1989 Jaguar XJ-S Convertible

“ One of the best XJ-S's I have ever seen. ”Being offered as part of our curated auction in conjunction with the Jaguar Drivers' Club and their 70th Anniversary at Brooklands on Sunday 12th July 2026.

BackgroundFirst unveiled in 1975, the XJ-S received its 300bhp V12 engine ten years later, a milestone that marked the point at which the XJ-S started to go as well as it looked. Of course, the resulting fuel consumption can be a challenge, but you can forgive almost anything – even single-digit mpg under hard acceleration - when a car sounds and goes like the XJ-S V12 does.

And it does sound and go very well indeed: no-one balanced ride and handling better at the end of the twentieth century than Jaguar and contemporary road tests frequently named the V12 XJ-S coupe as the most refined car in the world in, regularly trumping Rolls-Royce and the Mercedes S-Class in the ubiquitous ‘Best Car In The World’ feature beloved of car magazines when the public was happy to pay to read about cars on actual paper rather than expecting it all to be free and online. 1)

And Best Car in The World or not, few would deny that lopping the roof off turned an already beautiful car into one of the world’s greats; when you also factor in the sensory overload a convertible provides, you can start to see why the XJS Convertible was such a success.

And it was a huge success; the Jaguar XJS was, by then, one of the few cars to have attained genuine classic car status while it was still in production, leading many to buy them with an eye to an investment, which is important, as it provides a rich source of low-mileage, carefully conserved cars such as the one you’re looking at here.

OverviewWith just two former keepers and only 25,000 miles on the odometer, this Jaguar XJ-S comes with an advisory-free MoT and an impressive stack of invoices for servicing and maintenance.

The XJ-S’s first owner was none other than around-the-world yachtsman Serge Paris, who obviously spent a great deal of his time at sea, which helps explain the low mileage.

Its second owner bought it from the 2014 Bonhams' Beaulieu Sale. Something of a Jaguar collector, he asked Classic Motor Cars Ltd to give it the onceover, which resulted in a bill for £6,000.

1) Of course, nothing is free and the price you pay is turning a blind eye to the fact that advertising departments now insist that, just like primary school children, everyone must be given a prize and no-one is ever told off. Not even BMW for the X6.

He kept it stored with Smallman Hall of Bridgnorth and only drove it for a thousand miles or so. Despite this sparing use, he still managed to run up another £6,000-bill with Jaguar Coventry.

Our seller bought it in 2020 and has maintained that same tradition, covering around the same mileage and spending another couple of grand on keeping it running perfectly.

Finished in Solent Blue with a cream leather interior, ‘F493 OPC’ is one of the best examples we can recall seeing, making it one for the enthusiast who simply refuses to settle for second-best.

Estimate: £16,000 - £21,000

View Current Bid Price HERE