Well, a little bit: after all, they are local to me and I am always going to be biased as it's a car I love!
I understand the sentiment, Head Office is also from that neck of the woods.
However, it does read a bit like my minds made up, so don't bore me with the facts. Let me expatiate further, as I nearly put down a deposit for one of these, but couldn't justify it in the end; luckily as it turned out.
I don't think the history of the engine particularly matters. At the end of the day the original concept showcased it as having a big, heavy V12 that was struggling to meet emissions regs.
I think the engine is really part of the DNA of a car, and Jaguar's V12 is one of the classic engines, even if by the late 80's it was having difficulties with emissions. I am sure you will have read that it was designed as a racing engine for use in a Le Mans car and featured in the XJ13. Now that would have been a true Jaguar, if it had been developed and produced. It was productionised and launched in the E-Type, only Jaguar's second engine, and was fitted by Jaguar from 1971 to 1996.
On the other hand and from memory, the engine in the 6R4 was initially developed from the Rover V8 (of 1961 Buick parenthood) with 2-cylinders lopped off, and whilst it was rumoured that Cosworth had some input, due to its antecedents it was fundamentally not ideally balanced, but nevertheless this was not considered important as it was developed for use in a rally car.
Hey ho, this is the race developed engine that was cobbled together by TWR with added turbo's to replace the iconic Jaguar V12 that was promised for this car.
Like you I love the story of the team that developed the XJ220 working secretly out-of-hours, etc, but to my mind and many others the final product was a travesty of what was promised. What happened to the scissor doors, etc, etc...
In fact, the Jaguar Sport (TWR) produced Jaguar XJR-15, being based mechanically on the Le Mans-winning Jaguar XJR-9 with an aerodynamic body styled by Peter Stevens, was more of the Jaguar supercar than the XJ220, despite being produced for the track. Certainly, they had no difficulty selling the 50-planned at nearly $1 million a throw...
As we've now high-jacked this thread away from your original post, I'll now shut-up but it's good to remember the full history.
