Pininfarina Jaguar Concepts: Coventry’s Italian restyle
Throughout the 1970s, Pininfarina maintained its long-held links with the British motor industry by working with Jaguar in an attempt to create the new design language for which the company had seemingly been searching since even before the arrival of the XJ-S. Various XJ40 proposals were experimented with, but it was the arrival of the XJ Series III that saw the partnership truly bear fruit…
Enjoy these proposals.
Project XJ40
Pininfarina was still loosely associated with British Leyland as a go-to design consultancy and, in this case with Project XJ40 taking shape, Jaguar approached Pininfarina to come up with a design proposal for its upcoming executive saloon.
The 1974 Jaguar XJ12-PF emerged and was presented at the 1973 London Motor Show – ultimately passed over by Jaguar in favour of the in-house design proposals, it made a great motor show star after it returned to Italy following its Coventry analysis. It could be argued that it had an influence on the XJ40 programme, if you follow its evolution.
1974 Jaguar XJ12-PF Gallery
1978 Jaguar XJ-Spider
Then there was the 1978 XJ-Spider, which as far as many onlookers were concerned, looked like the true replacement for the E-type…
For many commentators, this was the true precursor to the Jaguar F-Type, and inspiration for the Jaguar XJ41/42…
1978 Jaguar XJ Spider gallery
- The converters : Crayford Engineering TR7 Tracer - 27 March 2023
- Concepts and prototypes : BL Safety Research Vehicles (1968-1977) - 19 November 2022
- Concepts and prototypes : Rover SD1 Estate (1976-1978) - 5 October 2022
The XJ-spider was amazingly ahead of its time although the Corvette influenced kamm tail looks somewhat dated now.
I think Chevorlet copied the XJ Spider when they designed the 80’s Corvette
Too much chrysler 180 in top 2 pictures and i agree,too much corvette.
If you squint, there’s a lot of XK in the XJ…
The Mk1 XK8 bears a distinct resemblance to the XJ Spider…
The top three photos are Lancia Gamma mixed with a bit of Fiat 130 coupe. Even a bit of ISO Fidia, beautiful!
I disagree 🙁 .
Forward of the B-pillar is OK. Strong. Coherent.
Above the rear wheels, the “sixth” glass, C-D-pillars just looks broken! It is as though they didn’t know how to join the tail/boot to the rest/front of the far, and ran out of ideas.
If the boot had – maybe – been bigger/taller, so that the rear-end did not just taper-off, it would have looked more impressive, more “substantial”. After all, this is the LUXURY XJ, intended to convey Ministers and Directors (and their luggage) . . . in competition with the S-Class and 7 Series.
It is NOT (supposed to be) a low slung, sleek, difficult-to-get-in-and-out-off, “GT”.
Something Ian Callum (reluctantly!), concedes in the current issue (04 OCT 2017) of AUTOCAR.
I think the XJ12 effort is beautiful outside , although the front is a bit brash , and I can see what Andrew Boulton means about the base of the 6th light . The interior, however……beyond parody, indescribably awful
To me it looks stylish, but more of a Mercedes CLS type 4 door coupe, rather than an range topping luxury saloon (but then XJs have generally been less roomy than S class Mercs)
The XJ40 proposal reminds me of the Lancia Gamma 3V prototype by Pininfarina, which in turn almost looks like something better suited for a rebodied three-box version of the Vanden Plas 2200 prototype.
http://lanciagamma.altervista.org/alterpages/lancia-gamma-3v-kkk.jpg
As for the XJ-Spider, its styling and proportions are too off putting and more suitable on an American car than a Jaguar.