With all the lockdowns, curfews, social distancing and general shutting down of pretty much everything that constitutes fun, the vicarious pleasure of surfing the internet looking for or just gazing wistfully at classic cars for sale has never been more of a godsend, not least as a way of filling the hours that would otherwise have been spent doing more useful things such as – in my case, at least – knocking a small yellow ball to and fro over a net, or wandering around a draughty hall looking at actual cars.
Actually, truth be told, I’m pretty sure most of us waste endless hours looking through auction sites, dealer sites, and various other repositories of classics for sale that we imagine we might one day buy, knowing full well that we almost certainly – with a few fortunate exceptions – will never possess that car, rendering the exercise a futile one of wishful thinking.
But dammit, it’s fun, isn’t it? And if you don’t have quite so much time on your hands – even during these extraordinary weeks and months – we here at ViaRETRO can always do it for you, and this week’s interweb trawl has netted what I hope you will agree is worth more than just a glance.
Last week we featured a lesser-spotted but nevertheless quite distinguished and well-appointed medium-sized British saloon built in Coventry. This week, we’ve stayed within the confines of the British motor industry, the City of Coventry and indeed the 1960’s, with a car that was then – and would be now – considered quite a step up from the Singer Vogue.
Conceived to sit between the well-established Mark 2 and the Mark X (and later 420), the Jaguar S-Type was launched in 1963 and soon carved a niche for itself between the smaller sports-saloon and getaway car of choice for the British underworld and the big and luxurious barge that was the Mark X.
Available with either of Jaguar’s tried and tested 3.4 or 3.8-litre six-cylinder XK engines, the S-Type was more an upmarket development of the Mark 2 than a cheaper Mark X and had more in common with the smaller car. Unlike with most other Jaguar saloons, no Daimler version of the S-Type was produced. These were quite powerful engines; the 3.4 pumped out 210bhp, enough to propel this pretty large car to a top speed of almost 125mph, and the 3.8 gave 220bhp, making just over 125mph achievable – these weren’t known as sports saloons for nothing.
Changes were made to the suspension – an adaptation of the Mark X’s more sophisticated independent set-up was used – and the steering and heating and ventilation systems were upgraded. The S-Type also came with a more luxurious interior and generally more space, pace and grace, as Jaguar’s credo would have it, than the Mark 2.
When you look at the S-Type, it’s impossible not to conclude that it’s the result of a cross-breeding programme between the Mark 2 and Mark X, and at first glance, not even a subtle one – the front appears to be almost purely Mark 2, the rear is very Mark X, although there were several subtle changes made to the S-Type to help distinguish it from its smaller brother. Does it work, though? Personally, I’m not sure – from some angles it looks terrific, from others – principally side-on profile – it looks a little clumsy, to my eyes at least. Indeed, Cyril Crouch, then Assistant Chief Body Engineer at Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant, described it as – and I quote – “an ugly-looking car”, “an abomination” and “an odd-looking vehicle”; I’m guessing he didn’t like it. Having said that, it’s surely a better-looking car than the ill-conceived “updated” S-Type that Jaguar foisted on the world in 1999.
In any case, the car sold moderately well, and Jaguar manufactured 9,928 examples of the 3.4-litre and 15,065 of the 3.8-litre between 1963 and 1968. Of these, 203 were on the road in the UK in Q4 2018, with another 107 off the road – a survival rate of just over 1%. By way of comparison, there were 789 licensed Mark 2’s at the last count, plus 239 others, out of 91,214 produced – a similar survival rate.
Interest in, and prices of, good Mark 2’s have for some time been boosted by the popularity of the Inspector Morse series – the grumpy old detective drove around solving murders in Oxford in a 1959 model in burgundy with a black roof over 33 episodes and 13 years. Indeed, the actual “Morse Jaguar” was sold in 2005 for over £100k. but a few years later, in a suitably ironic twist, the buyer turned out to be a con-man and was jailed for five years. Current whereabouts of the car are not clear.
As a result the S-Type has been somewhat neglected in the marketplace, but it means prices have largely stayed on the right side of affordable, and our Prime Find this week is proof, as it creeps in – just – under our self-imposed (almost typed self-isolating…) budget, with an asking price of £19,995. In fact, this is on the high side for an S-Type, but if the advert is a true guide, it’s perhaps justifiable.
Our Jaguar is a 1964 3.8 S-Type, equipped with a manual gearbox with overdrive, finished in Sherwood Green with Sage Leather upholstery, and I have to say that I think it looks pretty smart.
The traditional ’60’s British “Gentleman’s Club” interior of leather and walnut veneer looks very good – perhaps the driver’s seat could use some reupholstering, but the remaining seats, door cards and veneers all look to be ship-shape. The car even comes with what looks like a complete tool-kit and a mallet to assist in changing the knock-off wires that I presume are on the car despite the absence of any photos thereof.
This example has been the subject of considerable expense over the last decade, and mostly in the last three or four years, as detailed in the dealer’s advert, with the total expenditure a not-insignificant £14,793. If the photographs we’ve borrowed from the dealer’s website are any guide, you can see where the money has been spent, though I have to say it would have been helpful to see more pictures of the car’s exterior. It also comes with a large history file, and the recorded mileage is listed as 98,000, so quite possibly genuine but it’s not mentioned if this is warranted – it would be a surprise though if this was second-time around on the odometer.
More information on the car can be found on the dealer’s website, and as always, we highly recommend either a personal or independently arranged inspection before committing to a purchase.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk