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The 1978 Jaguar XJ Spider was bodied by the famous coachbuilder Pininfarina and produced for the London Motor Show. It had taken only five months to complete. Some styling was borrowed from the E-type such as the oval-shaped front air intake and its aggressive stance with the wheel-wells buldging over the wheels. It had a convertible top and pop-up headlights.
The front and rear were constructed of impact-absorbing polyurethane. The rear is rather long but this could mean there was plenty of luggage space making this vehicle the perfect grand touring automobile. Under the hood was a powerful Jaguar twelve-cylinder engine in 'vee' configuration. Future concept and production cars drew their inspiration from the XJ Spider, such as the F-Type prototype and the XK8. The XJ-Spider showed how the XJ-S may have been a worthy successor to the famous E-Type.
Underneath the bodywork resided a 5343cc V12, which produced 284 hp and was mated to a five-speed gearbox. Despite sharing the same chassis with the XJ-S, the Pininfarina XJ Spider was shorter, wider and rode lower than the XJ-S, giving it sportier intentions. As its new name suggested, it was given a convertible roof (beating Jaguar’s targa-roofed XJ-S by some 5 years), as well as some pop-up headlights and interesting instrumentation inside.
Specs:
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