Highlights
- Immaculate example of the special edition V12 Le Mans
- Miniscule mileage of less than 3,000 miles in total
- Just recommissioned after 10 years in dehumidified storage
- Surely one of the best, if not the best, XJ-S and with sought-after specification
- MOT to April 2024 with no advisories
- 1 of 280 built
The Appeal
Through the 1980s Jaguar progressively improved the quality and desirability of the svelte XJ-S. While the road cars got more luxury and refinement, on track TWR-fettled XJ-S models grabbed podiums.
To celebrate this and Jaguar’s return to Le Mans with a remarkable win in 1990, the firm produced a run of 280 special edition ‘Le Mans’ XJ-S’, based on the super-smooth V12 coupe.
This is Le Mans car number 105 and if the rare specification isn’t enough to entice you, the astonishing condition and mileage surely will. With just 2,860 miles covered since 1991 this immaculate XJ-S has to be one of the best if not the best example in the UK and certainly amongst those for sale.
This is a rare, perhaps unique, opportunity and one enthusiasts of these remarkable coupes will sure not want to miss.
The History and Paperwork
- First registered 22nd May 1991
- Jaguar Daimler Heritage Certificate confirms:
- Date of manufacture 15th November 1990
- Date of factory despatch 19th November 1990
- Car number 105 of 280 Le Mans limited editions
- Colour and trim specification exactly as the car appears now
- VIN records confirm:
- 1991 model year cars begin at VIN number 1761031
- This is the 1,795th 1991 model year car produced
- Le Mans VIN numbers began in September 1990 and ended in December 1990
- Original owner retained the car until early 2023
- We are told that the car was stored for 10 years in a dehumidified garage
- The seller states that the car was recently recommissioned “regardless of cost and time”
- The history file includes:
- Old MOTs verifying the low mileage
- Original Jaguar XJ-S 5.3
- JDHT Heritage Certificate number 73090
- Old tax discs
- Complete set of original handbooks and manuals
- XJ-S V12 Le Mans sales brochure
- 2 keys including original handover presentation box
The Le Mans special edition of the XJ-S was produced by Jaguar between September 1990 and December of the same year. Just 280 were made available and each one featured numbered stainless steel ‘Le Mans’ branded sill covers.
The Le Mans was built to mark the firm’s historic success at Le Mans in 1990, where Jaguar won for the first time since its run of 1950s successes at the 24hr race. Each car featured the firm’s superb 5.3litre V12 engine as well as specially uprated suspension and US-market quad headlamps amongst other trim upgrades.
The Interior
- Immaculate interior looks as it surely must have don the day it left the showroom
- Beautifully specified in cream leather with red piping and upgraded wood veneers
- New headlining professionally fitted by a respected upholsterer
- Upholsterer remarked that this was the best and most original interior he had seen in 40 years of working
- High specification includes cruise control, air conditioning and heated seats with electric lumbar support
- Seats display supple leather with no visible wear, even on the driver’s seat base or bolster
- Seats appear unused and do not even have gentle age creases
- Original Jaguar radio cassette showing some very light deterioration of some of the buttons
- Excellent unmarked wood veneers
- Complete Jaguar tool and spare bulb and fuse kit in factory supplied box
- Jack and wheel brace in carpeted tool roll
- Matching full size Pirelli-equipped spare wheel appearing unused
- Attractive 4 spoke leather steering wheel, the pre-airbag type
- Cream leather gear knob displaying no wear
- Excellent unmarked carpets and factory fitted over mats
- Excellent door cards with no visible marks
- All fixtures and fittings are present and immaculate
- Numbered Le Mans model-specific sill covers
It was John Egan, Jaguar’s MD in the late 70s and early 80s, who spotted the potential of the XJ-S despites sales by the late 70s having dwindled to virtually zero. By upgrading the interior to something considerably more luxurious, equipped with enough wood and leather to appeal to executive buyers, he released the potential of this most capable of cars.
This 1991 Le Mans is in unblemished, showroom-fresh condition so provides a rare opportunity to acknowledge just how good the interior of these cars were when new. Tastefully trimmed in cream leather with red piping, with complementary tan carpets and swathes of wood veneer, this is a genuinely lovely, indulgent place to be.
This car was also built 12 months before the XJ-S facelift so retains the stylish original switchgear and aesthetics of the first cars.
The condition closely reflects the miniscule mileage and it is virtually impossible to find any signs of use. Even the driver’s seat lacks the creases or sheen you might expect of a car now over 30 years old. The beautiful wood veneers adorning the dashboard, centre console and door tops are similarly perfect.
