(first posted 6/23/2015) The best things in life come well aged, such as fine wine, classical music… and the Jaguar XJ6. By the time this featured Jaguar was sold in 1984, the XJ6 had already been manufactured for 15 years, and still had three years left to go in its production run. But what is amazing about the XJ6’s long life is that, while its 1970s-era reputation for poor quality brought Jaguar itself to the brink of doom, the XJ6 ultimately wound up being the product that rescued the company, in a remarkable turnaround both for the car and the firm itself.
Unlike some other cars with long production runs, the XJ6 was far from being fossilized in the past, and in fact sales generally increased throughout the 1980s. This particular Jaguar is a Vanden Plas, the top-end Jaguar sedan sold in North America. And the main reason why people bought this car in the 1980s is still fully evident today: a design that is beautiful, graceful and completely unique in a way that few other sedans have been able to match before or since.
The XJ6 was first introduced in 1969 to replace the bulbous Mark X as well as the more compact 420 and S-Type sedans in Jaguar’s lineup. In the 1960s, Jaguar offered numerous, overlapping, sedan models, a situation that the XJ6 resolved by superseding them all. Jaguar’s founder, Sir William Lyons, then towards the end of his long career, led the design and engineering work on the XJ6, which ended up being the last car he designed.
The XJ6’s lineage extends deep into Jaguar’s history. Its 6-cylinder XK engine had been used in Jaguars since 1949, and much of the XJ6’s other mechanicals came from the 420. In other words, it was a glorious example of parts bin engineering.
Design-wise, the new car looked flowing and graceful, with unmistakable styling cues borrowed from other Jaguars. The end result was an elegant design and a smooth, quiet and luxurious ride. But the XJ6 was plagued with one major problem: reliability. Over the first decade of its life, the car developed a reputation as a finicky breakdown-waiting-to-happen. Consequently, its market appeal was limited to somewhat eccentric buyers who were willing to make substantial sacrifices in order to drive such a stunningly beautiful car.
Jaguar XJ6 Series I (left) and Series II (right) advertisements
Early XJ6’s are now known as Series I cars, with updates occurring in 1974 with the introduction of the Series II, and in 1980 with the Series III. Even though some of the early-on problems (such as chronic air conditioning maladies) were rectified, overall quality was still lacking by time the Series III arrived, and the cars had limited market appeal. Poor sales led to the near-collapse of Jaguar itself – an outcome that was halted by the appointment of John Egan to be Chairman/CEO of Jaguar Cars in 1980 (he was knighted in 1986 due to his role in saving Jaguar).
When Egan joined Jaguar, the XJ6 Series III has recently been introduced. Changes for the Series III were partly cosmetic (grille, tail lights and door handles were redesigned), but there were some significant changes made as well.
The roof, windshield, pillars and glass were redesigned in the Series III to provide more interior room. In doing so, the XJ6 received a slightly more angular roof treatment, losing the last traces of the rounded, bulbous heritage of the 1960s-era cars. The result of these modest changes helped the XJ6 look more modern, while still retaining every bit of its classic shape.
XJ6 production at Jaguar’s Coventry factory
But as industry observers knew, if the reliability problem wasn’t addressed, none of this would matter, and Jaguar would go broke (the company sold under 14,000 cars worldwide in 1980).
Source of sales information: “Standard Catalog of Jaguar, 1946-2005”
Egan tackled reliability immediately, mostly through unseen approaches such as confronting workforce/management issues, dealer service indifference, and (most importantly) pressuring his 1,500 parts suppliers to deliver better components. His efforts paid off. The Series III XJ6 quickly rose to be a viable contender in the luxury sedan marketplace, keeping the cherished Jaguar quality of British elegance, but in a way that was practical to mainstream buyers. Sales bloomed, almost immediately, and amounted to one of the quickest corporate turnarounds in modern history. In the US, XJ6 sales increased fivefold between the Series III’s first year of 1980, and this car’s year of 1984.
Source: Jaguar Cars, Ltd. via Chicago Tribune article
Egan knew that US sales were key to keeping Jaguar alive. Jaguar estimated at the time that three-quarters of all people worldwide who could afford a Jaguar lived in the United States. The company’s efforts to improve US sales worked quickly; between 1981 and 1982 alone, US sales more than doubled (up to 10,349 units for both the XJ6 and XJ-S coupe), and the US share of global Jaguar sales increased as well.
One thing that changed very little at Jaguar in the early Egan years was the car itself. Potential buyers often loved the car and the image it conveyed, but were frightened away by the drivability and reliability problems.
Egan’s efforts therefore concentrated on fixing the unseen elements of the car – the electrical system, construction quality, paint quality, etc. – realizing that the XJ6 was already a proven winner in attracting attention; it just needed people to commit to buying it.
Appreciating that the perception of quality was as important as quality itself, Jaguar increased its warranty period from 1-year to 3-years over the lifespan of the Series III. Additionally, in 1985, Jaguar pioneered the practice of offering warranties on select used Jaguars sold through dealerships (a 1-year warranty); Jaguar and BMW were the only two manufacturers to do so in the mid-1980s.
