The XJC is a rare two-door version of the XJ6 four door saloon. When Sir William Lyons began styling exercises for the new XJ models in the mid 1960’s, it was obvious that he had notions of a two-door coupe in mind for eventual production. Many of the early mock-ups were based on the two-door theme in various shapes forms and sizes.

The two door bodied coupe is based on the shorter wheelbase XJ series I platform. Without the central window pillars, the coupe body suffered from two main problems; structural rigidity and severe wind noise. The widening and strengthening of the rear window pillar overcame the rigidity problem. The wind noise problem was due to a low-pressure area forming in the window area. This tended to pull the front side windows outward and away from the sealing surfaces mounted on the rear side windows. Jaguar remedied the problem with an ingenious pulley and cable system that pressed the front windows inward toward the seals. This ingenious pulley system was nicknamed ‘ Monkey Climb ‘ by its designer and Jaguars Chief Engineer at the time, Cyril Crouch. Nevertheless, the result is a car that although not as quiet as a regular saloon, is still reasonably quiet. For most XJC owners it seems that there is always one window that fails to go all the way down !  most frustrating.

When the XJ coupes arrived, they were clearly meant to be the sporty version of the XJ models. In the UK, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia they were offered in four versions:

Jaguar 4.2 coupe        Jaguar 5.3 coupe       Daimler Sovereign coupe         Daimler Double Six coupe

In the North American market, XJC's were only offered in two forms: 

The twelve cylinder XJC’s came standard with fuel injection, except for some prototypes, early production and European models. All North American XJC models came with air conditioning and automatic transmissions as standard equipment, as well as chromed disc wheels, white wall tyres and leather faced seating. Another basic difference between the two markets were the bumper bars. North America had rubber faced bumpers whilst the ROW had the full chrome bumpers.

In the UK market, air and manual transmission were optional, as were the choice of leather or cloth seats.  All coupes were equipped with a black vinyl roof as standard equipment, except for the one which was specially produced for Jaguars Andrew Whyte.The actual reason for the standard vinyl roof was not clear, but contrary to urban legend it was not because there was a welded seam in the roof ! Most likely it was because the marketing folks insisted on it, as vinyl roofs were the flavour of the month in the automotive industry at that time. Whatever the case, many present-day owners have chosen to remove this feature. This could be due to the fact that the original Jaguar vinyl is no longer available off the roll. It is still available as spare part No: BD 42835, and I did in fact see one on my last trip to England in June 2000. With the vinyl...without the vinyl, either way they still look sleek, slinky and sexy!

XJC’s are extremely well proportioned and have a masculine testosterone filled air to them, as well as sexy sensuous styling lines . The styling of the pillar-less coupe gives a sense of ‘openness’ that is often associated with a convertible. The shorter wheelbase also gives the car an incredible appearance of balance and surefooted aggressiveness. The coupe tends to crouch like a cat ready to pounce at any second. The car somehow feels quite smaller than the longer wheelbase four door cars, when in fact it is only four inches shorter, and it’s handling seems a little bit different as well. Looking at it from side on, the XJC is truly beautiful, its flowing curvaceous lines hypnotise the beholder into a stupefying lovesick daze.
 

Some owners say that photographs don’t do the car justice, and that it is more beautiful in real life….how true. The doors are large and heavy with each door weighing around 200Ibs. Rear seating is spacious behind these large doors, but special bucket seats that fold forward allow access to the rear seat compartment. This arrangement will comfortably seat four to five adults. If an open-air experience is more to your liking, and you love the wind in your hair, then you might prefer a convertible XJC. The Avon-Stevens coachwork company in the UK produced a few XJC’s in convertible form.
 

Sadly the production of the XJC was all too short. After commencement in 1975 the last of these great vehicles rolled off the line in November 1977.  The final 96 coupes were actually badged as 1978 cars for what reason is anybody's guess. The XJC was a victim of the times and was never given the attention or backing it deserved.  Paradoxically this has helped the XJC to become the rare collectible classic it is today.  Although prices have never reached the dizzy heights of e-types.  It remains one of, if not the best value for money classic cars that you can buy.  At most Jaguar shows the XJC is always in the winners circle for the 'most popular' car awards. It is for these very reasons that the JDHT has started to remanufacture parts for XJC's again.

To this day, the XJC is Jaguars only two-door fixed head coupe saloon.