2JZ Powaaaaa: 1989 Jaguar XJS
Time to wipe all history of the previously featured V6 powered MX-5 from your mind and start fresh like a Hillary Clinton e-mail server. This next car combines the gorgeous lines of the Malcolm Sayer & Doug Thorpe designed coupé (that is pronounced coop-A) with the silky smoothness and rock solid reliability of a Toyota / Lexus inline six. Find this 1989 Jaguar XJS with 2JZ power offered here on eBay
for $3,700 buy-it-now with 5 days to go, located in Ft Lauderdale, FL.
The Jaguar XJS is far too often stripped of its sonorous V12 and forced
to make do with a Chevy 350 mated to the stock GM TH400 slushbox….but this is different, somebody shoved a simple Lexus inline-6 under the hood. Wait…is that better or worse? It is certainly less of a hillbilly machine than an XJS-350V8, but it isn’t going to be as fast…
It looks like a 1998 or later 2JZ-GE from an IS300 or similar Lexus which should produce around 220 horsepower and 210 ft-lbs of torque. The install looks well done, the engine is shoved far back against the passenger firewall and then wires/pipes/hoses/tubular-thingies look almost factory. There are a a few more zipties and exposed wires on the driver’s side than I’d like to see, but that is probably something left over from its Jag power days.
From the interior you wouldn’t expect that anything is different under the hood and with 220-ish horsepower on tap mated to the stock GM gearbox, it probably drives a lot like a standard XJS with the Jaguar 3.6 liter AJ6 engine.
See another oddball swap for cheap? tips@dailyturismo.com
At that price, and from that dealer, I would be extremely cautious about its condition and functionality. BBB D+….
These are very striking in the context of the current styling trends. I remember following a guy in his mid-30s about 7 years ago in one of these as we were heading through the hills of NW New Jersey (Tewksbury to Long Valley, if you know the area). He was not pushing it, but it had good manners on the twisting road. Lovely country, too.
We both stopped at a local brewery/restaurant. He got out and was wearing a turtleneck and sport jacket, trying to do his best Elliot Gould impression. And the car certainly helped him evoke some lounging 70s style. No women were at the bar, and he quickly departed. This has nothing to do with an appraisal of the model from any meaningful standpoint, but coming across one in the wild is memorable. And it looks best in sober colors.
This is one of those cars on my bucket list that I do want to do a LS swap into and keep it as a long term, long range GT vehicle. Styling on these is great and quickly edging into timeless.
Looks like a bargain to me, and more desireable than the original mill. Too bad this is not the Supra TT straight 6.
I'm warming to these things, there was a time I'd have taken a second-gen Camaro or a lot of other stuff over one of these but maybe I've aged into what was once the target demographic.
Engine compartment's about right for an LS-motor, and the chassis can handle it fine with some modest tweaks up to 400HP or so. A nice cruiser with some character lines on the face and decent biceps under the tailored jacket.
Gotta ditch the bumpers and get the Euro headlights, though, it just doesn't look anything like right in this form.
And the Toyota thing doesn't do it. Great engine in an IS300, but kinda like five inches in the trousers that go with the tailored jacket.