1988 Jaguar XJ 4.0 Sovereign Auto

Throughout the 1970s Jaguar had been developing "Project XJ40", which was an all-new model intended to replace the original XJ6. Due to the 1973 oil crisis and problems at parent company, British Leyland, the car was continually delayed. Proposals from both Jaguar's in-house designers and Pininfarina were received and eventually a design was chosen to be carried through to production in February 1981.

British Leyland had considered providing the Rover V8 engine for the car, however the XJ40 body shell was a different shape, preventing the fitment of the V-configuration engine, further delaying the launch. The interior of the XJ40 was trimmed with either walnut or rosewood, and either cloth or, like this car, beautiful leather upholstery. These luxury cars featured an instrument binnacle that used digital readouts able to alert the driver of bulb failure, brake pad wear, unlatched doors/boot, and low coolant level.

For the special "Sovereign model' the equipment was significantly more than that of the base XJ6. Included were air conditioning, headlamp washers, a six-speaker sound system, rear adjustable suspension, and ABS. The headlamps fitted were the rectangular single units and the window frames were chrome-plated. Luxury indeed.

This XJ40 has lived a pampered life in the hands of just two-owners. The first was a wealthy London resident who kept the car in an underground garage in Kensington, using it for only six months of the year as he spent the remainder of his time abroad. The second keeper was gifted the car upon the death of the first. Regrettably, in the estate dealings of the deceased, no history for this car was retained so there is very little to support the extremely low mileage of sub 25,000miles. This special Jaguar is totally original, absolutely unmolested and almost as new. There is no rust anywhere on the car which is sold with a long MoT and UK V5C.