1994 Jaguar XJR

Details

The Swallow Sidecar Company was founded in 1922 by William Lyons and William Walmsley. In 1934 Lyons formed SS Cars Limited to effectively take over the operation from Walmsley. The SS brand was quite successful, though they had a reputation for having ‘more show than go’. The Jaguar name first appeared as a model name on an SS 2½ Litre Sports Saloon introduced in 1936. For political reasons, Lyons changed the name of his company to Jaguar Cars in 1945.

Whilst the SS100 is indeed a fabulous car, it was the launch of the legendary Jaguar XK120 at the London Motor Show in 1948 that really put Jaguar on the map. The car caused a sensation, which persuaded Jaguar founder and design boss William Lyons to put it into production. The XK120 morphed into the XK140 and ultimately the XK150 and in total, just over 30,000 cars were built over 15 years of production.

In 1961 at the Geneva Motor Show Jaguar introduced the E-Type, which like the XK120 all those years ago, took the motoring world by storm. The body styling was simply gorgeous and technologically the E-Type was an engineering masterpiece and it set new standards in all areas.

Whilst automotive styling is somewhat subjective the E-Type is often ranked atop lists of ‘the most beautiful cars’ and in fact it has been described by Enzo Ferrari as ‘the most beautiful car ever made’. And it’s not just about the looks as the E-Type is often at the top of other lists such as ‘The best sports car ever built’ or ‘The most significant cars’. It is truly a motoring icon. As a testament to the success of the E-Type, production evolved through three series from 1961 until 1974 during which time circa 70,000 cars were built.

Whilst the Jaguar name is synonymous for sporting cars it is also recognised for building some of the world’s best luxury saloons. Jaguar was and still is uniquely positioned in the market in this regard.

The Jaguar Mk1 was introduced in 1955, which morphed into the Jaguar Mk2 in 1959 and the Jaguar 240 & 340 in 1967. These cars were an outstanding success for Jaguar.

Jaguar introduced its replacement model, the XJ series of cars in 1968. Incredibly, the original XJ saloons (XJ6 and XJ12) were built over 3 series spanning 24 years of production and c318,000 cars were built. Jaguar had never intended to keep the XJ in production for that long. In fact, development of an all-new car, code-named XJ40, had already started in the early 1970’s. However, the project had suffered numerous setbacks and it wasn’t until 1986 that the XJ40 was finally unveiled at the British International Motor Show. The XJ40 replaced the 6-cylinder versions of the XJ series III and remained in production until 1994 when it was replaced with the XJ (X300) series.

The XJ (X300) was the first model produced under the Ford ownership. With this car Jaguar focussed on improved build quality, improved reliability and a return to the more traditional styling elements of the original XJ series. It was powered by either a straight 6 or a V12 engine.

In 1994 Jaguar introduced a high-performance sport model, the XJR, its first ever supercharged model and only the second Jaguar model ever to use forced induction. The first one was the fabulous XJ220 with it turbocharged V6. The XJR was powered by a supercharged straight 6 engine which produced 321 hp which propelled the car from 0 – 100 km/hr in just over 6 seconds.  In total Jaguar built 6,547 XJR’s with the 4.0 litre 6-cylinder supercharged engine from 1994 through until 1997.

Oldtimer Australia is delighted to offer for sale an absolutely stunning Australian delivered, factory right hand drive Jaguar XJR.

This car was delivered new through Jaguar Australia in Sydney on 29^th September 1994. It was registered in NSW as TGQ 329. The XJR was a very expensive car in Australia, with a list price of $ 175,500. As a result, sales of the car in Australia were relatively low. It is understood that this particular car was the third one of its kind to be sold new in Australia.

The car then made its way to Victoria in 1997, where it passed through two careful owners, before being acquired by the current owner in 2018. The car was acquired from the estate of well known Australian classic car and Jaguar aficionado Ian Cummins. At that timer the, the odometer read 81,068 km. After acquiring the car he had it delivered to The Independent Jag Workshop in Brisbane and had them carry out a major service and a few other miscellaneous jobs. Amongst other things new bushes were fitted to the lower control arms, the exhaust manifolds were faced and the gaskets renewed, front brake discs were renewed, the power steering pump was reconditioned, new tyres were fitted, a new receiver dryer for the AC system was fitted, the AC was regassed, the transmission mount buffers were replaced and all the brake lines were renewed.

