The Jaguar XJ220 was the brainchild of Jim Randle, the talented British, and quietly determined Engineering Director of Jaguar Cars in Coventry, UK.
The idea was to liven up Jaguar's image by creating the prototype of a world beating supercar, in the spirt of Jaguar's much loved XK 120, and the Le Mans wining sports racing C and D Type Jaguars of the 1950's.
The XJ220 was designed to be a competitor to Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini, and it was the sensation of the 1988 UK motor Show.
However, there was no budget available to construct such an exotic car, and the first concept car had to be built on a shoestring. Jim organised a so-called "Saturday Club" of twelve Jaguar designers and engineers, who were happy to create and build the prototype in their spare time. They were enthusiastically supported by many Coventry based specialist motor industry suppliers and they just managed to complete that first prototype in time for an unveiling at the UK Motor Show, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
The JaguarXJ220 was the star of the show and the world's motoring press and the public were ecstatic about the dramatic and exciting supercar, quite unlike anything else that was being produced by Jaguar at that time. A significant number of wealthy Jaguar enthusiasts pressed blank cheques in to Managing Director Joh Egan's hand and without knowing the price declared that they "..must have one".
Jaguar's management was taken aback by the response to the XJ220 and now had a problem as they were struggling to sell enough cars to make a healthy profit in the face of severe competition from Mercedes, Audi, BMW and Toyota's Lexus - and there were no spare resources available. They now came under great pressure from the press.., and influential customers to produce the XJ220 for sale.
Nobody pretended that the car would ever make big profits, but certainly, it would be brilliant for Jaguar's image and thereby help to promote the Jaguar brand. All the engineering resources were fully stretched developing the next XJ saloon and the XJS coupe and in addition to that production facilities were certainly not suited to build such a unique and complicated, low volume car. If it were going to be produced it would need a specialist organisation.
At about the same time, Jaguar was gaining much favourable publicity from its Group C sports racing car team, operated by dynamic Tom Walkinshaw. Tom famously won the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1988 and 1990 and the World Sports Car Championships in 1997 and 1988. These and many other successes has already resulted in a joint venture company, founded earlier in 1988: created by Jaguar and TWR and designated "JaguarSport", to produce low volume sporting derivatives of the production Jaguar coupe and saloon cars. Obviously, this would be the means of developing, production and marketing the sensational and expensive Jaguar XJ220 - provided a way could be found to finance the project.
This is the compelling inside story of how the stunning Jaguar XJ220 supercar came to be produced by a dedicated and multi-talented JaguarSport team, created especially for the purpose; who the main characters were and how a brilliant project was achieved.
History
This very gorgeous Silverstone Green with Sand leather trim Jaguar XJ220 was produced by JaguarSport Bloxham on 1 February 1994.
The body number is 261, engine number 6A10220SB and the gearbox number is 280The number given to the car was number 50. The production sequence number is 254 and the customer order number is 236.
The car was delivered to the first owner Mr Robert Buchler through the Jaguar dealer in Switzerland, it was dispatched on 30 August 1996.
From the history file the car owned by Mr Buchler until 2001 when it was purchased by Mr Adrian John Frawley still with delivery kms on the clock. The car was shipped to the UK and registered with all European taxes paid on 10 May 2001. The number plates used on the car at the time was C9 AJF and by then the car had registered 280 kms.
Mr Frawley keeps the car until 25 October 2008 and covers a further 3,576 kms. The car was then offered through Coys auction "True Greats " London on 4 December 2008. From the invoice issued by Don Law a Mr Hens Mill purchased the car and had the 24 month service carried out.
On 20 November 2011 the car was registered to Mr Duncan Cameron, a serious car enthusiast who was know for his love of the XJ220. The car was then offered for sale through Silverstone auction on 27 July 2014 with the mileage showing 4,103 kms.
The car now has the registration number P738 GPA with a total milage showing 4,690 kms. Now in the hands of a very serious collector the car is still in outstanding order and condition.
