Was watching this '93 T.V. movie Friday night and was stunned to see how much camera time was given to the pre-face lift black/doeskin convertible ('91?) Faye Dunaway (the villainess) was driving in it. I wonder if Jaguar loaned the car for use in the movie if the showās producers agreed, in exchange, to really show it off or something.
If you have never seen this movie (I couldnāt find it on YouTube to post a link here), near the beginning of the show Dunaway slowly drives up to her $$ place in the car, which looks brand-spanking new, btw. While she waits before driving it on into the garage, Falk (Columbo) walks up to the passenger side window and taps on the glass. She pushes the console button and lowers the window. Falk sticks his head in and engages her in conversation for a couple of minutes or so, while she sits there, engine idling. At some point she pushes the console button and retracts the top, continuing to talk to Falk through the window for a little while, before slowly driving it into the garage.
Not sure why she put the top down before parking it in the garage (isnāt it usually the other way around?), but again maybe it was something Jaguar wanted the producers to do with their car, to show off the retractable top feature. Only thing is I didnāt see her flip any pair of clips near the front of the roof before retracting it, and I thought you had to do that with the XJS (or is it fully automatic?). Also noticed the top motors didnāt make any audible sound during the process - are they really that quiet, or was that edited out? You could almost not even hear the engine running during the whole scene, either. Are the 5.3s THAT quiet when new, or again was some creative editing work done?
btw, I speculate the XJS was a '91 MY, b/c it was a full pre-face lift w. quad (4) headlights, so not a '92. "91 would be the next earliest year with those. It might have instead been a '90 or even an '89.
Timeisrelative
(Jason Miller 1993 XJS 4.0 convertible, 1997 XK8 coupe )
4
Yes we just finished watching through ALL of the Columboās recently, as I have always loved them so I bought the box set. There are quite a few episodes and movies where they used an xjs. Yes, I had just made mention on the other jag forum about that movie with Faye. I also made mention that I found out something from the one movie that Iāve wondered about since I got mine. Iāve often wondered how my car starts when cold, compared to how it did when new. Needless to say, in the one movie from 1992, Tyne Daly drives a brand new either 92 or 93my (depending on what month) xjs. It sits in the one place outside overnight, which part of me thinks it actually did because they have it in the same spot in a night shot and a morning shot along with dew on it. Ok I know they can movie magic it, but still. They have a female officer drive her home and when they start it, wooohooooo! It sounds very close to how mine does when cold! Mystery solved! Oh, and just one more thing no, I donāt remember Faye unhooking the top first either, but part of me thought she was leaving the garage. I could be wrong
Columbo? The Saint??? Rubbish!
It seems that everyone forgot about most popular two seasons of TV series where Jaguar XJS is not appearing somewhere in the background - but is creating entire scenario!!!
Season 1
Season 2
Obviously, V12 versionā¦
Timeisrelative
(Jason Miller 1993 XJS 4.0 convertible, 1997 XK8 coupe )
6
Not sure why theyāre pouring water on it ā¦ Those are usually fuel and/or electrical fires, which I thought water = no no ā¦ Use foam extinguishing instead ā¦
Another example of why to always keep a foam extinguisher on your passenger front floorboard (the XJ220s even come with one mounted there!). At sign of fire pop the hood but do NOT release the catch. Stick extinguisher hose in the cracked opening and blast away until fire is out. THEN open the hood/bonnet.
For Series 3 fans, there is a nice black one @ about 15:30 that the bad guys try to run off the road (well, they do). I thought it funny that each time their vehicle 'hits" the driverās side of the Jag you donāt see the actual impact. Apparently the ābangā sounds were dubbed in later. I have a hunch whomever let them have that S3 ('87? '86?) loaned it on the condition that it was NOT to get damaged in the filming.
It is a common filming technique. A frantic car chase, what looks like a crash, a jump cut, a bent/burning wreck. Right up there with the random stack of empty cardboard boxes in a disused warehouse that has to be driven through.
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Timeisrelative
(Jason Miller 1993 XJS 4.0 convertible, 1997 XK8 coupe )
15
I like the ones where they slam sideways into a tree, drive off and then the car is fine! I remember a dukes of hazzard where they hit a tree sideways and they kept the damage! Of course they took it to Cooter and he had it fixed in a day or two! I need a mechanic like him!
Best Jag chases were in the Sweeney, a british TV show about 1970ās special branchā¦ check this out, the criminals obviously didnāt get the best driver in this oneā¦ Jaguar Chase London Bank Robbery Getaway - YouTube
I donāt think that damage will buff out
The Sweeney was fabulous 70ās TV. The villains always drove transit vans or Jags - mostly MKIIs - the coppers drove Ford Granadas. I donāt know if it was intentional that when John Thaw transformed from Detective Jack Regan in the Sweeney to Inspector Morse that they gave him a MKII.
Most famous quote: āShut it! Get your trousers on, youāre nickedā
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Timeisrelative
(Jason Miller 1993 XJS 4.0 convertible, 1997 XK8 coupe )
18
Love The Sweeney, and loved Morse before I watched the Sweeney. I really like the newer series Endeavor too. It is cool watching Sweeney and seeing cars Iāve never seen before! Just watched one where the girl drove a Reliant Scimitar! I had never seen one before! I like it! Also weird to see a hot girl and then realize that theyāre either really old or dead by now. Smh! The other thing I noticed is that even though itās rated tvpg, thereās been at least one topless scene on itā:flushed:
LOL, Timer. Funny, I had just finished reading an article about that show and all the āGeneral Leesā in it. Would you believe they had over 700 of those cars ābuiltā for the show, during its (7-year?) run? This was b/c of all the ones they had to crash during the show. I think after the series wrapped they said they only had one sole āsurvivorā car and a bunch of āleftoversā for parts. Wow. I donāt know how they could afford that kind of production costs, but I guess b/c the show was such a big hit they could charge the biggest $$ for ads during it to cover the expenses and more. I have heard that, ever since the recent āneo-Civil Rights movementā, some stations are refusing to show reruns of the program b/c of the General Lee with its Confederate flags on it and all. Others will show it, but are going to remove any scenes that show the Confederate flag on the car.
As to that chase scene with the Series 1 (2?), are they really that errr āspeedyā, or was the engine built up a bit for that scene? If for real, I think I need to look at trading my XJSes in for one of those ā¦ looks like they can blow the doors off either Superblue or Superblack ā¦
Friday night and was stunned to see how much camera time was given to the pre-face lift black/doeskin convertible ('91?) Faye Dunaway (the villainess) was driving in it. 
I wonder if Jaguar loaned the car for use in the movie if the showās producers agreed, in exchange, to really show it off or something. 
Use foam extinguishing instead ā¦ 
pop the hood but do NOT release the catch. Stick extinguisher hose in the cracked opening and blast away until fire is out. THEN open the hood/bonnet. 
Would you believe they had over 700 of those cars ābuiltā for the show, during its (7-year?) run? 
This was b/c of all the ones they had to crash during the show. I think after the series wrapped they said they only had one sole āsurvivorā car and a bunch of āleftoversā for parts. Wow. I donāt know how they could afford that kind of production costs, but I guess b/c the show was such a big hit they could charge the biggest $$ 
for ads during it to cover the expenses and more. 
I have heard that, ever since the recent āneo-Civil Rights movementā, some stations are refusing to show reruns of the program b/c of the General Lee with its Confederate flags on it and all. Others will show it, but are going to remove any scenes that show the Confederate flag on the car. 
If for real, I think I need to look at trading my XJSes in for one of those ā¦ looks like they can blow the doors off either Superblue or Superblack ā¦ 