Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2025 i Classic Jaguar

First things first, I have an apology to make. An oversight mean that Nick Cliffe wasn't thanked as part of our E-type feature last month – he was responsible for putting me and Paul Knott in touch. Hopefully this acknowledges his input. Now – and this is important news – this is the last issue of Classic Jaguar as you know it. Our publishers have taken inspiration from Jaguar itself and reinvented the brand – for 2025 Classic Jaguar will become a bookazine brand. We're going to be going up to 116 pages, and we're going to be printed on nicer, shinier paper stock. But crucially, each issue will become a special celebration of one particular Jaguar model – the first issue to focus upon the XJ-S as it turns…

There are some phrases that those of us in the motoring press like to throw around like confetti. 'King of the hot hatches' is a good one, and has traditionally meant other cars wresting it from the grasp of the Golf GTi or the Peugeot 205 GTi. Best 4×4×far is another one. But the one that motoring journalists have rarely questioned is the title of 'The Best Car in the World' – and back in the Seventies, that trophy was one which sat firmly in the cabinets at Crewe. Whether it was your thing or not, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow had, in the eyes of the motoring press, earned that accolade. That's not to say, however, that there were no challengers to the title. The Mercedes 300SEL 6.3, for instance,…

If you are in any way a Jaguar enthusiast, you will by now have seen the new Jaguar concept car unveiled in Miami in December 2024, and you will have formed your own opinion as to whether it is or is not a good thing. But a key thing that will be forgotten by many enthusiasts is that Jaguar has done this before. It's no stranger to controversy – and indeed, for various reasons it can be argued that every feature in this issue contains a model that was in some way controversial when launched. The Series I XJ rationalised an entire family down into one, new, sporting saloon range. The XJ-S took what we knew about Jaguar sorts tourers and turned it squarely on its head. The S.S.1 was…

As we work our way up and across the north of England in this Touring series it makes sense to conclude in the west, deep in the heart of England's largest national park: the Lake District. By using my Series III XJ6 Sovereign for each instalment, I have tried to show that not only is it OK to get out there and drive your classic Jaguar, but you can probably also rely on it. Rather than grind to a halt with a long list of faults and failures, I have found that my 1986 4.2 has actually got better and better throughout the summer and autumn, seemingly rewarding me for showing a little faith. Even after six years' ownership I continue to learn things about the car, and this series…

On the face of it this is just another early XJ-S, little different from the other 15,525 pre-HE examples produced between 1975 and 1981. But look closely, and you'll notice that this is a very special car; the car's chassis number makes this the eighth production example. If the XJ-S' 21-year production run were a book, this car is the foreword. Having recently returned to the UK after three decades in Sweden, and now owned by one of its original test drivers, we look into its history and how it survived. Chassis 2W1008BW was manufactured in January 1975, nine months before the model's launch in September. It had been allocated to Jaguar's Experimental Department from the outset, where it was given the code XJ27/LC2. Since the car was going to…

The Goodwood Revival is arguably historic motorsport's single greatest track event. While there are many opportunities to watch historic racing in the UK, the Revival is the only one which has entered the social calendar owing to its mixture of high profile drivers, exotic machinery and the culture which surrounds the event. A three day event that harks back to the circuit's operative days from 1948-1966, the first revival took place in 1998 – fifty years after the opening of the Goodwood circuit. Grand Prix, Sports and GT, saloon and Formula Junior models all compete in period correct races, with former competitors having included Sir Stirling Moss, Damon Hill, Sir Jack Brabham and Barry Sheene alongside celebrity enthusiasts including Chris Rea and Rowan Atkinson. Visitors are encouraged to dress in…

By pure coincidence, during the week when the new branding and that 'weird video' were released, the Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club was proudly displayed at JLR HQ, Gaydon. We were on show in the central area called 'The Triangle', supporting staff and celebrating the past whilst Jaguar's future was unveiled. This had been in the planning for several weeks and we had no idea that it would put us in the eye of the storm. There may be some concern about where the new brand stands on heritage, but the love for our cars and the community that preserves them was overwhelming. JLR staff were so incredibly welcoming as they joined us to revel in what it means to love Jaguar. Whatever your views, last month was an intriguing and seismic…

The traditional and original power-assisted steering system on a classic Jaguar and Daimler is hydraulically operated, with pressurised fluid (oil-based) being fed into the steering box or steering rack to help reduce the effort required by the driver to move the steering wheel. That fluid is pressurised by a belt-driven pump. The pump was originally attached to the back of the dynamo but was later replaced with a separate pump mounted somewhere near the front of the engine. The complexities of how the pressurised fluid provides power assistance for the steering is quite mind-boggling, involving a rotary valve and hydraulic cylinder, along with a torsion bar. The workshop manual for the E-type by Autobooks explains in detail about how the power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering works, saying, “When the steering wheel rotates…

Following a controversial advertising campaign, Jaguar has unveiled a concept car that offers enthusiasts an indication as to the direction that the brand is looking to take as it moves to an all-electric future. The Type 00 was first shown at Miami Art Week, introduced on 2 December by Jaguar Land Rover's Chief Creative Officer, Professor Gerry McGovern. Described at the unveiling as “Unbound by imitation, convention, the expected”, the car offers an unusual approach to electric car design by harking back to the internal combustion era – its long bonnet, short boot stand speaking more of deliberate luxury and excess than the practicality inherent in conventional electric design. Two models were shown – the first in London Blue, a colour inspired by the 1960s shade Opalescent Silver Blue, and…

Even though he owned one, this is a car that (Sir) William Lyons apparently disliked. It shared its bones with one of the most beautiful cars Jaguar produced during its early life, when the marque was branded S.S., but the voguish bodywork of this S.S.1 Airline coupe looked heavy and ill-proportioned. Customers thought so too. The Airline went on sale in 1934, and was dropped two years later after only 624 had been built. That makes it rare, but it's far from being the most-admired model in the S.S.1 range. During the Twenties, Swallows had evolved from sidecar manufacturer to coachbuilder of bodies based on other manufacturers' cars, and very successfully too. The next step was obvious – for Swallows to make complete cars. That dream took another step forward…

Norman Dewis liked the A303. It wasn't as good as the newly opened M1 early on a Sunday morning or a closed-off section of Belgian motorway, but good enough to suit his purposes. An added bonus was that it was going in the right direction. He knew from previous west-country holiday journeys that during the day you had to be wary of the junctions; local vicars in Morris Eights and farmers with all manner of dangerous-looking trailers tended to cross in front of your path, and if you were pushing the car too hard, well, there could be quite a nasty accident. Even a near-miss wouldn't go down well with Heynes or England at Browns Lane, or Lyons, obviously. “Imagine the headlines!” they'd say, “Prototype Jaguar hits local vicar at…

We seem to have a habit of finding very nice XJSes these days – cars that even as little as five years ago, we thought has ceased to exist to this level. Most of the cars we've featured in this section this year have been incredibly good, low mileage examples – but none has been quite as good as this one. Yes, at £49,995 it is a very expensive XJS – even a £20,000 example still feels pricey today – but it is an unrepeatable car. And it's a spec that many want too – a 4.0 automatic, from the final year of production. These cars were all built to Celebration specification – which mainly involved throwing the entire options list at the car – and this car's colour scheme…