Lot 214 - 1984 Lister Jaguar XJS Mk. III

Supplied by Jaguar main agents E.W.Marshall and Son of 34 Burrell Street, London SE1, finished in  black coachwork and assigned with its first registration ‘PM 4’ on the 7^th November 1984, as confirmed by the original service book retained on file within the original owners wallet supplied with the car.

Like most of the cars constructed by Lister, it began life as a standard XJS V12 HE coupe and as such retains its Jaguar chassis number. The only Lister cars allocated with Lister chassis numbers were new body shells supplied to Lister and built from the ground up.      

According to the stamps within the original service book, the Jaguar was serviced by Henlys (London) Ltd on the 29^th May 1985 with the mileage at 4,785 miles. The next stamp shows another service by Henlys on 18^th December 1985 with the mileage at 10,271 miles. The third and final stamp in the book shows a service completed by Follett Jaguar on 16^th February 1987 at 22,377 miles.

Whilst we are unsure of the exact time that the car was sent to Lister for its transformation, we understand this was one of the very last cars constructed by WP Automotive Ltd, the company responsible for Lister production, before they went into bankruptcy in 1994.

‘The car was inspected at WP Automotive Ltd’s Leatherhead premises in mid-1994 following the insolvency of the company and formed part of the company assets being sold on the instructions of insolvency practitioners’

‘The car comprised essentially of an impressive rolling body shell with full ‘Le Mans’ widebody coachwork that had been recently refinished in dark metallic blue (believed to be Rolls Royce Royal Blue). The car was situated within a paint booth at the WP Automotive HQ at the time of inspection and the engine had been removed; the majority of soft trim was not installed; some light units and the centre consul were not present’

Believed to be one of the very last Lister models constructed, its final assembly was never fully completed due to WP Automotive going into administration and it was subsequently sold as part of WP Automotive company assets. Fitted with the final series of full wide body ‘Le Mans’ bodywork, rarely seen on the Mk. III model, the car was sold to a private collector who approached Ron Beaty of Forward Engineering who agreed to supply and build an engine as a special commission for this particular car, since Lister engine production had ceased the year before.

Throughout the Lister/WP Automotive production life, the modified engines used in the cars were developed and supplied by leading Jaguar development engineer Ron Beaty of Forward Engineering in Coventry, UK, whose career had begun at Jaguar in the 1960s and who was instrumental within the V12 programme at Jaguar and worked closely with TWR to help develop their engines.

There were a number of bespoke engine configurations offered by Lister in period on the V12 platform, the standard engine being 5.3 litre. Some of these options included increasing displacement to 6.0L, 6.3L, 7.0L, 7.0L with twin superchargers and even a 7.3L! Buyers could choose their exact specification depending on their driving style and personal requirements.  

On Beatty’s advice, the engine for this car was built to 6.3 litre with normal aspiration, this specification being the best all round option for peak torque/horsepower and reliability yet retaining the wonderful high revving nature of the V12 motor. The exact specification of the car is listed below and documented by correspondence held on file from Forward Engineering dated 24^th March 1995.

Also with the car is a dyno sheet that shows the torque and horsepower of the motor. Beaty states ‘NB for comparison standard H.E 5.3L gives approx. 285Bhp and 310 lbs Ft torque’. The results on the dyno sheet show the versatile nature of the engine, with an impressive 323.3 Lbs Ft torque at just 1250rpm and highest torque of 403.8 Lbs Ft at 4000rpm with a peak of 395bhp at 5500rpm!  

The engine was duly delivered in late 1995 and fitted into the car after running for ten hours on the dyno. The Lister subsequently returned to long term storage with periodic tyre pressure & antifreeze checks being carried out, where it remained for the next twenty-six years until it was acquired by the vendor in 2021.

With less than 100 examples ever constructed by Lister/WP Automotive, this is a very exciting opportunity to acquire a highly collectible 1980s supercar that has never been offered on the open market, ready to be completed to the new owner’s personal specification.

Supplied with a historical file containing its original owner’s handbook and service book, documentation from Forward Engineering detailing the bespoke engine build specification and photos, copies of old V5 documents, current UK V5C registration document and a letter from the insolvency practitioners confirming the car was at Lister/ WP Automotive at the time of their bankruptcy, this important big Cat is an unrepeatable opportunity with great future potential.

Interested parties should note that contrary to the catalogue description there is no letter held on file from the owner of the company responsible for selling Listers assets but instead email correspondence.