I agree with that wholeheartedly.. the script writing on this channel is always great, and I always learn something new..even about cars that I have owned and thought I knew about!

And all with a sense of humour so far off the beaten track he's going to need that Land-Rover he did a few weeks back.

Absolutely- I thought the very same thing. Superb script/dialogue and a credit to the guy, possibly the best I have seen on YT. Most enjoyable.

Ta Div.

Thanks as always Andrew :)

That's behaviour I can get behind! A few of my mates did the same thing, though with things like MG Metros rather than V12 Jags, and it's absolutely the best thing for an 18-year-old :)

😆😆

Yip. He's a natural

agreed. really made me laugh. but completly true. very cool car

He’s too good for what TG has become these days - this video is actually informative and interesting!

Not too bad...my H.E used to do about 20 MPG wafting about.

I would take the S over the E type any day. The E type is the most overrated car of all time. It is nowhere near the most beautiful car, as so many say, and in fact I always found it rather ungainly and oddly proportioned

@@stanleymasterson1135 I think it’s a case of never meet your hero’s

@@stevenclarke5606 The XKE was never my hero. It was ugly from the first time I saw it in a magazine. Never understood the people who thought it was the most beautiful car. There’s a large contingent of people who agree with me that it’s awkward and homely

A red E-type was a phallus on wheels, especially the early smaller-mouthed versions before the enlarged and chrome-bedizened later meatus / glans / nose. It was an organic piece of art. But did that necessarily make it a good car? Just asking - though I'm sure there's a Leyland angle or two to it too. Jags I owned were (mostly) fun cars to drive, but less fun to own when it came to maintenance and parts. In AU, the exclusive importer/wholesaler/ reseller was the Bryson group; one might as well order the replacement parts gold plated - they wouldn't have been any more expensive. Never owned an E- or XJS-type, but have driven. Owned MkII, Mk10, XJ12. My overall impression of Jags through ownership and broader driving of that era was that the cars were a clever mixture of well-made, genius, and weird bits of backyard-shed-cobbled-together do-dads. That were less than optimally reliable and, in AU, pretty much irreplaceable. My (less exciting) collection of P4, P5, and P6 Rovers was more reliable by far, and far easier to work on. And cost relatively little for parts (until those eventually became NLA). None of my Jags managed to live, first lifetime, more than about 200K miles. All my Rovers managed that and more, with my fave - a 1956 90 - finally being retired at 512K miles thanks to a blown head gasket. Another excellently scripted and narrated piece, Ed! Your enthusiasm and thorough research, your smooth linking /sequencing / segueing, your clarity of diction (and your lack of overbearing, irrelevant, mumble-confusing music!) are continually leading your channel way beyond the humdrum. Whether YT becomes a long-term occupation or is just a stepping stone to other things (like affording a nice Beemer and funding your studies, etc), you've refined the art beyond many of your niche peers. I raise you my (non-alcoholic) libation!

@@stevenclarke5606 “Heroes”

Growing up, I wanted a Jaguar. I would only be able to afford a used one, so everyone told me to forget about that dream...as it would break on me so often I would hate it. I always regretted not buying one anyway.

@@warrenny in total I have had 4 jags, 2 v12s and 2 6 cylinder, despite annoyances and the stalling XJS in traffic they have actually been very reliable, more so than most other cars from the same era. And parts are so very cheap

If it had the 4L Straight Six from the start instead of the V12, I think that it would've been more well received.

"It would stall after a few mins stopped at traffic lights and then would not restart for about 10 mins". That's weird I had a Peugeot 205 GTI that had that exact same Hot Start issue, damn anoying. The culprit was the Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system.

Thanks Anthony :)

Prices for these are going up quickly so a sorted (probably later one) represents a great investment- but who wouldn’t want to drive it anyway?

Thanks John, that's exceptionally kind of you to say :)

Thanks Michael :) Do you think you'd ever get another?

Thanks Bill :)

This is peak! Love it!

Love this!

The Leyland Princess isnt bad either

Thanks David :)

Thanks Richard :)

Thanks Russell :)

I sat in a few used ones just to dream...the interiors are special.

Thanks Phillip :)

Now's probably the best time to buy one!

Thanks Nick :)

It's common across many of their cars other than the E-Type, but Jaguar's design and engineering is terminally slept upon. From 1948 to 1975, and possibly through to 1996, they made some of the best cars in the world.

