If you wished to do some conspicuous consumption through the 1980s, you couldn’t do a lot far better than the Series II Jaguar XJ-S. A large, decadent-seeking coupe with a clean V12 motor under its large bonnet, a new XJ-S would have been just the factor to rejoice a fresh round of S&L looting or a Stinger missile deal with Adnan Khashoggi in 1984. The XJ-S charge plenty to preserve functioning, while when the third or fourth operator acquired drained of substantial restore expenditures for V12 challenges, a smaller-block Chevy V8 motor normally acquired swapped in. Present-day Junkyard Gem in Denver is such a Jag, with an early-nineteen nineties Chevy 350 residing in the motor compartment.
Whilst the great outdated Chevy 350 failed to purr quite as silently as the nicely well balanced five.three-liter V12, it acquired the occupation finished. Some junkyard shopper experienced currently grabbed the heads off this motor just before I acquired to it.
The block casting quantity signifies that the motor started lifestyle in a 1987-1995 motor vehicle or truck. The smaller-block Chevy is a typical swap for Jaguar XJs, going back to the sixties.
The cylinder-head buyer tossed the major intake manifold on the roof, which would be a junkyard no-no on a pleasant motor vehicle.
This car’s entire body isn’t really so pleasant, while. It appears that some kind of aftermarket hood scoop once lived atop these levels of entire body filler and pop rivets.
The inside seems decent adequate, while the varnish on the dashboard wooden demonstrates signals of too much Colorado sun exposure.
The MSRP on this motor vehicle started at $34,seven-hundred, or about $87,300 in 2020 dollars. You could get a new Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz coupe that year for just $23,737, while the true opposition for the XJ-S was more possible to be a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or BMW 6 Series with two doorways. The 1984 BMW 633CSi went for $39,a hundred and twenty, when the Mercedes-Benz 500SEC charge a staggering $56,800 that year.
How the mighty have fallen!
You can not get the race motor vehicle, but you can get V12 electric power wrapped in gentle leather-based and paneled in uncommon wooden.
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