LS1-powered Jaguar XJ Sedan Might Be the Coolest Sleeper Ever?
This restomod XJ is stylish as ever, but far more powerful and ages more reliable.
Ever thought of what it would feel like to be a villain in a James Bond movie? This Jaguar XJ might be the perfect example of just that. Now what if you took that Jaguar and decided to throw a 5.7L LS1 under the hood? The car might just be fast enough that you can escape 007 (we can’t guarantee that).
Of all of the cars that we have seen to be LS-swapped, Jaguars are definitely not among the top examples. However, we aren’t sure why. The appeal of genuine British luxury and raw American horsepower sounds like a win-win combination in our books. Thankfully, some wonderful individual set out to make this dream into a reality and as a result we bring you this beautiful 2002 Jaguar XJ that is currently up for auction.
According to the description of the listing, this XJ has around 135,000 miles on the chassis, but we aren’t entirely sure how long the car has been running the swap. This is definitely something we would want to ask if we were in the market for this vehicle. Thankfully, the car has a clean title and has had no major accidents, something that is nice to know.
The car’s suspension has been slightly lower and looks really proper on the factory 18″ gloss black wheels. According to the listing, this car is a “restomod”, thus, all of the factory plastics and rubber seals have been replaced to really push the cleanliness of the vehicle to the next level. We definitely believe it, because the interior truly looks immaculate. If you told us the car only had seen a couple thousand miles its whole life we would definitely believe you.
When we look at the engine bay, it almost seems that this car was designed for an LS1 to be put in it. The engine looks entirely proper inside of the car except maybe for the cold air intake the the owner is running. Considering the way this bay is designed, it would be very difficult to get the intake plenum to face the front of the car, thus, we under that complications with the intake routing. The OEM instrument cluster has been modified to function 100% in compatibility with the new engine and we really think that is a great feature to keeping this build as seamless as possible.
Considering the overall condition of the car and how well put together it is, we totally can see how the current listed price of $16,995.00 could be a really good deal for the right buyer. It really is a cool build and we definitely believe the next owner will love it. What do you guys think of this Jaguar? Let us know in the comments below.