Love that! Total joke of a four-seater, but last week I also tried on a Stag for size, funnily enough. Thanks as always mate :)

It's pretty simple to work on. Almost everything you need is up on top except crankshaft position sensor on later cars. Nothing about the fuel injection or ignition is especially complicated - there's just a lot of it to run 12 cylinders. They reward a methodical approach and someone with enough IQ to buy the Repair Operations Manual and actually study it before diving in. Those who don't bother to understand it first are the noisy idiots who tie themselves in knots, blame the engine for their own incompetence and fit a boat-anchor American V8 instead.

Thanks David :)

Thanks as always mate 🙂

Classy children ;)

That's a cool story! I wasn't aware of its Aussie motorsport success, unlike the Mini Cooper video I made a while ago :)

Don't think Brock drove the xjs with twr in the mid 80s.

Thanks William :) I think there's a video to be made about the V12 engine at some point...

I drove one in the mid 1980s and it was fantastic in many ways. The 3 speed auto was the main drawback. It was great on roads with medium to high speed sweeping corners, although sometimes coming up to a tight corner you had to remember that you were driving a heavy car that didn't really want to slow down and make a sudden change in direction. I would have loved one with a 5-speed, but probably would have got too many speeding tickets.

@@alexjenner1108 When I bought mine, for $7,500, it was from a private seller but in a Jaguar dealer's shop, the repair bill was around $7,000 and the kid didn't have the money. I kept it for two years, oil changes and a set of tires were my only expenses, other than a LOT of gas. It was a beautiful resprayed teal blue over tan, Euro headlight conversion. I sold it for $7,250, a very fortunate ownership experience. Oh, the headliner was coming down, common with those cars.

Thanks Philip :)

Thanks as always Frank :)

Thanks mate, very kind of you to say :) Your XJ-S is absolutely gorgeous. Best colour, imo!

Here in America, that 17mpg would be just fine. I envy you for owning one! I can only imagine the feeling

17mpg? You really weren't trying! 🙂

​@@warrenny17 mpg in UK gallons, probably a few off that in US gallons. Still worth it though.

@@AmosDohms 100% worth it

Thanks Martin :)

Thanks mate :)

Thanks mate! There was a section I cut out actually, that will be uploaded as a short eventually :)

Thanks mate :)

Thanks as always Warren :)

The E-Type was exceptionally affordable, but people seem to forget that almost nobody with any money bought one. They were all bought by posers in the later years because they weren't actually that good.

@@TwinCam The series 3 E-Type is a very different proposition to the original series 1 / 1.5 cars. Some years back at Silverstone two such E-Types were parked next to each other. What a contrast! Definitely a case of sports car v's grand tourer. I'm afraid that the elongated shape of the series 3 E-Type is too diluted from the original form for me. Still an impressive car but not for me: always an XJ-S V12 over a series 3 E-Type. Interesting that some series 3 early '70s stock was "distressed" in the end. Says a lot about the market and tastes at the time. XJ-S ( and XJ coupe ) were much needed. If there is one slight criticism of XJ-S other than the practicalities of the interior cabin space packaging as documented, it would be the design language inconsistency in the detail that was inevitable as Doug Thorpe was not Malcolm Sayer.

Fuel cost is blamed on the V12 but in truth is mostly the crap 3 speed gearbox. They'll do mid-high 20s mpg if converted to a 5 speed manual. That said, I still have the GM TH400 slushbox and get 16-18mpg driving around normally (I don't live inside a city), and can easily top 20mpg on a run. Good luck finding another V12 which does better on fuel - even most German and Italian V8s use as much fuel as a V12 XJ-S. Even mid 2000s cars like the Mercedes CL600 is little faster and uses as much fuel. They have a much higher bork-factor than an XJ-S too!

@@jamieduff1981 No doubt an overdrive conversion will increase mpg's - but not into the high 20's! Nothing however, can do anything about the exorbitant cost of rebuilding a Jag V12.

@@Thomas63r2 it's really very rare the engine should need rebuilt unless someone has boiled it to death. When maintained they normally last to much higher milages than most engines of this era. You'd be very, very unlucky to have to open one up before 100,000 miles. Honestly the engine is strong and long lasting.

@@jamieduff1981 100,000 miles is hardly praise. At this point in time, the low mileage and seldom driven examples do not have much to worry about that is true. The problem is that these cars values rarely make overhauling a tired engine a worthy proposition. Instead the car goes to the Jaguar specialty car breakers to provide parts for the remaining road worthy examples. Monied enthusiasts like Harry's Garage can splurge $25k on a proper engine build - but he is a millionaire without worries.

