Jaguar XJ 220

I’ve written before that I am not *really* a car guy, which is true in so far as my own tastes in automobiles err to function over form. That said, I definitely enjoy watching Top Gear and can appreciate the art and engineering in really fancy cars, which is why I took notice when I saw this thing just ahead of me in traffic on the way to work the other day.

From a distance I thought it was some kind of Lamborghini, but when I got close I was surprised to see the Jaguar badge on the back. Turns out that some guy in Auckland has imported a rare XJ 220 super car that Jaguar built back between 1992-1994. Apparently at the time it was the fastest super car out there, capable of 350 km/h (217 mph). It was trumped by the McLaren F1 in 1994. Lots more on Wikipedia.

Definitely an interesting piece of automotive history, with only 281 ever built and now days fetching north of NZ$259k (US$125k) as a collectors item. According to carjam.co.nz this particular example only has 469 miles on the clock so hasn’t been driven much in the last 15 years or so.