- Where the disc brakes arrive
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XK150, May 1957 — 12in Dunlop discs with a Lockheed vacuum servo, standard. Mark 1, end of 1957 — four-wheel discs as an option, so a Mark 1 may be either. Mark IX, October 1958 — the first Jaguar saloon with standard four-wheel discs. Mark 2, 1959 — standard. E-Type, Mark X, S-Type, 420, XJ — discs from launch. Still on drums to the end: XK120, XK140, Mark VII, VIIM and VIII.
- Live axle or independent — the question that sorts everything
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Independent rear suspension: E-Type (from launch), Mark X of 1961 — the first Jaguar saloon to have it, S-Type, 420, every XJ and the XJ-S. Live axle for life: Mark 1, Mark 2, 240/340, Daimler V8-250, XK120, XK140, XK150, Mark VII to IX, Mark V and the SS Jaguars.
- Most Daimlers are Jaguars — but two are not
- Jaguar bought Daimler from BSA in May 1960 for £3.25 million. After that the Sovereign is a 420 and then an XJ6, the Double-Six is an XJ12, and the DS420 limousine is a stretched 420G floorpan with a Jaguar 4.2. Only the 2½ Litre V8 / V8-250 and the Majestic Major carry a real Daimler engine — Edward Turner’s V8s at 2,548cc and 4,561cc. Full cross-reference here.
- Three cars people constantly confuse
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S-Type = a Mark 2 with independent rear suspension and a longer boot, 3.4 and 3.8 only — there is no 4.2 S-Type. 420 = an S-Type with a square four-headlamp nose and a twin-carburettor 4.2. Mark X, renamed 420G in 1966 = neither — the 76.3in-wide flagship, which shares no body panels with the 420. And the 420 is not a Mark 2 with four headlamps.
- The glass changes that cost the most
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XK140 → XK150, May 1957: split screen becomes a one-piece curved wrap-around. Mark VIIM → Mark VIII, October 1956: the same change on the big saloons. Mark 1 → Mark 2, 1959: 18 per cent more glass area, slimmer pillars, wider windscreen. XJ Series 3, April 1979: bonded screens — a first for the company — and the opening front quarter-light deleted.
- Nelson, and what it means for your parts
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Jaguar and Daimler XJs were assembled at Nelson, July 1971 to December 1978 — about 1,500 cars, 202 known survivors. Bodies assembled and painted on site; carpets New Zealand wool; leather locally sourced; a lot of the electrical parts and rubber locally made. Mechanical parts are British. A UK-pattern seal is a probable fit, not a guaranteed one. Nelson even kept building short-wheelbase cars after Coventry stopped in 1974.
- Jaguar was never assembled in Australia
- For once the Australian trap runs the other way. No source shows Jaguar or Daimler assembly in Australia — Brysons was a concessionaire, not an assembler. Instead Nelson-built Jaguar XJ6s and Daimler Sovereigns were exported to Australia under the free trade agreement. An Australian XJ6 of this era may be a New Zealand car.
- Earth polarity
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Jaguar moved to alternators and negative earth model by model between 1964 and 1967, and we can only name three of those moves. E-Type 4.2, October 1964. Jaguar 420, 1966. Daimler V8-250, July 1967. Each got an alternator and negative earth together. For every other model no source we would stand behind states polarity at all, and none states nominal voltage either. Check the car.