While the XJ6 might have appeared like an older car at the time, Jaguar kept up-to-date on emerging trends in luxury cars, and appointed its cars accordingly. For example, in 1983, Jaguar upgraded seats and the center console, and even introduced trip computers to XJ6’s (then still a novel concept). All US market cars were equipped with power sunroofs, automatic climate control, and other luxury items deemed necessary in the 1980s luxury market.
These Jaguars are not without their faults and quirks. For example, some controls are in odd places, such as the cruise control switch located in the console to the rear of the transmission gear shift. Where are the rear door power window switches? At the back end of the front console, of course! There’s no interior dome light, but instead other lights are tucked into odd places, like above the seatbelt anchors.
Perhaps the most notable quirk is that the XJ6 has two unconnected chrome-capped gas tanks. Refueling necessitates either dragging a fuel hose over the car’s trunk to reach the tank on the far side, or moving the car to another pump. However, car buyers in general were somewhat forgiving 30 years ago, and those quirks were overlooked or accepted almost as quaint relics of the car’s long heritage.
This 1984 model is powered by a 176-hp, 4.2-liter straight-six engine mated to a 3-speed automatic transmission – enough to glide the 4,000-lb. sedan to 60 mph in a relatively tranquil 12.3 seconds. No one bought an XJ6 for its acceleration, and hard acceleration seems undignified for this car. But once underway, the car is almost magically quiet, and rides comfortably yet handles responsively in just about any driving situation.
This particular car is a Vanden Plas (named after a famed coachbuilder), differing from the standard XJ6 mostly in terms of interior appointments. Vanden Plas sedans featured upgraded leather upholstery, burled, instead of grained, walnut trim (not just on the dashboard, but on the doors as well), and possibly the furriest floor mats ever offered on a car.
The most significant change from the standard XJ6 was to the rear seat, which featured sculpted seating areas rather than a flat rear bench. Rear passengers benefited from other luxury features as well, such as swiveling reading lamps.
The 1984 Vanden Plas carried a list price of $34,200 – a $3,000 premium over the standard XJ6. But the Jaguars were positioned advantageously in the marketplace, occupying a space between the mid-size and large offerings of both Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Although the German sedans excelled in sophistication and ergonomics, and were generally more polished, nothing could beat the Jaguar’s panache. Its strategic price point meant that it could easily poach customers from both the middle and higher ends of its competitors’ offerings.
Jaguar realized that it had a modern classic on its hands, and was careful not to mess with success. The Series III XJ6 received only the most modest updates over its 8 years in production, and casual observers would be challenged to distinguish between a 1980 and 1987 model.
Change, of course, is inevitable, but can sometimes be delayed. In Jaguar’s case, the XJ6’s replacement (known internally as the XJ40, but eventually marketed as an XJ6), initially slated for a 1985 introduction, was pushed back until 1988. This postponement was in part due to development delays, but Jaguar was clearly not in a rush to replace its successful XJ6.
The XJ40 ultimately missed some of the XJ6’s main selling points. Although Sir William Lyons once said of one of his earlier creations that “it costs no more to make it pretty,” Jaguar’s 1980s product managers seemed to have disagreed. Though the XJ40 was a handsome car, it possessed little of the Series III’s charm. Gone were the sensuous curves, the distinctive shape, some of the Series III’s reliability, and a few customers. The XJ40 never could match the XJ6 in terms of sales. Eventually, subsequent Jaguars recaptured some of the Series III’s flair, but even decades later, many enthusiasts still consider the mid-1980s XJ6 to epitomize the essence of Jaguar.
Whether or not the Series III is the ultimate Jaguar sedan, this car has an enduring legacy: without this car, Jaguar as a company would have been unlikely to have survived the 1980s. And that’s a remarkable leap for a cat that was born in 1969.
Wonderful article, Eric! I really enjoyed reading this.
What curious idiosyncrasies, by the way. Two fuel filler doors? No dome light? Madness.
I didn’t realize just how well Jaguar sales rebounded, and with such old product too. I wonder if any other factors were at play, like fuel prices and the economy?
Thanks!
I think the economy definitely helped in Jaguar’s sales rebound, and I suspect that sales of most luxury cars increased to some extent over the early- to mid-80s. But I doubt any of them increased as much as Jaguar.
It’s an interesting question to think about: would Jaguar’s renaissance have occurred if the Egan era began, say, 5 or 10 years earlier when the worldwide economy was still on a downward slope?
Not likely. Jaguar’s rebound came right during the heart of the 80’s new-found luxury boom, when boomers were first coming into the kind of money to afford expensive cars. The XJ6 looked very seductive, and most of these buyers had little or no knowledge of the iffy past history of Jag reliability issues.
At this time I was in the corporate world (tv), and the Jag was seen as a more lush and seductive alternative to the MBZ and BMW; rightfully so. The interiors of the Jags, especially the VP, put the Germans to shame, and yet its pricing was better.
The Series III cars were the pinnacle of the evolution of the XJ6, and I pined for one too, but my better judgement kept me away. They were much better than the Series I and II in terms of reliability, but problems were inevitable, usually with issues other than the well-proven big six.
Twin fuel tanks and individual lights are luxury touches central dome lights are a cheap fitting for peasants.
Hehehe. Twin fuel tanks are a bloody nuisance come filling time, though.
Silly British, dual tanks are for Big Trucks. How hard would it have been for them to run a crossover line?
