Junkyard Find: 1992 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas Majestic

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin
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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!
Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Writer d'Elegance Brougham Landau.

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  • EGSE 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.

    • See 2 previous
    • Jagboi Jagboi on Feb 04, 2019

      @Lie2me Cruise was made by Hella, it seemed pretty durable.

  • Superdessucke Superdessucke on Feb 05, 2019

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

  • John It is ashame that a company that evaluates toaster ovens, like consumer reports, is allowed to cast such negative press upon what is perhaps the world's best selling pickup truck, such being a classic engineering marvel like the ford f150 series. I have personally bought, lived with, and have driven these vehicles for almost half a century, and I can tell you that to me they are incredible wonderfully crafted machines that have been not only helpful in every respect a truck can be, but beautiful to drive particularly with the modern technology packages now incorporated in their systems packages. I say leave the evaluations and judgement calls to those who's knowledge of automotive engineering and design are expert to the matter in question.
  • Tassos https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3pZZPpk6/1989-mercedes-benz-300seAwesome Tassos' Playmate of the dayI could not resist this one, which is a Gorgeous S class, and sold for practically peanuts, $2,600!!!! It is a lowly 300 SE from 1989, big, safe as hell, heavy and underpowered. The IDEAL car to buy for your punk kid going to college. And you can buy THREE of them for the price of that POS Honda Fit Clown car!!!!
  • SCE to AUX This is a policy problem, not a technology problem. Asking electric buses to do this service is just as absurd as asking a fleet of jitney drivers to do it.But they're thinking too small - the Tesla Semi could do the job.
  • TheEndlessEnigma Ah Mini, the news no-one was waiting for.
  • TheEndlessEnigma Gruesome Newsom has spoken, you are now required to bow and do his bidding.
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