Jaguar XJ6 Series 1

[PaulAA]

I was a little off-colour last week. It turned out to be viral, slight fever, but it has left me washed out the first half of this week.

And you do strange things when you've got a fever. Irrational things, the sort you would normally be sensible enough to avoid. Like flying to Munich and agreeing to buy a Series 1 XJ6.

In mitigation, it is a beautiful car - the best combination, of silver over black leather. And the enormous file of records satisfactorily covers all the usual weaknesses and shortcomings (bodywork, electrics, rear subframe + brakes, engine, headlining, fuel system, etc.) but people have started queueing up at my door to explain in ever more graphic detail what a precipitous decision this will surely be.

In the meantime, I am the dog with double equipment.

Paul

[Nick Jones]

Congratulations! They are very fine cars when in good condition, which it sounds like this is. Are you going to drive it back (a fair old drive but good roads)  or having it transported? If getting it transported seems too expensive, remember that they do like a drink…..

Obviously we require pics…..

[PaulAA]

7 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Congratulations! They are very fine cars when in good condition, which it sounds like this is.

I thank you kindly! I managed to get this one past the Investment Committee by portraying it as... an investment. Which it doubtless will be. Endlessly.

Much as a road trip is hugely appealing, I'm going to have it transported back because (i) it's an unknown car and attempting to cover upwards of 1,100km straight off may not end well, (ii) I don't have to go through the faff of buying German export plates and temporary insurance, and (iii) it will cost marginally less to have a man with a low loader go to Munich, collect it and deliver it to my door than the contents of a small oil well (it's a 4.2 auto, natch) required to do the journey under its own steam.

And some pictures of the day:

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Remarkably good condition. Very shiny.

Look forward to hearing how it fares after its journey to its new home.

[Nick Jones]

9 hours ago, PaulAA said:

an investment. Which it doubtless will be. Endlessly.

This is a significant risk…..

9 hours ago, PaulAA said:

than the contents of a small oil well (it's a 4.2 auto, natch) required to do the journey under its own steam.

Yes, my point exactly. Your logic re. Collection vs. Delivery is faultless. Head over heart.  

The Mk1 is the most imposing looking. Was it born silver? Not such a common thing back then….

 

[PaulAA]

1 hour ago, Nick Jones said:

Was it born silver? Not such a common thing back then….

 

It was indeed. The documentation includes the Heritage certificate and the colour and equipment are all factory correct. I think the only thing that isn't per the factory gate are the headlights, which were originally the smaller export version (with the ventilation grille around them).

[RogerH]

Nice

 

Roger

[PaulAA]

3 hours ago, RogerH said:

Nice

My wife said the same thing. But I think she may have meant something entirely different.

Paul

[PaulAA]

Well, this evening, I may be the canine with a disproportionate allocation of reproductive equipment.

[Hamish]

Big compared to the TR

[PeteStupps]

On 8/9/2023 at 10:38 PM, PaulAA said:

an investment. Which it doubtless will be. Endlessly

Looks like a beauty. And very practical with that massive boot

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Lovely..

[Nick Jones]

Does look nice. Presumably you have to run the gauntlet of various  bureaucracies before you can actually drive it though. Big ball-ache?

[rogerguzzi]

Hello All

              I came across a Jaguar XJ6 catalogue in pristine condition while looking something else!

I will take some photos in the next few days there is even a specs sheet with it!

Goodness knows where I got it from but that is true of a lot of stuff I have??

Roger

[rogerguzzi]

Hello All

              I was wrong its an XJS catalogue will put photos later

Roger

[rogerguzzi]

Hello All

              Here you go its in pristine condition

Roger

[Escadrille Ecosse]

'and so efficient is the fuel injection that you can expect economy approaching 18 mpg from 97 octane (4 star) petrol' 

[PaulAA]

On 9/14/2023 at 10:34 PM, Hamish said:

Big compared to the TR

It is. Very big compared to the parking space length as well - I need to learn how to reverse to within an inch of the rear wall without parking sensors, camera, wife or mirrors worthy of the name.

But brushing up on the technical data needed for the various pre-registration applications, I've been amused to discover how many parts (particularly of Lucas persuasion) are common to both. Even the dizzy is the same 22D6.

On 9/15/2023 at 12:57 AM, PeteStupps said:

Looks like a beauty. And very practical with that massive boot

Enough for a bank robbery haul and two bodies in concrete wellingtons. Allegedly.

On 9/15/2023 at 5:55 PM, Nick Jones said:

Does look nice. Presumably you have to run the gauntlet of various  bureaucracies before you can actually drive it though. Big ball-ache?

It is. It involves consorting with experts possessing stamps, registration numbers and large moustaches, as well as an inviolable sequence of desks and forms. As with the TR, it is to be registered as a 'public monument' and equipped with the dinky yellow plates, because this (and not its venerable age) will give it exemption from the upcoming ULEX in central Warsaw. Surprisingly, some of this can be done electronically, but not the monument application, which has to be submitted on a sheet of A3 card, (minimum 200gm weight) folded in a pre-ordained way.

But the process gives rise to much fun and frollicks, because it turns out that during its itinerant life (Italy, then Blighty, Germany and now PL), its vital statistics have been a moveable feast and each country has registered them in different ways. Its unladen weight has gone up and down, as has its length and cubic capacity (remarkably, it started life at 4235cc, but had dimionished to 4198cc by the time it reach Germany - things really do shrink with age, it seems).

[PaulAA]

Just now, PaulAA said:

 the upcoming ULEX in central Warsaw.

... or ULEZ, even. A quarter of a century here and I still haven't mastered the consonants at the end of the alphabet.

[PaulAA]

Evening chaps.

The XJ is now registered as a treasure of Poland, equipped with more of the dinky historic vehicle plates, and shedding quite impressive amounts of oil. Mainly from the gearbox, which is encouraging.

But... what a ride!

 

 

 

[Nick Jones]

Congratulations!

Now you can (and clearly are) enjoy your “monument”.

I hope fuel is cheaper in PL than it is here! 

[PaulAA]

I thank you kindly.

As a daily driver, it does have certain... disadvantages, consumption being one of them. We have been 'enjoying' another period of political machination hereabouts recently, as the ragtag collection of crooks loosely known as our Govt tried to influence the outcome of the GE last month by subsidising fuel. So 95 octane was retailing at £1.15/litre before the election and is now closer to £1.25 - punishment for backing the decent and more honest horse, no doubt.

But if a spike in petrol price is the cost of getting rid of a foul and corrupt religious hegemony, I am not going to gripe.

[Nick Jones]

Yep, that last election looks like a step in the right direction from where I’m sitting.

£1.25….. £1.50 is about as low as it gets here at present. Diesel £1.55 upwards…..

[JohnD]

When I visited Poland (It was in 1992) the main transportation outside cities seemed to be horse and cart - the 'hard shoulders' of main roads were marked for their use!

 

Not my own pic, but just the same as I saw then!

[Sprint95m]

What a fantastic looking car. Always thought the Series 1 was the best looking, especially with the indicators above the front bumper.

The late Queen Mother, during her annual holiday at the Castle of Mey,
(which she had restored in the 1950s,)
used an early XJ12 to get about. You are in good company!
 

Ian