My Recently Acquired 1985 Jaguar XJ6

Its dusty....but I finally got around to taking a couple of photos - its a 1 owner (the proverbial little old lady) with 65,000 original miles....gotta clean it up this weekend & put some new tires under it as those are the original ones to it (spare's never been out of trunk!).

But, you guys have convinced me not to put those Dayton wires on it so guess I'll put them on ebay!

Here's a couple of photos of the car:

that's one nice example, congratulations on the find. Also congratulations on not installing the Dayton wire wheels, they simply look awful, the Daytons are tacky-looking wire wheels, "faky" is the best word. But if you still want wire wheels, and you gots the money, do something exclusive and get Kelsey Hayes wheels made for it. see picture attached. (Chrysler and Cadillacs used them in the 1950's and 1960's). I'm thinking of those myself for my '84. IMHO those are the only wire wheels that look good in the Series 3 XJ-6.

OR: install Jaguar XJ-40 "Teardrop" or "Pepperpot" wheels like I did in mine. those were made from 1988 to 1992.
see picture attached.

Would love to see the entire car with those wheels on it - I've a friend from whom i could get a set!

The teardrop wheels are spiving, IMO.

Tony,
Congrats, and a beautiful example... Just like the 1985 I limped home from Illinois, with the rear suspension mounts hanging on by a thread. In my haste to get the car, I skipped the inspection, it was January and I fell hard for the Charcoal/Grey color combination. It broke my heart to sell the car for parts, strong 80K engine and great leather and panels, but it saved another car in Alabama from being scrapped for a blown engine and a red leather interior that the man's wife couldn't stand with the white '85 she wanted to restore. The CIRCLE OF LIFE, I guess for the old cars we love... So glad you found a pristine one and hold on to the original wheels, they aren't that bad on the SIII's. I also agree that the XJ40's above look great on the cars and check also for other factory options, I believe the Vanden Plas or the Sovereign had some upgrade wheel options, if memory serves me well. Keep us posted and I am getting the bug again for a late Series III after seeing your new purchase!
Is this your first Jag? I know you as the MG Specialist of the Eastern Half, just wondered? If so, you'll love the car and probably add to your repertoire....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Is this your first Jag?[/QUOTE]

No, I owned a pristine BRG XJ40 once - but a guy in South Carolina loved it more than me...$$$$$$....this one's a keeper though.....if I can figure out why it suddenly stopped firing after a drive yesterday - engine turns over forever but won't fire...luckily it happened in my own drive.....am gonna guess its just part of sitting for so long.

"Luminition"?

tony barnhill said:

Would love to see the entire car with those wheels on it - I've a friend from whom i could get a set!

Click to expand...

there ya go...

I like a "smooth-round" classic look for my wheels, don't care for "Starfish" or "Spider" or "Gen X" looks.

The chromed hubcaps I got separately, (made in Germany), the Jaguar "Teardrop" wheels normally come with silver-painted caps, and usually with a 5-hole hubcap which I do not like, I like the solid smooth cap. So, in other words, there's 2 versions of the same wheel, and also there is a "Metric" version (Europe only).

In the front, I had to use 7/16" spacers and longer locknuts with these Teardrop wheels. In the rear they fit fine with the original XJ-40 locknuts. I got rid of the ugly Kent original wheels, they remind me of 1971-1973 Volvo 1800-E and ES wheels. (sorry!).

Ex

Pretty - very pretty.

Now I wish I could figure out how to put the photos of our 2 cars next to one another for comparison.

short of that, here's my two children side-by-side, notice anything strange?

I'm not a Jag guy - but love the old one on the right!

BTW: I also use very fat tires, Dunlop M2 235/60/VR/15, which caused the car to be lowered 1" or more, makes it look like a cat-on-the-attack!

the strange thing is that I added XJ-6 electric mirrors to the old 1965 S type, similar to the ones in my 1984 XJ-6.

I also added the same door mirror-switch, in the same position as the XJ-6.

here's the old one with REAL wire wheels and spinners!

That's a proper Jag saloon. Nice Ex. Very nice.

thanks Doc, I actually like that car better than the XJ-6, strange isn't it?

the S type's engine responds better than the XJ-6 engine. Don't ask me why, I have no clue. But the 3.8 engine seems to have a lot more growl-power than the 4.2. It also drinks more gasoline!! hahaaa!!

I've gotta put new tires on mine - it still has the ones that came with it on the boat from England back in '85! The spare's never been out of the trunk....what do you suggest?

the original Pirelli tires are very tall and they make the car sit high, I'm used to mine being lower by about 1" inch. (compare the height of both my cars side-by-side in the picture and you can see the height difference in the door mirrors, about 1"). Otherwise, with factory-size tires, both cars are identical in height.

Replacements depend on the wheels you finally decide to use, but wider and lower tires are nice, the car handles so much better and "flatter", also there's less body turbulence at interstate speeds above 70mph, because the car is lower, makes a giant difference.

I like Dunlop tires, they are not so hard like Michelin, not slippery in rain like Pirelli, not noisy like Goodyear, do not explode like Firestone/Bridgestone, and Jaguars came with Dunlops since the early 1950's, so after using Dunlop SP Sport M2, (no longer made), I plan to find Dunlop equivalents. You could use size 225/60/*R/15, not as fat as the 235 I use. Forget about wasting money on "run-flat" tires or "nitrogen-filled" tires, or giant white-lettering tires. It's all sales gimmicks and I for one, wouldn't trust my life to a nitrogen-filled tire, no thank you!!

Unlike most everybody here, I like the wide whitewall tires, like those in classic cars, I saw a Series 3 XJ-6 with wide whitewalls and it looked awesome, but your car would also look good with thin Redlines or just plain blackwalls. However, Redlines with Gunmetal Grey look awesome.

I'm sure others have their preferred tires, some I may have never tried in my cars.

you can check Coker tire in Chattanooga for thin radial Redlines and wide whitewalls, otherwise forget about TireRack, it's useless.

Ex

Thin Redlines....hmmmmm, never thought about that!

& Coker's just up the road & I've done business with them before - good people

The car looks wonderful, Tony! Now that's what I wouldn't mind finding myself!