This immaculate 1994 Jaguar XJ220 with 1,800 miles could fetch nearly half a million dollars at auction!

Brief history of the Jaguar XJ 220

In the 1980s, Ferrari and Porsche were the gold standards for all sports cars. Jaguar wanted to show itself and the world that they could do better with the XJ220 – the 220 stands for its top speed in miles per hour and they managed to make the Jag the fastest road car in the world.

There was great enthusiasm when the Jaguar XJ220 Concept was presented as a concept vehicle at the British International Motor Show in 1988. The two-seater with double doors, over five meters long, not even waist-high, and made of aluminum, drew everyone’s attention. A V-12 engine hidden between the seats was ready to put more than 500 horses on the road via four-wheel drive, and it sparked the show-goers’ imagination of what this Jag could do on the track.

Jim Randle, Jaguar’s chief developer at the time, hoped to finally equate the British company with Ferrari and Porsche. He then tinkered with some colleagues outside of regular working hours.

However, many were dissatisfied when the supercar finally hit the market in 1992. It had standard doors instead of the expected gull-wing doors, no all-wheel drive and a significantly shortened rear with only six instead of the original twelve cylinders.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about the displacement of 3.5 liters, but the XJ220 had a lot of power thanks to the installation of two turbochargers by Jaguar’s development partner Tom Walkinshaw. The 3,240-pound, 543-horsepower racer was able to reach 100 km / h in 3.7 seconds

The top speed record

As early as 1992, Formula 1 legend Martin Brundle, who previously drove well with Tom Walkinshaw’s BMW racing cars and had won the Prototype World Championship and the Daytona 24 Hours on board the Jaguar XJR-9 at the end of the 1980s, took over. the XJ220 at a claimed top speed of 217 mph on the Nardo circuit in Puglia in southern Italy.

It was supposed to be the fastest production car in the world, a record that was achieved but quickly surpassed because it was broken a year later when the McLaren F1 reached 220 mph.

From this point on, the story of the XJ220 unfortunately takes a coherent path. There was no commercial success and only 280 copies were made. Some have called it “the most unfortunate supercar ever”.

The story of this XJ 220

This particular 1994 Jaguar XJ220 is one of those 280 examples manufactured over a two-year period, created on February 8, 1994 in a left-hand drive layout. The vehicle was first delivered to an Essex dealer, Grange Jaguar, in the UK in 1997.

It was imported into the US under a “Show or Display” exception. After five years with a Florida collector, it was relocated to Ontario, Canada, in 2010. The car was later briefly exhibited in a collection in Hong Kong and then brought back to Canada.

The car is a beautiful shade of Silverstone Green over tan leather that covers the manually adjustable padded sport seats, door panels, as well as the console and roof pillars. The floor is carpeted in the same color as the walls, the tread plates and doors are accentuated by black Alcantara. Power steering, electrically adjustable heated exterior mirrors, electric windows, air conditioning and an Alpine CD changer with cassette player are among the many features.

As previously mentioned, the mighty Jag is powered by a 3.5-liter V-6 twin-turbo engine coupled with a five-speed manual gearbox with a limited-slip differential.

A glued aluminum chassis with an aluminum body, a glass roof, AP Racing brakes and Speedline wheels with staggered diameters are some of the other features of this beast.

Lamborghini of Calgary, Canada, replaced the timing belts, main rear seal, spark plugs, air filters, battery, fuel cell, all four fuel pumps and fuel lines in September 2019 with parts sourced from Don Law in the UK in 2021, a new turbo oil feed line and return O-rings were replaced, as well as a new lower oil pan gasket. In 2019 a new clutch, pilot bearing, release bearing and clutch slave cylinder were installed and the flywheel was re-coated. A new rear underbody pan was added in 2020.

graduation

This XJ220 has only 1,800 miles and is now available in Alberta, Canada with up-to-date service records, a Jaguar Heritage Trust certificate, Jaguar manufacturing date declaration, owner’s manuals, previous owner handover papers and a first aid kit, a tool kit, a clean Carfax – Report and a prior Alberta registration on behalf of the seller.

Source: Bring-a-Trailer