I took possession of my XJC V12 yesterday and immediately drove it 650km back home. It has been many years since I have driven an old car, in fact was my V12 Etype 20 years ago (this car is in for restoration at the moment)
I settled in for a nice drive and rapidly got used to new to the new vehicle - I am used to V12 fuel consumption and the XJC did not disappoint and I managed about 15mpg at 100-110kph. I had fun filling the tanks with the flap causing spit back and stopping the fuel bowser - I was only able to fill each tank to just over 3/4 full. Same system on my Etype where I used to hold the flap open with a plastic probe and fill higher and fill the tank - all so familiar to the EType.
I haven’t had time to read the Handbook and so forth. So be prepared for a few more Newbie questions.
Garry,
Lovely car, thank you for posting the pictures.
It looks like some of the components were borrowed from more modern XJ/XJ-S models including: power mirrors, seat belts, chromed Kent Alloy wheels, Sports steering wheel, and brake booster/reservoir.
Thanks for the comments - Peder no car has not been to Sweden - assembled in Nelson New Zealand and sold new in Sydney Australia.
Paul - yes the steering wheel is great - better than the original offering. The wheels are standard Kents just given a good clean and polish. As far as I am aware the belts are standard.
Nice car! FI is the original design of the 12 cylinder - early carbed versions were Jaguar’s reaction to lack of availability. So it looks like you found a pristine example of a highly desirable car.
For what I know, the signal red over black color combo was an option for the coupés. Your car still has the early “stitched” door panels, but later power mirrors, which may also be due to the NZ production. The Kents were optional for all SII cars.
Hi Garry, I’m not aware that the XJ-Cs were ever assembled in Nelson. S1 and S2 (swb and lbw) sedans were assembled there, but not the coupes. I base this on a recent book Tracking the Cats, by Brian Devlin, which detailed the NZ ckd assembly of Jaguars and Daimlers.
For NZ assembled cars the chassis number started with A——-, and body numbers prior to 1973 were 3 digits followed by N (for Nelson), and from ~1973 on started with KZ and ended with N.
Looks like a lovely example!
Yes you are probably correct as it was an assumption on my part as I was told the car came off the production line in early October 1976 and delivered to the customer on 9 Nov 1976. For the vehicle to be delivered in 4 weeks after build the only place it could have come from was the NZ plant. It takes at least 2 - 3 months to deliver a car from the UK to Aust so I assumed it came from across the ditich.
Of course the information I was given may have been confused with some other date in the process.
As I have indicated I have also had a Series 3 EType OTS for a long time - in fact for over 40 years.
For the Etype there is a plethora of information on and off line and one of the most important is the XKE Data website which has information, often from the Heritage Certificate on just about all Etypes http://www.xkedata.com/.
Does such a site exist for the XJC? If not what is the most useful source of information on these vehicles. Clearly I have searched lots of sources such as the Uk and Australian registers and other general sources but am interested in what people here find the best.
Hi Garry
There are quite a few registered on a sister site to xkedata, here:
There was also a coupe register that comes out of Oz but not sure how active this is:
https://www.jaguar.org.au/register/xj-coupe
Plus in the UK there’s this, which I only just found now . Looks very interesting, and it looks like it lists a huge number of cars (402) for Oz, which seems remarkable…
I knew of the UK and Aust (NSW?) registers but not the XJ Collector Data site. Yes basically the same as the XKE Data site.
My current vehicle is not in the XJ Data site so I will make an entry - putting in as much factual information that I have (not assumptions) and the same with the Registers.
Interestingly, the wrecked XJC I owned 30 years ago is in there and the information was entered after I moved it on. I sold it as a rolling chassis and as I knew it would never see the light of day again I removed the engine which I still have and the gearbox.
If you want the details, just get a JHT certificate for ca £40 GBP. I also think that all coupes were finished at Browns Lane, all but one that was changed from a Jaguar XJ12C to a Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas Coupé. Now that’s gotta be the longest model name ever!
Yes - I will certainly be getting a Certificate - should confirm the providence but I do have all the original documents from initial delivery and the previous owner was meticulous in record keeping.
A beautiful motor car.
I had a Daimler V12 coupe a number of years ago. I bought it with just 19k miles on the clock. Absolutely loved it drove and handled so well. Enjoy your new car!!
Here we do not normally have “age related” number plates so I have the next set out of the pile. Was hoping to get it previous Victoria state number of V12XJC but that is $3500 so I passed on that.
. Looks very interesting, and it looks like it lists a huge number of cars (402) for Oz, which seems remarkable…