Beautiful car and wonderful write up.
And what a filthy assembly line. We have come a long long way.
There was one of these up to yesterday in my route to take my son to school, today I saw it replaced with a Jensen Interceptor. The poor Jag was rotting away.
One or the interesting things about the eighties success was how people just knew instinctively that what replaced it could not be as good. I doubt they knew who Sir Lyons was, or that he retired, but they knew this car was a beautiful relic from a different era of style and sophistication. So at the first hint that Jaguar was emerging from the BL mess and quality was being addressed, sales took off.
The Vanden Plas treatment enhanced the English club aspect of the interior and called back to the era of couchbuilding. It was especially effective in USA where cheaper cars with Vanden Plas names were unknown.
It raises an interesting question. When you have a classic successful car in production what do you do. After so many years of production it is wildly profitable and becomes ingrained in your identity. Cadillac faced this with the Brougham, Chrysler with the Fifth Avenue, Pontiac with the Trans Am. Do you spend the money on a replacement, that you know your customers won’t like as much, or do you just milk the old one as long as possible and then go on to something else.
Modern cars are not the work of one man to the extant of the old days and it just seems finding a young William Lyons and trusting him or her to wow you is just not in the cards.
The Vanden Plas name was pretty thoroughly debased in the UK by BL in the 1970s…
Just a little ahead of it’s time. With CUVs being just jacked up little economy cars and being offered from the likes of MB, BMW, and Audi with all sorts of “bespoke” interiors, an Alegro with an English club interior seems prescient. Just add a turbo 3, a cvt, some neon lights imbedded in the doorsill, flare out the wheelwells and 22 inch wheels. Already has the big mouth grille. Just don’t make them in UK, it’s not that bespoke.
The Vanden Plas trim level was a North American only moniker. The trim level was sold as a Daimler with corresponding (slight) changes in the grill and rear trim – scalloped rather than smooth.
However, because Daimler-Benz has the North American rights to Daimler in North America, the full-boat XJ’s were Vanden Plas, the name of the coachbuilder.
What is the name of the Queen was that?
Agreed. Minor quibble though – Unless the British have changed the rules recently, he would be referred to as Sir William Lyons or Sir William, not Sir Lyons.
An excellent job on a car that I don’t know enough about. I have never had any firsthand interaction withone of these, but have always admired their beauty and sophistication. In the 80s, this car’s soft curves and elegant brightwork stood out from the less inspired styling that had become the norm.
Somewhere, I had developed the impression that the Vanden Plas was on a longer wheelbase, with the length devoted to the rear passenger space. However, I may be misinformed on this point.
I was under the impression that we didn’t get a LWB version of the Series III cars in this country, if there was one at all. I could be wrong on that though.
The VDP trim stuck around into the XJ40 era–did that one eventually get a stretched version? Or was that not until the X300?
I think all of the XJ40’s rode on the same wheelbase (even the V-12 models). Eventually, the X300 Vanden Plas did get a wheelbase that was stretched by an additional 4.5″ – I believe that was in 1996.
The Series I and II came in swb and lwb versions. The swb version was absurdly small inside, given its low roof. It was not suitable for the job.
The Series III was built only on the lwb chassis, and got the new higher roof. As a result, it was finally reasonably roomy, although still not like a MBZ S Class lwb.
The Vanden Plas was strictly a high-end trim package, which in the UK was sold as a Daimler model. But Jaguar wisely didn’t try to sell it as a Daimler in the US.
A great piece on a great car – one of my favourites, as you may remember.
the early 1980s rebound for Jaguar was well reported in the UK at the time, based on increased reliability, maybe a slowing improving economic situation and a weak dollar as well. Egan is today remembered in the UK as the saviour of Jaguar, and led the company after the separation from BL in 1984.
The new roof line was added by Pininfarina, and there was a V12 as well. Even better!
Can’t get over that Canada had only 2% of sales back in 83! Would have thought that being a Commonwealth country sales would have been a lot higher?. British car sales were high in BC and Victoria Island for many a year.
2% in Australia too, another Commonwealth country. Most of those would have sold in the capital cities. Depending where you lived, there might be several on your block, or if you were in a remote area you might almost never see one. It took a lot longer to live down the unreliability stigma. Was Canada the same?
Yes, Jaguars were looked down upon for their reliability and in some parts of Canada known for rust issues. Even so, there are still a few XJ sedans on the go in Edmonton. In fact I know a developer in the city who drives his 92 Vanden Plas year round. That car is no. 24 of 100 Canadian numbered cars built in 1992. It was given a light restoration a few years back and has proven to be reliable all year round.
As a result of the high sales in BC you have a very loyal base of Jaguar enthusiasts. The Jaguar club has a major meet every summer on the island. After driving a Series IIII V12, I have come to appreciate how nice the XJ is.
What always amazed me about this car, as well as the following two generations of the XJ was how low it was. Even in the days when sedans weren’t as tall as crossovers, these cars seemd to have Miata-like vertical proportions. Not that someone of my height would’ve minded.
As much as I like the modern Jaguars, I don’t think I’d ever buy or even lease one. Along with Land Rover, they consistently rank at the bottom of reliability rankings, and last time I checked their warranties and service plans don’t equal that of most other luxury brands.