The interior was in a really good condition but the owner decided to purchase custom sheepskins from Shearcraft Sheepskins in Brisbane.

In the current owner’s ownership, the car has been serviced annually by The Independent Jag Workshop in Brisbane. The most recent service was on 7^th December 2021 and at that time the odometer read 86,233km.

The current owner is fastidious to say the least and this car, like all his others, is immaculate in every regard. This Jaguar XJR presents exceptionally well and it is hard to believe that it is almost 30 years young! The colour of this car is simply WOW! Turquoise is the colour used for the release edition of this car and it suits the aggressive yet elegant body style perfectly. Take a walk around the car and you will find a few very small stone chips (which have been touched up) and the odd very minor blemishes here and there . . . but you do have to look hard. The paintwork is exceptional for the age of the car. All the glass, lights, lenses and external trim are in equally good condition. The wheels, which are shod with Dunlop SP Sport FM800 tyres, are a real feature on this car and they are in really good condition.

Open the door and you’re welcomed by a typically British, luxury car interior. You don’t even have to look at any of the badges, you just know that you are in a Jaguar! In this case a Jaguar with an Australian finish, the sheepskins. They are subtle and blend in to the biscuit upholstery and actually don’t look out of place. The interior of this car is ‘all class’ and in excellent condition. You have to look very hard for any signs of wear in the interior. The dark wood inserts on the dashboard, the steering wheel and the doors give you that typical British luxury car feel. In the centre console you’ll find the original Jaguar radio cassette which is still in good working order. There is a dash mat, which is simply protecting a dash board that is in excellent condition from the harsh Australian sun and not covering up any cracks.

After you’ve familiarised yourself with the car it’s time to take it out for a test drive. The engine starts at first turn of the key and not surprisingly it immediately settles into a smooth idle. Select ‘D’ for drive and off we go. Out on the road this Jaguar XJR is a real pleasure to drive. You very quickly forget you are driving a nearly 30-year-old car. It is so smooth, you could easily be driving a new car. That said, it is does have ‘an edge’ and it really is a wolf in sheep’s clothing! You would have no problem driving this car from Brisbane to Melbourne and back should you wish to do so. And, we suspect that you’d be ‘fresh as a daisy’ when you arrived at your destination. Everything works the way it should and the car is an absolute delight to drive. The engine is very responsive with loads of power on tap. The automatic gearbox is incredibly smooth, so much so that you hardly notice the gear changes. There is a downside to the way this car drives . . . and that is you will reach (or exceed!) the speed limit before you realise. As noted in our introduction, this big cat will accelerate from 0 – 100 km/hr in just over 6 seconds if you need it. The performance of this car is quite staggering for an early nineties four door saloon! Even with all the performance on offer this car is more than happy cruising at any speed, including inching its way through peak hour traffic.

For those warm Australian days this car is equipped with air conditioning which blows cold air. It also has a sunroof.

This car has all its original books, including the service book which has been stamped from the day the car was delivered until its most recent service in 2021. It has an excellent history file, the original spare wheel, jack and a complete toolkit.

Highlights:

• Rare Australian delivered factory right hand drive Jaguar XJR.
• Unique and STUNNING colour combination.
• Known history from new.
• Full service history.
• Just a fabulous motor car.

The Jaguar XJR is quite rare with only 6,547 examples ever built.

In our opinion the early 6 cylinder Jaguar XJR’s are ‘a real sleeper’ and present a huge amount of car for the money. To quote UK’s Performance Car magazine, Nov 1994, p81

“Probably the best saloon car in the world… Couple the chassis’ brilliance with the engine’s massive urge and a cabin unsurpassed for sheer class and you have what must be the goal of every luxury car maker.”

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