“Jaguar” means sports cars to most people my age (and for the moment let’s imagine the British pronunciation – JAG-you-ur, three syllables, not JAG-wahr as most Yanks say it). The XK-120 gave great speed (120 mph), thanks to an advanced twin-overhead-cam six-cylinder engine, at a bargain price. The voluptuous E-Type (XK-E in America) aroused the hormones of more than a few adventurous youth.
Jaguar’s birth was less auspicious. An outgrowth of the Swallow Coachbuilding Company, whose initial products were motorcycle sidecars and custom bodies for Austin Sevens, the early cars were badged SS. The first, the SS-I came in 1931, followed by a smaller-engined SS-II. Particularly attractive were “Airline” coupe bodies available in the mid-1930s. The Jaguar name first appeared on the SS-100 of 1935, built until World War II.
After the War, when “SS” had sinister connotations, Jaguar became the marque name and so it has been ever since. My sports car period having ended many years ago, it is Jaguar’s sedans (saloon cars) that appeal to me now. A Mark V provided my first Jaguar ride (saloon, not drophead) and a Mark VII was the first Jag that I drove. By the time the Mark designations reached X the cars had become rather ungainly, but a smaller line, variously called 2.4, 3.4, 3.8 and Mark II, appeared in 1956. The flagship XJ6, introduced in 1969, had a near-20-year run before being replaced by a less svelte XJ40 (called, curiously, XJ6 in the USA). In 1975, the E-Type was replaced by the somewhat nebulous XJS, based on the XJ cars. Jaguar’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed, as quality and fashion have varied. Today the marque is owned by Ford, which is both a blessing and a curse.
Today’s Jaguars don’t excite me very much. The entry-level X-Type looks too much like a Buick (although the Sport Wagon is interesting). The XJ8 comes only with a V8 engine (most un-Jaguarlike), and the “sports” XK8 is hardly more exciting than the XJS. The only current Jag for which I feel any empathy is the S-Type, and that may be only for its retro themes.
Some day I’ll own a Jag. It must have the XK-type dohc engine; preferably it should be a Series III XJ6. I passed up a cheap Series I at Hershey (at least the clock worked). A 3.4 Mark II at Beaulieu Autojumble last year was downright scruffy, but came with carefully-preserved vintage cigarette butts. The car I probably should have bought, a 1986 Series III XJ6, was being offered by the Larz Anderson Auto Museum last summer but is no longer available. One day I’ll find my Jaguar. Folly, you say? Don’t forget: I once drove a Rover 2000 as my everyday car for fifteen years and 120,000 miles.
