DAIMLER DOUBLE-SIX VDP

Year of manufacture 1973 Recorded mileage 47,000 Asking price £49,995 Vendor Michael Wise Cars, Christchurch, Dorset; 07836 622234; michaelwisecars.co.uk

WHEN IT WAS NEW

Price £5363 Max power 265bhp Max torque 301lb ft 0-60mph 7.6 secs Top speed 140mph Mpg 11

It’s an easy thing to say that the Series 1 Jaguar XJ is the best looking of the lot, quite another to go and buy one. Built for just five years, and in smaller numbers than its Series 2 and Series 3 iterations, it was also the main victim of the general apathy towards the XJ as a classic car until recently. According to an enthusiast-run register for S1s, the last count was 254 in 2020.

To then say you’d like a Daimler Double-six Vanden Plas, the ultimate range-topper with two layers of names to separate it from an XJ12, would seem fanciful, but here we are: a fully restored example. The Vanden Plas is certainly the one to have if you want the most opulent XJ experience. It was the only S1 model to use the 4in-longer wheelbase that would later underpin a variety of S2 models and eventually become standardised, and was richly trimmed at the Vanden Plas Kingsbury works. There were thicker carpets with added sound-deadening, special Asian burr-walnut veneers and the leather seats even had Vdp-specific internals. Every option box was ticked – electric windows, air conditioning, Sundym glass – as well as neat touches exclusive to the Vanden Plas, such as red lamps on the doors and an external chrome side strip. The telltale vinyl roof soon became a popular retrofit for those who couldn’t afford to double their £2723 Jaguar ‘six’.

Remarkably this car has had only four owners, one of them being vendor Michael Wise himself, who spent years trying to track one down. “I looked at five or six, then heard of this one in Bristol,” he says. That was in 2019, when a former Rolls-royce engineer was midway through its restoration: “It was rotten, so he’d restored the body, sent various things off to be redone, but the engine wasn’t right.” Michael has since rebuilt the drivetrain, suspension and brakes so that, in his eyes, it’s perfect. Even the air conditioning works.

Purists may spot that the paintwork isn’t in an original shade – the only blue available was darker, and there was no silver – unless you count Silver Sand, which is gold – but I still think it’s fair to say this car is resplendent. The colour pairs beautifully with the chrome, and even the vinyl top is beginning to grow on me – the charms of a Webasto sunroof may well help with that. Inside, sinking into a fine leather seat, with the whispers of a V12 ahead and birdsong audible from above, seems like a lovely way to see in the spring.

Or any other time. If you want the ultimate early XJ, now’s your chance.

SUMMARY

CHOSEN BY Aaron Mckay

FOR High-quality restoration; rare specification

AGAINST Non-original colour; priced at the very top of the market for the model

WHY SHOULD I BUY IT?

To enjoy the most luxurious XJ experience