1988 Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas

The 1988 Jaguar XJ6 holds a distinction that no other car in the brands history can claim: it was the last Jaguar that company founder Sir William Lyons personally consulted on before his passing. Lyons had retired a decade earlier but remained close enough to the development of this generation to review prototypes at his home, which means the car you are looking at carries his influence in its bones. The Vanden Plas was the top of that lineup, and only around 6,000 Vanden Plas editions were produced in 1988 out of nearly 200,000 XJ40s built, making it a genuinely rare specification on an already significant car. This one is finished in Satin Beige Metallic, a soft and elegant color that suits the long, formal lines of the XJ6 perfectly.

Under the hood is the 3.6 liter inline six backed by the three speed automatic, the combination that gives the XJ6 its well-documented character of smooth, effortless power delivery with a quiet, composed ride that very few cars of the era could match. Speed control, power everything, and a JG 200 radar system round out the mechanical specification of a car that was built to cover distance with minimum fuss and maximum comfort.

Inside, the Vanden Plas package brought hand-sewn, grain-matched leather seating, lambswool carpeting in the passenger footwells, and hand-picked burl walnut veneer that was matched end to reverse end for symmetry throughout the cabin. Power driver and passenger seats, heated seats, and a powered sunroof round out an interior that remains one of the most genuinely luxurious cabins produced anywhere in the world at its price point during the 1980s. The tan leather is clean and the wood trim is present throughout.

The Vanden Plas name traces back to a Belgian coachbuilder founded in 1870 that built carriages for European royalty before eventually becoming a division of the British Motor Corporation. By the time Jaguar applied the name to the top-trim XJ6, it carried a meaning that every buyer understood immediately. This was the version that left nothing on the table. A Satin Beige example with this level of equipment, in this condition, is exactly the kind of car that rewards the buyer who knows what they are looking at.

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