IF YOU’RE over six feet tall, you’ll know that there are certain things in life that might be very pretty, but aren’t very practical. Low, beamed ceilings for instance. Chandeliers. And the back seat of a Jaguar XJ40 or X300. For cars that are comfortably in excess of 16 feet in length, neither the XJ40 nor its facelifted successor was exactly palatial in the back – with taller passengers forced to wedge their knees in the seats and their heads in the headlining or to squat, splay legged, in order to maintain basic space.
It was clear in 1992 when Jaguar ceased production of the Daimler DS420 that while coachbuilders could happily build hearses based upon the XJ40, provincial mayors and the like would find Jaguar’s alternative choice of upmarket saloon a little too tight to be used for formal occasions. So the former Limousine shop was repurposed as Special Vehicle Operations – and its first project was to develop a longer XJ40.
That car would be announced at the 1992 British International Motor Show, held at the NEC in Jaguar’s Midlands home turf. As with the standard wheelbase the car attracted two project codes
