CLASSIC DRIVE
The Daimler 3.6 was the ultimate luxury variant of the XJ40.We tracked down a very special one with just 12,000 miles on the clock
ASRAPIDLY appreciating classics go, the Jaguar XJ40 is finally at the forefront. It’s been a long wait for Browns Lane’s 1980s flagship, but collectors are finally cottoning on to the appeal of what was, when it was new, the company’s most technologically advanced car ever.
The use of the Daimler badge on the XJ40 presented an interesting juxtaposition for Jaguar, with one of the oldest and most steeped-in-tradition names in motoring history applied to its most avant-garde car yet.
It was a fusion of traditional and modern –a car aimed at Jaguar’s more traditional, often older customer despite being the jewel in the XJ40 range’s crown.
But then, Daimler’s association with Jaguar was always a peculiar one. Not to be associated with the Daimler company that owns Mercedes-Benz, the company was originally a completely independent British operation that used the name under licence.
In 1910, the company was bought by the Birmingham Small Arms company (BSA), better known for its motorbikes, before being sold to Jaguar in 1960.
The first Daimler to share its platform with a Jaguar was the V8 250 of 1962, with a small capacity 2.5-litre V8 engine of Daimler’s own design, fitted to the body and chassis of the Mk 2 saloon. Distinguished by its fluted grille, split front seat and standard automatic transmission, the 250 was marketed as a luxury-orientated alternative to the MK 2 sports saloon – a theme that would continue until the last appearance of the Daimler name on a Jaguar vehicle in 2005, with the X350-based Super V8.
When the XJ40 appeared in 1986, the Daimler’s position in the line-up was clear. It was to be something a little more exclusive, rather than the upmarket trim level that the ‘Daimler Sovereign’ had become during the Series 2 and 3 gestations of the XJ6.
The Sovereign name, which had adorned Daimler cars since 1966 when it appeared on a badge-engineered Jaguar 420, became a Jaguar trim level, marking out the bestappointed variant in the Jaguar line-up (and becoming the most popular XJ40 in the process), while the Daimler name would be applied to a standalone model.
Known at launch as simply the Daimler 3.6, the car was the flagship of the XJ40 line-up and was only available with the larger engine. It was immediately identifiable thanks to its ‘fish-tank’ rectangular headlamps and fluted radiator grille, though there were other Daimlerdefining features as well. The matt black boot plinth (deleted by the end of 1987), darker rear light clusters, fluted chrome boot trim, D-motif wheel centre caps and a chrome rubbing strip along the flanks of the car are the other giveaways.
Inside, the Dai
