1972 JAGUAR XJ

By the mid-to-late 1960s, competition for the lucrative luxury car market was led by Jaguar with the successful Mk10, Mk2, S-Type and 420 saloons. However, it had been clear for some time that if Jaguar were to remain at the top of this sector into the 1970s and beyond there was a pressing need to develop just one saloon to replace all of the cars in the existing range. To succeed the new car would need to be very special indeed. It was - the all-new XJ range made its debut in 1968 at London’s Earls Court Motor Show. The car was an immediate success with the public overwhelmed by this new large luxury Jaguar. However, perhaps of greater importance, was the attention from the motoring press. It is doubtful that any car had ever received such unqualified praise from the press as the XJ did.

A high-performance version called the Jaguar XJ12 saloon was announced in July 1972, featuring a simplified grille, and powered by Jaguar’s venerable 5.3-litre V12 engine coupled to the Borg-Warner Model 12 gearbox. At the time, it was the only mass-produced 12-cylinder, four-door car in the world and, with a top speed of 145mph, it was the ‘fastest full four-seater available in the world.’

As is befitting such a seminal British sporting saloon, our enthusiast-vendor discovered, some 15 years ago, a highly original example (with such details as retaining its factory vinyl tags on the rear valance - which almost always are long-gone) and set about the most exacting 8-year/£50,000 restoration, returning the car to its original factory-specification and to a condition worthy of publication. This indeed came about with a November 2019 article by Mark Sutherland, entitled 'Project Phoenix', published in the Jaguar Drivers' Club magazine, which highlights perfectly all the relevant information that any prospective buyer would want to know:

We would like to thank author Mark Sutherland and the Jaguar Drivers' Club for the following:

This article relates the story of one man, RP, and the labour of love that has seen his Series One XJ12 reborn over a period of eight years, with the aim of returning the car to the condition in which it left the factory. In truth, I believe that this car and many other cars that have undergone full restorations may well be better than when they left the factory. During production they could not afford to spend the same amount of time, nor have as much of an eye for the detail, as the individual restorer can; if they did, they would never have been able to economically produce these cars in the first place.

A brief history of the Series One XJ12 and XJ12L

In 1972, to much acclaim and building on the phenomenal success of the Series One XJ6, Jaguar launched the Series One XJ12 and XJ12L. They both used the same V12 engine that had been successfully introduced a year earlier in the V12 E-Type. These two models stayed in production for two years during which time a total of 2,474 XJ12 and 754 XJ12L models were produced, giving a total production run of 3,228 cars for both the long and short wheelbase versions.

If you compare this with the production figures for the 4.2 Litre Series One XJ6 of 59,077 you can see that the Series One XJ12 was only produced in quite limited numbers. In the last quarter of 2018, the ‘How many left’ website gives details taken from the DVLA of 24 XJ12s licensed for use on the UK roads with a further 34 being recorded as being on SORN. If these figures are correct, it suggests that only around 2% of the cars that were originally produced by Jaguar have survived.

When it was launched in 1972 the price of the XJ12 was £3,725 and the XJ12L £4,052. If you were able to walk into a Jaguar dealer today and ask to buy one and taking inflation into account, the price of a Series One XJ12 in 2019 would be somewhere close to £54,000.

Another interesting point to note is that all cars were fitted with Borg Warner automatic transmissions, I suspect this may have just been that there wasn’t a suitable manual gearbox available at the time which could offer the level of refinement that was required and handle the power and speed that the Series One XJ12 was able to deliver. With a top speed of 145 mph there can’t have been many other saloon cars of the time that could match the grace or the pace of the Jaguar.

RP’s car

The car had been purchased by John Gordon Jaguar Spares Specialists in Lancashire as a parts car and was facing a reasonably certain future which would involve being stripped of all parts of any value and then being weighed in for scrap. When RP spotted that they were selling a 7,000-rpm rev counter on eBay, and knowing what car it was from, he gave them a call to see if the rest of the car was also available.

