What a coincidence...I recently converted some old slides to digital and there are two photos of your father in Waterville in the early 60s.
Your father and my father, Rennie, were fishing friends when we lived in Glasgow and the friendship continued when we returned to Ireland. I can remember cruising around the country roads in Kerry in the Bentley with not a bump or pot-hole to be felt! Its a tale I frequently tell to those who will listen!
Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the car just the vivid memories of those halcyon days of youth.
Please get in touch if you would like copies of the pictures.
I read with interest the feature on the TWR-engined XJ12, since I ran a similar vehicle myself a few years ago. Mine wasn’t quite up to the standards of your feature car though, having been created by an acquaintance who dabbled in breaking Jaguars. He bought a heavily accident-damaged XJ-S as a donor for a presentable but non-runner XJ12 and had the workshop perform the swap without realising that the XJ-S in question was a JaguarSport car.
The resulting creation may have been something of a ‘bitsa’ but as Paul Walton remarks in your story, was hilariously quick. The slightly ‘shabby chic’ body and paint only added to the appeal when taking on BMWs and GTIs at the lights, but eventually its thirst got the better of me and I traded it for something more sensible. Naturally having read the feature, now I wish I still had it.
love the car, had many mk1 GTI ‘s in the past and regret parting with them. I’d love to see this car in person! It’s a fantastic build tastefully done! I recall th original gold scrim Poland that inspired this build !!!
It was with great pleasure that I read the articles regarding the W113 ‘Pagoda’ Mercedes-Benz (60 Years of the Mercedes ‘Pagoda’). I served my apprenticeship on Mercedes cars with the Normand group, initially at the workshop above the Cumberland Hotel, just round the corner from Marble Arch. The W113 was current in those early Sixties days and working on them was always a pleasure. During the last part of my apprenticeship, I often had to drive the 230SL on the road. A tough life!
Sam Dawson commented that the car’s automatic box felt ‘right’ – the 230SL was also faster 0-100mph as an automatic than as a manual. When used in full automatic mode, as against manual selection of the auto, the gearchanges were spot-on every time, and top speed was only 2mph slower with the auto. My time at Marble Arch was just before the 70mph speed limit came into force. We used to offer an engine enhancement comprising a different camshaft, bigger inlet valves and a ported cylinder head, allowing it to pull 7000rpm in top! Because the car was geared 20mph per 1000rpm, this equated to 140mph. No idle boast – as a passenger in an enhanced 230SL on the M1, I watched in amazement as the speedo nudged 140mph. Sadly, the 70mph law killed the project – we did one car for America and completed a job that was already in the workshop at the time, and that was it!
Upon second reading, one small correction to the Technical Data: The front suspension was McPherson struts (and a damn good execution thereof), not double wishbones.
A beautiful and moving piece. I think two unique, milestone engineering achievements of the 504 deserve special mention:
1. The combination of ride comfort and handling quality had no parallels in the late '60. The 504 established a new benchmark, not surpassed for years, for most successfully reconciling these generally conflicting requirements.
2. Another, perhaps even more astonishing achievement, on top of the famed ride comfort, was the level of road noise isolation and «rolling plushness» — the quality of the passengers being insulated from both noise and tactile roughness excited by the road texture. Equally superb was impact harshness control. And these were achieved with no «float» or «shake» — the car always felt structurally tight and poised.
Neither Peugeot no any other manufacturer repeated this feat of being so clearly ahead of the state of the contemporary art with a conventional (non-active) suspension.
