Jaguar XJ6 3.6 Saloon

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A completely new range of XJ6 models finally saw the light of day some 18 years after the first of these astonishingly refined saloons had brought limousine-like motoring to millions.

Jaguar were well aware that the outgoing Series III model was going to be a hard act to follow and threw every resource they had at its successor, investing over £200m in the development programme for the new car. Codenamed XJ40, test models clocked up 1.24 million miles in Arizona summer heat testing, 1.1 million miles in Canada winter testing, 1.8 million miles in Australia heat and dust testing, in addition to 750,000 miles on the high-speed Nardo circuit in Italy and other general road tests.

All this hard work paid off and the car proved exceptionally reliable in use. A variety of engine sizes were available but amongst the most popular was the 3.6-litre AJ6 unit which produced 221bhp and 248lb/ft of torque, sufficient for a spritely 0-60 time of just 8.2 seconds with a top speed of 140mph. Build quality was now on a par with the standards expected from its German rivals and aside from some mutterings about rather staid styling, the car sold extremely well both at home and abroad.

First registered in August 1988, this lovely Westminster Grey XJ6 has been in the vendor’s family since 1992 and has been maintained regardless of cost throughout that time. In 2007 it was entrusted to renowned Jaguar specialists CMC of Bridgnorth with a blank cheque and the instructions to get it into tip top mechanical order. Some £3,500 later and the task was accomplished, bills on file detailing the extent of the work carried out.

Between 2010 and 2012 it was returned to CMC with another blank cheque and the instructions to give the bodywork and structure the same treatment. Over £7,400 later and this mission was also accomplished with the results that you see today, the whole refurbishment process recorded on many photos and bills on file (the quality of CMC's workmanship being amply demonstrated by their astounding ressurrection of the heavily crash-damaged 'Lindner Nocker' Low Drag E-Type No. 2). 

Mainly kept in storage since the work was completed, the car has only covered some 82,500 miles with 14 service stamps to date, the last 6,500 miles ago in August 2008 at a cost of some £390. Regularly checked over by CMC since then, it is said to drive superbly with an MOT until August 2016, the only advisory being ‘n/s front tyre inner edge worn’, prompting the vendor to have the wheel alignment corrected shortly afterwards.

Recently fitted with a new battery, it also comes with a custom-made car cover and retains its complete original tool kit. A more modern Pioneer CD system has been fitted but the original Jaguar radio/cassette is also included along with the original handbooks in the original wallet plus a Haynes workshop manual on CD.

Apart from a drooping headlining (a common fault on many older Jaguars), the car is in lovely condition throughout and is only reluctantly for sale due to lack of use no longer justifying the high cost of storage these past few years (with some eye-watering bills to substantiate this!).
 

We are great fans of the XJ40 and think that the once-criticised styling is ageing well, especially when fitted with quad round headlamps in place of the earlier oblong pair. They are fine cars to drive or be driven in and you would be hard-pressed to find a smarter example than this. With over £11,000 lavished upon it in recent times, this pampered Big Cat looks absurdly good value at the modest guide price suggested.