Cat's Pajamas- Craigslist XJ220 Makes Me Purrrrrrrrr!

By Robert Emslie Mar 1, 2010

Here, kitty kitty kitty.

Mee-yow! The San Francisco Craigslist (Where do they get those wonderful toys?) has an uber-rare Jaguar XJ220 for sale, and this is one cat that’ll make you question the whole idea of the your dog being your best friend.

Undertaken as a halo car in the mid 1980s by  Jaguar’s chief engineer, Jim Randle, the XJ220 debuted at the 1988 British Motor Show with a 6.2 litre DOHC V12, scissor doors, and Ferguson all-wheel drive.
Money being tight, the production XJ220 ended up with the TWR-engineered twin turbo V6 from the Rover Metro 6R4 rally car, and lacking the lambo doors or all-wheel drive. Despite those changes, the  price tag was still stiff upper lip-worthy – coming in at $650,000.
Undaunted by those bumps in the road, TWR managed to squeeze out over 280 of the 215 mph big cats. Even without the Jag V12 powering it, the XJ220 held the production car top speed crown until McLaren knocked it off the pedestal in 1994 with their F1 supercar.
With an asking price of $235,000, this 1993 cat looks to be in near purr-fect shape, with the original set of rims coming along for the ride (although they’ll need to go separately!), and some less than appropriate aftermarket composites filling the flares. The 220 was never officially brought over by Jag, but cars of this caliber usually find a way to trickle into the country – one way or another. This one is claimed to be fully DOT and CARB-compliant, and humorously comes with a “shop manual” for you do it yourselfers. Click through to its picture page for some wicked cat pron, and start dreaming.
SF Craigslist

129 thoughts on “Cat's Pajamas- Craigslist XJ220 Makes Me Purrrrrrrrr!”
  1. On one hand, it hasn't really suffered the epic depreciation I look for in a used Jag (which, admittedly, would put it in the $10,000-$20,000 range). On the other hand, both as a child of the late 80s and early 90s, and because a disposition towards British vehicles is genetically ingrained in me, I love this car.

  2. Less than apropriate aftermarket composite wheels? They look exactly like the wheels found on the XJ220 race cars so thats apropriate enough for me!

    1. You're right – these aftermarket wheels are BBS alloys as fitted to the XJ220S variants – only 5 of these XJ220S's were created, and the BBS alloys afforded better brake ventilation than the standard rims.

  3. Man, with that thing I could finally show up the jerk with the Vector W8 down the block. In all seriousness… do want as much now as I did when it came out. The Mac tops it but, seriously, if I had the money it would be covered in my drool.

  4. Every time I see one of these all I can think about is the Fast Masters aka Crash Masters series that they raced with them herein the US in the 1990s. One of the great WTF moments in motor sports.

  5. A shame about the depreciation considering 1) these were the Veyrons of their day, and 2) for a design approaching its 20th birthday, it has aged incredibly well. It still looks sleek and modern without being a product exclusive to its time. Try saying that about a typical 70's or 80's supercar when they were of similar vintage, or even most other 90's examples… say nothing of Jags in general.

    1. They're coming back up. The bottom was 150k a couple of years ago, with the Jaguar Factory still trying to sell off a couple originals.

  6. The seller isn't quite sure if this is a Jag, Hyundai or Plymouth.
    I've always liked the XJ220. It's so very Jaguar. A true supercar…the fastest of its day…with an understated air to it. You look at it, and you know it's something special, but it's not flaunting it. It's almost nondescript as supercars go. Compare it to its contemporaries like the Diablo or F40. They are ostentatious. Bright, bold colors. Chiseled, over-the-top body lines. Not the Jag. In true British fashion, the car is muted and almost disappears into the background.
    Until you fire it up and push the go pedal.

  7. Anyone know how those headlights work? Do they "pop up" like the lights on, say, a 3rd gen F-body Firebird? Or do they roll over laterally? Mostly wondering because the 2nd option would add .82% more PAH!

    1. the headlight cover actually drops down revealing 2 headlights in the back of the well – can't imagine they would be too effective though….

  8. Must be with only 8359 km on the odo. That's less a mile a day for it's lifetime.

  9. I took my kid to see one of these in a local jag/rr/rr dealership in rancho mirage. I about had a hard attack when he jumped on the hood. Surprised they didn't shoot us on the spot. Thank g_d he didn't leave a mark.
    Pure sex on wheels.

  10. I'd prefer the stock wheels, but damn if that isn't one of the pants-tent-pitchingest automobiles of the last 20 years.

  11. Still one of the coolest-looking cars of all time in my book, and as a child of the 80s-90s, it's one of my earliest favorites. I'd also forgotten how much I liked the gauge cluster built into the door panel.

  12. I'm horribly late to the XJ220 party, but I wanted to let y'all know I have seen this car in person, driving in the Marin Headlands just north of San Francisco. The sound was GLORIOUS. It totally made my New Year's Eve, and I'm grateful I got to share the experience with Scandinavian Flick.

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