Beautiful Vintage Jag! Concours Restored in Late 80's & Has Aged Very Gracefully

1962 Jaguar Mark II 3.8 Description

The 1962 Jaguar Mark II 3.8 sedan is the family saloon with the heart of an E-Type. Beautifully styled and offering a spirited driving experience, this powerful sedan is often retroactively referred to as the "BMW M5 of the 1960s", and it's exactly what you'd expect from England's most accessible luxury marque. This particular silver bombshell was treated to an incredible concours restoration in the late 1980s, and has aged so gracefully that's is still an impressive trophy hunter and comfortable driver today.

Dressed in a Silver Blue Metallic finish, this long, sleek Jag really looks like a million bucks. It has a wonderful look that's still bright and shiny, yet inviting and appropriate for modern times as well, making it hard to resist. The restoration was so thorough and impressive back then that this car went on to win 1st place at the Concours D'elegance in 1988, and several prestigious awards since, even as recently as 2016. It's no longer as close to perfect as it was in 1988, but it still looks great today, showing only very minor age and wear, a lot of which could be corrected with a professional clay bar and cut-and-buff. The curvaceous styling of the Mark II sedan is unmistakably Jaguar and you can see echoes of the XK150 in the grille and front end, not to mention the curving rear window. All four doors fit well and close with a firmness that's hard to quantify and which buyers would pay extra to have on their cars today. There's plenty of bright trim, all of it done with exquisitely good taste, and it shows rather well, particularly the oval grille up front and the wonderful taillight housings in back. This car also carries a set of built-in Lucas "flamethrower" driving lamps in addition to the headlights, giving the big cat a very elegant face.

The British are famous for building interiors like nobody else on Earth, and this Jaguar is the epitome of British elegance. Soft black leather hides cover the seats, which are so nice that you'd never guess they've been in place for 30 years, with only minor comfort marks in the front seats present. Deeply plush carpets suggest luxury and help control noise and all the wood you see is actual burled walnut, not some simulation. The interior is awash in a gently used feeling of the right kind, lending it a sophisticated look that can be dressed up for a night on the town, or even for a quick run to the shoppes, as it always seems appropriate. The big steering wheel has a slender rim and the car can be guided with just your fingertips and the 4-speed automatic transmission is lever controlled on the column. Big, round Smiths speedometer and tachometer gauges remain fully functional just ahead of the driver, and the original center panel in the dash houses a set of original Smiths auxiliary gauges, the ignition, and an array of switches and levers that give this Jag that airplane cockpit look British automobile designers have been fond of for decades. Below the dash, there's a radio cover and vintage speaker cover that looks positively 1960s (actual radio is not installed, but included), a small middle console for a little extra storage, and the back seat looks very lightly used and is comfortable enough to chauffeur around the Prime Minster. The boot (that's a trunk to us Yanks) is spacious enough for overnight bags and includes a spare tire under the floor.

Under the long hood beats the heart of an E-Type, a 3.8 liter DOHC inline-six that makes silky smooth power rivaled only by an electric motor. The renowned XK series motor was the same that won at LeMans in '51 and '53, and further improvements in reliability and performance of this legendary Straight 6 throughout the years made the price to performance ratio so attractive to the public, that it even developed a reputation for being the getaway car for of choice for many British criminals. The scintillating soundtrack is a big part of the Jag's appeal, designed to be enjoyed not simply quietly driven like big Jags of the past. You can forget the unfair rumors about British electrical systems, as this car starts quickly and easily and drives so well you'll forget that it's almost 60 years old. With lots of polished aluminum and an Art Deco air cleaner, it has a beautifully detailed look under the hood and like many owners, you'll probably discover that keeping it healthy really isn't all that much of a challenge after all. It was all painstakingly restored to original specs at the time of the concours restoration, and the lone deviation from stock that we can find in the engine bay is actually a great improvement: a heavy-duty aluminum radiator that looks like it has always belonged. The undercarriage is incredibly solid and clean, featuring a suspension that ideally blends handling and ride comfort in a way no other automaker has been able to duplicate. A newer dual exhaust system sounds fantastic, and the Mark II ushered in a wider rear track that allowed better handling and deleted the antiquated rear fenders skirts. Four-wheel disc brakes were a standard on Jaguars long before most other brands, and they live behind those gorgeous Jaguar Black steel wheels adorned with correct chrome hubcaps and beauty rings, all of which are wrapped in 205/70/15 Michelin Defender radials with plenty of tread left.

A simply stunning car that's every bit as wonderful to drive. Offered with build receipts, a dealer invoice and warranty documents, an owner's manual, miscellaneous extra parts, and some of the trophies it won when it dominated the car show circuit, this beautiful Jag has old world charm with performance that feels far younger. Call today!