Traded one great mid engined V-6 for another

I finally sold my '74 Dino 246 GTS. None of my kids wanted it, and I was barely putting on 800 miles a year. So it's gone to a new home where I hope the owner is loving it as much as I did.
Then the empty garage spot bothered me and I went shopping. What I found, and recently bought (and am now spending the equivalent of a nice 430 spider on recommissioning a 25 year old car with 400 miles on the odometer) is a 90's supercar. Mid-engined, V-6, but a bit larger than the Dino.

1994 Jaguar XJ220-N (known also as XJ220 GT). Prepared for the Italian GT series in 1993 along with 2 other 220s by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), but somehow still road legal. Has a Jaguar serial # and title plus a TWR chassis plate denoting it as XJ220-N chassis #003. This thing is HUGE. It's 2 sister cars (race # 11 and 12) did fairly well in the series, with #11 in Martini livery coming in second in nearly every race (behind an F-40, but ahead of 5 other F-40s). This was the backup car, which was never needed, hence the low mileage. Has all the TWR go-fast bits, stripped interior, carbon/kevlar race seat, external ignition cutoff, fire system, straight pipes, engine bumped to 600 bhp from 557, etc.

But having never been driven it's going through a 6 month teardown, new bag tanks, cambelts, tensioners, seals, clutch, suspension rebuild, turbo rebuilds, interior updating and remapping for 700 bhp from the current 600.
I'll keep you posted!


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Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Interior is race car stripped, except for the dash, which they left in beautiful gray leather. Even center tranny tunnel is in bare aluminum. Here i am sitting on the floor (did I mention it is huge?) so they can measure for a new Recaro. The carbon/kevlar Recaro seat that came in the car is 26 years old, too small for me, and the 2 standard 220 seats weigh a ton although very luxurious and comfortable. Odd mix of race car toggle switches and buttons with OEM dash and instruments. No key.

 

Thanks Simon. I needed a good laugh after the day I've had.