WHEN IN 1996 Jaguar unveiled its first all-new sports car since the XJ-S, it wasn’t exactly a shock: the combination of a sleek new body hinting at the E-Type combined with the new Ford-financed V8 engine was pretty much what the world was expecting fromwhat the world was expecting from what the press had already named ‘F-Type’.
It’s only as the years have rolled by that the significance of the ‘X100’ generation has become more obvious and from our viewpoint today we can see that the car drop-kicked Jaguar into a new era, one where no excuses need to be made.
Drive a well-maintained early XK8 today and you’ll see what I mean: whereas ’70sand ’80s Jaguars trailing a cloud of oily smoke were often rotten from scuttle to sills by their 10th birthday, many early X100s still go down the road rattle-free, the V8’s 290 horses still present and correct You can thank Ford’s financial muscle for that of course, which enabled Jaguar’sproduction processes and component quality to be dramatically improved to the point where an XK8 of any vintage makes a fine modern classic to use and enjoy. No, it’s not all perfect and the spectre of rot is still a consideration but the legions of Jaguar specialists out there know all the tricks to getting these