It is a well appointed place too, with cruise control, heated seats with electric lumbar operation, air conditioning and a premium Jaguar sound system. As you would expect from the condition it is highly original, including that Jaguar audio unit. The only signs of age are exceptionally minor and limited to some deterioration of some of the buttons on the stereo.
The car has a new headlining - sagging headlinings being a bugbear of this model - and the upholsterer was highly complementary of the condition, apparently stating that it was the best and most original interior he had seen in his 40 years of working on cars.
The Exterior
- Smart, freshly polished Signal Red paintwork in very good condition
- The vendor states that the paintwork has ‘just the right amount of patina’ but we could see no obvious marks or scratches in the photographs
- Bonnet is fitted with a Jaguar leaper
- USA-specification quad headlamps factory fitted to all 280 Le Mans models
- Clear badging all round with no visible delamination or deterioration
- Hand-applied gold coachlines on each side of the car
- Original pre-facelift detailing including angular side windows and curved rear lights
- Original factory-supplied touch up paint unopened
- Sumitomo BC100 tyres appear to be new
- Classic XJ-S ‘lattice’ style alloy wheels in superb condition with no visible marks
- Chromework is excellent, bright and unmarked
- All glasswork and lights are unmarked and complete
- The underside reflects the careful storage and low mileage
The XJ-S had to follow the E-Type and while it wasn’t the car Jaguar enthusiasts expected, looking quite different to anything that had gone before, it remained in production for 21 years and comfortably outsold the car it nominally replaced.
The styling has certainly aged extremely well, the XJ-S now offering a long, low and lithe profile that could be no other car or from any other car maker. Clever details abound, like the rear buttresses and cut-down rear window and the cutaways in the front wings for the doors that echo the E-Type.
The Le Mans could be bought with a TWR styling kit and many of the 280 available were so equipped. This car is pleasingly standard highlighting just how handsome the car’s original lines are.
As the photographs clearly show, this Signal Red car is immaculate. Freshly recommissioned after 10 years in dry, dehumidified storage, it looks much as it surely would have done the day it left the factory in November 1990. The chromework, glasswork and lights follow a similar theme. Elsewhere there is a non-factory supplied leaper fitted.
The car sits on big fat Sumitomo tyres - an indication of how well these great cars ride - and has factory-supplied classic XJ-S lattice style wheels that are in very good condition.
The underside is the same standard as the bodywork with a good application of underseal and no visible deterioration. The car has MOT to April 2024 with no structural advisories.
The Mechanics
- 5.3litre 285bhp V12 Jaguar engine with fuel injection
- 3spd automatic gearbox
- There is not much history due to the low mileage this car has covered and long period of storage
- Le Mans cars had slightly firmer, uprated suspension for improved handling
The marriage of Jaguar’s svelte XJ-S with its ultra-smooth V12 is surely one of the greatest in motoring history, a combination that delivers a hugely capable GT car. 5.3litre XJ-S models are turbine-smooth and extremely fast. But the car’s great strength is how it handles and rides. Using a shortened XJ platform, the XJ-S benefits from one of the best ride and handling combinations of any saloon or GT car of the last 50 years. It is poised and pointable, yet with a smooth ride that passengers will certainly appreciate.
With such a low mileage it is no surprise that the vendor states this car drives as you would expect a virtually brand new XJ-S would. He also says that the engine is tight and ‘glorious.’
Due to the low mileage and long storage there is inevitably not much history with the car. However we understand it was recently recommissioned earlier this year ‘regardless of cost or time.’ It has MOT to April 2024 with no advisories.
Summary
There is a reason why XJ-S’ populate our listings and classic car shows. Put simply they are extremely good cars, ones that are hugely rewarding, very relaxing and certainly distinctive. The 5.3litre version adds in the silky smoothness of perhaps one of Britain’s best ever engines.
This car is not just one of the desirable and rare Le Mans models but perhaps one of the lowest mileage XJ-S to come to market in recent years. Immaculate, right down to the unmarked interior, it is a very special classic and this is a very special opportunity to buy it.
Notice to bidders
This item is sold on an ‘As is Where is’ basis. The condition of this item is the opinion of the seller and may differ from your own opinion. Photos and listing descriptions are for guidance purposes only*.** Car & Classic do not warrant listing accuracy. Full inspection is recommended. Viewings are at the seller’s discretion. Buyer is responsible for delivery and collection of any item purchased.*
UK-registered cars and motorbikes on Car & Classic are run through an online HPI check. On the HPI report, this vehicle shows no insurance database markers for damage or theft. It is currently not covered by a finance agreement.
UK-registered cars and motorbikes on Car & Classic are run through an online HPI check. On the HPI report, this vehicle shows no insurance database markers for damage or theft. It is currently not covered by a finance agreement.
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