SUBSCRIBE TO THE
MAGAZINE NOW
Facebook-f Instagram

The New Avengers’ big cat

25 October, 2015

 

The 1976 XJ12-C Broadspeed driven by John Steed in the 1970s TV series The New Avengers, fetched £62,000 (NZ$141,079) at a recent H&H Classics’ auction in the UK, some £50,000 (NZ$113,773) more than its initially estimated worth.

‘NWK 60P’ — wearing chassis #2G1008BW — began life as a pre-production prototype vehicle for the marque. Bought by a private collector at the H&H Classics’ auction at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridge, the XJ12-C completed its early development and testing work with Jaguar before being sent to Broadspeed Engineering Ltd to be fitted with upgraded bodykit, including wider bumpers and wheel arches, plus bigger wheels and tyres in preparation for filming.

Following the series finale in 1977, the Jaguar was sold and passed through the hands of multiple owners before being sold at the NEC Classic Car Show in the early 1990s. After the sale, this famous Jaguar disappeared from public view and remained in hibernation for the next two decades.

Super affordable supercar

9 April, 2026

The owner of this 1978 GTV, Stephen Perry, with only a skerrick of wishful thinking, says through half-closed eyes, “It is not dissimilar to the Maserati Khamsin”.
The nose is particularly trim and elegant from all angles, featuring cut-outs for the headlights echoing Alfa’s own exotic Montreal. The body is unfussy, lean with lots of glass, and the roofline shows a faint family resemblance — although on a much more angular car — to the curved waistline of the earlier 105s. The slightly hunched rear means there’s much more space in the rear seats than in the cramped rear of 105s — very much a 2+2 — and a generous boot. These more severe lines are not quite as endearing as the 105’s but they are still classy and clearly European.