ALTHOUGH JAGUAR had steadfastly ignored the market, by the early Eighties the time was right for the company to build an estate based on the XJ. The lifestyle market was growing, other premium marques such as Mercedes-Benz and Volvo already offered such a car, while the Range Rover became in demand by those who wanted a large and practical car rather than just an off-roader.
There had been several one-off Jaguar estates in the past, such as the 1962 Mk 2 County by the Jones Brothers and the two Ian Apple yard Mk IXs from 1960. Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons was also interested in the market – ever the designer, even in his retirement he would mock up suitable lines using his own XJ6, sticks and string. Sadly, under British Leyland, Jaguar didn’t have the funds to develop an XJ estate – it would take a small, independent coach builder, Avon Lad brooke, to build one.
Based in Warwick, Avon Coach works was started in 1919 by Ben Tilton and Captain Phillips to originally produce bodies for Lea Francis and Austin, amongst others, but it was a rival to William Lyons’ Swallow Coach building Company. The company changed hands several times, but survived into the Seventies, albeit repairing cars rather than modifying them. In 1973, it was bought by Graham Hudson, and he amalgamated Avon into his own crash repairs business, Lad brookes. Hudson wanted to return the company to its coach building glory days and formed Avon Special Products in 1979. After offering various modifications for the Range Rover, Avon introduced a convertible based on the XJ Coupe (see Jaguar World Monthly, September 2008) that was penned by Anthony Stevens, a former Rootes Group designer.
Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Jaguar World Monthly.
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Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Jaguar World Monthly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Old Way
With manufacture of the X351 XJ now finished, the F-TYPE takes over the mantle of Jaguar’s oldest production model. To discover more about the continuing allure of this six-year-old sports car, we drive a 380PS V6 convertible from Lincoln to Bath on the UK’s oldest road, the Fosse Way
Saving Jaguar
On the brink of the abyss in the early Eighties, Jaguar saw its fortunes turned around by a new chairman, John Egan. We meet up with him at the Jaguar Heritage Trust at Gaydon to talk about his strategies for the company’s recovery
Rolling road
A SNOWY February morning is not the ideal time to be taking out a pristine Jaguar E-type, and an early Series 1, flat-floor model at that. But my mate Bryan Smart has booked his in for a three hour session on a rolling road, and doesn’t want to miss the appointment. He’s not looking for more power – this car is standard, but it doesn’t idle as smoothly as it should. He’s not bad with spanners himself, but neither he nor a couple of specialists have been able to solve the issue.
Jaguar World's Technical Advice Service
E knock off
1966 E-Type Fixed Head Coupe
Trimmed and ready to be toned, Jim’s E-type Series 1 fixedhead returns home fromMCT Restorations
Favourite things
With a 300PS diesel engine and a lightweight, handsome body, the XF 3.0 TDV6 S could be the editor’s best-choice saloon of the current range. To discover if that’s true, he takes an example to a well-loved location of his, the Yorkshire Dales.
Jim Patten
MOT exemption
Time Warp
Carcoon will be 25 years old in 2018, so we meet the people behind the scenes to discover how the bubble idea came about
1984 XJ6 Series 3 4.2 Sovereign
Iain relays the joys and disappointments of buying an XJ6 Series 3 project car for our sister title, Classics Monthly
Family Ties
Despite the thirty years that separate the E-type 2+2 Series 1 from the XK8 they have many similarities – such as being fun and the added practicality of four seats to attract the family man. We test 4.2-litre versions of both cars back-to-back.
