Hey guys, new to forum. I've been in a secret love affair with the XJ-S V12 for a lonngggg time. Just recently wrote up this article on it and passing it along. The cat?s meow ? a Jaguar XJ-S V12 | Second Daily Classics

 

Hi- Nice article. Just a few little changes to make... You have a picture of the buttresses and they're labeled facelift, but they aren't. 89-90 MY do not have the best paint. The earlier cars had thermoplastic paint that crazed. The later cars had galvanized bodies and don't rust anywhere near as bad as pre-facelift cars. Interiors got better with time... added power seats, etc. so just some sorta mixed up stuff you wouldn't want to perpetuate.

Did you get to drive one?

-John

 

mine seems to be great!

1978 XJS Roadster v12

 

"The ‘88-‘91 models reportedly have the nicest interior of all XJ-S’s"

Who reports this, and what it is based on? As far as I can tell, the interiors just kept getting more and more lavish, though the loss of the glovebox is regrettable.

"In 1991 when the hyphen (“-“) was dropped..."
That looks like a really cute little emoji....

 

The thing is, thats a weird range. I personally think around that time is best, but I don't know the dates for some updates.

The HE interior that still had the weird orange horn press is odd. Getting into the early 90s and you get the goofy steering wheel. Then late in the game you get the nice adjustable seats and stuff, but the look is off IMO. I love the tan dash, but not the gauges or the way the seats look.

 

Did he update it already? I see two buttress pics and one is an early yellow car while the latter is a black facelift car.

Anyway, second daily? More like first. Mine has been a daily for 7 years. They are quite reliable.

 

Yup that's a different photo.

 

My guess is that he quickly added a jpeg of the facelift - the picture quality is noticeably worse, with very bad artifacts.

 

I happen to agree that the 88 to 91 range look best for the following reasons:

- Recaro seats: beautiful shape and support, plus the pattern is simpler than the facelift.

- darker burl walnut vs elm veneer & ski slope

- perfect steering wheel with the 2 horn pads

- vintage instrumentation is just perfect

I think it really is the zenith of the design. Your mileage may vary

If doing a complete resto mod on an XJS, the interior would be pretty much left alone apart from more sound deadening, modern wiring, lighting, and entertainment. Full wood kit for radio surrounds, steering wheel, shifter knob and I think that's it!

 

hey guys, sorry I completely missed these replies. Yes, I had to replace with a post-facelift image (the original was a 1990). If someone has a higher quality facelift buttress shot like the '77 pictured, I'd love to replace it. The model years comments came from an amalgam of various readers that replied directly to me, some from various posts out there in the internet world. Thanks for the feedback guys...if you have any pics to share, I can post them up.