1984 XJS AJ6

I would definitely be interested at some point George but not right now. What finished mine off was corrosion, but they both got driven to Lithuania by the same buyer or two different occasions, so doubtless they are still trundling around the streets of Vilnius or St Petersburg :-)

Pete

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Thanks to everyone for your input thus far. As per my original research I came upon a website that described my car as a very rare, one in only 179 ever made; only color is ÔÇ£antelope bronzeÔÇØ which it is and is stamped under the hood with same; ÔÇ£doeskinÔÇØ interior, which mine is and a 5-speed, which mine is and blond burl wood which mine is. Never sent to US except via ÔÇ£test muleÔÇØ which mine is (2 vin numbers). Thank you George for clearing up the two vin number thing (only UK cars).
For the life of me; I canÔÇÖt find the site again and have tried for the past three days (literally) to relocate, to no avail. Please help me! Also for those interested, here are the two vin nos:
has a vin under the bonnet: SAJJNYEB8EC113639
and..door and window vin: SAJMV5588EC112639
As stated, is in beautiful overall condition with 91K miles. Please see the pictures to help. This car, as are all my cars are ÔÇ£my babiesÔÇØ but are for sale. I have the years come across many interesting cars and others as well. In trying to get a feel for fair mkt value as it is so rare.
John
757. 576-0964
johnstinson53gmail.com

Pete I agree with all you said--but I think this car is one of 25 "test Mules". I drove one in 1984 and it was DAMN quick--too Damn quick--I have suggested to John he contact Mike Cook and have lead John to discover that the car he has has---2 VINS. He found the other in the correct place--that is a hallmark of those cars as they were pulled from the line (or stock) and worked on--I have seen 3 of them and none were exactly alike (all in the polution side). BTW I have one of the 25 for sale here in good old SC. It belonged to Diane Black and then Karen Miller----it is in great shape and as Diane was in an office directly over the spare parts dept she bought the car and all that was left of the parts support package--car comes with a spare everything inc the gearbox. Interested?

The first AJ6 engines were not very refined, certainly, but issues like that are, to me, part of the fun in a sporting car. In standard Jag practice they launched this, only their third-ever engine, in a sporting two door same as the XK, V12 and later the AJ8. I don't want whisper quiet unless I'm in a luxobarge and by the time the XJ40 came along they soon swapped to a different EFI set up and the niggle was gone. The 3.6 stayed a peppy motor and got quicker if a little sanitised when it went to 4.0L. It was quicker again when they went to the AJ16 in 94 for the X300 and later the XJS (not XJ-S) . The 3.2 is a little gutless until you wind it up, the 4.0L doesn't thrive on revs as much and the 3.6 is about ideal for a sporting manual car IMHO.

I think a 3.6 with an AJ16 head would be a nice car.

As for being hard work in town, they are fine if you allow for the manual box. It's not the slickest in the world (the 290 used on the 4.0L cars wasn't a lot better) but it was OK and the engines were always very torquey so 1-3-5 was no problem, or 2-4 in town. It was the first car I ever saw with a clutch damper in the hydraulic line so I guess they were planning for some people with lousy technique :-)

There are any number of those gearboxes around in the ROW and they are a straight swap for the auto, so if anyone wants a car like that it's easy enough for under $1500 all in. It's just the shipping which is a bear. I have a long term plan to get around that that but my American wife has to get a job back in the USA first :-)

Pete

I think Roger has Dean Cusano's mapped in correctly......... he has the ft overall in JCNA slalom........ and is obviously a great driver to boot........... congrats to the big cars with small engines. very bloody quick for sure..............noise whats that........rock on..........

Doug they had issues--they were light and so noisy but they were quick --Peter spoke about the idle issue but they were also not that much fun at low (city speeds). They were (are) camed up a lot and even Roger Bywater can not get the MAP. right. In any case the V 12 tooling had a bit to break even. If anyone wants to know more they should buy Jaguar in America in the JCNA bookshop. 50% off.

Doug they had issues--they were light and so noisy but they were quick --Peter spoke about the idle issue but they were also not that much fun at low (city speeds). They were (are) camed up a lot and even Roger Bywater can not get the MAP. right. In any case the V 12 tooling had a bit to break even. If anyone wants to know more they should buy Jaguar in America in the JCNA bookshop. 50% off.

George, the cars were "too quick"? I wonder why in the world that would be considered a negative, entering into the decision to cancel the model for the USA?

Unless, of course, they decided that it would steal sales from the more expensive V12 model ? :-) :-)

Cheers
DD

I believe there were 5 brought into BC...... we know of one guy who has one, says he will never sell it........... probably worth anywhere between 5 and fifteen doc....In stock condition they would run the jcna slalom in about 43 secs.............. v12s can only do about 44 on a good day...on a good track... with a good driver...

Peter the test cars were quick--too much so and one of the reasons they were not imported. As far as the idle and low speed problem that is spot on and the cars here had exper. emission controls which only made it worse.

I've had two five speed AJ6 XJ-S cars and they were great. I had an 84 Paul Banham convertible that looked nice but had petty bad scuttle shake despite his extra stiffening and I had an 85 Coupe. The AJ6 with a Getrag 265 is a quick car and doesn't loose a great deal to the V12 point-to-point, whilst being a more involving drive, a sportier experience and using far less fuel. There are some pictures of them in my little XJ-S Buyer's Guide.

The problem with the early cars was an engine idle issue once they got a few miles under their belts. See the AJ6 Engineering web site for a discussion on this.

Pete Crespin

Hey good find, how much did it bring at the auction..Art

John I would ask you reply to my e-mail with the source of your "running of the vin" . There were in fact 25 of those cars that were brought to the US. The project code was (XJ57) and the cars were sold off (mostly to Jaguar employees) after their use. While the car was made for years for European consumption it never made it here. If it is one of the 25 that is one thing--if it is a European model then the price is sort of fixed condition depending and if it is a European car that has assumed a different vin---well!! BTW if you decide to paint the car and it has its original paint do yourself a favor and contact me--the paint was also experimenta; and removing it is "special". Good luck. Oh yes if it is a European car we have the service manual on this site--that manual as well as the parts manual we have works but there are special emission parts that are listed only in the papers that came to Jaguar US (I have one copy). Lastly I know of three of the US exp cars and they all have Jaguar LOG books detailing their testing.