Earliest XJ40 V12 ?? Production/launch info

[pjb1969]

Does anyone have any info on XJ40 XJ12 production dates, numbers etc ?

When was the official release date ?

What was first chassis numbers ?

Any pre production cars ?

Earliest known example ?

Iam trying to find out how early a friends car is.

[ptjs1]

pjb1969,

Try asking Rob Jenner. He'll know the answer to all of those questions!

Paul

[thejpster]

Rob will undoubtedly know the exact number, but here's what JDHT says:
http://www.jaguarheritage.com/content/p ... umbers.pdf

I can't vouch for these numbers, but they are there or thereabouts compared to Nigel Thorley's book:
http://projectxj40.weebly.com/uploads/4 ... th_xjr.pdf

Jonathan

[pjb1969]

Thanks, i'd alteady come across the jdht info but thr car in question has a lower vin than the production start vin listed on jdht so im not sure how accurate the info is.

[robv12]

drop me a pm with the vehicle details and I will see what I can find out for you

[robv12]

ok I have had a good look about, I can't find a definitive launch date, but Feb 1993 is when the first cars were sold, so clearly some will have been built before this

The first production vin appears also unknown

However the last S3 V12 was built in December 1992, so a few cars would have gone down the line for launch stock in Jan 1993

I now have the details of this car is question, it is indeed a vey early V12 40, registered on 10/02/1993, carrying a K***GHP plate

I can find two similar registrations, here is K163GHP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-f9ix0RvhM

and K164GHP appears in Nigel Thorley's book on XJ40

I have a few more avenues to follow to see what else I can find out

The first development cars were built is 1992 but most had 5.3 engines, 6.0 was a very very last minute change, I have a few stories on this one, as I know one of the engineers on the transmission installation, he was tearing his hair out on it

cheers and hope this helps a bit

Rob J

lets see some pictures of this car!!

[pjb1969]

This is the only pic i have at the moment, the current owner is my friends dad, as he knows im an enthusiast and have shown an interest in saving the car he has very kindly given it to me rather than see it scrapped, i doubt anything will get done to it anytime soon as i have too many projects but now i know it has an interesting history it will be put away in the dry to await future attention. Its had a few plate changes but HPI confirms the first plate was a coventry/factory reg K137GHP, lower in sequence than the top gear test car.

[robv12]

the sequence of registrations sadly is immaterial, Jaguar would have registered and taxed a whole batch of cars at the same time, maybe 200 cars, so this is no indicator of build date , just registration date

[robv12]

I also forgot to answer the production numbers question

the figures I have always gone on for the UK cars are

SWB Jaguar 1243
SWB Daimler 984
LWB Jaguar 7
LWB Daimler 7

[pjb1969]

The car in the pic was registered 12 days before K163GHP (top gear test car)
And the vin is 1653 lower.

[robv12]

the vin difference of 1653 is easy, these 1600 odd cars would be all variants all markets

the reg date will still be a batch of cars

but tbh this does look to be the earliest known XJ40 6.0 V12

still waiting on some more info coming back to me

a good find

[pjb1969]

I look forward to hearing more.
Thanks Rob

[richardpierce]

Thought you were a S1 enthusiast !

[pjb1969]

I am a series 1 man, but im also a jaguar man !

[robv12]

Ok, I have some definitive info, its long winded, so I will dig out the salient points and post later when I have digested the good bits