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Instrument view is a good indication of speed versus MPH or KPH. Looks like 60 MPH would be about 3000 RPM or about 20 MPH per 1000 RPM in top gear. I guess this is a 3.54 final drive car?
It does 50km/h per 1000rpm, with the ZF24 box (with OD on 4th). Jaguar used that box in the XJ40. It totally transforms the car.
Correct on 3,54 diff, which I also use on the XKs with OD. Jaguar’s 4,19 means you shift between 4th and OD on fast country roads. I want OD for motorways only.
Colour me misinformed or confused, but the 4 sp. auto I think you are talking about has a fixed top gear overdrive ratio and a lockup torque convertor, not an overdrive which can be turned off and on.
I think he means to say that 4th is overdriven aka 3rd is probably direct and 4th is like an overdrive. With lockup too.
These are beautiful cars, if anything the S Type might be underrated. This can’t be!
3.54 without overdrive is a little annoying. It goes like a rocket but one or two gears are missing. Top speed is quoted something like 186 kph with the auto and 3.54 while the MOD gives another 20 kph or so.
With my totally stock MOD 1965 3.8S I get about 65MPH at 2650RPM in overdrive, car runs its original 3.77 final drive. Never understood why Jaguar partially defeated the overdrive by fitting the 3.77 instead of a 3.54 as was in non OD cars and automatics. I can state that the ZF HP 24 electronic four speed automatic in my 1990 XJ6 is a great gearbox. The fourth gear is an overdrive (with torque converter lockup) and the car runs a 3.54 final drive, up from the 1988 cars that ran a 2.88 and were a bit sluggish with the 3.6 liter engine.
Yes. As you concluded, I meant that 4th gear has around 0,84:1 ratio.
This was the second Jaguar that I bought (in 1988), after finding and restoring my fatherĹ› old S-type in 1984, while still at university.
I also love my Mk9. So easy to enter. Open the door, and just slide onto the bench, which is at a good height. Just as easy to get out.
I must say the S Type is easier to get into and out of than the XJ40 and in my opinion the driving position is more comfortable, but there is no AC, power windows, cruise control, etc, etc. I never had to “restore” my S Type, been garaged and well maintained since my mother bought it in 1966, my father inherited it in 1974 and I in 2000.
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Peder,
I’m just slightly biased, but I have to agree with you.
This picture was taken in 2008 in front of the original owners house in Atherton, CA. She had not seen the car since 1967 when it broke down at Lake Tahoe. I met her a few weeks prior when I dropped by to see if the current resident knew of the people who were listed on the Jaguar warrantee card. I returned and took this photo when the San Francisco Chronical did a story on reuniting with her car.
Micah
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Micah,
Im sure the car looked VERY DIFFERENT from when she saw it last!
You did a superb restoration on it.
Do you have a copy of the article you can post?
I love the 3.8S/420: I’ll reserve my opinion on the 420G… 
Lovely car, I had a 68 3.8 S-type from 72 - 82, absolutely reliable, comfortable, still my favourite Jag, sold it to buy the E, wife has never forgiven me!
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The 420G is a stunning beautiful car…!
If I ever get another Jag, it would be the one.
Unfortunately, I do not have a scanned copy of either the newspaper. The article also appeared in the March 2009 Jaguar Journal. The only copy I have is framed up in my garage. Her is Mrs. Eddie in Belgium where the Jaguar was purchased:
Her she is outside her home in Atherton:
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