Actually in JD Power’s recently released 2015 Initial Quality ratings Jaguar is third after Porsche and Kia. Let’s hope their long term reliability is on its way up, too.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20150617/RETAIL/150619864/kia-rises-in-j.d.-power-quality;-japanese-fall-below-average
Today’s Jaguars, IMO, don’t seem to have the unique look that says it’s a Jag. I find the current XJ looking too much like a Toyota Avalon, particularly its rear tail light treatment.
In the early 90s I worked at a print shop and one of our customers was a Jaguar mechanic. He did a steady business putting small-block Chevy V8s in XJs when the owners got sick of reliability issues.
One day, one of his regular customers brought in a brand-new XJ straight from the dealer and told him to tear the engine out and replace it with a Chevy — he’d had so much trouble with his last one that he didn’t want to wait for it to fail.
Ouch!
Preemptive SBC swap FTW!
Great write up on a beautiful car that begs for an LSx and 4L60E swap.
I really hope you are joking!
Most beautiful car of our era by far. Why in the world they screwed up the headlights on the XJ40 is one of the great mysteries of the car world. Cousin had a XJ6. Girlfriend had XJ12. Both fabulous to ride in and drive but reliability was absolutely terrible and you cannot begin to imagine price of parts and repairs.
I have always loved these Jags, and actually wanted a Jag when they came out with the S-type years ago.
The Vanden Plas is still one of the most beautiful cars ever built, and I’d jump at the chance to ride in one and drive one.
This is an excellent article and I enjoyed reading every word!
Always believed the Series III is the one to go for.
And I’ll gor for one, some day, it is not the funds lacking it is just the right time and the right car, not now but somewhere in the future.
Problem is with these, they need a lot of attention like most luxury cars, and many people are not willing to give them that.
Advantage is they are still more mechanical then digital, so I can work on them
Love the way they drive, love the way they look.
Fortunately there are still plenty of cars around and the Euro ones have 7″ headlights and 5.3/4″ beams, which looks much better.
Two words: The Equalizer.
It’s a bit of a wonder that the Series III Jaguar XJ6 ever existed at all. Development on the new-style “XJ40” model started in the early 1970s, and it would have replaced the original-style XJ a lot sooner had the project not been stuck in British Leyland development hell for over a decade.
That also explains why the 1988 XJ6 looked old as soon as it appeared, since the evolutionary rectangular-headlamp styling had been set in stone years before.
and to think that the 1st of the XJ40 were less reliable and poorly built than the last of the series 3, a step back…. The most reliable XJ40s are in Coventry transport Museum,UK, used for the brochure shoot and with delivery miles!.
As a kid, growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, THIS car and the XJ12 are the cars I think of, when I hear the name Jaguar.
Just like when I think of Vette, the C3 comes to mind, it was THE shape of the Corvette when I was a kid.
As far as a Jag, not the iconic, sexy E or racy D types… it’s the 80’s XJ sedans that come to mind.
Always vowed to own one as a kid. Loved seeing them in 1986, on MTV in the Whitesnake videos, with the sexy Tawny Kitaen straddling both white and black XJ sedans.
Also, a black XJ6 was the steed of choice, of Edward Woodward, on the gun-for-hire show from the 80’s, the Equalizer.
My friend, Manuely, a car collector who daily drives an 87 Mercedes 300D, also owns a 93 Mercedes E300, a Porsche 914, and an 84 black XJ6 Vanden Plas… Like the subject car.
It used to be run all the time, like the 914… Now both just sit. Fortunately, the Porsche is the luckier of the two… Just needs a fuel line.
The Vanden Plas, is less fortunate, Manuely says it needs an engine. Something about the crank went? So much, for my Jag XJ6 fantasies. I’ll stick with my Alfa 164S, if I want my Euro car fix. 🙂
Japanese import XJ12 with low kms are now for sale in the UK at around £7K.
Good ones to have as 1 owner and loved with stacks of bills paid. LHD is the only problem. Yes LHD in Japan. Most imports were LHD even the British ones as they were looked as more exotic than RHD .
Prestige is a strange beast.
I think we all tend to view the “definitive” whatever as the model that was current either when we were kids or first got our licence.
To me, when I hear ‘Mercedes S-class’, I immediately think of the mid-seventies models. ‘Jaguar XJ’ conjures up visions of the series II. To me, the model featured here is the ‘new Jag’. 🙂
Boy, did I love these when they were new. It’s a good thing they were priced far above my budget or I might have done something crazy, like actually buy one. The XJ6, especially the Series 3, ranks among my all time favorite cars. Even today it looks contemporary, in a very refined way.
Lovely cars, great article.
As often happens, the changes made over the years take away somewhat from the original’s perfect line. The tires on these last models look somewhat oversized, and the wheels aren’t particularly interesting compared to the artillery versions of the earliest XJ6. That said, the Series III was still handsome.
Every so often, one would catch a glimpse of a coupe, which was like seeing a woman so beautiful that you found it hard to believe she was the same species as yourself.
I seem to recall that these cars wouldn’t match up to the other luxury sport sedans in compo tests when it came to interior room, but were forgiven for their road manners and presence.
