1977 Jaguar V12 Xjs Coupe Rare First Version 28,000 Mles One Owner on 2040-cars

1977 JAGUAR XJ-S GRAND-TOURING COUPE

(VERY FIRST VERSION OF THE XJ-S)

This is a gorgeous, magnificent, regency-red motor car, with a 5.3-litre, V-12 engine with only 27,796 actual miles on the clock as of today’s writing (03DEC13).   According to Steve Kennedy’s wonderful Jaguar book, “Jaguar, The Classic Marque,” only 1,269 12-cylinder, left-hand-drive first-versions of the XJ-S were built.  So, this is quite a rare car.  One of the Jaguar technicians who has done maintenance work on this car told me he rarely sees an XJ-S of this early vintage any more and it is the cleanest one he’s ever seen.   The car has been serviced by John Nance, the British Motor Specialist in Kingsport, Tennessee, and by Dick Maury at Coventry West near Atlanta.  Both of these gentlemen are intimately familiar with the car and can give their opinions regarding it if asked.

It has the GM Turbo Hydramatic 400 automatic transmission which replaces the earlier Borg-Warner model 12 automatic transmission.  It is one of the earliest XJ-Ss to be so equipped.  As a Jaguar-club member, I had already seen the factory bulletin that announced the change to the GM gearbox.  So, when I bought the car, in early 1978, I asked the salesman at the Jaguar dealer if this car had the new GM Hydramatic transmission.  He looked at the car’s VIN, which ends in “BW,” and told me, “No, it has the Borg-Warner transmission.”  But, when I examined the documents that came with the car, I found that it did have the GM Turbo Hydramatic 400 automatic transmission.

Its date of manufacture is September 22, 1977, and it was dispatched from the factory on November 14, 1977, to British Leyland, Los Angeles.  I bought the car new from the Jaguar dealer in Santa Maria, California on March 7, 1978.  It is therefore a one-owner car, having been owned since new by myself and never having been sold to anyone else since its original purchase.

Mechanically the car is in excellent condition with no problems that I’m aware of.  It drives like a dream; the low-mileage engine runs like a smooth turbine.  It has been meticulously maintained  throughout its lifetime.  All original documents, service records and the heritage certificate are available.  It is just about the “best-driving” car I have ever driven.

The body has minor damage from burglars or vandals breaking into our garage in Santa Maria, California, where the car was stored for six years while we were in medical mission service on the island of Guam from 1985 to 1991.  The body damage is of such minor nature that I haven’t felt it to be worthwhile to spend a lot of money to repair it.  The roof of the car has some minor ripples but they are noticeable only if examined closely.  There are a couple of other minor dents in one door and on the top of one fender. 

The burglars also removed and stole all four of the Kent road wheels off the car.   The car was stored on blocks which made it easy to remove the wheels.  When we returned from our six-year tour of mission service on Guam, all I could find to replace them were used wheels.  So, I purchased 4 used wheels of the same type and cleaned them up and had 4 tubeless Michelin X Steel-Belted Radial tires of the original correct size mounted on them.  For some reason, even though the boot lid was not locked, the thieves did not remove the spare wheel and tire and they are still present and original with little or no use since new.  The damage to the roof also caused damage to the headliner inside the car.  There is a new red, vinyl headliner in the car, which gives it a very nice, neat and new appearance. The rest of the black interior is still present and in good condition.  The black leather seats are still the original items that came with the car.  The black carpets are still original and in very good condition.  The car still has that “new” smell.  The interior of the boot is very clean and looks new.  The Die-Hard battery has probably been replaced a time or two.  It is constantly connected to the “Battery Tender Plus” which is computerized and keeps it charged up but not overcharged.

The XJ-S comes with a beautiful $200 “BLOCK IT DUSTOP” car cover made by Covercraft and sold by the Big Sky Car Cover outlet in Montana.

The reason for finally arriving at the painful decision to sell this magnificent car is that I am 85 years old and I am becoming less and less able to take care of this car and several other Jaguars that we own.  It is time to reduce the number of our “fleet.”