Jaguar MkII 3.4 MOD

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One of the most beautiful and best-loved saloons of all time, the MkII Jaguar was launched to huge acclaim in 1959.

Muscular, lithe and graceful, it had the big cat looks that the best Jaguars are famed for and clearly adhered to Sir William Lyons' maxim of "grace, pace and space". The top-of-the-range 3.8-litre model had stunning performance from its 220bhp straight-six engine and could embarrass most sports cars of the day, leaving them trailing in its 125mph wake. Keeping everything under control were superb race-derived mechanicals that included servo-assisted disc brakes all round, coil-and-wishbone independent front suspension and a leaf-sprung Salisbury rear axle with optional limited slip diff. The result of this clever engineering was that the Jaguar displayed particularly fine ride and handling characteristics for a car of its era.

In the middle of the range was the 3.4-litre which featured the superb twin-cam 3,442cc XK engine, as used not only in the previous 3.4 Saloon (now retrospectively referred to as the MkI) but also in the mythical C- and D-Type models. The 3.4-litre was a particularly sweet running engine with excellent performance that was nearly a match for the 3.8 (210bhp and 120mph) and, like its smaller and bigger engined stablemates, was clothed in one of the finest looking saloon car bodies ever made. Inside was beautifully trimmed in walnut and leather in the finest Jaguar tradition. Compared to the MkI, there was an improved instrument layout and an increase of 18% in glass area making for a pleasingly airy cabin.

A huge success both on road and track, the MkII was quick to dominate contemporary saloon car racing in the hands of drivers like Stirling Moss and Roy Salvadori. No wonder it also established itself as the ultimate get-away car. With room for four burly gangsters and a big stack of loot, no Sixties’ bank job was complete without a MkII fishtailing its way from the scene of the crime.

Production of the MkII 3.4 ended in 1967, with a total of 28,666 cars built, although a cheaper version, the 340, continued to sell until 1969.

First registered in August 1965, this MkII 3.4 had just one Exeter owner (according to the V5) before it was acquired for the Stondon Collection in 2007. Presented in classic British Racing Green with a tan leather interior, chrome wire wheels and a manual overdrive gearbox, it also has a rather appealing Bournemouth number plate, EEL 930C, which is transferable and will no doubt be of interest to all those fishermen out there…