Rare Rides: A Lister Le Mans From 1990 Isn't Your Father's XJS
A little while back, we featured a red modified Jaguar XJS that spent some time at a joint Jaguar-TWR shop named JaguarSport and emerged as the XJR-S.
Today we have a look at another possible direction one can go when modifying an XJS. Presenting the Lister-Jaguar Le Mans.
The Lister family started out in engineering in 1890, when George Lister Engineering was founded. The automotive portion of the George Lister Engineering company was founded by Brian Lister in 1954. Lister was a racing driver who decided to put his knowledge to good use. He began developing modified versions of sports cars from Jaguar and Bristol, then took them racing.
Experiencing success in races across Europe (with Stirling Moss piloting their racing car, known as the Knobbly), the company wound down its activities by the early 1960s, going quiet for some time. That is, until its sale in 1986.
After being sold to engineering entrepreneur Laurence Pearce by Brian Lister and his sons, the engineer embarked upon a commercial rebirth for the brand. Enter Le Mans.
A lot more modified and a little more rare the the XJR-S, the Le Mans was built by Lister at its Leatherhead, England factory. Part of a run of cars beginning in 1986, this 1990 model is one of just 90 examples.
Unlike the XJR-S, which utilized the 6.0-liter Jaguar V12 as a starting point, the Le Mans kept the old 5.3-liter unit throughout production. The company immediately bored displacement out to six liters and added four additional fuel injectors. The crew fiddled with the engine management to get more power, and some internals were provided by Cosworth for extra sports measure.
The end result? The V12 now produced 482 horsepower, rocketing the coupe to over 200 miles per hour. Suspension and braking were both thoroughly reworked as well, along with that additional fat bodywork to cover up the huge tires.
The interior was re-trimmed in the bright red over parchment we see here. Recaro seats hide beneath those hides, and the scarlet carpeting seems all too fitting for the extreme exterior. Note the very non-XJS manual transmission.
According to Silverstone Auctions, there was a more extreme version of the Le Mans: 25 owners sent their standard 6.0-liter Le Mans cars back to Lister, where the engine was upgraded to a 7.0-liter V12. Cor!
The success of the Le Mans would lead Lister to produce a new racing car and accompanying homologation units in the early 1990s — the Storm (this is a separate Rare Rides). The company changed hands again in 2013, becoming part of the Warrantywise company. In 2016 Lister started production of exact-specification Knobblys, complete with personal delivery by Stirling Moss. He delivered the cars until he retired from public appearances in January 2018.
Today’s rare beast is located in the tax shelter of Luxembourg, and is yours for $61,505. Have your Swiss bank account info handy?
[Images via seller]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
More by Corey Lewis
Comments
Join the conversation
Would it help a flash lad like myself meet a saucy tart?
Love that they retained the walnut dash and power steering :)