Innholdsfortegnelse for Oct/Nov 2023 i Classic Jaguar

I’d like to open with a thank you to you: our readers. Classic Jaguar is now selling better than ever thanks to your dedication to the marque we all love and your desire to see these cars in print. Please keep spreading the word and showing your friends. And keep joining us on Facebook and Instagram, where we serve up regular doses of Jaguar for those who can’t wait the two months between new issues. We appreciate each and every one of you – and we’re keen to see the Classic Jaguar family grow. 1973 saw the introduction of the XJ Series II – acar which many somehow see as inferior to the purity of the Series I and the accomplishment of the Series III. And we don’t understand this…

The Best of British Show, originally planned for Sunday 3rd September is being postponed to 2024. The event will now take place on Saturday 27th April at Turvey House, Bedfordshire. While there were great features already lined up for this year’s inaugural event, our publisher Kelsey Media was not satisfied that it had created a show of sufficient content and quality to live up to the Classics World brand. The event will thus be rescheduled to ensure it meets its aim of celebrating the best in British motoring. Aside from a wide variety of classic and iconic cars, there will also be themed displays, car clubs, music and other entertainment, pride of ownership competition and lots more. Supported by Kelsey’s diverse motoring portfolio, including Classic Car Buyer, Classics Monthly, Classics…

You would think that the holiday period was one of relaxation and rest, but not for the Jaguar Drivers’ Club and its army of volunteers. August started with the Club’s big National Weekend at Walton Hall in Warwickshire, followed by a new event on the JDC calendar – Cats at the Castle at Whittington Castle, near Oswestry. We were delighted to be invited to support this event in its third year and in the next issue, we will let you know how it went. With the Silverstone Festival out of the way for another year, the Club’s next big outing is to Gaydon on Saturday 2 September for the biggest Jaguar concours of them all – the JDC Champion of Champions, bringing together all the very best cars from the…

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER SIMPSON Unique is a much-abused word. It describes an entity that is singularly like no other… something just like the Daimler Corsica. Yes, it is based on a Jaguar X300 and there may well be others that have seen the enthusiastic wielding of an angle grinder to customise them from saloon to convertible, although the Corsica was taken one step further to become a two-door drophead coupé. Moreover, this example is also the only one that was undertaken by the factory; Jaguar's own in-house Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) to be precise; a bunch of dextrous engineers, designers and craftsmen capable of making dreams come true. The Daimler Corsica is one such vision and was revealed in 1996 to commemorate the centenary of Daimler car production. The…

Some cars become special as they age. And some were special the day they left the factory. The Daimler Century on these pages belongs to the second group – with only 100 4.0 and 100 6.0 models made, the Century might well be an X300 under all the trinkets, but nonetheless it is still a car which can claim rarity and exclusivity beyond almost all others. There are ten Lamborghini Countaches for every Century, for instance. Three Aston Martin Lagondas. And even then, the Century numbers are split in two – if you specifically want a 4.0, you have to divide the likely number of cars in two. If you want right hand drive, there were only ever 31 Daimler Century 4.0s so equipped. And this is one of those…

The increased traffic online for classic car parts has led to a greater number of scam advertisements for parts or services. Our sister title Classic Car Buyer has over the years exposed numerous scam types from fraudulent eBay listings to Facebook Marketplace scams. But a new trend has developed on Facebook – one whereby the scammers target specific enthusiast groups, posting claiming to have parts or to have a car that is being broken for spares. Often the page advertising the car will be shared into the group by a new member, claiming to have had a good experience with the company in question – or an individual will comment on a wanted ad stating that he has the parts. In any of these cases it is worth checking the…

Jaguar Land Rover Classic has approached a number of high profile Jaguar and Daimler clubs in order to discuss parts availability for classic models and the potential for remanufactured parts. Representatives from the Jaguar Drivers Club, Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, The XJS Club, the XKEC and Daimler and Lanchester Owners Club will be meeting with JLR Classic representatives to discuss what parts are best suited for remanufacture. The XJS Club heritage representative Dave Clarke told Classic Jaguar: “The XJS Club is looking forward to discussing and working with JLR Classic to hopefully reintroduce some obsolete and difficult to source parts. With their vast supply chain, it’s hoped that some smaller suppliers may be able to oblige and manufacture items that could keep our cars in top condition.” XJS owners have previously…

