MWK 28G: The Superlative Jaguar XJ (English language version)

The Series 1 Jaguar XJ was of pivotal importance to the fortunes of Jaguar. The last model whose development was personally overseen by Sir William Lyons, it is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful saloon cars ever made and was acknowledged as a marvel of engineering (largely thanks to the efforts of Technical Director, Bill Heynes) from the day of its launch. This is the incredible story of MWK 28G, an especially early Series 1 - ’Chassis No. 19’, the nineteenth of twenty ’development cars’ that were hand-built prior to commencement of mainline production. Jonathan Heynes was one of the team of young apprentices who built the development cars; son of Bill Heynes, he himself would spend a quarter of a century at Brown’s Lane and his automotive career went on to include chairmanship of Reliant. MWK 28G became the first Jaguar XJ ever to be road-registered, on 1 August 1968, and was used by Jaguar as both a publicity car (’Press Car One’) and as a test car by the research and