1996 Jaguar XJ-S Celebration
“ This is a fine example of the Celebration oeuvre. It presents in a sophisticated and popular colourway and is highly original in every respect. ”
Its sensible original mileage and, clearly, light recent use certainly bodes in its favour.

Background
In November 1989 Jaguar became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company for a not inconsiderable consideration of £1.6BN. Bill Hayden was temporarily parachuted into Browns Lane to run Jaguar and needed to buy some time to get his feet under the desk and extinguish the most threatening fires. One of his first acts was to sign off the XJ-S’s facelift as penned by the company’s own styling team, led by the inimitable Geoff Lawson. He also green-lit the use of the 4L version of the XJ40’s AJ16 straight six engine. Hayden figured this would be enough to grant the XJ-S a stay of execution whilst he fried bigger fish.

In May 1991 a facelifted XJS was announced. It had now lost its hyphen between “J” and “S” but it gained that 4-litre 223bhp AJ16, available with a five-speed manual gearbox or the new ZF 4HP 24E automatic transmission. Aesthetic changes were somewhat modest. The most immediate obvious change, perhaps, was a more XJ40-esque instrument binnacle, with the signature barrel auxiliary gauges consigned history. Overall, the changes made were relatively modest, but they seemed to coincide with the late developing XJS finally grow into its own skin, really for the first time. For each of its remaining years the XJS significantly trounced the original “success threshold” set for the car of 3,000 sales per year. 

By 1995 the upcoming XK8 was looming in the near distance, and the end was finally in sight for the XJS. From that point onwards, widely considered to be from VIN 221855 onwards, the cars were designated as “Celebration” models to commemorate not only the swansong of the model but also 60 years of Bill Lyons’ illustrious marque. Whilst both 4-litre six cylinder and V12 versions of the coupe and convertible were available, the bulk of the 4,800 or so Celebration models were 4-litre, AJ16 equipped coupe iterations of this deeply desirable British GT icon. The very last production XJS (VIN 226644) was itself a 4.0-litre Celebration Convertible, now preserved by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.

Overview
This Celebration model XJS 4L Convertible precedes that last production example by 1162 cars, still placing it firmly in the tail end of XJS production. The XJS was first registered in May 1996. The first keeper was believed to have retained the XJS until around 2000 with the second keeper retaining it for a mighty 17 years. A further five keepers cover the period between 2017 and 2022 with the Jaguar having covered around 79,700 miles up until that point. 

Current owner, Keith, acquired the XJS in December of 2022 to become the car’s eight keeper. A mere 120 miles or so have been covered between then and now. The XJS is currently registered as SORN and will require an MoT before use. The last MoT was undertaken in May 2025 at 79,798 miles. With just a little over 2,500 miles covered per year on average and less than 20,000 miles covered in the last 20 years this Jaguar represents a lightly used example of the desirable run-out XJS Convertibles.

Estimate: £11,000 - £14,000

View Current Bid Price HERE