A Jaguar XJS super touring car travelling along the Kingsway West Dual Carriageway in Dundee, UK
The Jaguar XJS [similarly driven by actor Ian Ogilvy in TV Series "The Return of The Saint"] which only lasted from September 10th 1978 to March 11th 1979. The Jaguar XJ-S (later XJS) is a luxury grand tourer which was produced by the British manufacturer Jaguar from 1976 to 1996. The XJ-S superseded the E-Type (also known as XK-E) in September 1975, and was based on the XJ saloon. It had been developed as the XK-F, though it was very different in character from its predecessor. Although it never had quite the same sporting image, the XJ-S was a competent grand tourer, and more aerodynamic than the E-Type. The XJ-S was launched on 10 September 1975. The development of the car had begun in the late 1960`s as project XJ27, with an initial shape set by Malcolm Sayer, but after his death in 1970 it was completed by the in-house Jaguar design team, headed by Doug Thorpe. Power came from the Jaguar V12 petrol engine with a choice of a manual or automatic transmission, but the manual was soon dropped as they were left over from V12 E Type production. V12 automobiles were unusual at the time; Italian luxury sports car makers Lamborghini and Ferrari produced such models. From July 1981 the XJ-S became the XJ-S HE and received the new High-Efficiency engine for much better economy. With the Fire Ball combustion chamber designed by Swiss Engineer Michael May, as a by-product power was increased to 220 kW (295 hp) or 196 kW (263 hp) in North America. At the same time, the XJ-S HE received changes to its exterior and interior (body-coloured trunk plinth in place of the standard previous black, new five-spoke (starfish) alloy wheels, chrome inserts on the upper part of the bumpers, burled elm inserts on dashboard and door capping’s). In 1982, the new V12 XJ-S HE won first and second at the RAC Tourist Trophy race at Silverstone.
Size: 5184px × 3456px
Location: Dundee, Tayside, Angus, Scotland United Kingdom
Photo credit: © Dundee Photographics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1970`, 1978-1979, angus, auto, automobile, british, car, carriageway, classic, design, dual, dundee, engine, fast, grand, horizontal, jaguar, landscape, luxurious, luxury, motion, motor, movement, moving, panning, power, powerful, return, saint, scotland, series, speed, sports, super, super-car, tayside, television, touring, transport, travelling, uk, vehicle, weather, xj-, xjs
