As particular as they could be, flagship luxurious sedans share plenty of similarities. They usually have leather-based seats, wooden veneer trim, and all-encompassing consolation and comfort options – and eye-poppingly excessive MSRPs as the value of admission to such unique quarters. For those who’ve ever handed a W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class or a third-generation Lexus LS in visitors, you’ll know range-topping sedans even have presence. These two fashions have it primarily due to their measurement and proportions.
The X308 Jaguar XJ, which ran from the 1998 mannequin 12 months till 2003, is a uncommon website amongst its contemporaries as a result of it stands out for being sleeker, visually decrease and leaner, and feline. Our Choose of the Day, this 2000 Jaguar XJ8 at the moment obtainable on ClassicCars.com, is much more distinctive as a result of it comes within the long-wheelbase Vanden Plas configuration.
If these two phrases don’t precisely convey pictures of the Union Jack and London to thoughts, there’s an excellent cause for that. Based on the Vanden Plas Homeowners’ Membership, the unique Vanden Plas firm began in 1870 as an axle producer in Brussels, Belgium. Over the following a number of a long time, it modified industries and labored with quite a lot of plane and automotive firms.
To make an extended story brief, on the subject of North American Jaguars, Vanden Plas is synonymous with a better degree of visible distinction and inside luxurious. Other than the prolonged wheelbase, probably the most recognizable indicators of an XJ8 VDP are the fluted grille and trunk lid plinth. That additional area between the entrance and rear axles advantages rear passengers as do heated seats and the wooden picnic tables built-in into the backs of the heated entrance seats.
Whoever spec’d this automotive selected nicely. These particular exterior touches and the regal 16-inch wheels spotlight the refined great thing about the Sapphire Metallic paint. Sadly, the unique proprietor’s time behind the wood- and leather-trimmed wheel, surrounded by Ivory Connolly leather-based and shiny Burl Walnut accents, was short-lived. The promoting supplier stories the second proprietor bought this XJ from the primary proprietor’s property after it had been in storage for 14 years. On condition that hole, it is smart that this cat has solely slinked its manner via 72,652 miles of metropolis and freeway visitors. To organize it for extra frequent driving, the supplier just lately tuned up the 290-horsepower 4.0-liter V8 and had new Continental tires put in in Might. Thanks partly to these updates, this XJ reportedly runs “superbly and easy.” Actually, the Qualcomm automotive cellphone to the correct of the J-gate shifter for the five-speed automated transmission nonetheless works, too.
It took practically a decade and a half, however somebody ultimately pulled this XJ out from the shrouds of obscurity. After present in absence for therefore a few years, it could actually as soon as once more present within the mild of day what it’s at all times had: presence. You may drive it via the twists and turns of its second life for $11,900.
Click on right here to view the itemizing for this Choose of the Day on ClassicCars.com.