut it off or let it be?????

 

I have never looked at mine but I assume like most cars the hook was there to move the car down the production line and it is just bolted to the frame. You should be able to unbolt the hook and save it for future use.

I will take a look at mine this weekend to confirm if my assumption is correct.

Mark

 

I didn't think the early, pre '93-94, cars had a tow hook fitted to them. My '92 has the 2 shipping tie downs bolted to the front frame as mentioned above. But not the proper tow hook as picture below.







tow hook on later models.

 

My 1996 has the hook but it is welded to the frame. I didn't see any bolts to take it off.
It could be cut off but the bumper would have to be taken off to get it cut back far enough to make it invisible or to put another lower grill in there without the hook cutout. Cutting it off would be your call as we don't use it anyway.
Cheers, RagJag

 

Can you post a close up picture of it for us to see?

 

Not XJS, merely Xj6 but: Whenever they "tow" my car (flat bed carrier) they winch it on and secure it with those loops bolted to the sub frame.
(';')

 

Actually, I've never, yet, seen a Jag being pulled by its "teeth".
Maybe back in Roman times on its way to the Coliseum...

Anyway, this tow-hook caused my bottom mesh grille to be thrown off symmetry. It also forced me to extra cutting labor that's really no joke. Those who have done cutting on the thicker mesh can attest to this.

Cheers,

 

OK, I'll admit, I had to use the tow hook one night.

I was driving home, very late at night in the rain and I must have taken a turn too fast. I spun out and slid off the road into a vegetated area. Somehow I managed to miss trees, but I came close.

With my car facing the road, wedged in a wooded area, the tow truck came. He got out of the car, and then was ready to leave me there because he could not get his heavy truck far enough to tow me up.

He looked at me and told me that there was no way to strap my car to anything to pull it out that wouldn't damage the car.

When I showed him the tow hook, he rolled his eyes and got to work.

I was home in an hour.

 

I also have a 96 XJS but I do not have a tow hook attached.
My build date was approximatly around March of 1996. Maybe Jaguar realised it wasn't neccessary to install by the end of production.

 

The tow hook is on the '94-'96 model for a reason. With the integrated lower spoiler built onto the front bumper a tow truck would have no way to hook up to the front of the car to pull it or winch it up on the flat bed without damaging the front bumper cover.

This is not to say that Previous owners may not have had it removed but you are "rolling the dice" if you do it. As Vee stated earlier on this the tow truck driver said that there was no way to pull the car out without damaging the car until he saw the tow hook.

On many newer cars that either sit low or have a exterior low profile package added to the car like many BMW's , you will see a plug or small snap on cover on the front bumper cover of the vehicle. These just cover up a tow hook or a spot to screw in a tow hook if needed.

 

Here's the hook. Maybe I could make something to cover it up like the fun things some people put on their trailer hitches. I'm thinking a slip on Leaper would be cool!

 

You could also modify the hook to be able to remove the section that sticks out from the front cover and carry that section in the trunk in case you ever were in need of being pulled.

For example you could cut of the front section of the hook and weld a small tube on each side of the hook that would slip over the section left on the car and pin it in if you needed to be pulled. Same way a trailer hitch stinger is pinned into the hitch. I will look at mine and see if this looks feasible and I will report back.

The other possibility is to remove the hook altogether all the way back to were it is mounted to the car and have a small receptor like a pipe welded in it's place. You would then have a smaller diameter rod slide into that which could be pinned in and that rod would have a hook welded into place on the end of it.

This is why we use the leaper on the hood : to draw the eye from the hook coming out the bumper and keep you looking at the hood-LOL !!!!!!

 

Great point! It makes sense, since the last three years' front spoiler is, indeed, massive and it covers everything in the lower front. I suppose a small price to pay, since it is this magnificent spoiler what truly sets these cars apart from previous XJS front designs. The low and massive spoiler looks really impressive and it kind of "completes" the picture and all you need to do to appreciate this is to look at side by side pictures of any previous models ('93 and back) next to any '94, '95, '96. Only cars with the TWR body kits look as good, if no better, admittedly.

I guess that above's essay may help a little to "swallow" the tow hook?

Cheers,

 

I'm impressed with the looks of your kitty, Pete, even when I can only see a small portion of it. It looks so clean and new, both, paint and chrome. The wheels are very nice, too. Do you have pictures of it here at the pics gallery? If not, would you mind posting some pictures, inside and out? Thank you.

Cheers,

 

Reinaldo,

I believe the picture of the gold XJS is a car that has been for sale on Hemmings for $ 27,500.00. The only reason I recognized it was the wheels which I agree look pretty good on the XJS.

Speaking of XJS' ,have you done any mods etc. on yours lately?

Anyone who has not taken a moment to look at all the mods done on Reinaldo's '94 is in for a real treat. I would say easily the nicest I have seen to date.

 

As LuvmyXJS noted it is not my XJS. It was just the best picture I could find showing the hook. I didn't mean to mislead. I guess I should have said that in the post.
. . . and BTW, the fish isn't mine either!

 

Thanks for the info.

Your comment is much appreciated.

Well, I really haven't done much to the kitty of late, other than the replacement of the shifter knob with one that features a growler in green color at the top. I love the work that Saul (British Autowood) achieves and this piece really calls the attention at car shows. It kind of adds a touch of "Jag" or "sport" to the interior.

And, in case that I haven't mentioned it before, one of the latest mods that I remember doing was the HID headlights, both low and high beams. With the XJS' well known headlights shortcomings, I'd say this is one mod that would be worth doing for any XJS owner, just making sure that they are always perfectly and correctly aimed. It does make a tremendous difference.

I've also installed a row of white LED's at the footwell on each side. It provides a nice illumination effect, better than the OEM lights, for sure. And, with the start/stop button lights (orange button and blue "Engine" legend) set to come on and to stay on simultaneously with the interior lights, it looks pretty nice when entering the car, especially at night, of course, with all the lights staying on for the factory set 10 seconds.

Other than that, there's something that I may have never mentioned before about the scrolling red LED sign on my rear license plate frame. In the cockpit I have a remote that can select between various "messages" that I have loaded from my laptop. Just silly fun stuff, like "Nice wheels there" to the guy behind me in an XK120 at the show... he/she honks back, or necessity "Too close, please back up. Thx" for the guy tail gating me, etc. Only that I don't even remember the last time that I used it.

For the future, I keep thinking of how much I really like the pre-'94 convertibles with the inside trunk. I actually envy them. It is so useful and the seats that replaced it are so useless. If I find a way that can't go wrong I'd seriously consider doing this mod, only that, for me, it must come out absolutely no different from the OEM installations. I need to do a little more research.

That should be it for now. Stay tuned...

Cheers,