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.
I'll try and find a few photos to put on this thread.
I'm still campaigning the very last XJ he bought new, an 2004 X350 XJ6 in Sea frost blue. 70k and runs like a watch. Really runs heads now in Sheffield as you rarely see another , even 3 box saloon cars are a bit of a rare event now.
The pre Callum face lift X350 has a kind of grace to it .
He also had a XJ V8 so I had a choice of either, the six to be honest felt like a nicer daily than the grunter and admittedly better specced bigger engine car.
Somehow I never liked the power delivery / noise of V8's as much as the straight six or V12 cars.
I'm still campaigning the very last XJ he bought new, an 2004 X350 XJ6 in Sea frost blue. 70k and runs like a watch. Really runs heads now in Sheffield as you rarely see another , even 3 box saloon cars are a bit of a rare event now.
The pre Callum face lift X350 has a kind of grace to it .
He also had a XJ V8 so I had a choice of either, the six to be honest felt like a nicer daily than the grunter and admittedly better specced bigger engine car.
Somehow I never liked the power delivery / noise of V8's as much as the straight six or V12 cars.
Did he have an XJ40? That was my first Jaguar, a beautiful 1990 4.0 Sovereign. It was 3 years old with 70K miles, a former company director's car, which I got for just £10,500 for at auction.
A time when a Jaguar was really something special and different above the pack. Magic carpet ride with the waft factor, marquetry inlay etc. Now they're just boxes and the auction is trade only. Bah x2.
A time when a Jaguar was really something special and different above the pack. Magic carpet ride with the waft factor, marquetry inlay etc. Now they're just boxes and the auction is trade only. Bah x2.
ChocolateFrog said:
There must have been some man maths going on there. Did they really hold their value that well?
Not sure there's any left to be had new but I'd expect a modern executive V12 to lose 30% of its value in a year and 10000 miles, at least.
There was a cost to trade back but probably less than 20% total cost of vehicle per year. The dealer said there was a queue of people to buy his trade in's.Not sure there's any left to be had new but I'd expect a modern executive V12 to lose 30% of its value in a year and 10000 miles, at least.
I used to buy BMW 3 series from 1990 to 2000, Midland Bank Hire Purchase, using previous car as deposit, various 325i's /328i's / M3's using the same yearly principle. The dealer had a waiting list for new cars, my spec was universal (black/black silver/black combo) I actually gained on a couple of them! Low mileage, serviced, known owner. While my mates drove older Golfs I was running BMW's for less.
My Dad had every model of XJ they ever made, he mainly ordered them to his spec but would take a pre ordered car the dealer had in. He wasn't really fussy if the colour was nice and the trade in was acceptable. It doesn't really look possible new when they sell millions of a car but bear in mind production of XJ's and demand were not far apart before modern production lines and range expansion. A BMW was a special car in the 80's and 90's.
Thanks for posting the photos - I enjoyed seeing them.
My late dad ran Jags for quite a few years - though he wasn't in the same league as your father. I still have a Jaguar which was once his. It is an XJ40 Sovereign and a wonderful old thing.
Jaguar dealers definitely gave a good trade-in valuation to people buying another XJ - he was consistently offered far more against another Jaguar than against other cars. Jaguar had incredible buyer loyalty back then with a high percentage of customers buying another one. The good trade-in price was part of that I'm sure but the XJ was really quite different to anything else available and if you liked them, nothing else would come close. My father never considered a Mercedes for example, he just didn't like them.
The car market was a very different thing back then. Cheap finance was not yet a thing, but income tax was very high - 83% on earned income up to 1979, reduced to 60% by the Thatcher government. A large array of expenses could be charged against that and expensive cars were a good place to start! I remember my father saying with the tax situation being as it was back then you'd be mad not to run a fancy car!
Amusingly, when petrol rationing was anticipated in the 1970s ration books were sent out to car owners. I still have one sent out to my dad - it gives a bigger petrol ration if your car is over 2500cc. They wouldn't do that now!
My late dad ran Jags for quite a few years - though he wasn't in the same league as your father. I still have a Jaguar which was once his. It is an XJ40 Sovereign and a wonderful old thing.
Jaguar dealers definitely gave a good trade-in valuation to people buying another XJ - he was consistently offered far more against another Jaguar than against other cars. Jaguar had incredible buyer loyalty back then with a high percentage of customers buying another one. The good trade-in price was part of that I'm sure but the XJ was really quite different to anything else available and if you liked them, nothing else would come close. My father never considered a Mercedes for example, he just didn't like them.
The car market was a very different thing back then. Cheap finance was not yet a thing, but income tax was very high - 83% on earned income up to 1979, reduced to 60% by the Thatcher government. A large array of expenses could be charged against that and expensive cars were a good place to start! I remember my father saying with the tax situation being as it was back then you'd be mad not to run a fancy car!
Amusingly, when petrol rationing was anticipated in the 1970s ration books were sent out to car owners. I still have one sent out to my dad - it gives a bigger petrol ration if your car is over 2500cc. They wouldn't do that now!
Gassing Station | Jaguar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff