HISTORY
The X-Type may have been the first factoryproduce Jaguar estate but it was by no means the first Jaguar estate car.
WHEN THE Jaguar X-Type estate was launched in 2004, many believed it to be the beginning of the end for the Coventry company. Not only was it platform sharing, and had abandoned rear-wheel drive, but it had even abandoned all sporting pretence if an estate car was on the cards – surely? But time had mellowed our opinions, and many enthusiasts not only see the X-Type as a car in the true Jaguar tradition but the estate as a sensible way to enjoy Jaguar motoring without compromise.
And the X-Type estate was not without precedent – either within Jaguar or at the hands of outside coachbuilders. Jaguars modified for practicality had been around since the 1960s. We’ve gathered some of our favourite internal and external studies into the practical Jag concept.
Mk2 County
The best-known of these early models was the Mk2 County – based on a 1962 3.8 saloon formerly owned by the factory. It had been the brainchild of racing drivers Duncan Hamilton and Mike Hawthorn, and executed on their behalf by Jones Brothers. It had its roots in discussions to create a more practical version of the Mk1 3.4 – one which they intended to produce and market themselves after Sir William Lyons refused to support the idea. Motoring illustrator Roy Nockolds created a shape, and it was this that was used as inspiration for the County when built by Jones Brothers in September 1962.
The car was subsequently bought by Jaguar; impressed at the quality of the conversion, the company used it as a service hack. Jaguar intended it to support private entrants in lieu of its own competition department, and it was seen on behalf of Jaguar at events including the Tour de France Automobile. Sold to Coombs of Guildford, by the 1970s the base car was rotten – and an enthusiast salvaged the estate conversion to graft onto another
Mk2 shell. Technically, therefore, the Mk2 County no longer survives, but an homage using original components does exist.
The car is a true one off
XK150 Foxbat
There are few Jaguar XK enthusiasts who haven’t come across the Foxbat at some stage. The car is a true one off – and while opinions differ as to whether this is a good thing, there is no denying that the work involved in the conversion is of top quality. Jaguar XK enthusiast and industrial chemist Geoffrey Stevens was having difficulties using his car, as it wasn’t large enough to accommodate him, his wife and his pair of Labradors. It also couldn’t be used for work, as there wasn’t space for his equipment. The answer seemed simple – adapt an XK150 using components from an estate car, and Stevens chose a car of the same era with the same generally rounded styling to use as his basis.
Built between 1975 and 1977, the car melds the front half of a rotten XK150 3.4 with the back half of district n