RP traces his interest in Jaguars back to an uncle who tried to sell his mum a blue E-Type for £2,500. His Mum didn’t buy the E-Type and instead purchased an MGB GT in Damask Red. However, this Uncle must have liked his cars because RP later bought a Regency Red SWB Series One XJ12 from him and has also had a Fern Grey Daimler XJC. It was this Regency Red XJ12 that had kindled RP’s love of the Series One XJ12 and this is despite problems that he experienced with his original car which included overheating and some not entirely unexpected rust issues. All this would eventually lead to the purchase of another one to restore with the aim of having ‘one that was sorted’.

When he says sorted, it’s a very ‘RP-kind-of-sorted’, which is rather more than that. I started to get a feel for the level of detail that RP is keen to achieve on his cars when I arrived one sunny Saturday to meet up with him take some photos of his car and discuss the car’s restoration. RP was having a look at my 1973 Daimler Sovereign and noticed that the tail pipes were not quite as they should be. It turned out that I had Series 3 XJ6 tail pipes fitted. He has very kindly given me a set of the correct tail pipes which I have promised to fit.

So, I asked him how he has set about ensuring that the level of detail on his car is correct. He tells me that he has ‘read lots of books and brochures along with British Leyland parts books thus ensuring originality where knowingly possible’. I also asked him what words of wisdom he had for others that were doing the same thing ‘Go the extra mile, for example don't paint things that should be plated, don’t rush as people will be able to tell where the detail is missing or incorrect’.

Overall, he is most pleased with the finished car; RP has very much enjoyed plating items rather than painting them and says, ‘plating instead of painting really floats my boat’. When asked which have been his favourite areas to recreate, he says, ‘Sounds a bit strange but heatshields are always in bad condition so to recreate those is really satisfying, but anything I can replicate is rewarding’.

Work begins

RP spent a considerable amount of time finding the right people to complete the work on his car for him. This is a vital part of any restoration as finding the wrong people can easily lead to disaster, disappointment, and a heavily depleted bank account. We have all heard tales of cars that looked good but have been bodged, or worse still, cars that were simply never finished because of problems with the people chosen to do the restoration.

The first stage of this restoration, as for most endeavours of this kind, was to sort out the metalwork. On RP's car this task was entrusted to Mark at Woodall Motors in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire. A job like this can’t be rushed and there were times when RP began to wonder if the work would ever be finished. In my experience restorations must be allowed to take the time that is needed to do the job properly. Patience is definitely a virtue, but this will in turn be rewarded by the end result.

The mechanical work on the car’s engine and gearbox was carried out at CFS Jaguar in Coventry; this well-known company has previously worked with the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust on their own cars. The work included a full rebuild of the engine and the carburettors, and replacing all the necessary parts in the automatic gearbox.

Restoration costs

RP opted to pay for the work on his car as he went along which is not unusual, he explains ‘I paid for it as I went along, and if I knew then what I know now, I may never have started it. But ultimately, it has ended up as a labour of love’. This is not unusual either as the costs, the work involved, and the journey are by no means certain and tend to vary from one car to another.

A good point to remember about restoring any car is one that RG makes ‘The best original car available will probably be obtainable for half of what my restoration has cost’. This however does not take into account the feeling of pride or satisfaction that can be gained from taking on and completing a project of this magnitude. For me, I would say that you can’t put a price on that! So, I guess my advice for others would be, if you simply want a car buy the best example you can, but if you want an experience that you will never forget then perhaps you should restore your own.’

RP's car is now very close to completion with just a couple of small jobs to do. He is still on the hunt for the air filter box seals so if you have any NOS seals.

I think it is fair to say that without people like RP and his passion for the Series One XJ12 there would be far less cars around for people to see and enjoy today. In his way RP is a custodian of not only his car but a small slice of history. Restoring any car is a journey with many high and low points and RP’s own journey is very nearly at end. Or is it? Perhaps this part of the journey is drawing to a close and the next part will be enjoying using the car in the years to come?

Transmission: Automatic