‘It’s a slinkier car than a Mk2, and drives better’

It’s traditionally lived in the Mk2’s shadow, but the slinky S-type is quietly slipping away

How about this – Jaguar’s 1963 to 1968 S-type is bucking the falling market. There’s been a visible spike in prices this year both in the UK and Europe.

In September, the RM Sotheby’s Savagga Collection sale in Portugal saw a fine ’65 3.8 sell for 36,800 euros, while Barons knocked down an original, but not perfect, ’66 3.8 for a healthy £22,000 and Bonhams dispatched a decent ’66 3.8 for a commendable £21,375 at its Bicester sale.

These were all the desirable manual 3.8s but you can see a clear uplift in values that’s chasing Mk2 prices. Look at the historic graphs and you’ll also see that the steadily rising S-type sales results have hardly hiccupped for a decade.

Private and dealer prices are strong too – Arun Ltd in West Sussex is advertising a ’66 3.8 in Opalescent Blue, an older restoration, for £32,995, Hurst Park in Surrey has a stunning Opalescent Green 3.8 with 54,000 miles for £38,500 while a private seller in Dorset has an ‘immaculate’ 1966 in silver with 84,000 miles for £24,995.

One of the reasons for such solid prices could be because so there are so few survivors. Despite 25,000 rolling out of the Browns Lane factory over a five-year period in the Sixties, the International Jaguar S-type Register only has 600 cars on file – and that’s counting both leftand right-hand-drive examples – which suggests a tiny survival rate.

Never glam or high-profile, the more complex S-type wasn’t part of the Mk2 rebuilding boom of the Eighties and lower selling prices meant that many were scrapped or cannibalised. But as preferences change, perceptions shift, and if you look at an S-type now, sitting on chrome wires as so many do, this is actually a much slinkier, more elegant machine than the Mk2. And it drives better too, with its E-typederived independent rear suspension, smoother ride and increased refinement. Another likely factor in the S-type’s renaissance is restoration costs. Fine original or rebuilt S-types, even at the £40k peak of their current price curve, look serious value when you consider a professional bare-metal restoration wouldn’t leave much change from £100k. Definitely one to watch.

‘The International Jaguar S-type Register only has 600 cars on file’