Your average Joe might look at an XJ40 and see a car very similar to the Series III XJ6 that it replaced.

And that was partly the idea, with continuity of styling and brand history at the forefront of Jaguars’ designers’ minds back during its ludicrously long inception, but in reality it was a completely new car with very little carry-over of either body or mechanical components.

At the time the XJ40 was the most complex Jaguar ever built.

Chief Vehicle Engineer, Bob Knight, and Technical Director Jim Randle headed the project – two brilliant and tenacious individuals that many claim Jaguar itself owes its very existence to.

Their work pioneered significant improvements as to how future Jaguars were designed, built, and assembled.

The design brief for the XJ40 included a need to reduce manufacturing complexities to improve productivity and quality.

Reliability had to be improved, and it was also important that the new model had improved fuel economy – gains that were engineered b...