This email came in from our fellow club member Michael Brouillette…
Since I found my 1987 5 spd V12 Lister Jaguar XJ-SC last year, I have tried to gather as much information about these rare and unique 80’s Jaguars. While down one of my automotive rabbit holes expeditions, I discovered another 80’s 5 spd V12 Lister Jaguar in Nebraska. Through the Jaguar Forums, I was able to contact the friend of the owner who shared that the owner’s brother was a successful Silicon Valley executive. Unproven fun fact….I was told that Bill Gates worked for this executive. The executive had read an article in Road & Track and just had to have the car. He contacted Gary Bartlett at Lister North America and soon received his rare 5 spd XJS. The car spent several years in the San Francisco area and after the owner’s passing, was inherited by his brother who lived in Nebraska.
I’m pleased to share that the Nebraska Lister has recently been sold to a multiple Jag owner in eastern Tennessee and is back on the road with approximately 55k miles. I’ve been in touch with the new owner and hope to compare cars soon and share what I’ve learned about Lister North America. While the owner in Nebraska couldn’t prove it, he said his car was the same one in the attached article. Even to Jag enthusiasts, few people even knew of the existence of these rare 5 spd V12 cats. According to Gary Bartley, former president of Lister North America, they produced about 20 full Lister conversions which included the manual transmission and about 200 appearance packages that remained as automatics.
And here is a copy of that Road & Track article that inspired the tech exec to hunt one down!
Michael Brouillette