Jaguar XJ12 SI SWB Aug 1973

Luckily or not, I succumbed to the charms of this ancient dinosaur, despite its thirst and rust galore.

The odyssey starts back in my childhood when I would see an XJ6 SI parked near my granny's house when an old aristocratic lady visited her hairdresser. As a certified PetrolHead, I was hooked on it muscular and yet elegant lines!

Fast forward to Christmas 1999, when finally I’ve managed to track down an elusive XJ Series I.
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After reading many books and being quite enchanted with the Jaguar XJ, I started to hanker for a Series I, Short Wheel Base, preferably with a V12 engine in the front.

After quite a few months and seeing some rotten baskets XJ6's, I was getting quite depressed as theses Series I seem to be quite thin on the ground in good condition, especially the XJ12.

Finally, after browsing some old JEC club magazines, I encountered an XJ12 Series I SWB, fresh from restoration, although in Old English White with Red Russet leather, an ex- Dutton Forshaw director's car apparently.

Bare metal restoration had been carried out less than two years previously but not to very high standard as rust started to show its ugly head on the driver's inner sill, part from that, it was quite solid.
The interior was in quite a pitiable state, but nevertheless, on the test drive, its accelerations and induction noise just won me over, it reminded me of my motorbikes! After all, this beast could do 7.4 sec 0-60 in 1972, it was quicker than a Maserati Bora from 50-70 and its top speed was 147mph, making it the fastest four door in the world!

I did strip the interior and took the floors to bare metal, then gave it a few lick of Hammerite Smooth Finish, in white, re-assembled the interior, re-commissioned the seats and fitted new sound proofing and carpets produced by me, all in the street, good thing my neighbours are understanding.
Less than a month after I bought it, the Borg Warner 12 auto box refused to engage reverse, so I had it rebuilt a fitted through Jag Shop and Chris Coleman , London.

I did drive the car for a couple of years, through France, Spain and driving it all around Portugal but its condition kept nagging me as I'm a perfectionist by nature, so I embarked on long journey to restore and modify my car to it's current state and yes, it is still not finished, I get a feeling by the time I finish it, there won't be any petrol left for it to devour!

In the next few pages, you will find out all about my tribulations and sorrows, but hey, that's the fun of it, better than getting fat and old watching telly.

Hope you enjoy!

Edgar

Jaguar XJ12 Introduction

The distant year of 1972 was a year full of stories, Bloody Sunday, Watergate, Munich Massacre, Godfather and SALT 1, among all these news, an astonishing motor car emerged in July, threatening the Jaguar XJ6 as the Best Car in the World.

Welcome the Jaguar XJ12, brainchild and favourite cat of Williams Lyons, Jaguar's boss. Sporting the famous all alloy OHC V12 engine, displacing 5343cc and producing 309BHP SAE, 147mph top speed with 0-60 in 7.4 sec, making it the fastest four door on earth (and the most beautiful). It was an immediate success only dampened later by the 1973 Energy Crisis.

After the abandon of Le Mans racer XJ13 V12 DOHC project due to British Leyland pressures, Walter Hassan (ex Bentley, Coventry Climax), Harry Mundy (BRM, Coventry Climax, Autocar technical editor) and William Heynes turned their attention to produce a V12 engine that was cost effective to manufacture, obey future US emissions legislation and still produce and adequate torque figures, more important than outright power on a luxury four door saloon, as the incoming XJ4 project was always intended to receive the V12 engine.

Several prototypes were experimented, including single cylinder engines to analyse different combustion chambers shape. Although the DOHC Hemi version produced incredible amounts of power (in excess of 500BHP), it was found that an OHC Heron head engine had similar if not superior torque figures up to 5000rpm, making it nicer to drive on a luxury four door saloon.

Unfortunately, due to Brico Ltd failing to develop a Fuel Injection system for this engine and other technical difficulties, the introduction of this engine was delayed, only first seen on the 1971 SIII E-type sports car, so in 1968 Jaguar was forced to re-use the venerable if somewhat ancient (introduced in 1948) straight six XK engine in the XJ6, the reason why all XJ series sport a central hump in their bonnets!

When Jaguar introduced their Jaguar XJ6 in 1968 it took the motoring world by storm, setting unprecedented standards in the industry. Here was a car that handled better than a sports car and was more comfortable and quieter than a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, for a fraction of its cost! Such was the demand for this car that a black market developed itself for it, causing such strange actions as a group of Swiss gentlemen travelling on purpose to protest at Jaguar London headquarters as they couldn't obtain a XJ6 back home!

Bob Knight, William Heynes and Tom Jones (not that one) were the men responsible for the engineering side of this beauty. Knight once mentioned that in his childhood, he was often mesmerised by the elegance and silence of Rolls Royce and other alike that would pass by him in Mayfair, London. It has driven him to develop the best car in the world, surpassing Rolls Royce and the Mercedes Benz's Teutonic austerity.
The XJ featured the famous Jaguar independent rear suspension with its four shock absorbers (IRS), limited slip differential (Salisbury 3.31:1) with the brake discs attached to it to reduce unsprung weight at the rear wheels. The front suspension possessed built-in anti-dive geometry and ventilated discs with three pot callipers developed later into 4 pots. All encased in sub-frames completely detached from the bodywork by Metalastick bushes, isolating further road noise and harshness of suspension movement. There's a double bulkhead, forced by Lyons, to further isolate the cabin from outside noise.

Williams Lyons personally instilled his styling genius in the XJ, making a worthy car to the Grace, Space and Pace Company’s motto. The original XJ represents the acumen of Jaguar styling and engineering best efforts, with the elegant yet aggressive design by the legendary Lyons' talent, who hardly drew but used his company's carpenters to do mock ups until he felt the shape was right. It was so low in fact that Bob Knight once remarked as he stood by the car with Lyons, that if you came running out the house, you may trip over the car!

In these next few pages, you will find all kind of information relating these sublime automobiles and my personal odyssey to resurrect my own XJ12 back to life!

As LJK Setright once famously announced:

Drive On!