I enjoyed reading your excellent feature on Citroën 60 countdown. I was lucky enough to own a 1986 CX GTi Turbo 2 for 10 years until 1998. This was an amazing and underrated machine, hard to own, easy to love, a pleasure to waft in, weird to corner at speed. Its quirks were numerous, as if Salvador Dali had managed the production line. Exterior trim was held on by sticky typewriter ribbon, the boot hinge broke and appeared to come from a factory that made suitcase catches. Despite these flaws, its sleek long body turned discerning heads, and is still a lesson in how a car could be futuristic and beautiful. In contrast to Citroën’s elegant approach to design, look at your second fave marque, BMW, whose stylist seems hellbent on giving us cars that would make dogs weep. The DrivesToday team has obviously fallen underthe spell of this brand, which now produces some of the least attractive cars they’ve ever come up with. The bulbous i7 looks like a cutand- shut of three post-war Rovers. The grungy M2 with nose parts modified from a Dodge truck. The macho iX with a bodykit made from a bag of Darth Vader helmets. Citroën proves it’s good to be different and innovative, if not always perfect dynamically. Kia and Hyundai prove you can build technologically advanced cars that also look good. Why can’t BMW do this like they used to?
Readers might be interested to see far more pictures and details about the 541S and the CV8.
Introducing The Trudy and John Cohen Jensen 541S and CV8 Sports Car Collection
Great photographs with lots of information about a private collection of Jensen 541S and CV8 British classic sports cars, plus an informative article about the super manual drive 541S can be found at John Neville Cohen's website. We have been the owners of 8 Jensen 541S and 3 Jensen CV8 cars. Some for over 35 years!
The Jensen 541S and CV8 were the last hand built classic cars, or automobiles, built by the Jensen brothers (early 1960s). Truly high performance GT sports cars, hand built in fiberglass, with large straight 6 and V8 engines — the fastest four seater cars of the period!
Many of our cars were Jensen Owners Club concourse winners.
The fabulous, sleek and luxurious Jensen 541S sports car was 4 inches wider than the earlier models, providing a far more spacious and luxurious interior, and better road holding. The new look was stunning, but the automatic cars were slow due to a loss of power from the gearbox, so they had poor reviews in the press, as only the automatics were road tested. But the manual drive version with overdrive (only 22 out of 127 were manual drive) were really fast! The 4 litre straight six modified Austin engine, with three SU carburettors, the Salisbury gearbox, and overdrive was an exciting car. It was also the first car with seat belts and Dunlop disc brakes all round. We had 5 manual drive versions in our collection and a very special CV8.
Have a look at an article with lots of photographs by John Neville Cohen, about the fabulous, rare, 541S manual drive (only 22 were made). http://www.jncohen.net/Jensen/article.htm
Amazing amount of resurch and info! Finding the original wheel and the police uniform is simply staggering! Its just great to hear of such relevant history, every car has a story just some more so than others!
I own that precise car having owned a M340d prior to it. I cannot explain exactly why I like it so much more — something to do with the paint finish and the quality of the interior plus the capability.
I found comparison of the Daimler Double-Six and Tesla Model S (Back to the Future) interesting – I owned a Jag XJ12 SIII in the Nineties and run a Model S today. They were introduced 50 years apart and the Tesla is the first car that really feels like 50 years’ progress from that point. They are a similar type of car – similar size, both comfortable and refined, both pull relentlessly and effortlessly on tiny throttle openings. Tesla turned a reluctant industry on its head; the market is now full of followers. Where Tesla still leads is efficiency. To some extent it is achieved by compromise, such as exceptionally high (45psi) tyre pressures to minimise rolling resistance, at the expense of increased road noise and firm ride. The wheels are a snug fit in their arches to reduce drag, but this limits suspension travel, to the further detriment of ride. I’ve not driven an XJ in 20 years, but I remember a more complaint ride and less road noise. And Elon Musk? He’s the definition of George Bernard Shaw's unreasonable man, ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’
The article on the S Final Edition XKs was a great piece by Craig as usual. I really enjoy his tales of Jaguar addiction and how he can’t kick it! A few things to add if you’ll allow. The special colours mentioned were only supplemented by another four including Platinum, Racing Green, Midnight and Quartz. Montreal wheels were never an option. The XK8-S came with 19” Atlas wheels as standard with the 20” Sepang available as an option. The XKR-S came with Perseus as standard with no other option. But… the Perseus proved to be prone to buckling so the Sepangs were fitted on some XKR-S straight from the factory or fitted to replace the Perseus wheels under warranty.
