Winding Road was recently at a California exotic car dealer and spotted this rare Jaguar XJ220 S supercar. One of only nine made, this semi-race version of the big cat was redone by TWR to coax 680 hp and 527 ft-lbs. of torque from its turbocharged 3.5-liter V6. It also went on an extreme diet, replacing the all-aluminum body with one made of carbon fiber, making the cat good for 0-60 in 3.3 seconds on its march to a top end of 228 mph. Shouldn't it be renamed the XJ228 then?
Three of these cars were raced and six were sold as street cars with several finding their way to L.A., passing through one of the Keuylian dealerships. This particular XJ (and a nearly identical black one) have received custom Kinesis wheels and new Infiniti Q45 projector headlights. These slight changes instantly take 10 years off the age of these 1993 supercars.
It might be hard for many people to remember, but the XJ220 was a project that saw Jaguar at the top of the supercar hill for a brief shining moment, despite lengthy delays and detail changes to the car over its development period. Following the F40 and 959, and immediately preceding the McLaren F1, the XJ220 didn't quite match its eponymous speed, but came close at 217. Of course, Gordon Murray made that a moot point anyhow, and the crumbling supercar market almost killed Jaguar altogether. We're glad to see one of these still rolling and looking just as beautiful as ever with its new eyes. Click the read link for a few more pics.
[Source: Winding Road]
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Toyota Sucks @ Mar 13th 2007 8:19PM
Looks very nice!
TrappSpeed @ Mar 13th 2007 8:42PM
http://www.trappspeed.com
Unreal! Wow the XJ220 has always been one of those dream cars.
I'm jealous already.
Phil @ Mar 13th 2007 8:43PM
Most beautiful supercar of the last 30 years IMO. They should have left it with the factory rear spoiler though, looks much better than that batmobile abbhoration they've fitted.
Kit @ Mar 13th 2007 9:04PM
Q-ship? Yeah, I'd never think this was fast enough to blow my doors off. I'm sure the cops would just let it slide, too...
zlh @ Mar 13th 2007 9:06PM
this XJ220 is not a Q-Ship by any stretch of the imagination. a Q-Ship is a very unassuming car that hides its sports car performance: a sleeper. this XJ220 is modded, but for god's sake its still an XJ220 so it can and will never be a sleeper... you guys are AUTOMOTIVE JOURNALISTS, you should know this stuff!
skaedenfeld @ Mar 13th 2007 9:20PM
Hmm...not quite sure what you mean by "only nine made". If you mean nine of the KJ220S, you might be right. However, according to the March issue of Octane Magazine, only five of the S-model were ever actually assembled, and those not even by Jaguar. They were built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. A gentleman by the name of Don Law has now become a sort of god-father to the ill-timed XK supercar. His opperation now provides nearly all of the servicing and modification of these cars, as Jaguar officially has no parts or support for their creation. Perhaps Don Law's company has done some "S" conversions, which might account for the reference to nine being built. It is very interesting, in the light of this Octane article, that there is another company working on the XK220, albeit certainly not in the capacity of Don Law. If you are interested in the XK220, grap the March issue of Octane. It is a great article.
Chris Paukert @ Mar 13th 2007 9:22PM
I believe the "Q-Ship" comment was meant to be a play on the Infiniti Q45 headlamps that have been fitted...
skaedenfeld @ Mar 13th 2007 9:22PM
By the way, the ultimate Q-ship might be the Ford Transit van with a transplanted XK220 engine that once did 179mph around Millbrook's high-speed bowl.
Rob @ Mar 13th 2007 9:47PM
At least the head lamps will work :)
Frank Filipponio @ Mar 13th 2007 10:29PM
The "Q-ship" reference was indeed a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Q45 headlamps. Apologies if you didn't catch that allusion.
The 9 units built figure is based on the 9 chassis that Jag allocated for the XJ220S/C project to TWR. 6 were destined to be made into street cars while 3 were raced as XJ220 Cs. One of the 6 street models was not officially converted by TWR and was possibly raced before being converted back into a stock XJ220.
http://wspr-racing.com/chassis/xj220.htm
The Doctor @ Mar 13th 2007 11:03PM
I think you'll find that TWR assembled all XJ220s
Stewart Elliot @ Mar 13th 2007 11:08PM
If I remember correctly the original XJ220 did 0-100mph in something like 7.9 seconds. What on earth would this one do? Amazing, and beautiful !!!
Frank Filipponio @ Mar 13th 2007 11:29PM
#13 - thanks for the link. The red one is at the Marconi Museum, which we'll be profiling soon. The black one is the "sister" car to the silver one featured in the post. It has the same wheels and headlights and was the other car at the dealer when I first saw it a couple of years ago.
JC-UOIT @ Mar 14th 2007 12:11AM
here are some more pics of that fast cat:
http://www.auto-power-girl.com/photo_gallery/jaguar/jaguar_twr_xj220s_1994-1119
Peter Reynolds @ Mar 14th 2007 6:00AM
You have to see an XJ220 in person to appreciate how misshapen it is.
http://crunch22.blogspot.com/2005/11/jaguar-xjr15-vs-xj220.html
Phil Burt @ Mar 14th 2007 6:07AM
quote "Shouldn't it be renamed the XJ228 then?"
Not really, the 220 refers to its length in inches not the top speed.
Ian @ Mar 14th 2007 9:30AM
I actually ordered one of these from Jaguar.
When it was a rumored project I called them up and they told me they hadn't even opened an order book. But they said that they would hold my details on file. Then it became apparent that they would NOT put the 6.0L V12 engine (detuned) from the LeMans and IMSA racer.
Jaguar called me back and told me I could have the numbr one order p[osition for the 220. I respectfully declined because I (and the market thereafter agreed) that a turbo V6 car had much less linkage to their racing pedigree and would not be likely to retain and build value. Thankgoodness I made that choice as the bottom fell out of the market and these very nice Jags suffered, expecially through having the "wrong" engine.
FThorn @ Mar 14th 2007 5:10PM
I remember seeing one at Tom Wood luxury cars one day. They had it roped off, with a sign that said do not touch. Later that night they raced a lot of these cars in a figure 8 track and prompted wrecked a lot of them. I shook my head thinking back to that sign about DO NOT TOUCH. Hell, I should have been able to jump up and down on the freaking roof. Just google FAST MASTERS and xj220 to find out more about the race/wrecks.
akatsuki @ Mar 15th 2007 12:17PM
I thought it was more the fact that they had promised a larger engine and then put in the V6 at the end which really killed the buzz around the car?
MikeW @ Mar 16th 2007 10:54AM
The XJ 220 was not 220inches long. It was supposed to have a nice V12 and four wheel drive (like the Bugatti EB110) and go 220nph.
34:45 is the start of the XJ220
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8373681072916073474