Jaguar MkII 340

Undoubtedly one of the greatest saloon cars of all time, the Jaguar MkII was launched to ecstatic reviews in 1959. With monumental performance for its time (the 3.8 boasted 220bhp, 125mph, 0-60 in 8.5 seconds), it had a habit of embarrassing most sportscars of the day yet could carry four adults in comfort. It quickly gained a somewhat raffish image, winning friends on both sides of the law – no sixties bank job was complete without a MkII getaway car fishtailing away from the scene, with the rozzers pursuing in a 3.8.

From September 1967 the Jaguar MkII range was replaced by the 240 and 340 models with slimmer bumpers, chrome grills in place of the front fog lights and Ambla, rather than leather, interiors. Introduced to keep the range attractively priced until the launch of the new XJ6 in September 1968, some 2,788 340s were made during the period - the 240 carrying on as a budget model for some time to come. The good news was that thanks to a new straight-port cylinder head and twin SU carbs, a 240 was noticeably quicker than a 2.4 and a 340 had at least the performance of the old 3.8.

Dating from July 1968, this particular 340 manual overdrive has had just one Jaguar enthusiast owner since 1988 and has been kept dry stored throughout that time. The owner’s intention was to restore the car but an E-Type project got in the way and the 340 remained largely untouched for some 25 years. He has now decided that he is getting too old to tackle the job and would rather it went to someone with a little more energy and enthusiasm for the task!

Believed to be more or less complete, the car appears to be in basically sound condition and should prove a relatively straightforward project for someone. Supplied with a copy of the original buff log book detailing the previous three owners and a more modern V5 document, it is being offered here entirely without reserve.