1974 Jaguar XJ6 - XJ6 4.2 L

XJ6 with the larger 4.2-litre engine

Very well preserved long wheelbase car

Regularly serviced and driven by its owner

Highly attractive colour combination

When Jaguar unveiled the XJ6 in 1968, the task was hardly a modest one. Several saloon ranges were to be replaced by a single model. What emerged was a car that redefined British luxury: low, elegant and sportier than almost anything else with walnut inside.

The second series followed in 1973. Externally, it was most easily distinguished by its higher-mounted bumpers and consequently shallower radiator grille. The interior received its share of revisions too, without altering the basic recipe very much. Why would it? Beneath the long bonnet remained Jaguar’s proven XK straight-six, available with either 2.8 or 4.2 litres.

The long-wheelbase version was particularly stately. Originally intended primarily for the more aristocratic Daimler Double Six and the XJ12, Jaguar soon granted the XJ6 the same extra ten centimetres. It was not so much the driver who benefited as whoever sat behind him. The additional rear legroom finally turned the sporting saloon into something of a drawing room on wheels.

By the end of 1974, the long wheelbase had become standard. The XJ lost none of its remarkably balanced proportions in the process, but gained considerably in long-distance comfort. Other saloons could travel quickly too. Looking as though doing so was somehow beneath them was a Jaguar XJ6 speciality.

Its present owner came across this long-wheelbase XJ6 almost entirely by chance. A friend spotted the car in a Munich local newspaper in 2016, where its then owner, already advanced in years, had advertised it for sale. A quick tip-off was all it took, and not long afterwards the Jaguar changed hands without even leaving Munich. The fact that its new owner shared his private workshop with a recognised Jaguar specialist certainly did not hurt.

Pleasingly, however, there was very little reason to lay hands on the Jaguar. The only significant change was the removal of an LPG system that had been fitted in the meantime. Otherwise, the XJ6 has remained largely unchanged throughout the ten years since its purchase. Work has essentially been limited to what an old Jaguar inevitably asks for: regular servicing and necessary maintenance.

There are no grand restoration stories to tell. But sometimes that is the better story. The Jaguar has been preserved, maintained and driven – and today still looks much as it did on the day a small advert in a Munich local newspaper happened to find exactly the right reader.