@@Thomas63r2 It's dangerous to over state things or over-claim. 100,000 miles isn't much, I agree, but few 1970s designs would still have their cylinder heads on the original gasket(s) by that milage and most would be showing cylinder bore wear. There are plenty of these engines at near double that milage. I had a suspicion it was Harry's Garage which had frightened you off this engine wrt rebuild costs. It should be remembered that most of what he has done to cars and that engine in particular is unnecessary and done purely because he can afford it. That engine for his XJ-C had some corrosion on the cylinder heads and only came apart because of a leaking crankshaft end seal. 99% of people would have replaced the seal and, having discovered the corrosion, welded up the heads and refaced them and perhaps the block to match. Whilst in there they'd measure the bores and bearing clearances and put it all back together. Harry's expense was two things; firstly hours and hours of labour at a premium rate fiddling around cleaning external cosmetic things etc, and secondly a complete runaway of parts expenditure simply because it would look prettier with new X, Y and Zs on and individually the parts weren't that expensive. In summary, nobody needs to spend Harry's Garage money getting one of these engine perfectly functional again and indeed got as good as it is to watch, Harry's Garage is the ultimate lesson in scope creep time after time.

Thanks Alec :)

Thank you :)

Thanks :)

Thanks Michael :)

Thanks Graeme! I’ve seen your email, and I’ll reply to you Monday morning 🙂

Thanks mate :) I'm with you on the headlamps. I think they look phenomenal, and I'm surprised that some people prefer the US-spec quad units. No accounting for taste!

@@TwinCam Yeah completely agree. The US market destroyed the looks of many Euopean cars. The Mercedes SL was given “twins” as well - the Euro headlamps gave it class. But anyone who prefers the twins on the nose of the XJS needs to have their driving license revoked and psychotherapy sessions applied mandatory…

Thanks Andrew, that’s very kind of you to say 🙂

Indeed. Just brilliant. Jaguar's design is so slept on.

Thanks mate, very kind of you to say :) Even as someone who was born in 2000, they've always looked huge to me! But spending some time around it, the car feels perfectly dimensioned to have presence and enough room without being totally excessive.

Jaguar has long perfected the art of building an inverse Tardis - much bigger on the outside than the inside! My F-Type is the modern incarnation of the technique. 🙂

Thanks George :)

Thanks mate :)

The UK headlights were available in the US after 1991

Agreed - those US lights were one of the awful "pub landlord" modifications popular in the late 1990s in the UK and contributed to the image problem these cars had - along with bloody leapers drilled into the bonnet.

People who like the US-spec headlamps need that optometrist help I mentioned.

@@TwinCam Hit the nail on the head...

​@@TwinCam totally agree seeing a American spec one at the NEC it just looked wrong.....

Thanks Rob :)

Thanks David :)

Thanks Chris 🙂

Agreed. The gearbox really lets this car down. It's also mostly responsible for the fuel consumption although it's a popular shout to just blame the engine. The same engine does much better on fuel once the gearbox has been replaced with a 5 speed manual. The good news is that it's a bolt-on conversion since the 5 speed manual was done by Jaguar for the 3.6 and the only special parts needed are an adaptor plate between crankcase and bellhousing and a shortened propshaft - and these can be bought easily since tossing that rubbish GM gearbox is such a popular upgrade. There's a new conversion just been designed to use the Tremec TKX gearbox as well which is nicer than the Getrag 265 taken from a rusty 3.6 manual. The pedal boxes are starting to get a bit rarer now though sadly.

A five- or even six-speed manual swap would really let the V12 sing, but it's understandable why the automatic was prioritised in period.

Thanks Mark 🙂

That's funny to hear. I certainly expected it to feel claustrophobic, but I thought it perfectly sized considering its low-slung nature. Then again, I'm not a tall man! I'm amazed they're still so cheap in the UK. The XJ Saloons are shockingly expensive considering how cheap these are.

Yes - me too - I always liked the red XJS driven by Gambit in The New Avengers too…….

I am always surprised at how i don't fit in the xj6 s1-3 and xj40 and x300's, given I'm only 6'4", the xjs I think I've sat in it and had the same issue which sucks as I love the styling and the story on them.

I'm generally a convertible lover, but an XJ-S convertible loses my beloved buttresses!

Thanks Mathijs :)

@@TwinCam In the meantime I encouraged my fellow club-members of the Jaguar Daimler Club Holland to also watch it. And they think it’s a pretty good video as well! 👍🏻 They like it so much that some of us are now suddenly considering using videos like yours to play at the club-stand during gatherings! But that leaves the daunting task of finding more videos of similar quality… Might be difficult. 😅🤷🏻‍♂️

Absolutely. Jaguar design is so slept on.