Junkyard Find: 1992 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas Majestic

by Murilee Martin

Published: February 4th, 2019

junkyard find 1992 jaguar xj6 vanden plas majestic

Jaguar XJ40s are so plentiful in U-Wrench-It yards that I don’t even notice them as I wander around searching for the elusive Suzuki Equator (no luck there, yet). In fact, none of the Jags I’ve photographed prior to today’s Junkyard Find have been XJ40s, but we’ve got a one-of-121-built super-rarity here in Denver: a genuine Vanden Plas Majestic!

I must admit that I’d never heard of the Majestic before spotting this car, and my first thought that that I was looking at aftermarket badges sold by Manny, Moe, and/or Jack.

However, the MAJESTIC badging is everywhere in this car, so I realized I had a factory-built special edition car in front of me. The stretched wheelbase was a clue, too.

Determining the cause of junkyardization proved easy enough. It’s a shame for a car like this to end its career in some depressingly everyday crash with, I dunno, a Chrysler Cirrus.

The El Cheapo window-film job indicates that the final owner may not have been quite as wealthy as the car’s original purchaser.

The list price of the ’92 Majestic came to $59,500, or just over $108,000 in 2019 dollars. The 1992 Lexus LS400 went for $42,200, but didn’t have quite as swanky an interior.

The 4.0-liter straight-six made 223 horsepower, which resulted in leisurely acceleration for this two-tonner. Not that anyone bought this car for fast driving, of course.

This must have been one of the last American-market car ads to emphasize the ashtray.

If you like these junkyard posts, you can reach all 1600+ right here at the Junkyard Home of the Murilee Martin Lifestyle Brand!

#1990s #1992 #1992JaguarXJ6 #BritishCar #BritishCars #Colorado #Denver #Depreciation #DownOnTheJunkyard #Jaguar #VandenPlas #Junkyard #JunkyardFind #LuxuryCar #LuxurySedans #LuxurySedan #JaguarXJ6

Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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5 of 46 comments

EGSE on Feb 04, 2019

A close-up of the pod to the right of the steering wheel would've been interesting to see what all those buttons are for. Murilee's junkyard series is one of my favorite reads on TTAC.

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- Jagboi on Feb 04, 2019
  
  Trip computer and cruise control. The switch on the vertical panel is for cruise on/off and resume. The buttons on the sloping panel are trip computer functions.
  
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- Lie2me on Feb 04, 2019
  
  @Jagboi Bet none of them worked
  
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- Jagboi on Feb 04, 2019
  
  @Lie2me Cruise was made by Hella, it seemed pretty durable.
  
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Superdessucke on Feb 05, 2019

That half shaft holding up the hood of the Majestic is so undignified!

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Redapple2 I gave up on Honda. My 09 Accord Vs my 03. The 09s- V 6 had a slight shudder when deactivating cylinders. And the 09 did not have the 03 's electro luminescent gages. And the 09 had the most uncomfortable seats. My brother bought his 3rd and last Honda CRV. Brutal seats after 25 minutes. NOW, We are forever Toyota, Lexus, Subaru people now despite HAVING ACCESS TO gm EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT. Despite having access to the gm employee discount. Man, that is a massive statement. Wow that s bad - Under no circumstances will I have that govna crap.
Redapple2 Front tag obscured. Rear tag - clear and sharp. Huh?
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2ACL I have a soft spot for high-performance, shark-nosed Lancers (I considered the less-potent Ralliart during the period in which I eventually selected my first TL SH-AWD), but it's can be challenging to find a specimen that doesn't exhibit signs of abuse, and while most of the components are sufficiently universal in their function to service without manufacturer support, the SST isn't one of them. The shops that specialize in it are familiar with the failure as described by the seller and thus might be able to fix this one at a substantial savings to replacement. There's only a handful of them in the nation, however. A salvaged unit is another option, but the usual risks are magnified by similar logistical challenges to trying to save the original.I hope this is a case of the seller overvaluing the Evo market rather than still owing or having put the mods on credit. Because the best offer won't be anywhere near the current listing.