Would You Drop $130k On This Bespoke Gucci Jaguar Wagon?
Shooting brake body. V12 engine. Blue crocodile skin interior inserts.
The Lynx Eventer: Coachbuilt shooting brake cousin of the XJS V12 HE. Handsome? Sure. Strange? Certainly. Rare? Only 67 were ever built, and the example you’re looking at is inarguably the rarest (and strangest) of them all. This is the one and only Lynx Eventer styled by Paolo Gucci.
Yes, that Paolo Gucci.
Backstory: Sometime during the late Eighties, the son of Italy’s most illustrious fashion house approached Lynx Engineering with the idea to create a run of 20 special-edition Designo di Paolo Gucci Eventers. His plans for the interior were about what you’d expect. Blue lacquered woodwork. Crocodile skin inserts. Inlaid lapis lazuli stones for the steering wheel. And, of course, a complete set of matching luggage.
Said Mr. Gucci: “I am now bringing my knowledge and talent to a wider spectrum of the consumer market. Now, designing entirely under my own name, I intend adding my personality and style. I hope with my ‘Firenze’ tradition, my zest, enthusiasm and dedication to quality, to continue to present the finest design to discerning consumers.” Lynx built one Gucci XJS Eventer for display at the 1990 Geneva Motor Show. Then the lawyers came knocking.
At this point, you should note that Paolo’s relationship with his family’s fashion house was… complicated. Namely in that he snitched on his father, Aldo, and sent him to prison for tax evasion. Also in that he had his cousin, Maurizio, shot to death. Paolo was regularly in court battling Gucci corporate over licensing rights; he usually lost, and the Jaguar was not an exception. On the show’s second day, all the Gucci branding was removed. The car was re-badged exclusively as a Lynx model. The other 19 examples were never built.
After being restored, this one-off 1987 Jaguar XJ-S V12 HE Lynx Eventer by Paolo Gucci is going up for sale. Bonhams thinks it could fetch $130,000 at auction during Goodwood Festival of Speed. Which then begs the question: Would you drop new 911 Carrera 4 GTS money on a coachbuilt shooting brake XJS designed by the Gucci family’s black sheep?
