1987 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas #467059
Owner: William C.W. "Chip" Lamb, Charles
City, VA
The SLYCAT1 Tag has been with me through a couple of these cars now!
1987 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas, VIN SAJAY1342HC467059
Silver Birch Metallic paint/Connolly Autolux Magnolia leather interior
Built 10/86 at the Jaguar works, Browns Lane, Coventry, England
Sold new at Rallye Motors, Paramus, NJ to Steven Rossi of New York City
(I am the second owner)
53,964 original miles as of 18 July 2001
I have taken all of these pictures in as critical a dim light
as possible to reveal any flaws which might not be so obvious in brighter
light. The car really is not even that clean in these pictures, as it collects
dust in the garage and is driven on country roads (not abusively, mind you).
This XJ6 handles like none other I have driven (I have owned a few before
this one, too, see Lady Julia
for instance, and no, the Chevy conversion is not something I want ever
again...), eating up the curves with two fingers on the leather steering
wheel and Bach motets on the CD player. I have owned quite a few large luxury
sedans, a Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3, a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II (long
wheelbase Silver Shadow II), many SAAB 9000s, the list goes on, I am a wanderer
in that regard, but this one really takes the cake. It has better handling,
similar comfort, and similar power output to the Rolls, and yet costs a
lot less in parts and service than does a comparable Roller.
The U.S. Market Jaguar Vanden Plas is called the Daimler Vanden
Plas in every other market aside from Canada and Germany. The reason is
clear - the pronunciation may be different but the spelling is the same
as Daimler-Benz, or if you prefer these days, Daimler-Chrysler. Hence the
usual fluted grille and boot lid handles are of the smooth Jaguar variety,
and the badging is all Jaguar.
The Jaguar "unreliability" myths, i.e. you have
to own two as one is ever in the shop, are nonsense. Most of this is based
on the fact that though they are a luscious car, they require maintenance.
If you are a Camry driver, you will never be satisfied; but if you own a
grease gun, a drain pan, and a set of tools and jackstands, ramps or a lift,
or can afford someone who does, it does not cost much to keep one of these
up to showroom condition. If you are sensitive to leaks, well, sorry, but
the engine is a design originally conceived in 1948, and per cars made in
1948 it drips a hell of a lot less. But nevertheless it does drip a little
ATF here and a little oil there, just as they did on the showroom floor.
Don't even argue that point with me that "mine doesn't leak" unless
you send me the litmus paper from under your car after it sat overnight.
Oh, and this car has not seen winters, anywhere, there is
no rust, I looked when I bought the car and it was just recently on the
lift for rear brake calipers, there is only perfect undercoating, waxoyl,
and solid sheet metal.
The rims are as-new Kent Alloys common to the XJ series. They
are really in marvelous shape. Chrome and other brightwork is in excellent
condition. All exterior emblems and trim details are present.
Save for the lower valance and the top of the left front wing
and beneath the left corner of the windscreen the paintwork is all original
to the chagrin of the local Jaguar enthusiasts. This used to be evidenced by
tacky dealer-fitted plastichrome strips adorning the wheel arches. I had these
professionally removed. The reason for the respray at all was not due to
lifting clearcoat on the wing but to the typical "high greenhouse"
design which Pininfarina set the roofline to on the Series
III XJ6, they have a tendency to rust-bubble at the base of the windscreen
by collecting water past the seal over time. This was repaired by Brown's
Jaguar of Richmond, Virginia and all work guaranteed by them. As this is
a common fault, they are very experienced at this particular job.
At the same time, both front and rear glass was resealed
(there were no leaks but the old rubbers were a little hard) and as long
as they were mixing Silver Birch paint I had them remove a couple of small
dings from the lower valance and check for rust, of which they found none.
Even the leather on the driver's seat indicates almost no
wear. I have treated it with Connolly Hide Food which I would recommend
to anyone with leather in as-original condition as this.
On the Vanden Plas, the centre armrest is also in leather,
and the three passenger floors are covered in Wilton Wool rugs, reminiscient
of the Rolls Royce as is the Vanden Plas seat stitching design. Mind you,
the VdP seats are completely leather, right down to the front seatback pocket
gusset. The door armrests and pockets on all four doors are also covered
with the same hides.
A detail shot of the front passenger seat and footwell. Beneath
all the passenger footwell Wilton carpets are regular loop-pile rugs, so
if the weather is not that nice outside, the fine rugs can be taken out
and the regular carpets are still very nice mats. The "goat's hair"
rugs are usually absent from most of these Series III Vanden Plas' as they
were pretty much destroyed in the first five years due to unattentive owners
(as were the rest of the cars).
I added a Blaupunkt AM/FM/CD player to my car, it is an in-dash
unit with a removable face. The sound was so good with the factory speakers
that I left them in place! The tuner is also excellent (I am surprised that
it is not limited by the Jaguar antenna) - I get better reception in this
car than in many new cars. I also added the burlwood shift knobs which match
the console and dashboard grain for the most part.
In addition to the excellent seats and Wilton carpets, the
centre armrest is also covered in Connolly Autolux and has a compartment
within.
Here it is pictured closed. The rear seats feature headrests
for the two passengers to sit back here, see the picture of the rear of
the car and you can just make them out through the backlight. As you can
see, the Vanden Plas features rear bucket seats, not a bench seat as found
in the standard model. In a pinch, however, there are seatbelts enough for
three! There is a cigar lighter and ashtray back here but they have never
been used and to the best of my knowledge the car has never been smoked
in or the ashtrays used for their intended purposes!
A nice profile of the low miles odometer with the leather
wrapped wheel in foreground.
Purring along at 850rpm at warm idle.
The sliding roof has a wind deflector which pops up when you
open the sunroof.
Underbonnet we find the veritable 215 bhp Series III 4.2 litre
six cylinder with Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection. I have fitted a Bosch
Red Coil which has given me an extra mpg on the highway. The belts and hoses
have all been renewed recently as have all tuneup and vacuum leak culprits.
Long term security is in the stakedown kits fitted to both intake and exhaust
tappets, a valve adjustment and a very very slight timing chain adjustment.
The cooling system has a 74 degrees Centigrade thermostat
from an E-Type and an 82 degrees Centigrade auxiliary fan switch. I find
that these cars can get way too hot for an aluminium head in summertime
with the air conditioning blowing cold while we inevitably must be sitting
in traffic.
In the boot, the standard Jaguar jack bag is accompanied by
the non-US toolkit with spare bulbs, fuses, and a variety of simple tools
to make sure a stop on the side of the road is as short as possible.
I purchased this car from someone who was non-technical, and
felt the need to make numerous improvements and replace common failure items
as I had the skills and/or knew someone who did who was entrusted with working
on this car. My Jaguar expert in Richmond is a 35 year veteran of these
cars as well as the fine cars of Crewe (Rolls-Royce and Bentley) and has
been a great help to me in keeping this car maintained as well as possible.
I once did a sizeable amount of work on Jaguars but am dedicated to my vintage
SAAB parts and restoration business nowadays and I find little time for
tinkering on this car, when it even needs tinkering in the first place.
I have also added two more non-factory but "stealth"
nonetheless improvements to the climate control system. In place of the
useless Master Window Lockout switch on the window and sunroof switch panel
between the seats, I installed a similar size dual rocker switch. Its functions
are these: 1.) to open the dashboard vent flaps with the climate control
system off and provide heated or non-heated fresh air intake at the temperature
at which the climate control was last on. 2.) to turn off the air conditioning
compressor when climate control is on (the Delanair Mark II climate control
system turns the AC compressor on by default when the system is in any position
other than OFF. This function is particularly nice in winter as it saves
on gas when the AC is not needed aside from the occasional un-fogging of
the windscreen, at which time the compressor may be turned on with the system
control in the ON position.
In any event, here is the short list of improvements, aside
from the semi-weekly wash and detailing.
49,850 DOOR SWITCHES R&R, VOLTMETER BULB
50,000 BRIDGESTONE POTENZA 215/70/VR15 TIRES
50,100 R&R AIR FILTER, CLEAN THROTTLE BODY, BELLOWS, IDLE ADJ.
50,322 OIL/FILTER PENN 20W50, TRANS FLUID TYPE F/FILTER, REAR END DRAIN/FILL,
CHASSIS LUBE
50,400 BLAU RADIO INSTALLED - 5A FUSE IN MEMORY CIRCUIT
50,500 FUEL FILTER AND BOOT HOSES FROM PUMP TO OUTBOARD LINES, O2 SENSOR
LUCAS CAP, ROTOR, WIRES; CLEAN/SET THROTTLE BODY AND PLUMBING, AIR DIST
BLOCK, VACUUM HOSES
50,650 FRONT BOGE SHOCKS, SWAYBAR END LINKS AND BUSHINGS, AUX AUR VALVE
AND HOSES, COOLANT TEMP SENSOR
50,666 CHAMPION N12YC PLUGS
50,705 FRESH AIR/COMPRESSOR CUT-OFF MODS, SPECIAL SWITCH
50,800 ALL HOSES AND BELTS
51,700 AIR FLOW METER MOUNTS, BELLOWS, THROTTLE BODY HOSE
51,900 STAKEDOWN KIT, VALVE ADJ/TC ADJUST, REAR SHOCKS/SPRINGS, REAR NON-RETURN
VALVES
52,160 TANK CHANGEOVER SOLENOID IN BOOT
52,700 OIL/FILTER PENN 20W50 1 QT LUCAS, CHASSIS LUBE
53,300 AC CHARGED 3.5 LBS FREON
53,900 74C T-STAT, 82C FAN SWITCH, REAR CALIPERS AND HANDBRAKE CALIPERS
(ALL FOUR) REBUILT WITH STAINLESS STEEL PISTONS
Here is the car on display at the Boulders British Car Days
in Richmond last May. Unfortunately the XJs were classed with the Mark II
saloons and, of course, there were as many Mark IIs as there were prizes.
I am always astounded by how poor a condition most of these
cars are in, and how little people will pay for ratbag examples to put $20,000
or more into over a few years. Here is a fine example of a Series III XJ6
and a Vanden Plas at that which will always be worth a good deal of money
and always be in this condition with proper care. For the right price, someone
may someday buy this car from me, I am always looking for something new
and different in similar condition, and for the true XJ6 connoisseur willing
to pay up front what he would pay time and a half in fixing one up left
to rot, this would be a perfect concours show and daily driver XJ6, all
rolled into one.
Speaking of concours, I would include the Jaguar banner to
the rear of the picture above, sales brochures, odds and ends I have accumulated
over time, you can put on a whiz-bang concours display and win, so long
as the XJs aren't classed with the Mark IIs or other more classic and the
obviously-more-deserving-to-win saloons....
So e-mail me, and
tell me what you think of this car. Or just make me an offer. Seriously,
if you want this car worse than I still do, I can travel a limited distance
up and down the coast to deliver it and perhaps a little inland from home
here in southeastern Virginia, and the car is here for Jag-Lovers to drive
when they want to visit. If I were planning another cross-country excursion
(done that this year already in another car) I would not hesitate to make
Santa Barbara in four days driving this car.
Enough said. I look forward to hearing from you, thanks for
reading this through to the end, you must be a devotee if you've stuck with
it this long now!