A lovely picture of a TWR XJRS at Goodwood Festival of Speed, and some action footage from Australia of Tom Walkinshaw racing the car – courtesy of Pistonheads.

In December 2011, KWE commissioned MWS Media to produce and direct a professional film to promote the Jaguar XJS and our work with it. The brief was to create a slick, high quality short film, usable in a TV promotion campaign. A professional actor was employed, and the shoot took place in an aircraft hangar in Hampshire.

The car featured is the 5.3 V12 coupé which James May was filmed with on BBC Top Gear in 2004.

A warm article by Jasper Gerard on the Jaguar XJS appeared in the Daily Telegraph, November 2010

[border margin=”no”][/border]

Gambit in The New Avengers swanked around in a Jaguar XJS, as did Simon Templar in The Return of The Saint.

When my parents divorced I was sent to boarding school, where the one concession to pleasure was allowing us boys to watch The Saint on Sunday evening following our long return to that joyless establishment.

How I envied the Saint his freedom: the series was based on Leslie Charteris’s thrillers, whose covers carried such heroic slogans as “Simon Templar vs Europe’s Most Ruthless Man!” Most of all I envied the Saint his car and … Click here to read the article.

Top Gear presenter and noted motoring journalist James May explained how KWE rebuild the XJS and improve its handling and performance. The Jaguar XJS is a popular car with the Top Gear team who recognise both its visual appeal and performance as one of the great sports tourers.

The car featured is an Arctic blue 5.3 litre V12 first manufactured by Jaguar in 1989 which has covered only 47000 miles since new. The car is still in the process of being re-engineered by KWE and will serve as the company’s K-S demonstrator.

Jaguar World MonthlyThe article describes the whole 2 year story and includes comment from the owner, Chris Winn and KWE’s MD Chris Knowles.

For copyright reasons we cannot reproduce the whole article here, so please buy a back copy (October 2007) from http://www.jaguar-world.com/.

In July 06 KWE sourced and prepared a 1991 XJS V12 convertible for James May and Oz Clark to take part in a 6 part programme about French wine throughout August.

Rather like the film Sideways, the pair drove around the French wine-making districts in the XJS, sampling and describing the local produce. Two handmade wine racks were fitted in the boot.

At last you can now enjoy the timeless elegance of the Jaguar 40 hole “Pepperpot” alloy wheel brought up to date and available in 16 inch or 17 inch diameter, 7.5 inches in width.

There are big benefits to be had in fitting larger wheels with lower profile tyres to the XJS and Series XJ saloon. The original tyres are 70 profile which is very tall by today’s standards.

Our wheels allow fitment of a range of profiles from 60 to 45 while keeping the diameter the same within a few percent. These lower profile tyres add much needed lateral stability to the car without significantly reducing ride comfort.

We offer the same very high level of attention to detail and thoroughness that we apply to our rebuilt and upgraded cars. Since we routinely strip and rebuild these cars we now make this wealth of knowledge and experience available to owners, and we seek to keep as many of these superb vehicles on the road as possible!

KWE is commissioned to restore the body fully, renew the interior and rebuild the engine, along with KWE suspension, brakes and steering.

This was one of the pre-Jaguarsport TWR-modified XJS coupés. A standard 5.3 litre engine is fitted, but the suspension was uprated with a thicker anti roll bar and stronger road springs. 15″ Speedline alloys were more cosmetic than improving since the wheel arches do not allow significantly wider tyres. The interior is all cream with red piping, and the typical TWR white steering wheel.

The current engine will be retained even though it has had a major overheating event and the cylinders have been full of water for some years.

It’s quite a project, and one I have been party to. Unfortunately, though, I am unable to tell you the winner because the issue will not come out until several days after this newspaper is printed, and I’ve been expressly forbidden to tell anyone. All I can reveal at this stage is that they’ve got it wrong.