Jaguar & Daimler XJ6/XJ12 Press Photographs

Original launch pictures of the Series 1 XJ

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Since the mid 1990s I've owned a few Series 1 Jaguars, and during this time I collected quite a bit of memorabilia. Below are a few of the original press photos that I stumbled across during my time with the XJ Jaguars. If you can add to this selection, please please drop me a line as I'd like to feature as many as possible here please!

The original short wheelbase XJ6 was launched in 1968, and the following year, the Daimler version was introduced. This classic example of badge engineering was designed to woo traditional Daimler purchasers. Jaguar had purchased Daimler earlier in the decade, and were keen not to lose owners of Majestics and Centurys that were looking to replace their car. The Daimler Sovereign was very similar to the Jaguar badged version, the alterations being some tweaks to interior trimming, a hefty fluted grille similar to that found on the Daimler 420, and altered rear bootlid handle and badging. The launch of the XJ Daimler Sovereign was set for October 1969, at the time of the Earls Court Motor Show. The press photo below was "NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE 9TH OCTOBER 1969".

Daimler Series 1 XJ Sovereign

Four years after the introduction of the XJ, Jaguar responded to criticism that rear leg room for such a swish motor was rather stingy. Their solution was to graft an extra 4 inches into the wheelbase, this being visible by looking at the longer rear doors of the XJ6L and XJ12L. Little of the elegance seen on the original, short wheelbase, XJ6 & XJ12 was lost, and any downside was offset by the extra internal space now offered to rear seat occupants (although even in the L form it was a bit on the cramped side). The press picture below is of the XJ12L, differing in side view from the Series 1 XJ6L only by the painted ventilated wheels. Series 2 & 3 XJs would all use this style of road wheel (Series 3 steel wheels would be fitted with stainless steel covers, alloys were also an option). The VdP Series 1 had this style of wheel, but chromed. This launch photograph dates to 18th October 1972.

XJ12L Series One

This picture, Jaguar are convincing the world about the roomy boot space of the new XJ. Truth was, it was a very shallow load bay, not helped by the hefty spare wheel stored beneath the boot floor. Note the straight rear exhaust pipes. Later cars would receive the curved rear pipe extensions, as straight piped cars could suffer with exhaust fumes being sucked into the boot space.

XJ6 Series One

Another rear view of the shapely XJ. Shown here is the 2.8 version. Reliability early on for the 2.8 car was a problem. Short journeys, followed by a motorway blast, could result in melting pistons. Economy was not spectacularly better than the 4.2, so the 2.8 made up only a small percentage of S1 XJ production. The very early Series Ones, like MWK 21G, had rear reflectors built into the reversing lamps. These would soon be moved to seperate little fixtures beneath the rear lamps.

Jaguar XJ6

The interior of the Series 1 was classic Jaguar, with the central bank of switchgear and auxiliary instruments. As with the rear end treatment, the very early S1s differed slightly internally. Early cars had the attractive chrome rimmed dials, as here, later cars had matt black surrounds to cut down on glare. Photographed is a rare manual transmission XJ, also note the manual window winders. The circular knob fitted to the door near the handle, opens and closes the quarterlights. The ventilation in all XJs was a little marginal, but S1s did enjoy some help here thanks to the quarterlights. These were replaced with fixed items on introduction of the S2, and disappeared altogether on the Pininfarina-designed S3.

Jaguar XJ6 dashboard and interior

To read more about this classic Jaguar saloon, please visit the Jaguar XJ main page. Period photos of a red 4.2 XJ6 from 1971, may be found on this page, here at OCC.

Jaguar XJ6 & XJ12 page

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Old Classic Car (C) R. Jones 2023. Content not to be reproduced elsewhere.

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