Dads original V12 leads to over 50 more!
Discussion
Back in the 70's my Dad who had been a Rover V8 small business owner decided to thumb his nose at petrol crisis and take advantage of a discount for V12's.
Crabtree and Nichol in Sheffield sold him a regency red with biscuit interior XJ12. We had adventures all over Europe travelling as far as Spain and Tyrol in mid seventies and always made it back. The car generally unreliable and required constant dealer back up but would cruise on the motorways and dual carriage ways at speeds nothing else seemed to match. I remember sat on my dads knee in France trying to reach the theoretical top speed (as indicated).
This started a string of XJ's where he bought two every year from 1978 , one for him and one for my mum, where he had a long term relationship with Sheffield dealer Hatfields , purchasing 52 XJ's inc my favourite ,a 1978 chrome bumper air force blue with red leather combo. going through all the era's of XJ , v12 ,straight six, V8's , square headlamps , limited edition models like "Gold" and "Executive". This might be a record for an individual non company buyer.
Seems extravagant but the trade in price for a sub 10,000 mile XJ at 12 months old was very little under book. So he always said he was renting them cheaply.
This stopped in 2006 when the depreciation became too much for him. He's 86 now and drives a 2023 XF 300 with sports package.
I found the picture below of his first XJ, he part ex'd a Rover 3500 V8 I think in same colour.
Crabtree and Nichol in Sheffield sold him a regency red with biscuit interior XJ12. We had adventures all over Europe travelling as far as Spain and Tyrol in mid seventies and always made it back. The car generally unreliable and required constant dealer back up but would cruise on the motorways and dual carriage ways at speeds nothing else seemed to match. I remember sat on my dads knee in France trying to reach the theoretical top speed (as indicated).
This started a string of XJ's where he bought two every year from 1978 , one for him and one for my mum, where he had a long term relationship with Sheffield dealer Hatfields , purchasing 52 XJ's inc my favourite ,a 1978 chrome bumper air force blue with red leather combo. going through all the era's of XJ , v12 ,straight six, V8's , square headlamps , limited edition models like "Gold" and "Executive". This might be a record for an individual non company buyer.
Seems extravagant but the trade in price for a sub 10,000 mile XJ at 12 months old was very little under book. So he always said he was renting them cheaply.
This stopped in 2006 when the depreciation became too much for him. He's 86 now and drives a 2023 XF 300 with sports package.
I found the picture below of his first XJ, he part ex'd a Rover 3500 V8 I think in same colour.
Gassing Station | Jaguar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff