About the Jaguar XJS Soft Tops Club
About the XJS Soft Tops Club
About our Club
The XJS Soft Tops Club is a worldwide community for owners and enthusiasts of Jaguar’s XJ-SC Cabriolet, XJS Convertible and the other specialist soft-top versions of the Jaguar XJS.
Membership is completely free and is open to anyone with an interest in these distinctive Jaguars. You do not have to own a concours car, undertake your own mechanical work or possess specialist knowledge. Some members own beautifully restored examples, some regularly tour in their cars, some are working through long-term restoration projects and others simply have an enthusiasm for the models.
What brings the Club together is the member’s shared belief that the soft-top versions of the Jaguar XJS are something rather special and that the knowledge, photographs, experiences and histories surrounding them are worth sharing and preserving.
The Club is run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. It carries no paid advertising or commercial sponsorship and there is no joining fee. Members are simply encouraged to take part when they can, whether by contributing to a discussion, sharing a photograph, creating a Car Album or telling the story of something they have done with their Jaguar.
Whether you are restoring your first XJ-SC Cabriolet, enjoying long journeys in an XJS Convertible or simply researching one of these remarkable cars, you will find other members who share that enthusiasm.
Our Story
In the Beginning
The story of the XJS Soft Tops Club can be traced back to 2014, when Laurence Jones bought a 1985 Jaguar XJ-SC Cabriolet and began looking online for information about his new car.
There were already excellent Jaguar clubs and forums covering the wider Jaguar range and the XJS itself, but many of the questions arising from ownership of an XJ-SC Cabriolet were particular to that model. The unusual roof arrangement, Cabriolet-specific trim, seals and fittings meant that advice which applied to an XJS Coupe did not necessarily answer the questions being asked by Cabriolet owners.
There was also the International Cabriolet Register, created and run for many years by John B, which had undertaken the remarkable task of tracing the surviving examples of the 5,013 Jaguar XJ-SC Cabriolets produced. Owners could discover information about their car, its production and how many examples of a similar specification were known to exist.
What seemed to be missing was somewhere that owners and enthusiasts could come together as a community: somewhere to exchange practical knowledge, share photographs and stories, learn from other owners and perhaps meet one another at Jaguar shows and events.
That idea gradually developed into the community which would become the XJS Soft Tops Club.
The Birth of the XJS Soft Tops Club
From those early beginnings, the XJS Soft Tops Club was formally launched in December 2016 with a new Club website and an ambition which remains largely unchanged today: to bring together owners and enthusiasts of Jaguar’s soft-top XJS models.
The Club has always embraced both of Jaguar’s principal factory soft-top models — the XJ-SC Cabriolet and the later XJS Convertible — while also recognising other important variations such as the Hess & Eisenhardt Convertible and specialist conversions produced from the XJS Coupe.
Many of the early members were Cabriolet owners who had previously registered their cars with the International Cabriolet Register, but he Club steadily attracted owners of XJS Convertibles and enthusiasts from much further afield.
Membership has continued to grow and by 2026 numbers more than 900 members around the world.
Over the years members have met one another at Jaguar and classic car shows, organised local gatherings and made friendships that would never have happened without a shared enthusiasm for these cars.
The Club Today
The Club has inevitably changed as the internet itself has changed. The website has been rebuilt and developed several times as members’ expectations, mobile devices and social media have altered the way people communicate online.
The Club also established its presence on Facebook, allowing it to reach owners and enthusiasts who may never previously have discovered the website. Social media is useful for quick conversations and photographs, but the Club website remains the permanent home of our accumulated knowledge, stories and records.
Today’s website has been designed increasingly around member participation. Rather than simply reading pages produced by an administrator, members can create their own Car Albums, contribute Gallery Photos, publish Activity Reports, join Forum discussions and share information that may help another owner months or even years later.
That matters increasingly as our cars grow older. Parts become harder to find, specialist knowledge becomes more valuable and the experiences of owners who have already solved a particular problem deserve to be preserved for those who encounter it in the future.
The Cars We Celebrate
Jaguar’s Soft-Top XJS
The Jaguar XJS enjoyed a remarkably long production life, but its soft-top derivatives have their own distinct histories and characters.
The XJ-SC Cabriolet introduced open-air motoring to the XJS range while retaining a substantial central roof structure and removable roof panels. Its unusual combination of Cabriolet and Targa-style design gives it an appearance and character quite unlike the Coupe from which it was developed.
Jaguar later introduced the fully open XJS Convertible, creating a very different interpretation of the same grand touring car. These cars combined the long-distance character of the XJS with the appeal of a fully folding roof and became one of the most recognisable versions of Jaguar’s long-running grand tourer.
Alongside Jaguar’s own cars were important specialist conversions, most notably those produced by Hess & Eisenhardt, together with a smaller number of conversions created by specialist coachbuilders and bodyshops.
Each variation has its own details, strengths, weaknesses and ownership experiences. Bringing owners together means those differences can be understood and the increasingly valuable knowledge surrounding them can be retained.
