1966 Mk II Opinions please

[strat]

Hello all,

I am after some advice/opinions on a RHD Mk II that I have seen for sale near to my home in Florida. I shall be entirely honest and say that I know nothing about Jags whatsoever. However, it is plain to see that the early Jags are fine looking machines and I admired them for some time.

This one claims to be a barn find and as such is being sold for just over $5,000. It is being sold off as an estate sale. It is a 1966 3.4 S and the owner says that it is in good condition with no obvious rust. Apparently it runs (despite not being used regularly for at least 7 years) and only the brakes will need immediate attention.

He says that everything in the car is original EXCEPT that in the early 1970s someone replaced the engine with a Ford 302. I do not know why anyone would do this,but there you go.

So, would you consider this car worthy of further investigation? Or would you advise against a Jag with a Ford engine? Are replacement engines available for these cars? Is putting a Jag engine back into it a viable option?

Any opinions appreciated.

Many thanks.

[a8hex]

strat said:

Hello all,

It is a 1966 3.4 S

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He says that everything in the car is original EXCEPT that in the early 1970s someone replaced the engine with a Ford 302. I do not know why anyone would do this,but there you go.

If it's being described as a 3.4S then it probably isn't actually a Mk2. It's probably an S-Type, which at one point some at Jaguar though of calling a Mk3. The front end it similar in looks, at least it's another gorgeously curvy front end. At the back though the Mk2's cart springs and live axle are replaced with the legendary Jaguar IRS which had previously been seen on the E-Type and MkX. The back end is much longer and the boot (trunk) is huge. The ride has a magic carpet like quality that no modern car comes close to, partly because modern cars have substituted pneumatic tyres for rubber bands .
The downside is the 3.4 S-Type is somewhat slower, which might explain the decision to replace the Jaguar engine with a V8. Getting that under the Mk2 or S-Type bonnets must have been a bit of a squeeze, but it wasn't uncommon to find Jags with American engines in, it was referred to LUMPing, (Less Upkeep, More Power).
Value wise the car will be worth less with the wrong engine, purest will want the Jaguar XK engine in there. These aren't difficult to find and you could always put a later 4.2 XK engine in if they didn't change to much to squeeze the V8 in there.
Normally the expensive bit of working on older Jags is the body work, so if there is no rust and no damage then the mechanical side can normally be sorted.

[strat]

A8hex - many thanks for your info. I will try to upload a couple of photos to see if you are able to tell whether or not it is a Mark 3. As for the American engine, I had no idea this was common!

Thanks again.

[tonys]

That is an S-Type, not a Mark 11.

As to whether anybody ever did call them a Mark 111, I've not heard that before, but then there's no reason why Jaguar would have confided in me

Very nice cars, and many will have a view that the S-Type was a better car than the Mk11.

[a8hex]

tonys said:

That is an S-Type, not a Mark 11.

As to whether anybody ever did call them a Mark 111, I've not heard that before, but then there's no reason why Jaguar would have confided in me

Very nice cars, and many will have a view that the S-Type was a better car than the Mk11.

It wasn't officially called the Mk3, but internally was referred as the Mk3 by some people according to Norman Dewis' biography. I think that at one point there was the intention of replacing the Mk2 with the newer better car, but then they realised that there was still a market for the cheaper Mk2 so calling the new car the Mk3 would have been a problem.
By most measures the S-Type is a better car, the downside at the time was that is was heavier and more expensive, but then it did have that exquisite ride. These days they have the downside (or upside depending on you view point) of being much less valuable than the better known Mk2.