Abandoned XJ220 in Qatar

[Mactech]

Those blue 220's are all over the place! Common as muck!
Here's a development one I took to see my fathers BSA back in 1991 on a test run, then another I stumbled across in a a Brazilian jungle(!) a couple of years ago

 

[219]

Never mind the Jag : that looks like a Merc behind it in the last picture - grey W124 or 201 ?

 

[Lugy]

W124 I'd say!

 

[Gridlock]

Mactech,

Have you ever driven a turbocharged V6 transit? With ladders on the roof?

The XJ in this thread is owned and awaiting spares, which I believe is how most of them spend their time. The PH thread has posts by the people doing the work.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

The car isnt abandoned. The owner has left it parked outside a garage awaiting a new fuel pump. The garage is in an industrial area.

RE: Limping Cat: Dying XJ220 Spotted: Limping Cat: Dying XJ220 Spotted&mid=0

It has 904k on the clock though!?

 

[npuk]

RSPhilip
161 posts
39 months
Tuesday 6th April

From what we know the car has been left forlorn by the current owner at his/her property in Qatar..we believe...as it has been in Beirut and Syria in the last 6 years.

The car was brought in due to a fuel pump failure and was shot outside the workshop in the Industrial quarter in Doha. It is a bit of hole hence the rough looking street scene.

Mechanically the car is believed to be ok...believed being the operative word here! In terms of bodywork there are some nasty dents on the rear quarter and door...and also damage underneath indicating it has been dropped on a four post lift at some stage.

updates to come soon...

 

[Gareth]

my utmost favourite car of all time, if I could only have 1 supercar I'd take one over any Zonda, Ferrari, Lamborghini, I love them.

 

[kwakdonut]

It has 904k on the clock though!?

900km not 904k!!! That's roughly 500miles.....

 

[KillerHERTZ]

900km not 904k!!! That's roughly 500miles.....

I know, thats my point (sorry I meant to add the 'm' aswell but the edit period for the post is over)

 

[Mactech]

Mactech,

Have you ever driven a turbocharged V6 transit? With ladders on the roof?

Yes, I've done a fair few miles in the 220 Transit, (it was the engine dept. 'mule') but before it was fitted out as a builders van with ladders! What a barking van!
But I do know Justin Law who drove it up the hill at Goodwood and recorded one of the quickest times of the day with a copy of the 'Sun' floating about on the dash top
He was also quick enough to win the classic Gp C race at Le Mans a couple of years ago.....in a Jaguar of course

 

[Gridlock]

 

[Lugy]

I want that van loads!

 

[Gareth]

its always been a lifetime dream of mine to drive one. I managed to sit behind the wheel of one in the Jaguar Coventry factory many years ago (before I could even drive!)

 

[Gridlock]

I see one on the road around the Rickmansworth area sometimes, they're so much nicer in real life than in most photos I've seen. The proportions make more sense when you see one on the road, they seem shorter somehow.

Do want. I suspect these cars are not cheap to own though, even if you only do very limited mileage you'll probably be looking at your F40 as a cheap alternative

 

[grober]

Sorry guys got disagree. If you remember at the time the Jaguar XJ 220 became the supercar nobody wanted. Its initial spec was for a modified version of the V12 engine with Jensen developed 4 wheel drive priced at £361,000 but finally reached production it had a modified version of the Austin Metro 6R4 rally car engine with 2 wheel drive! The prototype scissors doors, a la Lamborghini, had also gone and the price had risen to £400,000 + causing many customers who had put down £50,000 deposits for the limited production car [ 350 ] to try to cancel their orders. Having seen the car" in the flesh "so to speak it somehow lacks the "road charissma" to ever become a supercar "icon" like the Lamborghini Countach was. Probably extremely efficient aerodynamically the body was indistinguishable from many other racing prototype sportscars of the time and just lacks road presence somehow . Cover the bodywork with racing decals it might just work-otherwise???? Such was the hype surrounding them when they first came out they were almost impossible to insure in the UK . The story goes that in the days before tracker technology, one owner had to inform his insurance company every time he took his XJ220 out of the garage and tell them exactly where he was going!

 

[Gridlock]

A cynic might point out that most of those with deposits down were either speculators or braces-wearing Hooray Henrys, and there was a wee blip in the economy that made both groups extremely unhappy about completing their purchases.

All this crap about "metro engines" and "not as advertised" only started when the lawyers got their instructions.

 

[grober]

It's a Aled Jones V Luciano Pavarotti thing really.

ALED
[YOUTUBE]debrc5aQSJc&NR=1[/YOUTUBE]

LUCIANO

[YOUTUBE]foDcLUhUKqI&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]


I rest my case.

 

[Gridlock]

If Aled Jones did 0-60 in 4 seconds then I'd agree...

 

[Mactech]

Sorry guys got disagree. If you remember at the time the Jaguar XJ 220 became the supercar nobody wanted. Its initial spec was for a modified version of the V12 engine with Jensen developed 4 wheel drive priced at £361,000 but finally reached production it had a modified version of the Austin Metro 6R4 rally car engine with 2 wheel drive! The prototype scissors doors, a la Lamborghini, had also gone and the price had risen to £400,000 + causing many customers who had put down £50,000 deposits for the limited production car [ 350 ] to try to cancel their orders. Having seen the car" in the flesh "so to speak it somehow lacks the "road charissma" to ever become a supercar "icon" like the Lamborghini Countach was. Probably extremely efficient aerodynamically the body was indistinguishable from many other racing prototype sportscars of the time and just lacks road presence somehow . Cover the bodywork with racing decals it might just work-otherwise???? Such was the hype surrounding them when they first came out they were almost impossible to insure in the UK . The story goes that in the days before tracker technology, one owner had to inform his insurance company every time he took his XJ220 out of the garage and tell them exactly where he was going!

And it's all my fault!
I did the first engineering appraisal on the original Jaguar '88 show car when it arrived at TWR while I was engineering the Le Mans cars.
I said it was too big, too long, too complex, too heavy and much too small inside to ever consider making a production version of it with the very limited budget we would have.
Little did I know that a couple of years later I would be asked to be the chief development engineer for that car.
For the record, the car had a completley new version of the engine which powered the V6 Gp C Jaguars and that race car only engine shared only it's configuration with the 6R4.
I have no regrets about the performance, handling or impact of the car. I would have loved it to be more refined, but race engines just aren't and you would need the resources of the VW Group to make it more like a Buggatti.
It was speculators, economic downturn and the press who got the car a bad name.

 

[Gridlock]

For the record, the car had a completley new version of the engine which powered the V6 Gp C Jaguars and that race car only engine shared only it's configuration with the 6R4.

Pah, you can prove anything with facts