Description
SOLD. SOLD. This Jaguar MK VIII ( or Mark 8 ) is a very rare car indeed. 6227 examples were produced between 1956 - 58, compared to over 30. 000 MK VII's and over 10. 000 MK IX's, but what makes this particular vehicle exceptionally rare is its factory manual with overdrive setup ( MOD ). I bought this car about 30 years ago and a friend drove it down from Auckland to Christchurch for me - unregistered and without MOT, by the way- with only one minor hick-up along the over 1000 km journey, which he was able to fix by the wayside. I think he needed to bleed the brakes, as they were fading. It has since been under cover all the time and very occasionally been started, but not for about the last 10 years or so.
The vast majority of MK VIII's were automatic or manual 4-speed models, with the manual 4-speed with overdrive version exceptionally rare. I sent an inquiry to the Jaguar and Daimler Heritage Trust in the UK but was told that no readily available records existed on the number of this variety. A search in various books on these ' Grace , Space and Pace ' models, was also in vain as far as this question was concerned.
If anyone has any verifiable clues, please let me know.
While this car will need a complete restoration, it appears to be very close to absolutely complete, with only the distributor and air-cleaner missing and a few light fittings , as far as I can tell ( We must have swiped them to use on another car ). Both should be relatively easy to find as used widely on a lot of British cars of this era. It does have the right interior bits, i. e. bucket seats with picnic tables and original overdrive switch, and the chassis and engine numbers with' DN ' suffix for ' overdrive ' models match the original chassis plate.
I had taken a video which but can not publish the link here. Please email me and I'll send you the video link and the auction website link where the car is on. I can only upload 10 pics, but do have more if you care to email, text or call me on the number provided below. Happy to take pics of anything in particular you might be interested in. The car is on a New Zealand auction website and you can watch a video off it there as well. Remember that 1 Great British Pound is roughly equivalent to 2 New Zealand Dollars.
I have had 30 years experience in shipping vintage and classic cars all around the globe, so that should not be a problem. This is a model that is well worth restoring.
