Project XJ27 began in the late 1960’s, when the original design was started by Malcom Sayer. After his death in 1970, the design was taken over by the in-house Jaguar design team, headed by Doug Thorpe. The luxury grand tourer finally got off the starting blocks and was introduced on 10th September 1975, known as the Jaguar XJ-S. 

Fitted with Jaguar’s 5.3 litre V12, the car was capable of keeping up with Italy’s luxury sports car makers Ferrari and Lamborghini, with an impressive 0-60 mph in 7.6 seconds, and a top speed of 143 mph. Sales of the V12 were considerably low following the fuel crisis throughout the mid 70’s. Six years after the initial release, the Jaguar was given a new name, the XJ-S HE (High- Efficiency). With the updated V12 engine, this was more powerful, producing 295bhp, and it was also much more economical. 

Some cosmetic changes took place, with rectangle headlights, chrome inserts on the bumpers and burred elm inserts to the door cappings and dashboard facia, which made for a very well specified Jaguar XJ-S. 

The vendor of this stunning, ultra low mileage 1990 Jaguar XJ-S, has owned the car for the past 13 years. He purchased the Jaguar with approximately 14,000 miles on it, which is all documented in the service and MoT history. 

It's fair to say that the car has been a show piece for the seller, who has enjoyed using it when he fancied, but has kept it tucked up and pampered for the majority of the time, as you can tell from the use, with approximately 2,866 miles covered in the whole ownership.

This has been the story for the previous 3 keepers also. After the original owner sold the car after 2 years, it went into the Jaguar Used Car Scheme with 10,425 miles, and it then looks like it had another owner who had the car for a short time before it was sold to the current seller via William Loughran. 

We should point out that the car has been repainted at some point prior to 2009, but this does look to have been a full strip down job, and if we didn’t mention it you would have an extremely difficult job telling it has been repainted, there are no telltale signs. Upon getting the car the first port of call was a spot of preventive maintenance by having the XJ-S rust proofed.

This was done by Before’n’After in Newbury, which has done the job perfectly, as looking under the car it looks to be in excellent condition.

The V5 is present and shows that there are 3 previous keepers, there are 2 keys present. Included are the owner’s handbooks and wallet, complete with the service booklet, which has 9 service stamps showing, and these can be seen in the gallery. 

The car has a very comprehensive service history since new, including a full health check with 6 page report at JLR's own service and restoration centre in Coventry in 2018. 

This ensured that anything and everything was checked and rectified if necessary. 

Another invoice in 2021 at 16,485 miles, was for an MOT and some repairs to the breather system, new suspension bushes and a transmission fluid change, coming in at £1,055.78. 

There is a current MOT on the Jaguar, which is valid until 9th August 2022.

Finished in Magnolia leather, the XJ-S is all in excellent condition. The front heated and electric seats are working as they should. Being picky, there is a very small amount of wear to the outside edge of the driver’s bolster, possibly caused by the seat belt being pulled across, and there is also a tiny amount on the passenger seat, but other than that you would think they had been retrimmed they are that good. 

The door cards are also in excellent order, with the switches working as they should and little or no signs of any damage or scuffs. 

The dashboard, as you would expect for the mileage, is unmarked, and the wood fascia shows no signs of any cracks to the lacquered finish. The instruments are working as they should with the oil pressure showing a healthy reading, and the odometer displaying an amazing low reading of 16,866 miles. Moving to the centre, the trip computer is working as expected, with the switches either side in as new condition. Just below is a Pioneer head-unit which is coupled to a boot mounted CD multichanger. 

The heater controls show no signs of any wear. The seller did point out that the air conditioning is no longer cold, and would probably need a re-gas. The electric windows are working correctly, the passenger switch has just been replaced as the original had failed. This is inside the car on the off chance it could be repaired and then refitted. The steering wheel has been replaced with a later type at some point, and it does have a split in the veneer finish to the top of the wheel. 

Down to the floor and the carpets are excellent, with just an odd few scratches to the driver’s heel pad. Just behind the seats is the wind deflector, which does fold down or can be removed if required. 

Into the boot and there is a tool kit to the left which is unused, as is the spare wheel. There is a battery isolation switch ideal for periods of inactivity. The carpet is also super clean and the spare wheel has never been fitted. ,

The colour choice chosen by Jaguar for this 1990 XJ-S is Signal Red, and it is in stunning condition. As mentioned, the car was repainted sometime before 2009 when the seller purchased it, for reasons unknown. What is known is that it has been carried out to an exceptionally high standard as you can not tell it has been done without inspecting it very, very closely, and even then you would have to be on the lookout for something. 

With such low mileage, the Jaguar is in excellent condition, there are no points to mention regarding any chips or marks because there simply aren’t any. There are a few light swirl marks generated from polishing over the years, but these could be reduced or even removed with a machine polish. The chromework around the car is in excellent order as you would imagine. 

The lights are bright and clear, with no chips to mention. The shut lines around all of the panels are just as Jaguar intended, with a nice equal gap. 

The roof has recently been recoloured to enhance the colour, which has then been finished with a waterproofer to protect it, should you dare take it out in the rain. Opening the roof is simply a case of pulling the handles on either side and then pressing the button, and it opens with ease an almost unused original tonneau finished off the car perfectly when the roof is down.

When the seller bought the car it had a set of chrome wire wheels on it, but luckily the original and unused wheel, including the spare, came with it, along with the unused Pirelli P600 tyres. The owner swapped the originals back onto the car about 500 miles ago.

The V12 fires up with ease and, as you would expect with any V12, it sounds amazing when the accelerator is pressed. As you can see from the paperwork the Jag has wanted for nothing and is therefore in excellent fettle. The car is reported to drive wonderfully, and it pulls well through the 3-speed automatic gearbox with a smooth change.

The vendor was keen to point out that there is a small leak of oil from the transmission. The brakes are all working as they should, bringing the car to a halt in a straight line.

It’s quite hard to explain just how good this car looks! You could quite easily be looking at a 2 year old car with 16,866 miles on. 

1990 Jaguar XJ-S Cabriolet with 16,866 miles, too good to be true? ….. No! It really is here and ready for a new home. Who will become the next lucky owner of this ultra low mileage XJ-S?

Notice to bidders