2025 marks several milestone anniversaries for Jaguar Cars, including the 90th year since the company produced their first car in 1935. Sir William Lyons founded an iconic motoring giant that has designed and built some of the world’s most recognisable and loved cars.
In 2025, three classic Jaguar cars celebrate notable anniversaries – the Jaguar Mark VII, MK1, and XJS.
The Jaguar Mark VII four-door luxury car was produced by Jaguar Cars between 1950 and 1956. Although succeeding the Mark V, the car was named Mark VII because there was already a Bentley Mark VI. Powered by the XK engine developed in the late 1940s, the car’s top speed was claimed to be 104 mph. High demand, both in the UK and USA, for the Mark VII prompted Jaguar to relocate to the Daimler Browns Lane plant.
The purchase price in 1951 was £1,693 (including taxes). Over six years, Jaguar Cars produced 30,969 Mark VII, replacing the model with the Mark VIII in 1956.
Between 1955 and 1959, Jaguar produced the Jaguar 2.4 Litre and Jaguar 3.4 Litre saloon cars, latterly known as the MK1. Jaguar’s move into producing executive saloons was made possible by relocating to Daimler’s Browns Lane plant in 1951 and increasing production capacity.
Jaguar launched the 2.4 Litre model in 1955 and followed up with a 3.4 Litre model for the American market in 1957. The British magazine The Motor tested a 2.5 Litre model in 1956, recording a top speed of 101.5 mph and acceleration of 0-60 mph in 14.4 seconds. The value of the test car was £1,532 (including taxes).
In four years of production, Jaguar produced 19,992 2.4 Litre models and 17,405 3.4 Litre cars. The MK1 was replaced by the MK2 in 1959.
In 1975, Jaguar Cars launched the model XJ-S, a name changed in 1991 to XJS by new Jaguar owners Ford. The XJS had been in design since the late 1960s and the grand tourer finally left the production line in September 1975. The design of the XJ-S had more in common with the classic E-Type than any other classic car produced by Jaguar. The 5.3-litre V12 engine had a top speed of 143 mph and acceleration of 0-60 mph in 7.6 seconds. At the time of the launch, the XJ-S was the most expensive production Jaguar ever sold and became recognised for style, performance and comfort.
Before the launch of the pre-high-efficiency (H.E.) XJ-S in 1981, Jaguar built 14,800 XJ-S luxury cars. After going through a number of design evolutions, the last XJS left the production line in 1996.
When launched, the price of a XJ-S was £8,900. Within four years the price had double reflected the car’s popularity.
The Mark VII, MK1, and XJ-S Jaguar cars all featured instrumentation designed and supplied by Smiths Instruments. Caerbont Automotive Instruments continues to supply an ever-expanding range of replacement gauges for classic Jaguar cars including:
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