Final Parking Space: 1986 Jaguar XJ6
The first Jaguar XJ sedans with their famously snarling straight-six engines hit American streets as 1969 models. Production of the original XJ6 continued through two facelifts over nearly two decades, at a time of great tumult in the British car industry. Here’s an example of a late Series 3 XJ6, found in a Northern California boneyard a while back.
I have documented plenty of discarded Jaguars, with some seriously endangered rare cats among them, and this car has the biggest final odometer reading for any Jaguar— or, for that matter, any British— vehicle I’ve ever found in a knacker’s yard.
For the record, the best-traveled junkyard car I’ve ever found was built in Kentucky by Toyota. That car spent its life being completely invisible on the road, though, while this Coventry-built machine stood out from the crowd wherever it went.
Planet Auto, which operates a handful of self-service yards along the Interstate 80 corridor between Sacramento and Reno, offers some runners and “builders” for sale. Those that don’t sell end up in the regular U-Pull yard, their useful parts made available for harvest; this $1900 Jag’s final parking space was a few rows away from that of a rust-free $1800 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce.
The interior looks to have been in very nice condition upon arrival here, but the combination of “Jaguar” and “200,000 miles” proved a menacing one to potential buyers. Perhaps some of these interior bits ended up being transplanted to other XJs before this car met the cold steel jaws of the crusher.
The original XJ was born from an excruciatingly drawn-out development process, during which Jaguar Cars Limited was absorbed into the British Motor Corporation, which soon after became British Motor Holdings. The ink had barely dried on that deal when BMH merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation, maker of Leyland trucks and buses plus Triumphs and Rovers, creating the British Leyland Motor Corporation.
The outlook for the once-mighty British automotive industry seemed gloomy at the time, to put it mildly. The XJ6 was unveiled to the British public about eight months after the formation of British Leyland, soon after which production was hobbled repeatedly by a series of car-industry strikes across the country. BL’s difficulties led to the company being effectively nationalized by the British government in 1975, with Jaguar being sold off by the Thatcher government in 1984 (for more nerve-ripping tales of the decline, fall, and aftermath of British Leyland, read about the Final Parking Space of a 2005 MG ZT in Yorkshire).
Through all of these twists and turns of the Jaguar story, the XJ6 remained in production and sold quite well on this side of the Atlantic. Today’s car was built during Jaguar’s half-decade of independence between the British Leyland and Ford eras.
The last year for the Series 3 XJ6 was 1987, after which the XJ40 version took over. Production of this car’s V12-engined brethren continued all the way through 1992.
The MSRP of this car was $32,250, which is about $92,629 in 2024 dollars. That was significantly cheaper than either a new 1986 BMW 735i or a new 1986 Mercedes-Benz 420 SEL ($38,280 and $45,450, respectively).
The engine is a fuel-injected 4.2-liter XK-series DOHC straight-six, rated at 176 horsepower and 219 pound-feet (both very smoothly delivered).
From drunken Range Rover drive-by shootings to hallucinatory Ascot hats to stingy Scotsmen to a real-life jaguar threatening Lovely Rita from within a first-year Series 3 XJ, British Leyland didn’t hesitate to traffic in derogatory British stereotypes when pitching their cars.
Knowing the XJ40 was on the way, American Jaguar dealers pushed deals on used Series 3s.
Actually, “Production of this car’s V12-engined brethren continued all the way through 1992”
Wrong…I own one of the 140 1996 XJ12’s that were imported into the US, for its’ last iteration..
He’s talking about XJ12 with series 3 body. You could get a V12 in XJ40 and X300 bodies for a few years in the 90s.
Not that I’m a big fan of the concept, this one has LS swap written all over it. The mileage is too high and value too low to justify a restoration, and I knew people 20 years ago who struggled to keep these things on the road
Still got more character than anything the Germans have ever made
I have been blessed to own two series 1 XJ6s. The best one was the second when I swapped in an L88 Corvette engine and Turbo 350transmission. Jag class, Cevyy power, and easy maintenance.
Lovely cars when they were running right, but the unions made sure that didn’t happen too often.
Interesting price for a hulk. I have seen real drivers for sale for less than that in the otherwise very expensive part of western Canada where I live.
I respectfully think you’re not understanding the sequence. It was offered for sale complete for $1900 but there weren’t any takers, so it ended up in the yard getting parted out.
A shame, if I’d happened upon that one locally, I’d probably have given them nearly that for it. Would look good with our XJ8 and XK8. That may be the highest mileage British car you’ve seen, Judge, but I know of a Bentley Turbo R with over 200k and a Range Rover Classic with 350k.
The XJ6 is frustrating. Lovely to look at, charming interior, nice to drive (not a fireball by 2024 standards, but great ride and handling for any era) but I guess they’ll never be worth anything, until we look around and realize that there’s just one left, and the guy wants $100k for it. I feel the same thing happened with the BMW Bavaria in the 90s and the W126 Merc in the 2010s. I had a rant on the W126 forum to that effect when I was trying to sell my Eurospec, nice example. “If you folks want them preserved then you need to start paying money for them!”
And I guess that’s the problem with the XJ6. It’s as complex as an E type and worth 10% as much. Even though it makes similar noises and drives better than one 🙂
It looks like it could be the start of a good project car. I can see people being scared to take it on though.
Still one of the best riding and handling large sedans ever made. Supple, compliant and composed are words that come to mind.
Family friend drove one of these, in the day. Best background smell of any car interior. All of that aromatic leather and real wood, and some wool carpets for good measure. Add once-a-quarter cigar smoke and that’s an incredible place to ride. Definition of “Touring Sedan”. These looked so much better with euro bumpers.