Old Jaguar Classic Cars Built in England

Jaguar classic cars are considered one of the most collectable cars in today’s collector car market. Jaguar cars have been produced since the 1930’s. The creators of Jaguar, Sir William Lyons and William Walmsley, started business as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922. They produced a popular line of aluminum motorcycle sidecars. Swallow eventually switched its primary production to automobiles and changed its name to SS cars Ltd. In 1935, the first vehicle using the Jaguar name was called the SS Jaguar 100.

After World War II, SS Cars changed its name to Jaguar to prevent the company from being associated with the infamous Nazi SS. The first post war car produced by Jaguar was the 1948 model Mark V luxury sedan. Soon the Jaguar XK120 sport car was produced and became the world’s fastest production automobile of its day. The Jaguar XK120 helped Jaguar create a strong presence in the sports car market.

Soon Jaguar began exporting their cars to the United States. In the 1950’s, Jaguar won first place at the Monte Carlo Rally. Over the years, Jaguar has won an impressive total of 7 victories in the Lemans 24 Hour Endurance Race.

Jaguar reached its zenith in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It had introduced the Jaguar XKE coupe to the American market. The Jaguar XKE combined performance and refinement into one very sexy sports car. Later a V-12 engine to replace the inline 6 cylinder engine was introduced in 1971.

In the 1980’s Jaguar faced increased competition from the German automakers. Their popularity began to wane and they were eventually bought by Ford Motor Company in 1989. Later Ford began to struggle financially and sold Jaguar to the Indian auto manufacturer, Tata, in 2008.

Jaguar is still being produced today and is still considered to be a fast and very sexy luxury automobile. The cars listed below were the production cars built during the heyday of the Jaguar rise to prominence. Watch for the Jaguar factory entries in the 2010 Lemans 24 Hour Endurance Race.

Jaguar introduced the Jaguar E-Type (called the XKE in the United States) at the 1961 Geneva Auto Show. The XKE was an instant success and absolutely stole the show. In the early 1960’s the Jaguar XKE was immortalized in the Jan and Dean’s song, “Dead Man’s Curve.” The XKE was produced from 1961 until 1975. It sold at the time for slightly more than a Corvette. It gave the buyer European luxury with brute power and speed. In the early years of production Jaguar had a difficult time keeping up with the demand. It could be bought in a stylish coupe model or a sporty roadster. Its design followed closely the Jaguar race car design but used many stock production car parts to hold the cost down. It was equipped with 4 wheel disc brakes, all wheel independent suspension and was the fastest production car in the world with a top speed of 150 mph. No wonder this was the best selling Jaguar of all time.

After World War II many different British sports cars were exported to the United Sates. One of the most notable was the Jaguar XK120. Jaguar had built the SS-100 sports cars before the war but decided a new model was needed. Jaguar was developing a powerful new inline 6 cylinder engine for their sedan and decided to use the XK120 as a test bed for the engine.

The introduction of the XK120 came at the Earls Court motor show in London in 1948. The crowd was awe struck by the sleek little roadster with its powerful engine and the predicted 120 mph top speed. The new Jaguar was priced at $2,500 at the time. Most of the experts said that it would never come to market at that ridiculously low price.

In an effort to prove the car’s speed and reliability, the factory created the Jaguar XK120C (the C for competition) model. The XK120C model won the Lemans 24 Hour Endurance Race in 1951 and 1953.

Jaguar XK120 model was produced from 1948 to 1954. Over 17,000 cars were made during this period. Current auction prices for a restored version of these cars are about $70,000 to $90,000.

In 1954 Jaguar introduced the Jaguar XK140 model. Jaguar felt it was time to upgrade their popular XK120 model. It was similar in many ways to XK120 but had major improvements in creature comforts as well as performance. The horse power was increased to 190hp from 160hp. An optional high performance engine was offered with the XK120C racing cylinder heads, which raised the engine to 210hp. Exterior changes included: stronger bumpers were added to the body, front turn signal lights were integrated into the front fenders, and a chrome strip was added to the trunk. Handling was improved with better brakes, rack and pinion steering, increased suspension travel and modern tube type shock absorbers. The engine and firewall was moved forward 3 inches to give the driver and passenger more leg room. This change also improved handling. Production of this car ended in 1957. The factory produced about 8,800 examples of this model.

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The Jaguar XK150 was produced from 1957 until 1960. The XK150 was radically modernized over the XK120 and XK140. The old two piece windshield was replaced with a one piece unit. The car was lengthened 4 inches. This gave more leg room in the interior. Thinner doors also gave the car more interior room. The old drum brakes were replaced with 4 wheel disc brakes. The wood interior was replaced by leather trim.

In early models the engine remained pretty much unchanged. This caused the early XK150 to be slower than their predecessor due to the additional weight of the larger body. In 1958 this was corrected by introducing a XK150S with modifications to the engine raising the horsepower to 250 hp. In 1960 the engine was enlarged to 3.8 liter from the original 3.4 liter. This engine produced 265 hp. In 1959 the reported top speed for this car was 135mph.

Production of this model ended in October of 1960. A little over 9,300 units were produced.

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