page_title: Jaguar Cars
section_title: Historic car models
hierarchical_section_title: Jaguar Cars / Historic car models
context_page_description: Jaguar is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars until its operations were fully merged with those of Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover on 1 January 2013.
  Jaguar's business was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before developing bodies for passenger cars. Under the ownership of S. S. Cars Limited the business extended to complete cars made in association with Standard Motor Co, many bearing Jaguar as a model name. The company's name was changed from S. S. Cars to Jaguar Cars in 1945. A merger with the British Motor Corporation followed in 1966, the resulting enlarged company now being renamed as British Motor Holdings, which in 1968 merged with Leyland Motor Corporation and became British Leyland, itself to be nationalised in 1975.
  Jaguar was spun off from British Leyland and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, becoming a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Ford in 1990.
context_section_description: The renamed Jaguar company started production with the pre-war 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5-litre models, which used engines designed by the Standard Motor Company. The 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine was still supplied by Standard but the two larger six-cylinder ones were made in house. These cars have become known unofficially as Mark IVs.
  The first post-war model was the September 1948 Mark V available with either 2.5- or 3.5-litre engines. It had a slightly more streamlined appearance than pre-war models, but more important was the change to torsion bar independent front suspension and hydraulic brakes. In the spring of 1948 Lyons had returned from USA reporting Jaguar's individuality and perceived quality attracted the admiration of American buyers accustomed to the virtual uniformity of their home-grown vehicles.
  The first big breakthrough was the launch in October 1948 of their new record-breaking engine design in their XK120 sportscar to replace the prewar SS Jaguar 100. It was powered by a new twin overhead camshaft (DOHC) 3.5-litre hemi-head six-cylinder engine designed by William Heynes, Walter Hassan and Claude Baily. The XK100 4-cylinder 2-Litre version had broken records in Belgium travelling at 177 mph.  This XK engine had been designed at night during the war when they would be on fire watch in the factory. After several attempts a final design was achieved. That is until owner William Lyons said "make it quieter".
  The sportscar bearing its prefix X had originally been intended as a short production model of about 200 vehicles. A test bed for the new engine until its intended home, the new Mark VII saloon, was ready.
  The second big breakthrough was the large Mark VII saloon in 1950, a car especially conceived for the American market, Jaguar was overwhelmed with orders. The Mark VII and its successors gathered rave reviews from magazines such as Road & Track and The Motor. In 1956 a Mark VII won the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally. The XK120's exceptional reception was followed in 1954 by an improved XK140 then in May 1957 a fully revised XK150.
  In 1955, the Two-point-four or 2.4-litre saloon (named by enthusiasts 2.4 Mark 1) was the first monocoque (unitary) car from Jaguar. Its 2.4-litre short-stroke version of the XK engine provided 100 mph (160 km/h) performance. In 1957, the 3.4-litre version with disk brakes, wire wheels and other options was introduced, with a top speed of 120 mph (190 km/h). In October 1959, an extensively revised version of the car with wider windows and 2.4, 3.4, and 3.8-litre engine options became the Mark 2. The 3.8 Mark 2 was popular with British police forces for its small size and 125 mph (201 km/h) performance.
  The Mark VIII of 1956 and Mark IX of 1958 were essentially updates of the Mark VII, but the oversize Mark X of 1961 was a completely new design of large saloon with all round independent suspension and unitary construction.
  Jaguar launched the E-Type in 1961.
  The independent rear suspension from the Mark X was incorporated in the 1963 S-Type, a Mark 2 lengthened to contain the complex rear suspension, and in 1967 the Mark 2 name was dropped when the small saloons became the 240/340 range. The 420 of 1966, also sold as the Daimler Sovereign, put a new front onto the S-type, although both cars continued in parallel until the S-Type was dropped in 1968. The slow-selling Mark X became the 420G in 1966 and was dropped at the end of the decade. Jaguar was saved by its new equally capacious but very much trimmer new XJ6.
  Of the more recent saloons, the most significant is the XJ (1968–1992). From 1968 on, the Series I XJ saw minor changes, first in 1973 (to Series II), 1979 (Series III), a complete redesign for 1986/1987 in XJ40, further modifications in 1995 (X300), in 1997 with V8-power (X308), and a major advance in 2003 with an industry-first aluminium monocoque-chassis (X350). The most luxurious XJ models carried either the Vanden Plas (US) or Daimler (rest of world) nameplates. In 1972, the 12-cylinder engine was introduced in the XJ, while simultaneously being offered in the E Type
caption: 1963 open two-seat E-Type
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