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On the next page, read about Jaguar’s Mark VII, the company’s first all-new post-war sedan. Why jump to Mark VII and skip Mark VI? No matter: The Mark VII was almost as sensational as the sexy XK120. The upshot was that Bentley was moved to release its updated Mark VI of 1952 as the R-Type. The apparent reason was Jaguar’s desire to avoid confusion with the contemporary Bentley Mark VI. Jaguar’s first truly new post-war sedan, the Mark VII, didn’t arrive until 1950, mainly because the firm had to vie with rival makers to get its new body panels tooled and produced by the Pressed Steel Company, then the British industry’s principle supplier.
Arriving some 18 years after the highly successful original, the 1986 XJ6 was surprisingly evolutionary — too much so, some say. But it really was new, not just another update of the old car. This also explains the deliberate continuity in styling, basic layout, name, even driving feel. Though the design was initiated in 1980, the first pilot-built cars weren’t produced until 1983 and the public unveiling wasn’t until late 1986 for Europe, early 1987 for the U.S. The reason, of course, was the Series III had been selling so well that Jaguar could take its time with a replacement.
It was a timely arrival. Mark II offerings had further proliferated with the long-tail S-Type, which then gained a new nose to become the 420, and Jaguar’s mid-Sixties takeover of Daimler had produced still another variation, the badge-engineered Sovereign. The XJ6 got it going. As a result, Coventry found itself building no fewer than four different sedans for a time: Mk II/Sovereign, S-Type, 420, and Mk X/420G. Its smooth and beautiful new styling testified to Sir William’s artistry, and there was the expected, very “clubby” British Traditional four-door cabin awash in wood veneer, leather coverings, and sober white-on-black Smiths instruments. But though at least as spacious as any previous Jaguar, the XJ6 was at once smaller than the Mk X/420G and larger than the Mk II. A shakeout was needed — and fast.
Though no one now seems to recall exactly why, the sedans now became unofficially known as Mark IVs. Jaguar also built another 104 2.5-liter and 560 3.5-liter convertibles. Exactly 11,952 were completed through 1948, mostly 1.5- and 3.5-liter models. A solid box-section frame with modern independent front suspension (via torsion bars and wishbones), it would be the literal foundation of Jaguar’s large sedans for the next 13 years. Then came the Mark V, still riding a 120-inch wheelbase but on Lyons’ wartime chassis.