Oh, the coupes. The proportions on those were, basically, perfect. It’s a shame they didn’t survive into the series III–though an “angularization” of that perfect hardtop roofline would have been akin to defacing the Sistine chapel.
My heart aches to own one of these. One of the most elegant gentleman’s cars ever. However, everyone I have ever talked to who has personal experience with one admits to not being rich enough to keep everything going properly. I always think owning one would be like having a bespoke Harris-Tweed jacket made with no lining and having to wear it with no shirt. You look so great while it prickles and chafes you raw.
Oh, and who can forget:
Just Arrived Garage Undergoing Additional Repair.
Small (?) point but didn’t the wheelbase of these cars come in 2 sizes with the longer “L” eventually superseding both models? I also thought that part of the Series III update was adding a few inches to the roof pillars.
I agree that trying to “modernize” the XJ6 with the switch to the new XJ40 resulted in a car that quickly looked dated, with the headlight and tail lights (both huge rectangular blobs) deserving most of the blame.
I forget, did these cars also bring V12 engines (back) to premium sedans?
Never knew these had two fuel tanks, I figured they had one tank with 2 inlets so the car was never on the “wrong” side at gas stations.
Vanden Plas would also be used on the top model of Rover/Sterling in this time period.
Rolls-Royce suffered the same “rectangular blob” light syndrome around then too, when they went for the current Euro-look with the Silver Spirit.
This makes me miss the updates on Keith Thelen’s project XJ6
I was just thinking that. Wonder if he ever finished it?
No. He got a new job that was very demanding (tv station chief engineer) on another city, and last I heard, Project XJ6 was just sitting and he was going to sell it. He put a VW gas tank in the trunk, so it could be driven. I tried to talk him into selling it on CC, in the hopes another CCer would take it on, but he never got back to me. Bummer.
+1. I had wondered if he at least was successful in finding fuel tanks.
Still pretty much where it’s at. I’ve really wanted to get back here and write some more – so many stories left to tell! – but felt like I needed to bring “Project XJ6” to a close first.
Unfortunately, that just wasn’t in the cards this year. I started a new job in June that’s been pretty much all-consuming, and continues to be. The Jag is still sitting at my office/garage, waiting for some attention.
For what it’s worth, I’ve actually let go of much of my “collection”. There just hasn’t been time for me to drive or work on them anymore. Before long I’ll be as I was before the garage came about – one car, one truck, one “toy”. Still struggling with which ones it’ll be!
Meanwhile, I’ve been debating what the best course of action is for the Jag. Originally I had a commute of around 12mi each way, and a rather flexible schedule, so putting it on the road for that would have made sense. Now I work 140mi from my garage and tools. That’s a lot farther than I’m willing to walk!
Of course, the tin-worm never sleeps, either. It’s still not terribly rusty – but if someone wanted a project Jaguar, there are cleaner ones to be had, and for reasonable money now that scrap prices have fallen.
I keep thinking that I’m going to find a home for it, somehow, somewhere… somebody that would “adopt” it and take it on… that I would finally be able to write that last chapter, sending it off into the sunset (under its own power, hopefully!). But so far it hasn’t happened.
Sorry to leave everybody hanging. Seriously. I hate having left it as I did, and still hope to bring it to some sort of conclusion.
Great writeup on an iconic car! The face of these is just gorgeous. There are precious few 4 door sedans that appear to be purpose-designed with such beauty in mind. This is one of them. Love those factory wheels too.
And does this make anyone else immediately think of “Shaun of the Dead”?
My ex was somewhat of a Prima donna, so in 1976 she persuaded us to buy a ‘slightly’ used ‘74 XJ6. It was $7K- lots of bucks in 1976.
In the two years we owned it prior to our divorce, it went through 6 fuel pumps (one for each tank), eight wheels covers (they fell off regularly on any uneven road), a complete exhaust system, replaced three alternators, and the most beautiful car in the world regularly overheated, required constant maintenance of the carbs, and the paint started to flake off the roof. She wanted to keep the car after our divorce- no matter how I told her what a cash cow it continued to be. It self-destructed in New Hampshire in 1979.
About a year later, I moved to Chicago and my neighbor had a ‘75 with the complete drivetrain replaced by John’s Car’s with a Chevy 350 Hydramatic along with the electricals replaced with Delco. It ran flawlessly and still got 15 MPH through the 80s as he owned it, but parts still regularly fell off.
God- I really loved that car when I owned it!
One of the iconic luxury cars of my childhood, and one that I still find beautiful today. (It’s in good company on that count, up there with the E24 6-series and the W126 S-class). I had the chance to ride in one, long, long ago; a friend of my grandmother’s owned one, and we rode with that friend somewhere or another. I remember the car better than the destination, that’s for sure!
Aesthetically, I think I prefer the Series II to the III, but by just a tiny bit. Reliability-wise, it’s SIII all the way! Would love to own one but I think I need to increase my mechanical proficiency first…
Hate to be a contrarian, but I always preferred the Mark 2’s “badger” styling to the XJ6. The “eyebrows” & kick-up in the rear bother me. Notice that like many other manufacturers, they “freshened” an old design by enlarging the taillights.
Was their factory wood-dashboard specialist named Bill Burke? Jag brochures boasted about how he did grain-matching, I wonder if he was a celebrity outside his local pub? If only all the other parts got the same TLC as the dash.
