I was at Stoneleigh this month for the bi-annual Jag Spares day.
I found the original price list with options for the Jaguar range in 1968
I thought it was very interesting and added the item to my collection for £2
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In 1968, $1 = £2.4
So £2275 = $3,221
In 1968
$ 7,743 - Median Annual Income (therefore, XKE was nearly half a tear’s pay)
$14,975 - Avg House
$ 2,822 = Avg car
34¢ = gallon of Gas (US)
$0.49 - Big Mac
About 1974 they changed the gas pumps out because they only went to .99.
Our kids are screwed.
I love the price list. I can now tell my buddy he bought the " cheap" version OTS. LMAO
In 1868? Are you sure that’s the correct exchange rate?
Missed that. Lol
1968 OTS price in the US was about $5,500.
Tom
In Aug 1968 the original owner of my FHC paid $6633, plus tax etc in Santa Cruz CA. He did get $1750 for trade- in of his 1966 Chevrolet C20 pick up truck to help though.
David
68 E-type FHC
There are variables such as options and delivery, etc.
Tom
Changed my original posting
Thanx
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Hi,
Yes, good data point.
A late friend of mine bought an OTS in October 1967 tax free from the factory, PED, cost was about £1500 GBP. Amazing hiw they could make a profit back then.
Also interesting to see those”’standard” versions of the.XJ6, I have never ever seen a manual XJ6 2.8 nor 4.2 without an overdrive, I wonder if they ever made any?
Also never seen an XJ without power steering, yet all spare parts catalogues list belts for XJ6 without PAS, weird huh?
The MK X and 420G Limousine is also interesting, a few were made fir sure, I have seen one, once. Akso the MKIX was available with a division screen between the driver’s and passenger compartment. But still very small as limousines, the Daimler Majestic Major 4.5L and the Daimler Limousine that replaced it in 1969 (DS420) with the.4.2L XK engine was much, much bigger. And IIRC the most expensive car you could buy from British Leyland.
Cheers!
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I think even Arnold Swarzenegger would have struggled to steer an XJ 6 without PAS 
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Thanks for posting and sharing!
In '67 I bought an OTS for $5,681, new.
Rod
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It sounds cheap today, but in 1968 $5,500 was real money. I think it was only in 1974 that the minimum wage hit $2.00/hour and my first new car that I bought that year stickered for less than $2,000. Ok, to my shame it was a Datsun B210 (rusted out by 1977).
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I think they didn’t ever make the standard 2.8 but I once almost bought a blue 2.8 that had no centre arm rest and I think Ambla seats… I believe I can PM you some pictures if you like.
They did make some 4-speed XJ without overdrive, that I know.
The SWB XJ 4.2 is around 1630 kg. Not that heavy (3300lbs). Power steering is really light and the 2.8 manual was a little lighter…
I‘d like to rub in that the XJ is more expensive than the E Type… um, never mind.
Indeed!
In 1985, a customer offered me his Aston Martin DBS: he was asking $5000 for it. It might as well have been 1 million…
Now I wonder if the original owner of my 68 FHC just got a bad deal at $6633 or if west coast cars (Santa Cruz CA) cost several hundred more for shipping ? It has a Blaupunkt AM/FM and chrome wire wheels but nothing else that I think would be optional. My memory is that the FHC was a little more than an OTS though.
The reason I remember the minimum wage increase to $2.00 so clearly is that I remember my employer complaining about being forced to give us a raise.
.
1968 Fast food service wasn’t a “career” demanding $20/hr. Remember those days well.
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