The Jaguar Mk2 is overrated. There, we’ve said it. But in truth, it’s not quite what we mean – the fact remains that it was an excellent car, offering space and pace that was almost unrivalled for the money – and a car that has earned itself a litany of fans in the 64 years since it was launched. The stumbling block is one of money – with owners of the best examples virtually able to name their price, the Mk2 has passed out of affordable classic territory and into the realms of the collector car. We find this bewildering in context – after all, the Mk2 was effectively the starting block for other models such as the S-type, the Daimler V8, and the 420 – all of which, in…

"In many ways, the Majestic Major family was the last hurrah for Daimler; an old money car in a new money world.” Today, Andrew Steers is such a devotee of the marque’s last independentlydesigned product that he owns two of the DR450 limousine version. The DQ450 series Majestic Major made its bow as a surprise exhibit at the 1959 London Motor Show at the end of the challenging decade for Daimler. In the early 1950s, the infamous ‘Docker’ show cars” may have astounded and/or horrified visitors to Earls Court, but they did not halt declining sales. The decade also saw the Royal Family, long-time customers of the marque, had transferred their allegiance to Rolls-Royce while the 1949 Rover P4 and the 1950 Jaguar MkVII had caused a significant change in…

In recent weeks, my Sovereign could almost have been forgiven for feeling neglected. After all, with a shiny new Daimler on the scene that needed plenty of work to get it up to a decent standard, my attention has hardly been focused on the grey Jag parked in front of the drawing room window. But it’s been needed, too. You see, my everyday driver – for better or worse – is a 2002 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 that can be seen in our sister title Car Mechanics. I live in rural Cambridgeshire over a mile from the nearest gritted surface in winter,and the nearest bus stop is technically in another county. If we get inclement weather a car like the Rangey is vital – and it comes in useful on…

Established Jaguar specialist, Knowles Wilkins Engineering, has been appointed by a leading supplier of electric motors and batteries for the automotive industry, Electrogenic, as its official installer for classic Jaguar conversions. A kit for the E-type is already available while others, such as for the XJ-S, will arrive shortly. “The whole kit, including the battery, installs simply into the engine bay,” says KWE’s Chris Knowles, “and connects directly to the propshaft, deleting the gearbox and its weight.” He went on to tells us there are two power ranges available; a 120kW, 310Nm motor with a 43kWh battery or a 150kW, 310Nm motor with a 48kWh battery. Before the conversion takes place, KWE first strips the car’s engine bay, making whatever repairs are needed, before fitting the main kit with a…

It’s fair to say that the Jaguar XJ6 and XJ12 Series I were a resounding success. Jaguar’s plan to rationalise a range of four different model families and nine different models with two different engine families into a single model range meant business for the company could be far easier – and to boot, it avoided unnecessary clashes within the new British Leyland stable. Whether you wanted a basic XJ6 2.8 standard or a Daimler Sovereign 4.2, the majority of the components were the same – meaning they could be bought in bulk, reducing their price and increasing the potential for profit. The new V12 engine of 1972 attracted even more followers for the model, accelerating the car to north of 140mph and making it the fastest true four seater…

Following the successful XK120 Belgian motorway speed trial in the spring of 1949 it was Frank Raymond Wilton (FRW or “Lofty”) England who organised the XK120 test sessions at Silverstone that August. They were an insurance policy to prove to William Lyons that the cars were ready to race in the Daily Express BRDC production sports car race later that month, and be certain of winning of course. The cars came in first and second a lap ahead of the field. This of course fuelled further demand for a car that was nigh on impossible to obtain. Partial success followed in the 1950 Mille Miglia race – Leslie Johnson finished in 5th position. The Le Mans 24-hour race of the same year saw three privateer Jaguar XK120’s entries resulting in…

Although there’s no such thing as a cheap Jaguar E-type, it’s certainly the case that the Series 3 offers the best value of them all. With an early flatfloor Series 1 setting you back anything up to a cool quarter of a million pounds in exceptional condition, the final V12 engined version from the early ’70s is relatively affordable by comparison. It might not be everyone’s idea of the ideal E-Type, thanks to it evolving into more of a grand tourer than the raw and raucous sportster it started out as; but the Series 3 does have plenty to offer, and might just be where the clever money is right now. Launched in 1971, a decade after the E-type first took a bow at the Geneva motor show, the Series…