10k: Beauty Is A Beast: 1973 Jaguar XJ6 w Chevy V8
The series I Jaguar XJ was one of the last Jag saloons to have design input from the man known as Mr Jaguar, Sir William Lyons. The series I was launched in 1968 and produced through 1973 and the only thing stopping you from driving one every day is the cost of maintenance of the original Jag inline-6 or V12….but not today. Find this 1973 Jaguar XJ6 w Chevy V8 for sale in Mountain View, CA for $9,800 via craigslist. Tip from Kaibeezy.
In all seriousness, the XJ is a strikingly handsome sedan and looks regal in this shade of crème fraîche with just a hint of hollandaise sauce. Just looking at it makes me hungry.
Pop the bonnet and find a 350 cubic inch American V8; a carburetted and chromed cap pistol ready to fire up and launch this creamy boat like a sprinter off the blocks.
The inside reveals a spindly little smokie on a toothpick automatic transmission shifter that you will shift with two fingers, pinky extended.
See a better XJ8 for less? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
I blew a headgasket on a beautiful '73 on the 405 in LA about thirty years ago……..painted that regal dark green tan leather interior….when you drove the car it was like being in a vacuum..you literaly could not hear anyting outside. It was the nicest riding car I'd ever had. Of course it did have Lucas electrics, now a warped head and various other ancillary probems. What a car!
I had a '74 Series II short wheelbase car. You're absolutely right about the vacuum chamber. What a joy to roll the windows up when stopped at a railroad crossing. Utter silence! Driving it in the summer heat was always an adventure. Staring at the temp gauge and watching for coolant mist. Finding good donor cars for this type of swap is getting harder and harder while the supply of better and better American V8s is growing.
Seriously cool. That blingy engine looks ghetto though, you can get nice finned JAGUAR valve covers for an SBC
Please stop the cast iron SBC swap madness. I swear I will put a 5.3 V12 in a 74 Corvette and take to car shows and say" the original engine had no horsepower and blew up so I put a real engine in it" .
Go for it! Better yet, shoehorn one into a Corvair.. oops someone beat you to it 🙂
tinyurl.com/n5nhde5
~ [slack-jawed] Jaguair!
@Massoklacaligander; good reading.
. i'd love love a test flight in that !! Jay Eitel’s engineering skill is top of the class.
Worst swap ever.
I may be in the minority here, but I'm 100% for swaps that keep cars like this on the road for future generations to enjoy. Given the choice of trashing a perfectly good chassis because the engine died, repairing the Jag engine for double the value of the car, or dropping in an SBC, I'll take the SBC route every time.
~ having owned 2 XJ6 coupes, one 4.2 Jaguar six and the other a 350/TH400, i'll gladly take them either way. but when it's time for major engine work Jaguar has been said to be the only car you can actually replace the original engine and the value increases. even with a slightly tweaked American V8 the car is docile and civilized for everyday use.
Problem is, 99% of these swaps are unnecessary…owners are afraid of problems that will never arise, they "heard" about the Jag engines being unreliable, or they just wanted more power (which never really comes). That silky-smooth and quiet straight six is the keystone in the whole driving experience, and they go and ruin it with what has become the most un-creative swap ever. I highly doubt this abomination actually kept this car on the road. What a shame, a perfectly beautiful car ruined. Stop the SBC madness!!!!
With all due respect, all of the swaps I've been a party to and the one swap I conducted personally were on cars with toasted engines. 90% were early 70's through early 80's 6 cylinder cars with cracked blocks. I've never personally encountered a preemptive SBC swap.
Re: performance. Having driven an '86 XJ6 daily for 2 years before losing the engine to an overheat, I can tell you that the TPI 350/700R4 swap really made the car come alive. Similar in weight, more bhp/torque, and the same fuel economy.
Additionally, if all it takes to "ruin a perfectly good car" is an SBC swap, that isn't saying much about the rest of the car aft of the firewall, is it?
I agree that it never makes sense to throw away a good engine, but I've never run across an SBC-swapped XJ that wasn't the result of an already deceased Jag engine (may they rev in peace!) Now that AMG V8s and transmissions are starting to show up making temping swaps for W108s, perhaps someone will start finding less expensive, newer Jag V8s to swap into these older XJs, but in the meantime, this kind of swap makes total sense, especially in a state like CA where these are smog exempt cars and you can tweak the engine to your heart's content. The other people's money rule applies to these as well. Case in point is the car that DT featured last year for less than $3K dailyturismo.com/2012/11/5k-1974-jaguar-xj6l-with-chevy-v8-or.html