1962 Jaguar MKII 3.8 Manual

Finished in Opalescent Silver Grey with a red leather interior, this multiple concours-winning right-hand-drive Jaguar MKII has the perfect mechanical specification comprising the powerful 3.8-litre engine and four-speed manual gearbox with overdrive, having genuinely covered just 68,662 miles since new.

First manufactured on the 15th of September 1961 and registered two weeks later on the 30th of January 1962, it is a very early car as evidenced by its Champion sparkplug caps and red HT lead conduit.  

The vendor is, in his own words, “fastidious” refusing to buy anything other than genuine, low-mileage original cars with an impeccable provenance. (We’ll be listing his Porsche 944 Turbo shortly and that’s another cracker.)

And this Jaguar met his criteria with ease: condition and mileage aside, it features many factory extras including a Motorola radio, chromed wired wheels, a Derrington dished semi-circular wooden steering wheel with a centre horn push, semi-spats on the rear wings, and a complete toolkit. It has retained all of these rare and much sought-after features plus it still has the original owner’s manual, running-in guide, and the factory supplied keys.

With just three former keepers, it entered the vendor’s collection in 2002 from the estate of the late Terry Cohn, another collector so demanding that some of his cars were displayed at the Pebble Beach Concours d'elegance – and Mr Cohn sourced the car via marque guru Gregor Fiskin, keeping it for 15 years until his death.

The Jaguar’s first registered keeper was a Mr Oscar W Johnson of Walsall, a prominent Midlands entrepreneur who bought the car in January 1962. Having taken delivery from Attwoods, his local Jaguar dealer, it wore the registration number 577 UK. He kept it for the next twenty years before passing it on to Alan Jones of Dudley in March 1982.

And if that name rings another bell then that’s probably because Mr Jones was an executive within the Jaguar Drivers Club. He kept it until July 1987 winning all eight Concours Awards it was entered for, an impressive feat that included seven 'Bests' of show with an average score of 97.9; this is not a car that’s bounced from owner to owner in an ever-more desperate attempt to foist its problems onto the next poor sap…

With most works undertaken by Mill Lane Engineering of Godalming, it has been superbly maintained. Sporting amazing shutlines and a Jaguar Heritage Trust certificate confirming that it still wears its original build specification, this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get your hands on one of the very nicest examples we’ve ever seen.

Opalescent Silver Grey is our new favourite Jaguar MKII colour - and this one’s presentation is considerably better than you and I are used to seeing. With ultra-tight and consistent shutlines, it also sports ripple-free flanks and a complete absence of the sort of car-park dinks that are almost inevitable.

The chromework is similarly impressive, as are the factory chromed wire wheels that show only mild patination. They’re shod with matching 185R15 Avon tyres too, all of which have good tread.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you an insight into their attitude towards maintenance.

The Jaguar also still has the wonderful Lucas-branded reflectors on the top of the original sidelights – and the light lenses themselves are the original Lucas items including the rare and brilliantly named ‘Fogranger’ front fog lamps.

It’s little details like this that lift this car head and shoulders above the rest.

Faults? Well if we were to tell you that with a magnifying glass you might ultimately find the odd very minor scratch or stone chip or even the tiniest spot of rust on the offside front wing, you’d be accurately informed but almost certainly imagining a car in worse shape than the reality; that we spotted these flaws is more a sign of how good the rest is than how noticeable they are.

In fact, the only thing worthy of a mention is the rubber trim around the windscreen, which is perished. Still, replacing that would be straightforward and not unduly expensive.

The red leather trim looks sensational; while the driver’s seat is a little worn, it really is very minor and only adds to the car’s immense character. Wide and cossetting, the seats themselves are in great shape and their armchair-like cosiness shows just how uncomfortable modern seats are.

And yet, just like Land Rover did with the Velar’s vegan interior six decades later, Jaguar wasn’t afraid to stray from leather because the headlining is a very attractive tweed-like material. Wonderfully complemented by the wood trim that surrounds the door apertures, this is by no means the end of the wood and veneer in there because there are vast swathes of it - and all of it is in a fabulous condition.

There are Smiths gauges too, plus lashings of chrome and wool carpets, ‘J’-branded pedal rubbers, and a Motorola twin-spindle radio.

Speaking, as we were earlier, of alternatives to the more usual luxury car cues, rather than the Mota-Lita steering wheel that everyone thinks improves on the original, this one still features the wonderfully simple three-spoke Derrington item it left the factory with. Like the rest of the interior, the steering wheel is in great shape and works every bit as well as it looks.

The boot is, if anything, in an even better condition than the interior and while it is utterly solid, there is a smattering of light surface rust to address.

The paperwork confirms a trail of maintenance, servicing and refurbishments over the years, and our photographer reports that it “starts on the button and runs and drives superbly” – and you can’t really ask for more than that, can you?

The underside is very solid and nicely presented and the engine bay is one of the very nicest we’ve ever seen. But then it is kept in a dust-free, dehumidified, and air-conditioned bubble…

Recent expenditure includes repair of the rear jacking points, new spring hanger boxes and panard rod brackets, as well as waxoil injection to both spring hanger boxes.

Update from the seller 24/09/20: "The car has also had the following replaced this year - powder coated exhaust manifold and brass nuts/fittings, new fuel pump, new galvanised petrol tank including a new sender, fuel filter, hoses and clips, new dip switch, indicator switch, spark plugs and HT leads and a full service".

The Jaguar doesn’t have a current MOT certificate, and while it is exempt by virtue of its age, we would strongly encourage the new owner to have the car re-MOT’d at the earliest. The cost of an MOT is a small investment when offset against the purchase and upkeep of any classic car, and it gives an independent, third-party assessment of the car’s condition, which not only provides reassurance to the owner (and any subsequent purchasers) but might also be invaluable in the event of a bump when negotiating with the police and any interested insurance companies…

It has a number of expired MOT certificates plus a sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it over the years.

It also has a Jaguar Heritage Trust certificate confirming its original build specification plus the operating, maintenance and servicing handbook for the car, the guide to installing and operating the Motorola radio (including the original registration card…), some old V5s, and plenty of other period paperwork, tax discs, and photos.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

Finished in our new favourite colour combination, this wonderfully original and immaculately presented, 68,000 miles from new, Jaguar MKII needs only very, very minor cosmetic fettling to bring it back to concours condition, a condition it is familiar with - and it has the paperwork and trophies to prove it.

Running and driving beautifully, its presentation and condition mean that this is not going to be a cheap car – and yet, with a guide price of between £42,000 an £56,000 it might turn out to be a cost-effective one because cars as good as this are always going to be in high demand and when the market falters, it looks to the very best of each marque as a safe place to invest.

A genuine once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, are you prepared to be its fifth fastidious owner?

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the seller in Liphook, Hants; 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’.

This vehicle is not with us at The Market’s HQ, which means we have had to rely on the owner’s description of it, in conjunction with the photographs you see here, to compile the listing.

With this in mind, we would encourage potential bidders to contact the owner themselves and arrange to view the car in person, or to arrange a dedicated video call in which they can view the car virtually and ask questions.