It has rained pretty much all day today so all I’ve done is clean and clear junk from our back bedroom. I”ll be honest it didn’t look like a great day for photography. Having assembled a bag full of old books I took it over to the nearest charity book bank in a nearby Sainbury’s car park. By the time I turned up the store was closed and the car park was empty. However, then I turned around and saw this beauty, a Jaguar XJS.
The Jaguar XJ-S (later the Jaguar XJS) was a luxury grand tourer produced by the British manufacturer Jaguar from 1975 to 1996. The XJ-S replaced the E-Type (or XK-E) in September 1975, and was based on the XJ saloon. It had been developed as the XK-F, though it was very different in character from its predecessor. Although it never had quite the same sporting image, the XJ-S was a competent grand tourer, and more aerodynamic than the E-Type. The last XJS was produced on 4 April 1996, by then 115,413 had been produced during a 21-year production life.
This is a car from my childhood, so it will always hold special memories for me as the car driven by the “Saint” in the later TV series (which was being repeated by the time I saw it). I understand it was a pig to maintain and suffered from rust (at least in the earlier versions), but it still looks both beautiful and of its time to me. I will confess to having owned a corgi die cast version as a small boy…
Taken with my X100
sgoldswoblog 
Sorry that the die cast model was the nearest you got to an XJS but the family wouldn’t fit into the real thing. At least that is what I told myself!
My father had a XJS many years ago, a 5.3 litre v12. It was a joy to drive and had fantastic kick down. When he was away at sea my mother used to let me drive it – fantastic.
Someone I know who owned one told me about the only thing he disliked (liking the car very much otherwise) was the constant fight against rust. Clearly the owner of this one is brave to leave it in Sainsbury’s carpark in the rain…