1975 Daimler SOVEREIGN 4.2 Coupe

This car is from the first year of XJC production and was sold new by Henlys Ltd of Manchester in October 1975. It was originally green but had a colour change to the current Lavender Blue some time around 2003, when some restoration work took place. There is no paperwork for those works, but anecdotally the vendor believes this was a fairly major overhaul.

It’s been owned by the vendor, for six years. He bought the car as a more family-friendly classic to live alongside his V12 E-type, but simply having the extra seats wasn’t always enough to get the family together for an outing so it’s time to reduce the fleet.

The vendor has spent many thousands of pounds on the car in his ownership, creating an extensive history file which goes a long way to make up for the lack of history from earlier owners. As such, the car can be assessed on current condition in the knowledge that a lot of investment has gone into making it perform as well as a good XJ6 should do.

While the surface profiles, doors shuts and panel gaps are all very good, the car’s re-paint to Lavender Blue is showing its age in a few places. The passenger door skin is bubbling near its bottom edge and there’s some surface-fuzz of corrosion here and there in the sill panel joints. Flying stones and road grit have allowed a little of the same effect at the back of the rear arches. Matthew says none of these issues have worsened in his ownership; the car has been garaged and rarely seen rain, never mind salty roads.

Although it’s hard to see in the pictures, the paint on the replaced rear valance doesn’t match the rest of the car. The vinyl roof is almost perfect but careful fingers can distinguish a slight bump in a couple of places. All the lamps lenses are intact and the glass is good too.

Strangely the paint is letting go in the door hinge panels and in the underside of the bonnet, especially around the headlamps revealing the primer underneath but this doesn’t continue on any external panel. But stand back a few feet and the overall effect is very impressive: a recent professional polish and detail has produced an excellent shine. The chrome is very good too, only degrading a little on the front overriders. The Kent alloy wheels are smart (two were refurbished recently) and there’s a good spare. The chrome strip from the grille up the centre of the bonnet is missing.

The dark blue leather seats are nicely patinated with the fronts naturally showing a little more wear than those in the back, including some repairs to a couple of scruffy areas on the squabs. The carpets are smart and the vinyl on the door cards and the centre console is holding up well, with just the odd spot where seams are peeling back. The luxurious slab of wood veneer on the dash looks generally good with lifting varnish only noticeable near the glovebox and a couple of dash clocks.

There are new blue seatbelts on inertia reels concealed by the trim panels behind the front seats but there’s another touch you’d have to know about in order to spot – look for the four electric window switches on the centre console and the fifth, similar switch is a recent upgrade. It flicks on a solenoid in a starting carb that’s replaced the troublesome Automatic Enrichment Device.

The front windows whoosh up and down but the less-often used rear windows are slightly sluggish, but include the important new seals to the rear wings to help prevent water getting into the car’s structure. Matthew has put a period-correct radio in the dash but hasn’t got round to connecting it up, though he reckons it’s functional and the speakers are present.

Lift the carpets and the floors are sound – and the vendor reports that they have never been welded (something almost unheard of in XJC circles) – though a couple of corners are starting to show surface rust. Time to nip it in the bud.

The engine bay is not the car’s best point, cosmetically speaking, but there’s little to concern you from a practical point of view. Matthew has changed the oil every year despite a total mileage of only around 2000 in the six years he’s had the car, and the brake fluid is fresh too.

Two things strike you looking underneath – plenty of sound metal and a smart new stainless steel exhaust. The more you look, the more you see, like the new front and rear brake calipers and the handbrake cable, Sachs dampers and many new bushes.

The underseal is splitting and lifting here and there but to no ill effect.

The car is with us in Oxfordshire, having been driven 90 miles from Matthew’s home without incident. We’ve used it a fair bit in recent days and it drives beautifully, just as smooth as you’d hope with no misbehaviour or foibles, barring a bit of petrol dripping sporadically from a carb overflow: a sticky needle valve? The Daimler feels tight with no rattles or creaks, just a little sympathetic squeaking from the suspension.

Update 20/07: Following a couple of viewings on this Daimler, we can confirm the engine actually runs far more quietly than the audio in our video suggests, with virtually no rattle.

There are plenty of documents to sift through but they’re all from Matthew’s ownership, so there’s no written evidence of what Matthew believes was quite an extensive restoration. He thinks this took place around 15 years ago in the ownership of the gentleman before the person from whom Matthew bought the car, and may have involved the colour change.

In Matthew’s time, bills have been accrued for several thousand pounds. The most significant item is the reconditioned automatic transmission fitted in 2015. Earlier in the car’s life, the engine too was substituted for another unit – far from unusual amongst 1970s XJ Jaguars. Matthew believes this occurred approximately ten years ago.

Other bills include work on suspension geometry, steering rack mount bushes, radius arm bushes, front and rear brake work including the dropping of the rear subframe, ball joints, carburettor and ignition set-up, wiper wheel boxes, the aforementioned electric starting carburettor installation and many more smaller items. There are MoT certifcates from Matthew’s ownership too. Older service books (not from this car) and handbooks have been assembled to replicate the kind of thing you’d have received with the Daimler when new.

This car should offer an interesting opportunity for someone. The prices of XJ coupés have been soaring in recent years, not least because of the high cost of restoration – it’s still cheaper to buy a good one that to attempt to fix a bad’un. But with the values of the best cars touching £30,000 for a 4.2-litre (the V12s are more, despite the terrifying 12mpg consumption), they start to look out of reach for many enthusiasts.

If you’re not obsessive about concours-winning presentation, matching numbers and a day-one history, then you needn’t open the wallet quite as far. We expect this car to sell between £11k and £16k, largely because of the work required to rid the paint of a few small scabs. And it really is little more than that. So it’s a sound car with a lot of recent expenditure on the important moving parts.

It’s not perfect but it could be enjoyed immediately and it would still impress most observers. In America, it might be described as a ‘driver’, as opposed to a show car, but that’s not doing it enough justice – it’s a really nice example. Taking the upward step to prize-winning standards, or enjoying it as it is, will be the choice of the next owner.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us in Abingdon. To arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.