Myth Buster
Debunking the most common old wives’ tales
Arthur Daley’s Jaguars
1 HE DROVE A JAG
Minder’s Arthur Daley has come to epitomise, ahem, a certain type of used car dealer, for whom a Jaguar XJ just seemed to be the ideal accompaniment. He’s probably best remembered for driving a Primrose Yellow model during the show’s peak of popularity, and the car still survives today. Except it wasn’t a Jaguar – DYO 979V was a Daimler Sovereign Series III. And that wasn’t its real registration either – it was actually VDU 342X. The car was given away in a Radio Times competition in 1985.
2 HE HAD THE CAR FOR MANY YEARS
There were ten series of Minder, plus a single revival series in 2009 that featured neither George Cole nor Dennis Waterman. Cole’s tenure was from 1979 to 1994. Because of his character’s predilection for XJ-shaped models, the perception is that he drove the same car for many years, with the pale yellow example the dominant car. But that only lasted for three series (4-6, 1983-1985). His original Series 1 to 3 (1979 to 1982) runabout was a Jaguar XJ6 4.2 Series II, and no subsequent Jaguars or Daimlers stayed longer than a series.
3 HE ALWAYS DROVE XJ-SHAPE MODELS
Given his close association with XJ derivatives, it’s often overlooked that Arthur did flirt with other marques; he was a used car salesman, after all. Series 3 saw him bombing around in a Mercedes 280E and he also had a fondness for variants of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. When it all went a bit wrong for him during Series 7, he briefly had an S-registration Ford Granada 2.8L. And then there was that most unArthur of cars, the bright yellow S-reg Lotus Eclat (during the first season). Which he only had for 24 hours. Richard Gunn