Did reliability improve with fuel injection?
The Series III production didn´t finish when the XJ40 arrived in 1986; it wasn´t until the end of 1992 when the XJ40 V12 appeared and finally the old Series III V12 could have a well deserved retirement.
Of course, you know the old story about the XJ40 engine bay deliberately designed not to admit a V engine, fearing BL managers wanted to install the Rover V8 in the Jag, etc. I don´t know if that was an urban legend, but the truth is Jaguar took a bit of time to ready the V12 XJ40…
When I think Jaguar, this is the car that still pops to mind – hard to believe it has been out of production for nearly a quarter century. I suppose some of the reason that this is so iconic is that the Ford ownership era cars were quite true to this general design as well.
I’ve had a hard time getting my head around the 2009 – Current X351 car. I see one on the road on rare occasion, but one did pace me down the road a bit in the last week or so. Handsome, almost imposing in size, but it seems like another SonataFusionImpala, but on steroids. Ford’s new design Continental seems to take some direction from the X351. In other words, there is nothing iconic or particularly Jaguaresq about the current design.
My uncle, who owned a Series One XJ6, had such reliability issues with it…and dealer problems too…that he never considered another Jaguar.
The worst was the perpetually nonfunctioning air conditioning. British Motors in San Francisco kept telling him this was “normal” as though he were expecting the air conditioning to be as strong as in his Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. It did blow cool much of the time, but then San Francisco is cool much of the time. The sad truth was revealed when he gave the Jaguar to his brother, who wasted no time in junking the XJ engine for a Chevrolet 350 and Turbo Hydramatic. He found a hole in the crankcase of the air conditioning compressor! Needless to say the XJ6 now has a nice, reliable Japanese compressor. The car is still running today. My uncle who had it, bought a Chrysler to replace it and never looked back to Jaguar.
How mechanics love to tell customers malfunctions are “normal,” esp. if they’re female. I know a gearhead lady who would tear ’em a new one if they pulled that on her.
Jaguar losing customers to Chrysler: That should’ve been a wake-up call.
I have noticed this is especially true in the case of expensive exotics.
The Series III I think is one of the best-looking sedans of all time.
Jag really lost the plot with the XJ40.
@Phlilp
Well, yes, you’re right. BMC and subsequently Leyland did own the Vanden Plas company and produced various Vanden Plas specials over the years based on Austin and Morris cars – including the much reviled Alllegro ! Though ironically, you could say that the VP1500 Allegro was more of a true Vanden Plas than this featured Jaguar. The Allegro was actually trimmed and finished at the Vanden Plas works in Kingsbury – whereas the Vanden Plas XJ6 was nothing more than a badge to give some percieved prestige to a high trim level. As other commenters have pointed out, the top luxury trim level XJ6/12s outside the US were branded as Daimlers.
I simply love the XJs from 1969 to 2009. If I ever felt I had the disposable income I’d certainly have one as a project car.
Nice car!
Very nice presentation!
Good Job!
In 1985 my mother’s 1979 Riviera got totaled and we needed to replace it. We had a hard time finding another Riviera that she liked, and almost went for an ’85 Eldorado. Well, going from the powerful 350 V-8 to the anemic 4.1 was not going to happen. We had a friend of the family that dealt with high end luxury cars, and one day he brought over to our house a 1983 XJ-6, Cobalt Blue with Biscuit leather interior. Mom fell in love with it. Well, all I can say is that car was fantastic for the first 3 years we had it and it was all downhill from there. It only had about 45,000 miles on it when things started failing miserably. The radio, A/C, cruise control, fuel injectors and passenger’s side gas tank all failed at nearly the same time; even the power windows and locks worked intermittently and it cost about $5,000 to fix everything. To top it off, every summer that car had a horrific gasoline smell that no one could find nor fix. We kept that car until we no longer needed it in 1993 as Dad passed and Mom then drove his ’90 Coupe deVille. The Jag was a beautiful car, but sadly full of the Lucas gremlins.
I remember the XJ6. I loved its styling. I found it more attractive than the XJ40 that replaced it. Overall, I thought it was attractive, but the different front end appearance didn’t do it any favours.
A great short history of my all-time favorite car. My mother drove a black ’85 Van den Plas for a time, and I absolutely coveted and drooled over it every time I walked past it in the driveway to head off to my little college job in my little MG midget. Reliability was an issue, and gremlins were frequent visitors, but one could never feel so “right with the world” as when rolling up to just about anywhere in that car. Poetry in motion! And as for excelleration, my memory may exaggerate but I vividly recall more than a few family Sunday brunch outings when my father pushed that inline 6 and the absolutely perfect (in its day) suspension through some rather harrowing white knuckle hairpins on the back roads of Northwest NJ. To this day I’d give a secondary organ to own one of these, provided someone else was footing the bill for maintenance and repairs.
I love my big Yank tanks, but this car is very possibly my all time favorite import. First, now, and always.
A friend’s father, retired 80s I-banker (because of course he was) had a silver ’88, with the less nice taillights but before the composite beams that messed up the look. He was in many ways a frugal man and kept the car long past its sell-by date, replacing it only after decades of use.