Dove Grey leather was only available with Frost Blue and Quartz exterior and came with Dove Grey carpet. Only the XKR-S had red calipers. Silver calipers with cross-drilled discs were an option on the XK8-S. I have a full specification brochure which came with one of the cars I bought. It can be a bit confusing but it ties in with all the cars I’ve seen over the years.
Also Craig states only 500 of the S Final Edition were built in XK and XKR form but I believe it was a lot more and I have been unable to find any mention from the launch that the model was a limited edition. The earliest car I’ve seen is chassis 46613, an XKR-S Final Edition coupe in satin with black trim.
Also Jaguar Heritage gives the start of production of the S Final Edition as chassis 45289, making it 3395 cars built as S Final Edition models.
The earliest car I’ve bought and sold was chassis 46618 and I have the build sheet for this car showing it as a Sports pack which wasa £4000 option on the coupe and £3200 on the convertible, over and above the usual XKR-S Final Edition specification. Including, according to the brochure: Handling Pack, satellite navigation, adaptive cruise control and Recaro seats.
In the course of buying and selling many S Final Editions cars, I’ve not found any after the Heritage start number which have been anything other than S Final Edition cars.
However, having said that… I also have a build sheet for a XK coupe with a chassis number in the range for the Final Editions cars but which identifies as a 2006 MY car with 2004.5 MY parts: Quartz with Dove Grey interior, 2004.5MY Montreal alloys and birds eye maple dash plus loads of extras.
I feel it’s important to get these things pinned down because it affects values. There are already myths and legends being attached to these cars in the hope of higher prices.
Zack Stiling, who wrote the feature, paid special attention to sharing what the driving experience was like with these cars and as such has put together a well-rounded and interesting article that we’re pleased to hear you enjoyed. There may be challenges with running older cars, but there are a lot of benefits too…!
The 1973 BMW 1004 SA version — look the same
Hi David,
What a coincidence...I recently converted some old slides to digital and there are two photos of your father in Waterville in the early 60s.
Your father and my father, Rennie, were fishing friends when we lived in Glasgow and the friendship continued when we returned to Ireland. I can remember cruising around the country roads in Kerry in the Bentley with not a bump or pot-hole to be felt! Its a tale I frequently tell to those who will listen!
Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the car just the vivid memories of those halcyon days of youth.
Please get in touch if you would like copies of the pictures.
Regards,
Ray
Big block XJ
I read with interest the feature on the TWR-engined XJ12, since I ran a similar vehicle myself a few years ago. Mine wasn’t quite up to the standards of your feature car though, having been created by an acquaintance who dabbled in breaking Jaguars. He bought a heavily accident-damaged XJ-S as a donor for a presentable but non-runner XJ12 and had the workshop perform the swap without realising that the XJ-S in question was a JaguarSport car.
The resulting creation may have been something of a ‘bitsa’ but as Paul Walton remarks in your story, was hilariously quick. The slightly ‘shabby chic’ body and paint only added to the appeal when taking on BMWs and GTIs at the lights, but eventually its thirst got the better of me and I traded it for something more sensible. Naturally having read the feature, now I wish I still had it.
Well done Bradley,
love the car, had many mk1 GTI ‘s in the past and regret parting with them. I’d love to see this car in person! It’s a fantastic build tastefully done! I recall th original gold scrim Poland that inspired this build !!!
Faster automatic
It was with great pleasure that I read the articles regarding the W113 ‘Pagoda’ Mercedes-Benz (60 Years of the Mercedes ‘Pagoda’). I served my apprenticeship on Mercedes cars with the Normand group, initially at the workshop above the Cumberland Hotel, just round the corner from Marble Arch. The W113 was current in those early Sixties days and working on them was always a pleasure. During the last part of my apprenticeship, I often had to drive the 230SL on the road. A tough life!
