Description
This is an incredibly rare car being 1 of just 350 manual Pre HE XJS cars ever built, and according to the Jaguar pre-HE register, one of only about 76 cars Worldwide recorded. The manual Pre HE cars are difficult to find, they are more scarce than a flat floor outside bonnet lock E-Type, and are tipped to be the next big thing in collectable Jaguars, so they wont be at this price level for long! Our car is a 1978 Jaguar XJS V12 Pre-HE Manual, RHD Model finished in White with Dark Blue Leather Interior and showing a credible 71k Miles from new!
The development of the E-type's replacement, the XJ-S, had begun in the late 1960s as project XJ27 with an initial design 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, initially with a choice of a manual or automatic transmission, but the manual was eventually dropped as the gearboxes were left over from V12 E-Type production and when they ran out of stock it was decided not to manufacture any more. Introduced in Autumn 1975, the XJS replaced the immortal E-Type on the production lines and in the Jaguar catalogue. Powered by the famously silken 5343cc V12 engine, most were produced with automatic transmission, however this example is a rarer, pre-HE, manual example produced in 1977.
Our car is a genuine Factory Manual car, registered CEH 575T , manufactured on the 11th November 1977 in White with Dark Blue Leather Interior, the same as today. The original distributor was Byatts of Stoke on Trent, and the car still has the rear window sticker and number plates from them! As was typical the car was first registered on the 6th September 1978, almost 10 months after being dispatched, so you can imagine she was sitting in the showroom waiting for a sale! No wonder the Manual Gearbox was short lived. Our car is believed, but not warranted, to have covered just 71, 000 miles from new, being restored around 15 years ago and being in the possession of the previous owner for a similar length of time, she is only showing 6 owners from new, the first owner until 1994, as registered to a company, then the Managing Director personally , Second owner 1994 -2007 , third owner 2007 to 2018. In 2018 the car was offered at auction by H&H and sold for just a shade under £30, 000 as befits the history, condition and rarity of the car. The car has simply been in a collection for the last 6 years with minimal use until last year when the car was subject to a period of recommissioning. In total, in the last 6 months, the car has had over £20, 000 spent on her on mechanical and cosmetic recommissioning, culminating with the car appearing in the August 2025 issue of Classic Cars magazing and showing on the front cover! Whist the car has been gone through there are still a few areas to address for the car to be absolutely perfect, this includes the windcreen wiper motor, front springs etc. The car comes with all its early paperwork, which is wonderful to have including all super cover warranty paperwork present, History file for bills of restoration parts, Handbook , service book, Original Passport to Service and radio handbook. The Jaguar heritage certificate is present confirming all the details above. Early production, manual gearbox, pre-HE cars are regarded as the most desirable so this is an excellent opportunity for a significant reduction on its retail price!
