- not mine

 

Clever dude. Amazing skills.

 

Nice cleanup of the front end, nothing radical. Just what it would look like without the Chunky azzed bumpers. I like the first lower grille not the oval didn't fit well with the upper one. Just my thoughts.

Jack

 

Saw that, wasn't impressed with the design. The front grille normally curves in towards the bottom, and with the normal bumper, the curve ends there, with the rest essentially hidden underneath (though it does keep on curving in the way way). This remodel makes that inward curve suddenly jump out again. In addition to giving it the "underbite" look of the last facelifts with their body-coloured bumpers, only with fewer horizontal lines to emphasize the lowness and flatness.
And the car's too new for wire wheels, and doubly so if you make it look newer with this design.

 

I like it.

 

The graphic artists’o work is great.

The bumper design for the XJS , not so much. I am not a fan of altering classics with with modern elements. You end up with something similar to that hideous Pyramid in front of the Louvre....on the other hand it’s typically easier to insert classic cues into more modern designs.

 

I.M. Pei's pyramid is an interesting solution to a difficult problem. I thought I'd hate it too, but when I actually visited the Louvre for the first time, I realised it wasn't as bad as I feared. In addition to being glass, and thus not as "solid" as concrete or stone, and having sloped sides that are much less blocky and in-yer-face than a rectangle, its so completely modern and so completely different that it just seems unconnected. It's so different from the facade, and small enough, that it doesn't either dominate or try to affect the older style.
Now, it's not what I would have done, but it's not as bad I as initially feared.

 

I thought it was a far more egregious assault on the senses in person. Possibly one of the worst cases of dissonance in the history of architecture. Sadly these glass heaps are popping up everywhere around Europe in the middle of formerly harmonious cities and towns. But I digress.

 

I think that's going a bit far. Being located in the middle of the courtyard, away from the actual building facade, helps it. It might be in the way, but the original's still around it, untouched.

 

Sorry, that topic touched a nerve. Post-modernist architects thinking they can improve on the work of their infinitely more capable and superior predecessors by adding glass atrocities to their noble work, is one of the things that cry to heaven for justice in my book.

Back to XJS land

 

Sketchmonkey had me nervous at first. I’ve been working on an XJS nose mod design for quite a while. Here’s this guy going to do it in real time, on video! His photoshop skills are quite good, and his lines are good and well educated from his actual hand drawing experience.

Unfortunately, his design choices aren’t mine. A facelift-lift is a bad idea in plastic surgery, and I’d say here as well. Pulling a 70s design into the 90s styling ethos is sure to wind up looking disjointed. Putting an oval opening on at the end was just tragic. Might as well have a Victorian coach with Supra nose but brass oil headlamps. Gah.

I’m working on taking the bumpers back to a 70s vibe. And giving the XJS a full face. Currently I feel it’s gorgeous, but stops right at the bumper, then there’s just nothing below to see.

I’m trying to create a solution that requires minimal modifications to the car with maximum payoff Also, I want to keep the functionality of the 5 mph shock mounting of the bumper. Cut down the bumper bar height, finish the lower bumper off with flipped blades, and expose the lower nose. This shows off what I feel is a week chin, so I’m thinking 3 new body panels have to be produced for the left and right splash guards ( as far as I know this is the correct nomenclature for the front lower corners ) and the center. A new lower grille will have to be made. Stock spoiler.

I should post where I’m at. Good solid critique and advice to be had here.

 

The way I see it, there are two problems with the XJS front in terms of redesigning it. The first is that because the whole car is so low, the bumper is relatively high. This gives us that very slim front grille and headlights, but to have a bigger grille, for example, you need to drop the bumper lower. The other problem is that sweep back from the top--this echoes the sweep back of the saloons in a sense, but does mean that exposing that lower area by removing the bumper or otherwise shifting the focus from the top part makes the car look like it has a weak chin. Most sports cars tend to keep dropping to the bottom, sloping down. The XJS is fairly flat on top, and cuts back under.

My least favourite design element in the XJS. Difficult to say how I would improve it--the later facelifts go a bit too much into underbite territory I feel.
In one sense, going for the "muscle car" look in front could work, doubling the vertical size of the grille and bringing the bottom chin out further, but I'm not sure what the bumper would end up like.

 

Exactly the issue I’m trying to solve. I’m thinning the bumpers, but keeping everything from the chrome blades and up OEM. Bringing the front corners forward 4 inches, center too, and bringing a revised lower grill out to match the angle of the upper OEM grill.

 

Am I the only one who prefers the original quad headlamps and corner tail lights?

 

The quad headlamps are not original. Only US-market. Because the Feds are/were bonkers.

 

Yes. They where finally able to use the originally intended headlamps in the US with the facelift.

 

Given that designing for the US-market was a life or death decision for Jaguar at the time, and how a majority of the production was going there, one could make the argument that the quad sealed beams are the original production design.

Obviously a matter of individual preference, but I can remember in the early Jag-lover.org days, there was a bit of trading between US owners wanting the EURO look and Europe based members wanting the quad look.

Cheers

 

What about the early side mirrors? Who likes them more than the later 1978? ones?




Later 1986 model:

 

Want to know something funny about the mirrors?

See something familiar?

 

Wow, that's interesting. Door mounted mirrors certainly did make a come back in recent years as compared to A pillar ones.