ONCE THE E-Type had wowedthe world in 1961,the ‘XK’ badge was quickly forgotten and indeed the E-Type’s successor would be the XJ-S which since it was asporting model of the XJ made logical sense.
As the decades wore on, the XJ-S itself aged to the point where even the extensive re-engineering which saw it become the XJS couldn’t stave off the inevitable, and replacement was looming.
Remarkably,all therumours and scoop stories in the press saw the journalists fixating on the idea of an ‘F-Type’, but when –after at least one significant false start –the production car appeared at the 1996 Genevashow,itworethe famous XK name.
Following the naming convention of the XK120, the new car would have been XK155 inreference toits artificially limited top speed, but thankfully the decision was taken to go with XK8 instead, the number denoting the eight cylinders inits all-new powerplant.
Evolution
Work on replacing the sports coupe in Jaguar’s line-up had taken severalfalse starts and the much-scooped ‘F-Type’ wasessentially a coupe version of the XJ40 saloon clothed in aslightly ‘Knight Rider’ interpretation of the E-Type styling completewithturbocharged engines and four-wheel drive. Dubbed ‘XJ41’ it had its roots in the early ’80s, atime when the XJ-S really did look likeits futurewas limited, but under Ford the project wasdropped when investment wasconcentrated on overhauling the ancient production facilities at Brown’s Lane.
The effort wasn’t wasted though: the style of the ill-fated XJ41 wasadapted to suit theXJS platform and wasusedtocreatethe slightly tragic Aston Martin DB7.Meanwhile, it wasdecided that the XJ-S would need to soldier on forafewmoreyearswhile a replacement wasdeveloped and it wasthis stay of execution which justified extensiveengineering work to producethe 1992 facelift cars, then badged XJS. Meanwhile, work began on a new sports car project to be built on the XJS floorpan and powered by the new AJ-V8 engine, the project known inside Jaguar as X100.
An internal design competition was established, with designs submitted from all over the Ford empire: the Dearborn studio, Ghia in Italy and Jaguar’s team in Coventry. Unsurprisingly, it was the Jaguar design from Geoff Lawson’s team which was picked as the winner with its curving lines and prominent snout reminiscent of the E-Type.
With the project given the go-ahead in December 1993 and a launch date set for the Geneva Show in 1996 – chosen to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the E-Type’s launch – the pressure was on. Furious work ensued, with XJS mules running V8 engines used to test the drivetrain and suspension. T
