A LIFE OF JAGUAR - But Which Was My Favourite?

Ajouté : 2026-05-25

[00:00:05]Welcome to a quick bonus video this weekend following on the success of the apparent success of the XJ12 Daimler Double Six video we've done.

[00:00:14]Great feedback, quite a lot of response, and some people know me from a past life where I was working solely on Jaguar best part of 20 years now.

[00:00:25]Or then working solely with Jaguar mostly XJs and few comments about my favorites and so on and so forth and in conversations I spoke about a my personal favorite Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas Series 1 that I owned and I promised I'd put a little video together with some photographs and details of the car because it was one of my favorite cars I think I've ever owned and I would gladly own another one despite my negative comments about Jaguar in the Daimler Double Six video.

[00:00:55]I was laughing and joking with Luke actually that I would still happily own a Jaguar I just wouldn't want to work on one.

[00:01:02]Um I don't mind doing it for a living but it's not fun out of hours but um the car that I owned was a 1973 Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas it was car number 67 out of 351 cars built.

[00:01:17]Um and it was probably one of No, it was the last of the partially hand built cars anyway from Jaguar a factory car.

[00:01:27]It was a long wheel base V12 Series 1 XJ and then the 351 Vanden Plas cars were sent down to Kingsbury in London where they were completed and had very bespoke interiors match wood inlay and all the wood big thick lambswool over rugs thicker sound insulation um the Vanden Plas came in special paint with a black vinyl roof.

[00:01:53]And I think mine was the best combination Mirello Cherry which was a stunning, stunning color.

[00:01:59]Being an early Being a Series 1 V12, it was carbureted. So, on a good day, you might get double-digit miles to the gallon, but honestly, I didn't care.

[00:02:09]It was and to this day, probably still is the finest luxury saloon car that I've ever had the pleasure to drive, let alone own.

[00:02:19]A properly sorted Series 1 Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas will wipe the floor with any Bentley, Rolls-Royce, or anything like that. They are just a stunning, stunning vehicle. So, there's a bit of yang to the yin about how much I dislike working on Jaguars.

[00:02:34]They produce some stunning, stunning cars.

[00:02:37]And I mean, just just quickly in in kind of compiling this video together, obviously I've had to find some photographs from the archives, as it were.

[00:02:44]And two three other Jaguars that I've owned of note actually came up.

[00:02:50]One of which was um I love the XJ12 or the XJ coupe. Hey, stunning design, but in my mind, it it should have been a Series 1.

[00:03:00]The Series 1 front is far better than the two in my mind.

[00:03:04]So, I built one.

[00:03:06]Um I've got a photograph here with I think I never quite finished it, but that was a 5.3 V12 manual gearbox, fully restored coupe shell with Series 1 front panel work grafted onto it.

[00:03:19]My plan was to also complete the illusion and and fit a Series 1 dashboard, but uh other things in my life needed the funds and the finance, so the car was sold almost completed, and I think it is still around to this day.

[00:03:34]Um another favorite would be a Series uh it was a Series 1 stroke two.

[00:03:43]It was a Group A race car, which was actually it wasn't built by me.

[00:03:47]Um good friend of mine, Ray Ingman, had a huge hand in that, and uh a guy he knows, Matt built the car to go Group A racing with.

[00:03:56]But again, his life changed and the car never made it to the track. I bought it and did a few little modifications to get it roadworthy and to highlight the work that or the the race products at the time that we were supplying.

[00:04:09]Um and that became a road car.

[00:04:11]And a hell of a road car it was. It's quite a frightening thing to drive. Uh it was only Group A, so it wasn't huge amounts of power, but it still was manual steering, big heavy race clutch, um no interior, roll cage, no suspension movement. It was a bit of a bit of a terror on the road.

[00:04:30]Great fun to drive.

[00:04:32]And uh again, that's gone on to a new life. It's been stickered up in period BL racing colors, I believe.

[00:04:41]Um and was bought by a traveling salesman, believe it or not, because a classic car always breaks the ice, he said. And turning up in something like that was always a great talking point and led to many a many a great sale.

[00:04:54]Um and then the last one of note is probably my second favorite luxury saloon car I've ever had the pleasure to drive, let alone own, was a 1993 press release car from Jaguar, Daimler Double Six again, the XJ81, the XJ40, so the big square XJ40 that came after the Series III.

[00:05:17]They fitted the 6-liter V12 into that in limited numbers.

[00:05:21]Again, they only made around a thousand of those.

[00:05:24]Um and it was the last Jaguar that my father owned before he passed, so there was a bit of a sentimental attachment to that. And at the time of his passing, this car became available to me to buy and uh the heart overruled the head. The head was in it anyway, but the heart sort of nudged it over the line.

[00:05:42]Um and I bought this silver XJ Daimler Double 6.

[00:05:48]And we used that to return his ashes to uh the uh North Yorkshire Moors.

[00:05:55]Uh Michelle and I used it as our wedding car. We went away on honeymoon in it.

[00:06:00]And uh just a superb car just effortless performance and comfort and a lovely lovely thing to drive.

[00:06:07]And uh so much so that a regular customer of ours kept pushing me to to let him have it. And eventually with three young boys they've got individual rear seats in the Daimler. So they are strictly a four-seater.

[00:06:22]I never used it cuz we never went anywhere. And uh I mean now the boys are older and we don't go anywhere with them.

[00:06:29]I'd happily have another one any day.

[00:06:31]But um there we go. A quick little run through three of my favorite Jaguars which by and large have been Daimler.

[00:06:37]By and large have been V12.

[00:06:39]Um they are phenomenal cars. I do if I take a step back cuz I have to remind myself I only see broken ones.

[00:06:47]>> [laughter] >> If I take a step back uh they are fantastic cars and I've earned myself a a career and a living from them. So I shouldn't be too down on them no matter how much they frustrate me working on them.

[00:07:00]Um never know. I might have another one one day. But uh I'm quite happy with my American toys at the minute. So [snorts] um little bank holiday bonus for you. We'll catch up with you next week. We've got Owen starting this week. And uh he's actually going to be jumping straight into the M1000 Parlor before he hits the Transit which is above you right now.

[00:07:18]Um so there should be some updates coming thick and fast on the cars.

[00:07:22]Cadillac Half the Cadillac is now in its final coat of primer. So uh lots coming up. And we'll catch up with you soon.