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Jaguar XJ6 assembly in New Zealand. 1971-78 -plus my formerly dead cat.


Rab

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In 1968/9 British Leyland Motor Corp. was undergoing a worldwide organisational survey. Part of that process was a proposal that all Jaguar cars for the Australian and New Zealand market could possibly be assembled in NZ.These proposals were discussed by the President of BLMC at the time,Sir George Harriman, with representatives of the NZ Govt when he visited NZ in early 1969.

Production was in Nelson and began in mid July 1971. It was a deal also with all the Jaguar dealerships..the Daimler franchises refused?..the difference with the Jaguar production is ..the bodies were assembled and painted on site. Also what makes them different is a lot of the electrical and rubber was local NZ sourced parts.They were also at one point only assembling one a day..which gradually increased.

The carpets were made from NZ wool and the leather was also locally sourced.

A total of 1326 Jaguars and 108 Daimlers were built. 1512 in total. Ending in 1978

156 of these were SWB S2s.

The book is called-Tracking The Cats.Nelson assembled Jaguars and Daimlers by Brian Devlin. www.copypress.co.nz

He researched what survivors cars that still existed and tracked down 202. Now 203 because of mine re-surfacing. Ive been in contact with him. He said mine is 1 of 5 SWB in dark blue and its the 3rd from last of the known S2 SWB survivors. Being a NZ assembled in 1975... pretty much makes it the penultimate SWB XJ6 built as UK assembly ceased in 1974.Mine lived in Titahi Bay outside Wellington..babied by Edith..who smoke herself to death..and it came off the road in 1999.My best mate used to be neighbours with Edith..so he saw it smoking around. Edith probably kicked her slippers..her modest house was now worth a million bucks..so the inconvenient  Jag was sent off to the scrapyard..where we intervened. It did sit outside for a while..so rims slightly crusty...but strong motor..and James my engineer friend that found has given it the all clear. The scrappie had actually written..Do Not Crush on it...

If it has a Sovereign badge on the back its a Daimler. Mine has.Plus Daimler hubcaps x 3..but mine also has a Jaguar grill which confused me.James said the Jag badge was posher than Daimler..which could explain it.Anyway..its a bit of a crusty old bastard but that why I love it...

 

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So the other purchase I made which was cheap and an abandoned project..was one of the first batch of 60 -S1 XJ6 SWB..already mature being a 1971... that came into NZ. It came out of Oxford -Nth Canterbury which is a rust free part of the Sth Island. Some silly bugger removed a spark plug or two..so the motor ran like marbles in a can..new engine has been bought and James will squeeze it in. Im also hopefully getting whats left of a 1968 SWB from an old friend...so i get the correct non headrest red interior..new bootlid as mine has a trailer hitch bang on the deck.. etc.Mines also still got the original straight exhaust pipes! Ive just shipped front and back windscreen seals to James for this as well...cheaper in UK than NZ. Next few months there both coming to Scotland!

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SWB for the win!!! :-)

Here's mine, Coventry-built but lived in Scotland for much of its life.

The Webasto sunroof is original and was an official Jaguar/Daimler option but I gather these were fitted by the dealer rather than the factory. The 8-track player was also an original option and fitted via the same approach.

It's a lovely old thing.

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9 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

SWB for the win!!! :-)

Here's mine, Coventry-built but lived in Scotland for much of its life.

The Webasto sunroof is original and was an official Jaguar/Daimler option but I gather these were fitted by the dealer rather than the factory. The 8-track player was also an original option and fitted via the same approach.

It's a lovely old thing.

_MG_6352.jpg.344342f9cbc40d09d16738569dfd70a3 (1) crop S1 broad.jpg

 

When I lived in Munich in 1990..we found a S1 SWB Daimler-RHD with full length Webasto..at a back street Turkish garage..but it had no papers so we had to walk away....

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6 minutes ago, STUNO said:

@Parky of this ere outfit lives in Oxford. Are either of these still on the registration list ?

Stu..the author of the book..Brian Devlin was quite interested by the Oxford S1..i did buy it off an Jaguar enthusiast...but i got zero history on it..Brian knew more about it than I did,

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  • Rab changed the title to Jaguar XJ6 assembly in New Zealand. 1971-78 -plus my formerly dead cat.
  • 3 months later...

Made it into the Nov. issue of Classic and Sportscar. Thanks to Hubnuts Ive nrly got the shipping sorted, Its just a matter of final fettle in Wellington and then onto Auckland. Funny thing with C&S magazine..is that Lost and Found also contacted best friend in Edinburgh about the Scimitar SE4 we found..so that will be my nxt photo insert into that magazine..

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