British(like) Automotive Pr0ns -- Jaguar XJ220
A few forward-thinking Jaguar employees collaborated on a pet project and envisioned themselves going at the big names at the time, like the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959.
Big talk for people working for a company whose cars notoriously hate the 100k mile mark.
Somehow, those who put the money behind these things were impressed with what they saw and put some money behind it, and had a concept ready for a 1989 British Auto show. Plans were already stated for the car to go forward, with 220 to be produced initially, 350 total at a cost of about $580k retail (in 1989?!!? FUUUUUCK!!!), with a deposit due up front of about $80k.
Deposits taken this early on still-concept cars reeks of epic phail in my mind, but I am a cynical asshole, so there is that.
Anyway, damn near, possibly OVER 2 years later, the production version was revealed. The production version belied the lofty "500HP/220MPH" aspirations, instead with a twin turbo V6 instead of the V12 initially promised. I know that if I had put up $80k for a half-million-plus car and they came back with this shit, I would be pissed and speaking to my lawyers about a bait and switch, but what do I know? I am a cynical asshole, not a multimillionaire supercar buyer. To their credit, this wildchild engine made MORE than the initially promised 500 horses, checking in with 548 instead. Okay fine, but there was a tradeoff... Now, all I know about millionaires and their behaviors is what I have learned from cable television, but I am willing to bet that people with the kinda coin to drop 6 big figures on a car might not fancy a life with boy-racerish raucous exhausts and turbo lag. Sure, they might be okay with not having the scissor doors, but dammit what happened to the AWD?!!?
Nonetheless, production trudged forward in 1992 and the first buyers were greeted with not only some unforseen changes as described above, but a hike in the fucking price!
In normal millionaire/billionaire fashion, they (understandably) sued for being forced to pay more for something different from what they had initially agreed to. Jaguar wound up winning somewhat, in that they didn't have to pay out to these people. They did not, however, make the whole of 350 cars total -- stopping at 281 -- and even still through all of the bullshit remain as collectors items.
They were taken racing, one even ordered modified by The Sultan of Brunei, but my opinion on this is that Jaguar really fucked themselves on what would wind up to be false promises and starry-eyed optimism, far too much of it. They DID come up with a legendary piece of equipment nonetheless, even if it never did crest the 220 miles per hour they hoped for in the naming of the car.
Styling cues, like so many others from around this time, were 'borrowed' from my previously blogged Lotus Esprit and if you can't see the similarities, clean the eye boogers and try again.
Anyway, I have gone longer in the setup to this than I normally do, considering that these are generally photo blogs, and I have SEVERAL images to share, taken from all over the internets...
Link to this gallery is here... See you good folks on the other side, I am sure I will have more to write about in February than I did in a whirlwind month of January.
Big talk for people working for a company whose cars notoriously hate the 100k mile mark.
Somehow, those who put the money behind these things were impressed with what they saw and put some money behind it, and had a concept ready for a 1989 British Auto show. Plans were already stated for the car to go forward, with 220 to be produced initially, 350 total at a cost of about $580k retail (in 1989?!!? FUUUUUCK!!!), with a deposit due up front of about $80k.
Deposits taken this early on still-concept cars reeks of epic phail in my mind, but I am a cynical asshole, so there is that.
Anyway, damn near, possibly OVER 2 years later, the production version was revealed. The production version belied the lofty "500HP/220MPH" aspirations, instead with a twin turbo V6 instead of the V12 initially promised. I know that if I had put up $80k for a half-million-plus car and they came back with this shit, I would be pissed and speaking to my lawyers about a bait and switch, but what do I know? I am a cynical asshole, not a multimillionaire supercar buyer. To their credit, this wildchild engine made MORE than the initially promised 500 horses, checking in with 548 instead. Okay fine, but there was a tradeoff... Now, all I know about millionaires and their behaviors is what I have learned from cable television, but I am willing to bet that people with the kinda coin to drop 6 big figures on a car might not fancy a life with boy-racerish raucous exhausts and turbo lag. Sure, they might be okay with not having the scissor doors, but dammit what happened to the AWD?!!?
Nonetheless, production trudged forward in 1992 and the first buyers were greeted with not only some unforseen changes as described above, but a hike in the fucking price!
In normal millionaire/billionaire fashion, they (understandably) sued for being forced to pay more for something different from what they had initially agreed to. Jaguar wound up winning somewhat, in that they didn't have to pay out to these people. They did not, however, make the whole of 350 cars total -- stopping at 281 -- and even still through all of the bullshit remain as collectors items.
They were taken racing, one even ordered modified by The Sultan of Brunei, but my opinion on this is that Jaguar really fucked themselves on what would wind up to be false promises and starry-eyed optimism, far too much of it. They DID come up with a legendary piece of equipment nonetheless, even if it never did crest the 220 miles per hour they hoped for in the naming of the car.
Styling cues, like so many others from around this time, were 'borrowed' from my previously blogged Lotus Esprit and if you can't see the similarities, clean the eye boogers and try again.
Anyway, I have gone longer in the setup to this than I normally do, considering that these are generally photo blogs, and I have SEVERAL images to share, taken from all over the internets...
Link to this gallery is here... See you good folks on the other side, I am sure I will have more to write about in February than I did in a whirlwind month of January.
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