- Which series — look at the front bumper
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Series 1: bumper low, below the grille line; round headlamps; separate opening quarter-lights. Series 2: bumper raised to rear-bumper height, shallower grille with a separate intake below. Series 3: thick rubber-faced bumpers, chrome only on the top edge, vertical-vane grille, reversing lights moved into the rear clusters.
- April 1979 — bonded screens
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The Series 3 was the first Jaguar with bonded-in front and rear screens. Urethane, not a gasket, with the stainless trim pushed into the sealer before curing. A Series 1 or 2 screen rubber will not help you on a Series 3.
- And the quarter-light goes
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Series 3 deleted the opening front quarter-light for one-piece front door glass. Front door glass, channels and quarter-light seals all change here. Narrower door frames, a higher squarer roofline, curved side glass and flatter screens came with it.
- Engines
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2.8 (2,792cc) and 4.2 XK six from 1968 · 3.4 replaces the 2.8 in 1975 · fuel injection on the 4.2 from 1978, on all 4.2s by the Series 3. The 2.8 has a reputation — carbon on the piston crowns at low revs, then holed pistons at higher ones. Original 2.8s are now scarce.
- Wheelbase
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2,763mm standard; 2,864mm long wheelbase from 1972, adding four inches of rear legroom. The short wheelbase was withdrawn late 1974 — every later saloon is long wheelbase.
- The XJ-C coupé
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1975 to November 1977, on the short wheelbase, with longer doors, frameless windows and a standard black vinyl roof. About 10,487 built. Its launch was delayed by weather-sealing problems — worth knowing before quoting seals for one.
- Nelson, New Zealand
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Assembled at the New Zealand Motor Corporation plant, Stoke, Nelson, mid-July 1971 to December 1978 — about 1,500 cars, 202 known survivors, capped at 300 a year by import licence. New Zealand was one of only two countries outside Britain permitted to assemble the XJ6. Bodies assembled and painted on site, New Zealand wool carpet, locally sourced leather, a lot of the electrical parts and rubber locally made. Nelson kept building short-wheelbase cars after Coventry stopped in 1974. The 2.8 is the rare one — around 60 built here.
- That bubbling around the screens
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Trapped moisture in the screen rubbers is the classic XJ rot, with extensive hidden damage behind — and replacing a front screen means removing most of the dash for welding access. A leaking rear screen seal fills the boot.
- Not claimed
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Whether Series 1 and 2 front discs are solid or ventilated. One source says ventilated fronts arrive with the Series 2, another lists Series 1 and 2 as solid and only the Series 3 as vented. Unresolved and commercially significant — establish by inspection. Also earth polarity, and any part-level difference on a Nelson car (the categories of local content are documented; no single part is).
