This elegant and remarkably original motorcar has covered just 16,700 miles from new – a figure fully supported by the extensive history file that accompanies the vehicle.

The rare Jade green metallic paint is that applied by the factory in 1990, and the vendor, a former Chair of one of the Jaguar Enthusiast Club regions, has recently spent more than £1,000 having stone chips and some minor paint ‘spiders’ professionally remedied.

The Parchment-coloured leather seats look barely sat on, and the vendor informs us that everything under the bonnet is ‘as it left the factory’.

The XJ40 sports a period Jaguar radio-cassette player, factory electric sunroof and Jaguar toolkit.

The spare wheel has never been used, and even the registration plates are those supplied by the dealer who first sold the car; the 1990 bill of sale is amongst the hefty pile of receipts and MOT certificates on file.

Although the five-spoke alloy wheels are not factory fit, the original steel ones and their tyres ...