In 1989 Jaguar tuner Arden released the Arden AJ6, a Jaguar XJ-S 2+2 Coupe. It was the third car in a series of Jaguar XJ-S body variants that Arden built:

 

Arden AJ2, Jaguar XJ-S Convertible (1985)

Arden AJ3, Jaguar XJ-S Station Car (1987)

Arden AJ6, Jaguar XJ-S 2+2 Coupe (1989)

 

In all fairness the design-idea to create a more modern looking Jaguar XJ-S wasn't Arden's own; in 1985 the Daimler XJ-S was shown to the public, a Daimler-badged XJ-S variant that got rid of the so-called flying butresses that are so prominent in the original Jaguar XJ-S' design. The Daimler XJ-S was never produced beyond that one prototype and so it was a tuner like Arden (other's would follow) that picked up the idea and took to the challenge to build this car for the (albeit very limited) masses. The conversion looks very simple at first sight, but looks can be deceiving. The whole roof had to be removed and the rear body panels and trunk modified. The passenger- and rear window are completely new.

 

The main idea of re-designing the sleek XJ-S’ lines were to create more headroom for the rear passengers. Also the C-pilar of the original XJ-S was so large it became rather difficult to drive in reverse without crashing in to something. But lets be honest, the above are just a couple of lame excuses since the new Arden lines make the car look even better than the original, which wasn’t all that bad to begin with. Prices where high as you could expect: 40.000 DM for the body conversion. The stock XJ-S from Jaguar car costed 103.000 DM in 1989.

 

A very good comparison between the original Jaguar XJ-S (in the background) and the Arden AJ6 XJ-S

 

 

Quite a looker, possibly even more refined than the original, but this is a very personal note. Note that this Arden XJ-S AJ6 doesn't have the Arden bodykit fitted. Only the Arden rims tell you this is a tuner car.

 

If you liked the typical rear-end of the original Jaguar XJ-S this might not have been it, but there were quite a few people who didn't like it. The Arden AJ6 had none of that, so this might be a good (better) alternative for some people.

 

 


 

Different wheels for the Arden AJ6: OZ rims with Arden logos.

 


 

This is the AJ6 with the early 1990's Arden-design rims with the very typical Arden "A" for holes.

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Text: copyright Bram Corts

 

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