The Coupé incarnation of Jaguar's ground-breaking XJ saloon didn't peek from showrooms until 1975, although it had been announced publicly rather earlier, back at the 1973 London Show. Its original design dated from even earlier still as it was developed alongside the original Series 1 XJ back in the late 60s and in fact the company even issued project numbers for the Series 1 Coupés - XJ33 for the six-cylinder and XJ34 for the V12- although they were destined never to be produced. Instead, the car was launched in Series 2 form known as XJ35 and XJ36 respectively. However, a combination of Sir William Lyons' frequent tweaking of the design and engineering 'issues' with the roof panel and side windows, meant that it was early 1975 before the first XJ-Cs would glide stylishly out of Jaguar Showrooms.

 The Coupé was based on the short wheelbase version of the XJ and offered in 4.2 and 5.3 engine sizes known as either the Sovereign from Jaguar or the Double Six from Daimler. In 1978, just 329 Jaguar XJ12 5.3 Coupés were built by the factory making this particular car a very rare production model. In fact, only 1,800 were ever made by the factory in total.

 The XJ 5.3C in question here has formed part of the well-known Private collection of Silverstone Auctions' great friend, Harry Metcalfe, since 2014. It’s a rare 1978 right-hand drive, automatic transmission example which Harry purchased originally with the intention of restoring it but then spotted the manual XJ-C that he’s recently restored instead (as you’ll see on his famous YouTube channel). Consequently, this rare Coupé is now surplus to requirements.

 Before Harry bought it, the previous owner commissioned a substantial amount of work to the mechanical aspects of the car by Alan Lloyd Motors, investing over £10,000 at the time, all detailed in the accompanying history file. This classic Jaguar offers lots of potential but the bodywork does need a little TLC and consequently, we encourage all interested parties to come to the NEC and satisfy themselves as to what might need to be done.

Excitingly, this rare Jaguar is to be offered for sale at No Reserve allowing it to find its own level. This is an excellent opportunity to either use and enjoy this elegant 70s V12 Coupé as it is, or further invest in bodywork and cosmetics to take it to the next level.