Sharing Knowledge & Experience
Discussion Forums
The Club’s Discussion Forums provide somewhere for members to ask questions, exchange knowledge and help one another with the many aspects of owning and enjoying an XJS soft-top.
The Technical Forum is the place for mechanical, electrical, restoration and maintenance questions. The General Forum provides somewhere for everything else connected with the cars and the Club, while the For Sale & Wanted Forum allows members to advertise cars, parts and other relevant items or ask whether another member can help locate something they need.
A question asked by one member often produces knowledge that is useful to many others. Keeping those discussions on the Club website also creates a searchable record which may help another owner encountering the same problem in the future.
Member Car Albums
A Car Album is much more than a collection of photographs. It gives every member the opportunity to create an evolving record of their own Jaguar.
An Album can tell the history of the car, record restoration and maintenance work, document modifications and improvements, remember holidays and trips or simply preserve the small stories that gradually become part of a car’s life.
Albums can be updated whenever there is something new to add, gradually becoming an individual history of both the Jaguar and the member’s ownership of it.
Photo Gallery
Sometimes a photograph is all that is needed.
The Member Photo Gallery allows members around the world to share photographs of their cars, whether beautifully presented at a show, parked somewhere memorable during a journey, undergoing restoration or simply sitting on the driveway on a particularly good day.
Each photograph can also carry its own story, giving other members an opportunity to discover a little more about the car, where it was photographed and the person who owns it.
Activity Reports
Activity Reports give members somewhere to share the things they have actually been doing with their cars.
That might be a drive through the countryside, a weekend away, attendance at a Jaguar show, a visit to a motoring museum, a local meeting with other members or simply an enjoyable day out in an XJS.
Members can add a main photograph, tell the story of the activity and include supporting photographs. It provides an easy way to share recent adventures without needing to create a formal article or add another chapter to a Car Album.
As more members contribute, Activity Reports also become a living record of where these cars are being driven and enjoyed around the world.
Member Articles
Some subjects deserve more space than a Forum discussion or an Activity Report can provide.
Member Articles allow longer stories, technical experiences, restoration projects, modifications, ownership histories and other subjects of interest to XJ-SC Cabriolet and XJS Convertible enthusiasts to be preserved on the Club website.
Articles written from first-hand experience are particularly valuable. A solution discovered during a restoration today may be exactly the information another owner needs several years from now.
Join our Club
Becoming a Member
Membership of the XJS Soft Tops Club is completely free and is open to owners and enthusiasts of the Jaguar XJ-SC Cabriolet, XJS Convertible and related XJS soft-top models wherever they are in the world.
You do not need to own a car before joining. Prospective owners, former owners and anyone with a genuine interest in the models are equally welcome.
Joining gives you access to the member areas of the website and, more importantly, allows you to become part of the community rather than simply reading it from the outside.
You can ask and answer questions in the Forums, create a Car Album, contribute to the Photo Gallery, publish Activity Reports and share your experiences with other owners around the world.
There is no expectation that every member constantly contributes. All we ask is that, when you have something useful or interesting to share, you consider adding it for the benefit of others.
Club Member’s Website
Registering with the Club website gives members access to the interactive areas of the XJS Soft Tops Club and allows you to add your own contribution to the community.
Membership is completely free. Register and become part of our worldwide community. Forgotten your password? Reset it here and regain access to your account.Join the Club
Password Reset
Support the Club
Membership of the XJS Soft Tops Club is free and we intend to keep it that way.
The Club carries no paid advertising and has no commercial sponsorship. The website is operated by enthusiasts and its hosting, software and development costs are met through voluntary support.
Supporting the Club does not have to mean contributing financially. Taking part, sharing knowledge, photographs and stories, and helping other members are all valuable contributions to our community.
If you would like to help with the ongoing costs of running and developing the Club, or simply find out how to show your support, you can find out more on our Support the Club page.
Why Not Join Us?
Every XJ-SC Cabriolet and XJS Convertible has its own story.
Some are carefully preserved concours cars. Some have covered enormous mileages. Some are undergoing complete restoration and others are simply driven whenever the sun appears.
What they all have in common is that somebody believes they are worth preserving and enjoying.
Whether you have owned an XJS for decades, have just bought your first one or are still looking for the right car, the XJS Soft Tops Club offers somewhere to meet people who understand why these Jaguars are something special.
Join in when you can, share what you know and enjoy seeing what other owners around the world are doing with their cars.
Getting in Touch
The Club has always grown through the involvement of its members. If you'd like to ask a question, share something, suggest an idea or get involved, we'd be pleased to hear from you.
Related Jaguar Clubs & Organisations
The XJS Soft Tops Club is part of a much wider international Jaguar community. Whether your interest extends to other Jaguar models or to the wider history and ownership of the XJS, the following organisations are well worth visiting.
Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club
The Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club is one of the world's largest Jaguar clubs, bringing together owners and enthusiasts of every Jaguar model through regional meetings, national events, technical support and its monthly magazine.
Visit www.jec.org.uk →
