Jaguar World Magazine Jaguar XK8 Book Special Issue

For a car that’s proved to be such a success, the XK8’s public debut was one very nearly shrouded in mist. Destined to be revealed by the lifting of a large ‘Jaguar’ packing crate at the Geneva show in March 1996, a trial run with dry ice using an XJ-S on the day before the show proved unsuccessful – the car was left with a dull hue over the bodywork! Come press day proper, the dry ice was a necessary casualty, but otherwise the planned public unveiling of the first XK8 went superbly well. The Jaguar stand was a hubbub of press and interested onlookers, and the car – a coupe with its bonnet locked down as the engine was still a secret at that point – was received very well. The same was true a month later, when the convertible was unveiled at the New York show. The XK8 had arrived.
In its first year of production over 14,000 examples were built, and the model’s appeal was further boosted for performance-minded buyers with the arrival of the supercharged XKR versions in 1998. The naturallyaspirated cars were quick, but the supercharged versions were considerably faster again…
That four-model combination of coupe and convertible in naturallyaspirated and supercharged forms continued throughout the model’s nine-year production run, and though it may have been technically outgunned by newer models from rival manufacturers by the end of its life, the V8-engined XK never lost its allure.
Some 91,406 examples had been built in total when the last model rolled off the Browns Lane production line on 27 May 2005, and today a wellmaintained XK8 or XKR has just as much head-turning ability as it would have when new. That appeal has meant a huge enthusiast following, fed by a wide range of models on the usedmarket to suit every pocket. And we hope that if you’re one of those enthusiasts, then you'll find this book's combination of articles offering buying and owning advice, service guides, plus road tests of both standard and modified examples, an invaluable reference.