Jaguar Mk 1 & Mk 2 1955-1969 Road Test Portfolio

Reprinted Collection of Road Tests & Reviews of the Day

The Jaguar Mark 1 was a saloon car produced by Jaguar between 1955 and 1959 and referred to in contemporary company documentation as the Jaguar 2.4 and 3.4 litre. The designation Mark 1 was included retrospectively on its replacement by the Mark 2. The 2.4-litre was the company's first small saloon since the demise of its 1 1/2 litre cars in 1949 and were an immediate success, easily outselling the larger Jaguar saloons. Adhering to William Lyons maxim of the period grace, pace and space, the Mark 2 was a beautiful, fast and capable car and was powered by either a 2.4, 3.4 or 3.8 litre XK6 engine.

In 1967, the 2.4 and 3.4 Mark 2s became the 240 and 340, and the 3.8 litre engine was dropped; these later cars can be easily identified by the slim front and rear bumpers. The Mk. 2 was raced very successfully in the European Touring Car Championship, until the Ford Falcon came along and out-performed it. Most of the enthusiasm for the compact Jaguars centres on the Mk 2 models, and for several reasons. They had better rear suspension than the Mk 1s, more graceful styling, better brakes (shared with some of the last of their predecessors) and the option of even more power. In addition, they did not suffer from the cheapening touches which affected the final versions of the compact Jaguars, the 240 and 340 models.

Nevertheless, the Mk 1 compact Jaguars have their own special charm, and the run-out models of the late 1960s are still first-rate driver's cars. So, too, is the so-called Daimler-Jaguar, a compact Mk 2 fitted with Daimler's splendid little V8 engine and marketed more as a small luxury saloon than as a sporting model.

The Mark 2 is well known as the car driven by fictional TV detective Inspector Morse played by John Thaw. Although Morse's car was the least desirable version (with its 2.4 litre engine, steel wheels and everflex roof) it sold in November 2005 for more than £100,000 once it had been restored from its rather scruffy condition. In the original novels by Colin Dexter, Morse had driven a Lancia! The Mark 2 transcended borders of class and breeding in the 1960s, being owned by city bankers and bank robbers. The 3.8 specifically gained a reputation as a very useful car (especially for bank raids), being fast and capable of 125 mph with room enough for five adults. The British police were often to be found chasing them, as depicted in TV cop shows. They were also used as police patrol cars, especially on UK motorways which in the 1960s had no speed limit.

This very successful range of Jaguar cars are much sought after today by enthusiasts and during its production life, between 1955 and 1969, a total of 128,619 were manufactured. Of these 37,397 were Mk.1s, 83,976 Mk. 2s, and some 7,246 of the 240 and 340 models.

Softbound with a total of 168 fully illustrated pages.