1985 Jaguar XJ Sovereign – Today’s Tempter
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Before you mention ‘reliability’, check out the fully engineered 350 Chev under the bonnet!
Jaguar’s XJ enjoyed a production lifecycle that spanned over two decades and three Series, with the Series I arriving in 1968, and the Series III ending in 1992.
It’s an iconic British luxury saloon that, over the course of various updates, blended a healthy dose of modernity into its classic roots and skin.
The Series III update landed in 1979, with all cars from hence being built upon the long wheelbase chassis for increased cabin space, with the exterior gaining a light redesign from the folks at Pininfarina.
Under the bonnet, the big 5.2lt V12 took top spot and was only available in the top-spec Sovereign HE model (also badged as Daimler Double Six). Beneath that sat a 4.2lt fuel-injected inline-six and a carburetted 3.4lt inline-six.
This 1985 Jaguar XJ presents in the top-spec Sovereign trim level, and likely arrived from factory with the 4.2t fuel-injected six-banger. However, someone clearly sought a bit more grunt and reliability, and took the liberty of fitting a 350Ci Chev V8 and a Turbo 700 automatic gearbox.
The car also features a retro-fitted an LPG system by GasResearch, with all conversions seemingly professionally installed and fully engineered.
The rest of the car was restored around 5 years ago, and presents virtually as new.
It may not be ‘matching numbers’, but if you’re after something that blends classical luxury with robust mechanicals; wrapped up in a realworld useable package – we can’t think of something better than this.
You could feasibly drive this every day! It’d sure make the morning commute a whole lot more interesting.
The car is listed for $17,990 and is based in Victoria.
You can check out the full listing here!
Classic Australian Family Car Value Guide home page
Muscle Car Value Guide home page
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Unique Cars magazine Value Guides
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