Replacing the legendary E-type was never going to be easy for Jaguar – and radical thinking was going to be needed. Ian Nicholls charts the development of the prototypes which helped shape Jaguar’s brilliant 1970s GT, Projects XJ-21 and XJ-27.
Initial thoughts: the XJ21 project
Moving on: XJ27
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In the picture of “DKV915C”; what is lurking in the background, buried under tarps and other detritus? Would there still be an XJ21 clay around? Or just another nasal treatment of XJ27?
looks like the clay model in the first photo
The right side of the XJ27 clay model looks a bit like Wayne Cherry’s mid 1970s Vauxhall front ends.
The XJS was never intended as a replacement for the E Type, Jaguar intended a more “sports” focussed car to replace it and what became the XJS as a premium GT car.
Following the Leyland takeover Jaguar plans were pulled in, both to save money but also realistically the resources did not exist to develop all these vehicles even if the money had. The XJS survived because it was based on the XJ so was relatively cheap to put into production.
The E Type was selling in penny numbers by the time it was cancelled, the energy crisis and the car’s age had hit sales badly, and Jaguar were struggling to sell the final year’s production. While the XJS never really took off until the HE engine and more stringent quality control after 1981, it was a much more modern design and more practical, as well as being a car that could genuinely reach over 150 mph.
Missing from this article are designer Oliver Winterbottom’s concept designs for XJ21 (rebodied 2+2 E type) and XJ27. These can be found in his book ‘A Life in Car Design’ (pages 19-26) which gives an account of his career at Jaguar, Lotus and TVR amongst others.