I had the opportunity to drive it several times towards the end of its life back in my early 20s. Although by then its electronics were a nightmare, it still drove and rode amazingly. We reached speeds that I’m fairly certain I will never attain again in this lifetime, and you know what, it wasn’t scary in that car. 1XX felt the same, if not somewhat better, than 60. While the author is 100% right that it was no acceleration demon, it would cruise at absurdly high speeds effortlessly.
The beautiful sleek body, and the comfortable interior. For me, this was truly the classiest car of the 1980s and one of the last gasps, along with the Brougham and the Town Car (though those were obviously of different roots) of old-style luxury, whether it be English or American.
I was glad they eventually brought back the quad headlamp XJ6/8 and re-triangularized the taillights, and thus I can find any of them up through 2008 or so to be attractive.
But once they lost that classic bodystyle, I lost interest in any Jaguar. Like the high-maintenance but smoking hot girlfriend, the only thing that made the Jag seem worth it from afar–or even likely in retrospect–were the looks, and you knew you would have to endure some pain for them to be part of your life, but you could still say, for the rest of your days, I dated/drove HER/THAT. This is the car equivalent of Bo Derek in “10”.
Once the classic design was gone, so was the whole point.
But whenever I see that old Jaguar slogan “grace, pace, space” I think of these. I will take mine in racing green, with a tweed suit, riding stick, and a shit-eating grin, thank you.
One of my favorite cars also, especially the first two series. Buick ripped off a few styling cues like the tapered rear end. and roofline on the second gen Park Avenue. I’ve often wondered why GM couldn’t produce their own copy of the XJ6 as the Park Ave. and the XKE 12 as the Riviera. I would really like an XK8 and they have depreciated to the point of an affordable ‘BUY IN”. No guarantee on being able to afford to keep it running.
Beautiful styling and an attractive standout among other cars. It’s too bad as they became older and their warranties expired they became expensive money pitts.
I used to know someone who had a series 1 Jaguar XJ6. Although it wasn’t the most reliable vehicle he’s driven, it wasn’t poorly made either. I liked the Series 2 XJ6. The most annoying aspect of the car were the two fuel tanks one had to fill up before driving. I’ve had drivers behind me honk their horns and make obscene gestures at the owner of the car as he filled up one tank and then go around to the other tank and fill it up. On the one hand, I can’t say I blame them. On the other hand, I’ve been tempted to get out and tell the driver to “shut up and stuff his finger somewhere else.”
Buy a well-kept but kaput engine version, drop in a 350 Chevy V8, rewire the Lucas electronics (he wasn’t called the Prince Of Darkness for nothing…) and enjoy. Then you can have your cake and eat it too. It always astonishes me how so many people buy into the British luxury car trap, even today, in 2015, people rave over Land Rovers even though their reliability makes Citations look good.
Better yet, buy one that that has already had the conversion done. By a good shop that specializes in this and with the paper work to back it up. Along with a Delco electronics update as well. And make sure it’s rust free and has not had any major and/or poor body work done on it.
I had one of these back in the day, but it was the Daimler Sovereign version – which is basically the same as the 6 cyl Jag VDP (the 12 cyl version was called a Daimler Double Six!). The car was given to me by Jaguar Australia as a replacement for the worst car I ever owned, a Jag XJS. After months of complete motoring hell and dozens of complaints, they agreed to take back the XJS and gave me the Sovereign and adjusted down the lease.
The Sovereign was a wonderful car – and very reliable – but there were a few design issues that made it hard to live with. I am 6′ 2″ tall and thus car was not intended for tall people! The low roof and slant of the side windows made it quite tight, but acceptable. A sunroof was not an option for me as it took out too much headroom. I loved the wide console, full of switches and gauges and vents, but it was so wide that those in the front seats were left with little sideways leg room – rather like sticking your legs in a tunnel! Cosy though.
Someone above remarked on the filthy production line in the photo – that, plus unions and workers and management who just didn’t care – was one of the sources of the reliability issues. I read that when Ford took over Jag and went to Browns Lane, they were horrified at the line and the ancient manufacturing equipment. Many of the machines were relics from the 1950’s. At the time, I read, Jags were made of many more panels and parts than virtually any other car, because the jigs could not handle large parts on the line. Typical British story – sell on snob appeal and don’t bother investing back in your business.
The tail light on the newest XJ are supposed to resemble the claw marks of a jaguar cat, with the three lines of LED within
http://hooniverse.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Jaguar-XJ-tail-light1-750×478.jpg
I’m not exactly a mechanic, but I’ve always thought the XJ-6 had a fairly robust engine, it’s just a the peripheral bits that were a bit shady. Wouldn’t it be a bit cheaper to replace those instead of putting in a new GM small block?
The I6 was pretty good. The V12 not so good in terms of reliability. The ignition amplifier was placed on the block between the cylinder heads and had problems with overheating. It was later moved, but the Lucas electronics of these car was not the best.
That front end treatment is beautiful, look at the headlamps and surrounding sheetmetal! All with no front end clip, just a single stamping! And that tapered rear end, why has no other automaker been able to deliver that?
The current XJ looks imposing, but not like a Jaguar should. Once you lose that uniqueness, what’s the point?
