Description
Just four months before starting this company, our founder Nick Szkiler handed back his last Jaguar demonstrator at the West Yorkshire Jaguar dealership he had launched in the summer of 1986. We thought it fitting that he write the description of this quite exceptional Jaguar, a fine example of a model he introduced into his home town and used as company cars right from its UK launch. This is his description:
"The last Jaguar Sovereign I remember driving this well was thirty years ago! As a then very young dealer principal, I was tasked with setting up a new standalone Jaguar dealership for the Rocar Group. The new company I named Rocar Moores was to be up and ready before the eagerly anticipated launch of the new Jaguar XJ series in October that year. This was to be Jaguar's first all-new saloon car since the launch of the Series one XJ6 in 1968. We opened on June 6th 1986 and by autumn had a one-year waiting list for the new model. A lot was riding on this new product launch and Jaguar Chairman Sir John Egan took it upon himself to personally train a few of those who were running his dealerships. I was one of those chosen. Day one, morning one was spent in Jaguar's own showroom at Browns Lane and lesson one was on how to properly close the bonnet of a Series III XJ6! Closing them wrongly was one of his pet hates.
Egan had taken a grip of suppliers and had hugely improved product quality during the early 1980s. Indeed the Series III XJ6 in its last years of production was a very fine car. Although work on a new alloy ‘slant six' had started as early as 1971, Jaguar needed financial support from the Thatcher Government for the final development work on the ‘Advanced Jaguar Six-Cylinder' or AJ6 engine. The XJS from late 1983 became a test bed for these early 3. 6 engines which were destined to power the new saloon car. Engines in the new XJ6 and Sovereigns were properly sorted at its launch. Those were the days of zero discounts on new Jaguars and dealers mostly used Mobil 1 or Shell Gemini as service lubricants. We had the occasional head gasket blow at 80-100, 000 miles but on removing a cylinder head there would be no discernible wear on the bores. A great engine – with one exception. Jaguar had decided to produce a single cam 2. 9 version with two valves per cylinder –essentially the cylinder head type used on the V12. Performance was poor and except for tax reasons they didn't sell well. By 1989, the cars needed a catalyst to meet emission standards. Jaguar therefore increased the stroke of the 3. 6 by 10mm taking the displacement to 3980cc and the Jaguar 4. 0 litre was born. By reducing the stroke of the 3. 6 to 83mm they were able to create the ‘tax efficient' 3. 2 which had a third more power and torque than the 2. 9. With other performance modifications 3. 2 twin-cam performance was getting close to that of the early 3. 6s. Motor Sport magazine raved about the new engine's performance.
This paticular example is an October 1992 car, finished in Rose Quartz which was registered and used by Jaguar Cars until finding its first private owners the following spring. It remained with two members of the same family until 2003 and has had two further owners for the past 17 years. We have a complete service record of the car and it will be freshly serviced for the next owner. The car is quite exceptional in every way. The bodywork is superb and the interior looks just like some of the one and two year-old cars I used to take in part-exchange. I can only imagine that it has been garaged and kept from direct sunlight for most of its life. On road test, it was like driving one of my demonstrators all over again. It felt like Déjà vu. I found the fuel gauge sender is faulty (I'd put £30 of petrol in the tank to discover that!). Not a long list on a car of this age and on test drive at 29 degrees the ice-cool aircon was a treat. This beautiful car has recorded only 61, 000 miles in almost 28 years. To sum up, I'd say specimen, museum quality. I doubt we'll ever see the like and what a tremendous car for the price”
