HISTORY
As the S-Type celebrates 60 years, we discover why it was more than just aMk2 with a longer boot
ALTHOUGH FOR some the Sixties was about the civil rights movement, the freedom of expression and emerging generation gap, Jaguar’s chairman and founder, Sir William Lyons, was more concerned with growth. Not only did the company’s range of saloons double during the decade but the cars themselves physically expanded and there’s no better example of this than the S-Type. Arriving in late 1963, it was the third saloon in Jaguar’s range and although based on the existing Mk2, it featured a slightly longer boot line.
Yet there was more to the car than improved storage since it was a thorough update of the Mk2 resulting in what could be considered the better car. To explain why, we’re looking at the S-Type’s development and history before trying a beautiful 3.8-litre example for ourselves.
Although the MkX with its modern unitary construction together with the same independent rear suspension as the E-Type was praised when it arrived in 1961, the car was also considered by many to be too large. The smaller Mk2 had around since 1959 and was still popular but it didn’t have the IRS and would have required a thorough reengineering to adopt it. What Jaguar needed was a car that bridged the two; a model as small as the Mk2 that offered the same levels of luxury as the MkX.
To save time in development and tooling, the new car was based on the Mk2 yet it’s overly simplistic to say the S-Type was aMk2with a larger boot since it was its own, individual model.
The engineers continued this by naming the new model Utah Mk3 although it was also known as the XJ3. It would eventually be called the S-Type.
Work started on the car in early 1962 and like all of Jaguar’s previous saloons was styled by the boss. “Lyons was completely in charge; he was the stylist,” said Jaguar’s chief body engineer, Cyril Crouch, in a later interview. “So he decided, ‘Let’s make it look more like the MkX.’ On a facelift like that, he wouldn’t resort to a wooden block. He would go straight into panels, wheeled up in the shop – a laborious job – until he was satisfied. It would be done as a complete vehicle, taking a Mk2, lopping off the affected panels back to the scuttle, and starting again with panelwork from there.”
The biggest physical difference between the S-Type and the Mk2 was a longer boot line that was similar in profile to the MkX’s, the new wings having the same, low wheel arches as the larger saloon. This extension made the S-Type 7in longer than the Mk2 but still more than a foot shorter than the MkX. The interior boot space was considerably larger than the Mk2’s, increasing from 12 to 19cu.ft.
Two seven-gallon fuel tanks were fitted into the elongated rear wings, with the fuel pumps prot
