HISTORY
Hoping to persuade police forces across the UK that the XJ-S could be a high-speed response vehicle, a single demonstrator was developed. It’s fresh out of restoration and we’ve driven it
THERE ARE many words thatdescribe the XJ-S; fast, handsome and controversial are just three. But with the car’s unique design having as much aggression as a quiet country pub on a Saturday night, the one thing it could never be called is scary.
If Jaguar got its way, though, 40 years ago the car could have become as terrifying a rear-view mirror sight as the BMW X5 and Volvo V90 are today. During the mid-Eighties it planned to supply the then new 3.6-litre model to police constabularies as a high-speed response vehicle, even going as far as producing a demonstrator.
Despite seeing plenty of action while being trialled by forces across the country, the car was amazingly preserved and has recently been restored.
Jaguar was no stranger to supplying cars to the police, its saloons especially.
Ever since the MkV in the 1940s, British constabularies had found their high performance ideal for patrolling the streets. This was especially true in the Sixties when the fast and agile compact Mk2 was perfect for chasing bank robbers while a decade later, the XJ6 was a common sight on the UK’s growing motorway network.
All this experience meant Jaguar understood what the police needed.
So when the new 3.6-litre AJ6 engine became available with the XJ-S in 1983, the company’s sales department reckoned the car would make a perfect high-speed pursuit vehicle.
Admittedly, it was very different from the large four-seat saloons it had traditionally supplied but the idea wasn’t without virtue. During the Fifties and Sixties several British constabularies had used a variety of MGs for the same reason while police in Germany and France favoured Porsche and Alpine-Renault respectively.
It was also good publicity as retired chief superintendent for Warwickshire constabulary, Mark Jones, explained during a recent Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club podcast about police cars. “Historically, for a lot of manufacturers, if the police were using their vehicles it says a lot about reliability.” Although the 3.6 and 5.3 had similar performance figures, both reaching 60mph in a little over seven seconds, the straight six was considered the better candidate since it offered more flexibility of the two especially when married to the five-speed Getrag box which wasn’t an option with the V12. “The AJ6 engine does feel potent,” said Motor when it tested such a car for its March 3, 1983 issue. “Despite the rather low 5800rpm redline, mid-to-upper range punch is such that constant cog-swapping isn’t a prerequisite for brisk progress.”