These mid-80s Jags were just gorgeous. I remember seeing Princess Diana on TV arriving at some posh event in one of these and exiting the rear seat with utmost grace and poise. The two of them, Diana and Jaguar, were the perfect British symbols that meshed with the glamour of the 1980s in an extraordinary way. A moment in time we’ll never see again.
She was ultra-high-maintenance, too.
The 1984 VDP was $90,348.08 in 2021 money.
It should definitely have had the folding picnic tables as seen in this 1993 Daimler version. By the way that one also has a Vanden Plas label on the back under the Daimler one.
I looked at a used one in the late 80’s. As Ashley said above, they’re not designed for tall people. The driver’s seat cushion didn’t get to mid-thigh, and the footwell was quite cramped (true of many recent RWD luxury cars). The older one I remember seeing at school in the mid 70’s was even lower and sleeker.
The sales boom for ’80s Jags made them very influential, making chrome/wood/leather surroundings de rigueur for luxury cars as well as softer contours on the outside. Earlier in the decade, European cars were often rather stark, with blackout trim rather than chrome, black dashboards unadorned with wood, and thin carpeting. That stark appearance was exaggerated on sporty trim levels of American cars circa 1984, with Euro-inspired versions stripped of chrome, wood (real or fake) and velour. Examples included Ford’s LTD LX and Thunderbird turbo coupe, Dodge 600 ES, Chevy Celebrity Eurosport, and Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe. All of those (except the T-bird) had crisply folded sheetmetal that recalled German cars of that era.
But by the ’90s the Jaguarization of luxury cars was under way. Buick’s sporty big car of the late 80s, the Electra T-Type, was a Park Avenue stripped of chrome, woodgrain, and loose-cushion seats, fitting the mold of the aforementioned boxy Euro-style American cars. But in the ’90s the sporty big Buick offering was the supercharged Park Avenue Ultra, whose curvy body couldn’t be any more Jaguaresque and which proudly faced the world with a similar big chrome vertical-bar grille. Behind it was lots of shiny trim and a pinched rear overhang obviously inspired by the XJ6. In between was an unabashedly luxurious, unabashedly Anglophilic leather/chrome/wood cabin that nobody would mistake for that of a Bimmer or Benz. Curiously, Jaguar themselves have been running away from the classic Jaguar look for the last decade.
It’s interesting to see a car that was in production for a full decade before hitting its stride. And as a little kid in the 1980’s, I remember these being one of the easiest cars to identify from any angle… they’re just so unique, so different in the details, that I could well tell that this was something special. I may not have comprehended why Mercedes or BMW was supposed to be special when I was six, but I just *knew* these were.
A friend had one of these. Not sure the year, but he had replaced one of those Buick Skylarks (likely a 1982 or so) that looked like a Cutlass Ciera for one of these. By then, the Skylark had rusted out pretty badly, and none of us saw him getting a Jag.
He didn’t have a real big job or anything, but somehow came up with the scratch to get one of these. He drove it in style for quite some years.
My previous comment was made five years ago, before I made my move and acquired three Jags! My first was an XJS V12, the type that resulted in so much of Ashley’s distress and disappointment. My second was a ’97 X300 XJ6L with the 4.0 straight A16 engine. These are probably one of Jag’s best engines, reliable and long lived, it’s hard to believe that this fantastic engine, all alloy, DOHC, fuel injected, four valves per cylinder, coil on plug ignition, was only produced for three years. The second best are probably the 5.3 and 6.0 V12s. With these cars it’s not usually the engine itself that gives any problems. I wouldn’t even consider a ’98 to 2002 V8 they are extremely fragile and trouble prone. Even the newest models are not without their issues. I couldn’t see paying 90-100,000 dollars new, or even the 40-50K prices used.
I can only afford to buy them old and used, but the X300 has been pretty good. I was having a few problems, with my fleet, and was seriously considering divesting of both these cars, just to ease my burden, but I just can’t get over how much I love the looks, ambiance, and driving characteristics of that XJ6! They really don’t build them like this anymore.
I’ve been working on the XJ6 with success and I’ve decided to just hold onto it, there’s nothing that I can afford that will surpass that car. Oh, my third Jag is a one owner ’51 Mark VII, my immediate goal is to just hang onto it and preserve it until I can refurbish it.
The attached photo is of the XJ6 on the Oregon Coast, an unforgettable Summer.
I owned an 1981 3.4. Not a lot went wrong other than wear and tear. Changing from one fuel tank was usually accompanied by gulps from the engine to give you a warning. Maybe not the quickest car around, but it’s bird pulling powers were second to none.
What is a good price for 1984 one owner sport’s jaguar? Interior fair condition,runs 74,000 miles.
i HAD EACH OF THE SERIES INCLUDING 2 SERIES 3. i STILL LINGER AFTER MY SERIES 3 LOVES, BUT CORROSION TERMINATED OUR RELATIONSHIP.
I just picked up a ’73 series 1. trying to sort out some electrics, I’ve had several Brits so I’m not daunted in the slightest. For me the series 1 is the only one, while there are a number of ‘government’ ugly-ups where lighting is concerned, to which I am already working to rectify, the ruining of the handsome full-height grille due to bumper-height bullsh*t renders all later cars fatally flawed. That and the roofline.