Sam Dawson commented that the car’s automatic box felt ‘right’ – the 230SL was also faster 0-100mph as an automatic than as a manual. When used in full automatic mode, as against manual selection of the auto, the gearchanges were spot-on every time, and top speed was only 2mph slower with the auto. My time at Marble Arch was just before the 70mph speed limit came into force. We used to offer an engine enhancement comprising a different camshaft, bigger inlet valves and a ported cylinder head, allowing it to pull 7000rpm in top! Because the car was geared 20mph per 1000rpm, this equated to 140mph. No idle boast – as a passenger in an enhanced 230SL on the M1, I watched in amazement as the speedo nudged 140mph. Sadly, the 70mph law killed the project – we did one car for America and completed a job that was already in the workshop at the time, and that was it!
Thanks!
Really true McPherson
Upon second reading, one small correction to the Technical Data: The front suspension was McPherson struts (and a damn good execution thereof), not double wishbones.
A beautiful and moving piece. I think two unique, milestone engineering achievements of the 504 deserve special mention:
1. The combination of ride comfort and handling quality had no parallels in the late '60. The 504 established a new benchmark, not surpassed for years, for most successfully reconciling these generally conflicting requirements.
2. Another, perhaps even more astonishing achievement, on top of the famed ride comfort, was the level of road noise isolation and «rolling plushness» — the quality of the passengers being insulated from both noise and tactile roughness excited by the road texture. Equally superb was impact harshness control. And these were achieved with no «float» or «shake» — the car always felt structurally tight and poised.
Neither Peugeot no any other manufacturer repeated this feat of being so clearly ahead of the state of the contemporary art with a conventional (non-active) suspension.
Aston DB7 vs Mondial vs 911 996
Citroën vs BMW
I enjoyed reading your excellent feature on Citroën 60 countdown. I was lucky enough to own a 1986 CX GTi Turbo 2 for 10 years until 1998. This was an amazing and underrated machine, hard to own, easy to love, a pleasure to waft in, weird to corner at speed. Its quirks were numerous, as if Salvador Dali had managed the production line. Exterior trim was held on by sticky typewriter ribbon, the boot hinge broke and appeared to come from a factory that made suitcase catches. Despite these flaws, its sleek long body turned discerning heads, and is still a lesson in how a car could be futuristic and beautiful. In contrast to Citroën’s elegant approach to design, look at your second fave marque, BMW, whose stylist seems hellbent on giving us cars that would make dogs weep. The DrivesToday team has obviously fallen underthe spell of this brand, which now produces some of the least attractive cars they’ve ever come up with. The bulbous i7 looks like a cutand- shut of three post-war Rovers. The grungy M2 with nose parts modified from a Dodge truck. The macho iX with a bodykit made from a bag of Darth Vader helmets. Citroën proves it’s good to be different and innovative, if not always perfect dynamically. Kia and Hyundai prove you can build technologically advanced cars that also look good. Why can’t BMW do this like they used to?
Can we expect 3.0 Isuzu v cross will be available in india in the near months?
Readers might be interested to see far more pictures and details about the 541S and the CV8.
Introducing The Trudy and John Cohen Jensen 541S and CV8 Sports Car Collection
The Jensen 541S and CV8 were the last hand built classic cars, or automobiles, built by the Jensen brothers (early 1960s). Truly high performance GT sports cars, hand built in fiberglass, with large straight 6 and V8 engines — the fastest four seater cars of the period!
Many of our cars were Jensen Owners Club concourse winners.
The fabulous, sleek and luxurious Jensen 541S sports car was 4 inches wider than the earlier models, providing a far more spacious and luxurious interior, and better road holding. The new look was stunning, but the automatic cars were slow due to a loss of power from the gearbox, so they had poor reviews in the press, as only the automatics were road tested. But the manual drive version with overdrive (only 22 out of 127 were manual drive) were really fast! The 4 litre straight six modified Austin engine, with three SU carburettors, the Salisbury gearbox, and overdrive was an exciting car. It was also the first car with seat belts and Dunlop disc brakes all round. We had 5 manual drive versions in our collection and a very special CV8.
