1975 Jaguar XJ Coupe 4.2

Built in 1975 and supplied to its first owner by Henlys of London, this wonderful Jaguar XJ-C has been in the same family since July 1981. Finished in Greensand with an Olive interior, ‘KLU 883P’ couldn’t be more of-the-period if it were smoking Capstan Full Strength and downing pints of mild while wearing a pair of flared jeans.

It is, therefore, utterly glorious.

The owner’s father was an engineer and took great pride in restoring his XJ-C when he retired in the late eighties. This work followed the full restoration of an E Type, so it’s probably no surprise that his son followed in his footsteps, making engineering his profession too.

Sad when his father handed over the keys to the Jaguar, his son was determined to immerse himself in the job of keeping their much-loved XJ-C looking splendid and driving as it should – which he has certainly achieved as it has passed its last three MoTs with no advisories.

Now in need of a little TLC to the coachwork, this is your chance to get a mechanically fettled example you can add value to with every bit of bodywork you tick off the list.

Doesn’t Greensand coachwork and a black vinyl roof work well with the XJ-C’s already pretty lines? It really is a charming old thing – and that’s without factoring in the good panel alignment, the neat shutlines, and the ripple-free flanks.

Or the chrome towball cover that sits atop the body-coloured towbar, and the GB plate that’s been mounted underneath the Jaguar badge. The front chrome bumper has small rubber overriders too, while the rear bumper has full-size chrome ones.

There is yet more shininess via a decent set of chromed ventilated pressed wheels, and these are fitted with 205/70R15 Federal Super Steel 731 tyres.

We will never get tired of telling you that experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly.

The headlamps are in good shape, and they’re supplemented by a nice pair of Cibie foglamps mounted under the bumper. The rear lamps are good too, and while the badges are a little patinated, they’re still very presentable.

As for flaws, our eagled-eyed expert noticed that there is corrosion to the exhaust exit points on the rear bumper, and the boot lid also sits very slightly proud.

The paint is also blistering across most of the panels, with it being most obvious on the bonnet and boot. There is also bubbling to the sills and wheelarches on both sides, and noticeable repairs on both doors and both rear wheelarches.

The Olive leather interior is both unusual and unusually well preserved with the only significant fault being a tear to the seat piping on the driver’s seat. Everything else is just moderate wear ‘n’ tear and age-related marks, which leaves us free to talk about how lovely a place it is to spend time.

Take the front seats for example, which are wide and squat and very comfortable. They’re decently supportive too, but the emphasis was definitely placed on cossetting their occupants, which is how it should be; this is a car for smoking around the neighbourhood in rather than tearing around with your hair on fire.

To that end you get a vast central armrest to share with your passenger, along with that wonderfully smooth automatic gearbox. Plenty of room in the footwell too, thanks to the two-pedal layout.

The steering wheel is pencil-thin, but then this is a car you steer with nothing more than fingertip pressure; no need for a fat rim with fist-shaped cutouts to muscle your way through corners. As the seller put it: “it’s just so precise.”

Life is gentler in a Jaguar Coupé.

The amber-coloured leaper on the steering boss is echoed in the warm honey colour of the refurbished veneer that’s been liberally sprinkled throughout the cabin. Traditional white-on-black instruments relay all the information a gentleman or woman needs, and music comes via a twin-spindle Pioneer radio-cassette player, which has been rebuilt in his care, plus Agenta Audio added an input cable so that you can stream from phones. As you know, not much is sent out by MW these days!

How's that for dedication to originality?

And, of course, every occupant gets their very own ashtray as well as their own switch for the appropriate electric window.

As for the rest, the headlining is clean and taut, the door cards are very good, the green carpets are in a fine condition, and the floor underneath the front carpets looks solid. There's also a small tear on the front left had side of the drivers seat squab.

The boot is vast and as well trimmed as the rest of the interior. There’s a full-size spare wheel in there and lifting that out shows another well-painted metal floor with only a little rust to the sides.

The seller is diligent enough to have driven it for a couple of hundred miles for a pre-sale shakedown, which led to him commissioning a service in January 2025, during which it also received new fuel tank level sensors, curing a fault with the fuel gauge.

The seller rebuilt the carburettors and ignition system only recently too, and told us he is “really chuffed” with how well it drives.

We’d agree with his assessment, and as you can see in the video, the 4.2-litre straight-six engine starts on the button and settles straight into a steady idle. It revs nicely too and makes all the right noises while doing so.

Being owned by such a meticulous engineer, the fact the engine runs so well and underbonnet area is so clean is no surprise. Cosmetically it is not concours, just well-presented and workmanlike; you won’t be afraid to lift the bonnet in company, and nor will you have to fight your way through grease and grime to service it.

The underside has a good protective coat of underseal, albeit flaking off in places and allowing rust to start, and the only thing we spotted is that the left hand exhaust tip worked its way loose on the drive to Bonhams' HQ. We understand this is a pretty easy thing to replace, and it sleeves onto the exhaust silencer where it is held in place by a grub screw.​

NB: The seller has added the following note: “One important technical point that needs to be transferred to the buyer is that I used silicone brake fluid, and this should NOT be mixed with normal brake fluid. I used silicone because it doesn't corrode the brake pipes or calipers. I have some spare fluid left and will put it in the car.”

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The recent Vehicle History Check is clear, and the Jaguar comes with a certificate from Jaguar Cars Ltd confirming its build specification.

The file that comes with it also contains a neatly written summary of the car’s history including a note of the MoT certificates within (1979-2004 and 2014 to 2017 plus 2023-2025) and a list of the ongoing restoration work that’s been carried out over the years.

It’s available for you to view online and the work they carried out shows how deeply committed to the car they are – and how meticulous they have been in maintaining the object of their family’s four-decade-long affair, an affair that even led to them taking it down to the South of France every year to a mobile home that they had on a site near St Tropez. Our vendor recalls an occasion when "I was down there with my wife to be, Dad let me take Steph in the car to Monte Carlo for the day. One of many fabulous memories that I have with that car!"

But, it is important to note that neither the seller nor his father were afraid to call in the experts when needed, sometimes restricting themselves to disassembly and reassembly.

As you can see from the paperwork on file, the seller did just that in 2020, farming out a hefty refurbishment of the chassis, suspension, brakes, steering and differential to XJ Restorations. The work is listed on its invoice but the fact it took them three weeks to complete shows how thorough the work was, work that built on their racing experience by way of improved ball joints and springs.

So, the fact that the Jaguar’s MoT certificate, which is valid until January 2026, was issued, like the previous two, with no advisories, comes now as less of a surprise, eh?

Nor should the fact the file also contains dozens of old invoices, many handwritten notes, the book pack, and wallet, plus two workshop manuals.

Yes, it needs some bodywork doing but the mechanicals have been gone through by two generations of engineer plus a series of trusted experts; as a result, we think it would be hard to find one that drives better.

Besides, most of us buy old cars and motorbikes because we’re romantics at heart and few cars have the intimate familial history of this one – and you can’t put a price on that, can you?

But convention demands we so put a price on the car itself, which we think will end up being somewhere between £10,000 and £15,000.

And that’s a small price to pay for a fine example of what might be the prettiest coupé Jaguar ever built.

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays between 10am - 12pm or 2pm - 4pm. To make a booking, please use the ‘Enquire About This Vehicle’ button on the listing. Feel free to ask any questions, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.