KEEPING THINGS IN THE FAMILY
JAGUAR XJ6 S2 4.2
RUN BY Malcolm Mckay
OWNED SINCE 1977/2021
PREVIOUS REPORT n/a
There is a special buzz that comes from owning a car that has been in your family for a long time. Iʼve already introduced my motherʼs Morris Traveller (Our classics, April 2023), which she bought in 1964; Dadʼs XJ6 is just as special to me, albeit in different ways. The Traveller was the first car I drove on my 17th birthday, and the car in which I passed my test, but the XJ was Dadʼs pride and joy – and he never let me drive it!
The Jaguar is a rare shortwheelbase Series 2 4.2 automatic that was registered in November 1973, not long after the Series 2 was launched, and it replaced the Mk2 2.4 manual Dad had driven for 15 years. He bought it in 1977 with just 30,000 miles on the clock; it now shows 130,000 and remains almost completely original. The gearbox was rebuilt at around 100,000 miles, and Dad did a few small tidy-up jobs on the body, but 95% of the paint is factory, the interior is original and the engine has never been rebuilt. It was always garaged, and he serviced it by the book: as an aeronautical engineer, he was meticulous with maintenance – although growing up in wartime did leave him with a reluctance to fit new parts unless the old ones were completely worn out and beyond redemption.
In 2021 my parents moved in with us, and I extracted the XJ from the garage where it had been sitting for 17 years. It was a bit of a challenge, with corroded fuelpump points, sticking brakes and a stuck-open float chamber needle valve to deal with, not helped by the car being cocooned so tightly that I couldnʼt get to much. After a few hoursʼ hard graft, however, it powered itself up the steep drive and on to the four-wheeled trailer behind my van – which promptly broke down on the way home, necessitating a complicated and stressful recovery. I was tempted to bolt the towbar back on the XJ (Dad had removed it to close the garage door), hitch it to the trailer and put the van on it. If it hadnʼt been a long-wheelbase high-top, I might well have done so.
Safely home, the XJ was treated to a full valet. Its first trips, though – sadly, but appropriately – were to first Dadʼs and then Mumʼs funerals. They had battled on far too long in their own home and, after a very happy summer with us, gently and gracefully faded away. Fittingly, the Jaguar carried
my mother faultlessly to Dadʼs funeral, then made its point at Mumʼs, crawling at tickover pace all the way to the church and then refusing to drive back.
The problem was a simple one: jamming float chamber needle valves again, but sticking shut this time, not open. Old fuel deposits dissolving into the new fuel then turning gluey seemed to be the cause and, after a good clean, the problem hasnʼt reoccurred.
Work pressures and too many cars have made it difficult to take the XJ out as often as I would like, but it attended the local village classic car show last summer and was then requested for a wedding, transporting the bride and her bridesmaids on a magic carpet from home to church – they were surprised by a quietness and comfort that they really hadnʼt expected from an “old car”.
We are lucky to have a superb New Yearʼs Day gathering close to us, organised by the Somerset Traction Engine Club: it attracts vehicles from modern classics and customs to trucks, tractors and even a steam traction engine, with everything you can imagine in between. Thereʼs something for everyone; we took the Minor last year, so this year was the XJʼS turn.
Parked alongside a late-1950s Cadillac that dwarfed it, a Cortina Lotus and an MGB GT, the Jaguar attracted plenty of visitor interest. Once again the car ran perfectly, prompting a New Yearʼs resolution to give it more outings when the weather improves and treat it to a full service so we can rely on it for longer runs. The XJ epitomises the classic Jaguar slogan of ʻGrace, Space and Paceʼ, and it has been resting for far too long.