Have a look at an article with lots of photographs by John Neville Cohen, about the fabulous, rare, 541S manual drive (only 22 were made).
http://www.jncohen.net/Jensen/article.htm
Amazing amount of resurch and info! Finding the original wheel and the police uniform is simply staggering! Its just great to hear of such relevant history, every car has a story just some more so than others!
I own that precise car having owned a M340d prior to it. I cannot explain exactly why I like it so much more — something to do with the paint finish and the quality of the interior plus the capability.
You are right Derek, and I vow to drink more strong black coffee when proofing pages late at night.
High carb diet
The ex-Peter Collins Aston DB2/4 engine (Hard to Top) appears to be sporting a pair of SU carburettors yet the caption states Webers.
Tesla vs Daimler
I found comparison of the Daimler Double-Six and Tesla Model S (Back to the Future) interesting – I owned a Jag XJ12 SIII in the Nineties and run a Model S today. They were introduced 50 years apart and the Tesla is the first car that really feels like 50 years’ progress from that point. They are a similar type of car – similar size, both comfortable and refined, both pull relentlessly and effortlessly on tiny throttle openings. Tesla turned a reluctant industry on its head; the market is now full of followers. Where Tesla still leads is efficiency. To some extent it is achieved by compromise, such as exceptionally high (45psi) tyre pressures to minimise rolling resistance, at the expense of increased road noise and firm ride. The wheels are a snug fit in their arches to reduce drag, but this limits suspension travel, to the further detriment of ride. I’ve not driven an XJ in 20 years, but I remember a more complaint ride and less road noise. And Elon Musk? He’s the definition of George Bernard Shaw's unreasonable man, ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’
Final Edition facts
The article on the S Final Edition XKs was a great piece by Craig as usual. I really enjoy his tales of Jaguar addiction and how he can’t kick it! A few things to add if you’ll allow. The special colours mentioned were only supplemented by another four including Platinum, Racing Green, Midnight and Quartz. Montreal wheels were never an option. The XK8-S came with 19” Atlas wheels as standard with the 20” Sepang available as an option. The XKR-S came with Perseus as standard with no other option. But… the Perseus proved to be prone to buckling so the Sepangs were fitted on some XKR-S straight from the factory or fitted to replace the Perseus wheels under warranty.
Dove Grey leather was only available with Frost Blue and Quartz exterior and came with Dove Grey carpet. Only the XKR-S had red calipers. Silver calipers with cross-drilled discs were an option on the XK8-S. I have a full specification brochure which came with one of the cars I bought. It can be a bit confusing but it ties in with all the cars I’ve seen over the years.
Also Craig states only 500 of the S Final Edition were built in XK and XKR form but I believe it was a lot more and I have been unable to find any mention from the launch that the model was a limited edition. The earliest car I’ve seen is chassis 46613, an XKR-S Final Edition coupe in satin with black trim.
Also Jaguar Heritage gives the start of production of the S Final Edition as chassis 45289, making it 3395 cars built as S Final Edition models.
The earliest car I’ve bought and sold was chassis 46618 and I have the build sheet for this car showing it as a Sports pack which wasa £4000 option on the coupe and £3200 on the convertible, over and above the usual XKR-S Final Edition specification. Including, according to the brochure: Handling Pack, satellite navigation, adaptive cruise control and Recaro seats.
In the course of buying and selling many S Final Editions cars, I’ve not found any after the Heritage start number which have been anything other than S Final Edition cars.
However, having said that… I also have a build sheet for a XK coupe with a chassis number in the range for the Final Editions cars but which identifies as a 2006 MY car with 2004.5 MY parts: Quartz with Dove Grey interior, 2004.5MY Montreal alloys and birds eye maple dash plus loads of extras.
I feel it’s important to get these things pinned down because it affects values. There are already myths and legends being attached to these cars in the hope of higher prices.
Zack Stiling, who wrote the feature, paid special attention to sharing what the driving experience was like with these cars and as such has put together a well-rounded and interesting article that we’re pleased to hear you enjoyed. There may be challenges with running older cars, but there are a lot of benefits too…!