Another tick on the Bucket List!

vaultsman

Well-Known Member
As a young chap in the mid-70s with ideas well above his station ( :) ), apart from the 3500S, I always fancied myself in a Mark II Jag.

The Sweeney only served to reinforce this but, alas, marriage, offspring and the resulting parlous bank balance combined to ensure this remained just a dream....

....until now!

Having looked a bit deeper into it, I found the S-Type of 1963 - 1968 to be (certainly on paper) superior all-round to the Mark II....not least because of it's independent rear suspension as fitted to the E-Type. Also, because the S-Type seems to be somewhat under the radar, prices are significantly lower than for Mark II's in comparable condition.

So I've been on the Jaguar Forum for a couple of years putting up the odd post, but basically just looking and learning. A couple of months ago I started a thread saying I was looking for a good S-Type and during this someone mentioned a forum member near Dartford might be thinking of selling his at some point.

I sent a PM asking if that was the case and, out of the blue a few weeks later, I had a reply. Peter, the owner, had just been discharged from hospital after a brain operation connected with the one he'd had for a brain tumour 6 years previously. As a result, he'd been unable to drive since then, the car had been off the road and garaged, and Peter was now coming to the conclusion he might never get behind the wheel of the S-Type again.

So, reluctantly, he was thinking of selling but he had (and still has!) a great emotional attachment to the car and, if it was to go, he wanted it to go to someone who'd look after it and use it. Not someone who wanted a museum piece or a quick buck, as he put it!

After a couple of exchanges on the phone, I went to view the car, a 1966 3.8S manual with overdrive, at the end of July.

The car was purchased new by Peter's late father and, indeed, Peter was brought home from hospital in it as a newborn baby in 1967. With a lovely 48-year old patina, it's pretty much in time-warp condition, and having only clocked up 42,000 miles in the first 18 years to 1984, in the 24 years from then to 2008 it continued to be serviced, insured and MOT'd every year but only added a further 3,000 miles to the odometer! All this is documented with every MOT Certificate present, the car having been serviced and MOT'd at the same garage throughout it's life.

A price was agreed, conditional on Peter organising recommissioning, and I picked the car up a week or so ago driving back the 150-odd miles which was the first real run it had had for years. The venerable XK straight-six 3.8 ran superbly, and the suspension is a dream. It doesn't have PAS but then again, neither does Occie so that doesn't trouble me.

The registration number was originally on a 1950's Riley RM that Peter's father owned previously.

Original Order Form and some pics from yesterday....


















Stan
 
That is one fine looking car Stan! :) 8)
A great colour combo,completed with the webasto!
And imho a lot nicer looking than the Mk2!
I look forward to seeing it at some point!
ENJOY,but dont neglect Occie!
 
Cheers, Dave.

You're absolutely right....as the old saying goes.....I need to get out more! :wink:

Stan
 
Phil Robson said:
Rather jealous of that Stan! :p

What a super car!

Thanks Phil,

Yes, she feels lovely to drive but even more special given the history that comes with such an unmolested car.

This is the original bearer of the registration, pictured in the early 1960's:



Stan
 
testrider said:
Very nice Stan. I take it the new garage is sorted then?

Thanks Paul,

Yep...or at least very close to sorted. Hope you're making progress with HOT....don't forget that door of yours is still here anytime you like.

Stan
 
A fine, sleek looking automobile. My father has a 420 languishing in a lock-up at the moment. It may have some attention splurged on it at some point but it's not definite.

A worn flywheel prevents it starting on the button at present.
 
Pilkie said:
vaultsman said:
Cheers, Dave.

You're absolutely right....as the old saying goes.....I need to get out more! :wink:

Stan
How about the fine lawned setting of Sudeley Castle Winchcombe on the 21st Sept!
I will be there with Ardy.
http://www.sudeleycastle.co.uk/event/vintage-car-rally/

You may well be on with that, Pilkie.

I'm planning on this in Occie the previous week http://www.sytm.co.uk/html/rally.html but Sudeley looks a good run out for the Jag.

Stan
 
Went to look at a locked away 1 owner low miles Mk2 in 2012,but sadly it was way too far gone for me to contemplate! :cry:
Only really fit for parts or a total resto nut to take on who loves to do welding!
I dont know what will turn up next in my garage for some TLC!
The back up plan if I dont find anything by the end of Sept,that I can refresh and make a few quid on,is to remove the TR6's body and restore the chassis and running gear!
 
That is gorgeous. Apparently S types just don't fire up the market because they think the styling is less balanced. Phooey is what I say to that, much better car.

I hanker after the s-type with the fancy front aka, the 420 (non-G) or better still the original Daimler Sovereign. The only thing that puts me off is having seem one dismatled and being repaired I'm amazed that any survive at all given that its easier to list the parts that aren't rust traps than the other way around. Makes a P6 look like a Renault 4 in terms of complicated structure.

How did they make Jags for the price they did in the 60s?
 
PeterZRH said:
That is gorgeous. Apparently S types just don't fire up the market because they think the styling is less balanced. Phooey is what I say to that, much better car.

I understand some of the Jaguar production engineers at the time were underwhelmed by the styling, viewing the car a rushed-to-market hotchpotch answer to the need for a model to sit between the Mark II and the battlecruiser-like Mark X. Expenditure on the project was certainly limited as the Company wasn't making sufficient profit to fund a clean-sheet design. But hey, the result certainly works for me!

PeterZRH said:
How did they make Jags for the price they did in the 60s?

In my opinion Jaguar at the time were somewhat hamstrung by the Sir William Lyons mantra (that, admittedly, went back a few years) of "a 100mph car for less than a £1,000". This locked them into a pricing envelope that they didn't start to escape from until the XJ6 launch in 1968.

Hence the result that, in the early to mid 60's, there wasn't a lot of cash to go round for model development. I believe it improved slightly after the BMC takeover to form BMH in late-1966....or, as the canny old Sir William presented it, the "merger". :)

Stan
 
They are nice cars, and drive far better than a Mk2 for a lot less money. I had a green 1966 3.8S auto, which was a disaster, and a Gunmetal 1969 420 MoD which I went to look at thinking it was a very early XJ6, only to find it was a 420, and that one was a great car.
 
That is just perfect! It is utterly gorgeous...

I think these, along with the Daimler V8-250, offer great value when compared to the Mk2 Jaguar...

You've nabbed a real peach there sir and you should be very happy with yourself indeed :wink:
 
Thats a lovely motorcar. :)
I certainly concur the comments viz a viz the S type and the Daimler V8.
The wife of a chap I worked for when I was sixteen had a Daimler V8 as her daily (since new mind you), and I loved hearing her start it up and woofle away in it.
Definately a better option than a MKII
 
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