1989 Jaguar XJS V12 'KWE'

Family owned since it was first registered in March 1989, this delightful Jaguar XJS V12 has been serviced, maintained and improved to a very high standard over the years.

Passing into the son’s hands in 2001, he decided that the years were starting to take their toll and handed it over to Knowles-Wilkins Engineering (KWE) Ltd. 17 years after inheriting it. Given the firm’s reputation for meticulous work it will come as no surprise to learn that the work was comprehensive, comprising a bare-metal respray, cavity wax injection, and renewed the European Burr Walnut wood veneer. The bill is substantially well over 5 figures.

The car also received the full ‘S1’ treatment, upgrading and refurbishing the suspension, brake, and steering systems. This work alone cost more than £10,500 but has transformed the way the car rides and handles.

KWE also rebuilt the differential, and the programme of work was completed on the 1st of April 2018 and was commemorated with a certificate of authenticity.

The result is a car that still looks like an XJS but is much more refined and rewarding to drive than the stock factory car. And yet, even restored and improved to the degree this one is, it will almost certainly end up selling for a lot less than you think …

The bare-metal respray not only included new paint in the car’s original colour and a cavity wax treatment, but also included repairs to the vulnerable bulkhead area and other notorious rust traps such as both sills, the jacking points and the floorpan. The rotten metal was all cut out of all these areas and professional repairs made before the car was then painted.

The work also involved fitting new window seals front and rear, re-chroming the bumpers, and applying a fresh coat of underseal.

So, the chrome bits are now shiny and bright, and the black bits are still dark and lustrous. As you can see from the photos, the XJS now looks utterly sensational and displays a level of fit ‘n’ finish that was probably unheard of in period…

The 15-inch alloy wheels were also refurbished as part of the work carried out by KWE. Fitted with new centre caps, they’re still in a fabulous condition and shod with matching 225/60R15 Falken tyres, all of which have good tread.

As we will never tire of explaining, our 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. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but do give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Problems? Very few. Aside from the odd stonechip and minor mark any car will inevitably pick up, the only issues we can see are the front foglamp casings, which are a little rusty, as is the front grille. But those two small areas aside, it really does look rather fabulous and always draws a crowd whenever the vendor parks up.

The interior looks just as sensational with great leather and renewed European Burr Walnut. The Magnolia leather seats are still soft and comfortable, and the front ones bear nothing more than a light cracking to their finish and only the gentlest of patinas.

The eagled-eyed among you might have noticed the leather on the base of the passenger’s seat is a little darker than that around it. Wonderfully, this is because the vendor’s father used the car to collect his Telegraph newspaper from the local newsagents every day, and the ink accumulated there over the years where he threw it down on the seat beside him. We love this explanation; whenever we buy a classic car we are helping to preserve its history and a patina like this is irreplaceable.

The headlining is clean and taut, the dashboard top is free of sun damage and cracks, and the carpets are good. The boot is clean and neatly carpeted too, and it’s home to the spare alloy wheel and cover, the toolkit and what looks to be a newish Bosch battery.

KWE also recommissioned the car’s air-conditioning and heating systems, sorted out some dodgy wiring, and fixed the fuel gauge and central locking.

It’s true that there are some rubbing points on the leather in between the two rear seats where a child seat has been fitted, but that just goes to prove that this is a surprisingly practical family car. Other small cosmetic jobs include tidying up the offside door card.

In addition to the work that KWE carried out to the XJS’s suspension, brakes and steering a couple of years ago, the V12 engine had a top-end rebuild in 2013. The work was carried out by Spring Hill Garage, who just happened to have Richard Hammond’s Jaguar E-Type in there at the time.

Maintaining the Top Gear theme, the vendor tells us that it drives as well as James May said that it should, although have noticed what looks to be a broken offside front suspension spring in one of the photographs (UPDATE: the vendor has just confirmed that KWE are happy to source and replace the spring)

The XJS’s MOT certificate expires in November 2020. It also comes with a number of expired MOT certificates plus a sheaf of invoices and bills for the routine servicing and restorative work it has enjoyed over the years.

The Jaguar also comes with a certificate from KWE confirming the work that was carried out on it as well as the owner’s handbook and wallet, the original Customer Certificate of Completion, and two sets of keys.

While the V5 registration document shows three previous keepers, the vendor explained to us that he thinks this has come about because the Jag was a company car initially, and it may have had the name of the leasing company changed after the first couple of years. His father then changed it into his name upon his retirement, so while three are shown the reality is that only the only previous driver/keeper of the car was his father.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained and restored to a very high standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

NB. We know that many of you will be limiting your social exposure over the coming days and weeks, so if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please contact the owner and ask if they can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like them to concentrate on.

Let’s face it, spending this much on restoring an XJS would make no sense if it hadn’t been as much a member of the family as the dog - and the vendor did so despite knowing that he’d never get it all back because he, like so many of us, does this sort of thing to preserve memories and to maintain a lineage rather than to turn a profit.

So you can imagine it is a reluctant sale. But, he’s committed to finding it a new home and despite being in such a good condition - and, dare we say, much better to drive than the standard car - we think the winning bidder is only going to have to stump up somewhere between £15,000 and £22,000 to make it theirs.

That’s an absurdly small sum for such a wonderfully retro-modded car.

And, if you still doubt the wisdom of spending such an enormous sum on improving an old XJS, then why not take a look at what James May had to say about a KWE-fettled V12 with the S1 suspension, brake and steering upgrade when he tested one for Top Gear: https://www.kwecars.com/bbc-top-gear-featured-our-xjs/

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the seller in Stroud, Glos; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. However, he is shielding with his wife, so while an inspection is possible, a test drive is not.

Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

This vehicle is not with us at The Market’s HQ near Abingdon, which means we have had to rely on the owner’s description of it, in conjunction with the photographs you see here, to compile the listing.