Long-term ownership wasn’t on McLaren director Phil Kerr’s mind when he went into a showroom in late 1968. What he sought was one of the first XJ6 models. What he bought, however, was a superb 420 saloon.
ONE OF the last off the production line, the maroon 420 would have looked splendid when it turned Phil Kerr’s head as he dropped into the showroom at Coombs & Sons, Guildford, to buy a new XJ6. It’s not known quite why Kerr decided not to buy an XJ6, but he took delivery of the 420 immediately – at Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, in Colnbrook.
He initially used his 420 for commuting from his home in Walton-on-Thames to the team’s factory on David Road, Colnbrook, and for attending business meetings in connection with McLaren and the Formula One Constructors’ Association. High-profile passengers included team principal Bruce (himself a serial Jaguar owner), Formula 1 and Can-Am Champion Denny Hulme, plus FOCA luminaries Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley. For a while, Ecclestone drove a deeply impressive Mercedes 300SEL 6.3, which Kerr agreed to buy from him in about 1972. Running another executive express meant the 420’s annual mileage tapered off, as evidenced by Coombs’ regular service records. But, Kerr had become so attached to the Jaguar that he never considered parting with it.
Denne historien er fra October 2017-utgaven av Jaguar World Monthly.
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Denne historien er fra October 2017-utgaven av Jaguar World Monthly.
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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.
