1992 Jaguar XJ220 – Classified of the Week

Sometimes a car comes along that shines so brightly that all others appear somewhat diminished in its rather large shadow, like Gollum cowering in the depths of the Misty Mountains whilst the one ring – represented by the Jaguar XJ220 in this Tolkien inspired metaphor – continues to corrupt all petrolheads. But in the best possible way. For those of us that cling dearly to that perfect analogue driving experience without the need for over-intrusive driver aids and pesky government-imposed safety features, the XJ220 is up there with the best of them.

And what a shadow the Jaguar XJ220 cast! Not only figuratively but physically, too. At nearly five metres long and over two metres wide it’s a huge car. To put it into perspective that’s longer than our seven seater Volvo 940 estate. And this only has room for two people! A behemoth in stature it’s also a monster when it comes to performance, both back in the early ’90s and still today. Originally fitted with a V12 when appearing in concept form at the 1988 Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham, the engine was changed to a twin turbo V6 for the production cars. This was the same engine that featured in the Group B maniac MG Metro 6R4, albeit slightly fettled by Jaguar, and with two massive Garrett turbos now strapped to it.

The result was a staggering 550bhp, which meant a face relocating 0-60 time of 3.6 seconds and an eye-watering top speed of 217mph. In 1992! Developed to go head to head with Ferraris and Porsches in the heady world of Group B supercar racing one would be forgiven for assuming that Jaguar would open the old purse strings and throw some cash at the project. In reality, however, the top brass were reluctant to be so generous so former engineering boss Jim Randle ended up assembling a team of essentially volunteers, Avengers style, to help work on the car after everyone else had gone home.

This dedicated group of absolute legends (known famously as the ‘Saturday Club’) would work solely for the kudos and recognition they all knew would abound once the car was actually put into production. They knew they were on to something despite Jaguar, and a large chunk of the buying public being unhappy with the finished article. These naysayers were all wrong, of course, because we now see the XJ220 for what it truly is – a work of automotive genius that looks and performs just as good today as it did over 30 years ago.

With well under 300 XJ220s having been made it’s certainly one of the rarer supercars out there but seeing as this is Car & Classic we do currently have a septenary of suitable offerings available at the time of writing, including this particularly low mileage example.

With a shade over 2,000 miles on the clock this factory UK supplied model, resplendent in the classic colour scheme of Spa Silver over Charcoal, was delivered new in ’92 to Sir John Madejski, former chairman of Reading football club, amongst other notable endeavours. An avid car collector the XJ220 remained in his possession until 2019 whereby it was purchased by its second owner who subsequently left the car in the capable hands of Furlonger Specialist Cars (the current custodians of the Jaguar) to inspect, service and prepare the car to the highest standard, sparing no expense.

As part of the process the engine and gearbox were removed for a major service, including a new cambelt, clutch assembly and battery as well as all new gaskets and seals. It is now in the best possible shape and looking for its next lucky owner. And why not you, dear reader? To revisit our Lord of the Rings metaphor from earlier and to quote the great wizard Gandalf: “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us” and if you buy this Jaguar XJ220 then that time becomes exponentially more enjoyable.