CLASSIC DRIVE S-TYPE 3.4 S
We drive a 58-year-old S-Type that has averaged less than 600 miles a year to discover whether it feels and performs as well as its mileage suggests
FINDING A genuine lowmileage classic Jaguar that has not only been preserved, but routinely maintained is not as easy as it sounds. Barn-find examples invariably have numerous issues concerning perished rubber components, fuel blockages and trouble associated with neglectful maintenance.
Ideally, what you need is a car that has been serviced and MoT tested every year, and repaired when required, but hasn’t clocked up excessive mileage. Not much to ask for, but perhaps the S-Type seen here is a lucky find.
Registered in September 1965, the first owner of the S-Type 3.4 S seen here lived in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The car remained with its owner until he died and was sold in November 1973, with a mere 20,342 miles on the clock, to a Yorkshire farmer who already had nine other Jaguars. When this second owner died some 24 years later in 1997, he left the car to his daughter.
Auctioneer Bonhams sold it in November 2009 when it had 29,170 miles recorded. Various traders seem to have owned it for the following five years until the current owner, Giles Bloomer, spotted it for sale at independent Jaguar specialist and classic car dealer, Tasker & Lacy, back in May 2015, then showing 30,540 miles –only 1370 more since it was sold by Bonhams.
“This S-Type is my first ever Jaguar,” says Giles, “which I chose as being half the price of a Mk2, and with a better specification (independent rear suspension and inboard discs as per the E-Type) for a quiet and comfortable ride, which is what this ageing man and his wife were looking for!”
Surprisingly, the S-Type, which was launched in October 1963 as a smaller and cheaper alternative to the MkX, was never intended to compete with the Mk2, but is nowadays regarded as the underdog despite it having asuperior rear suspension set-up, better interior heating and more room.
It also came equipped with disc brakes all round from the start and achoiceof3.4 or 3.8- litre XKengines, whereas although the Mk2 featured the same components, it was also available with the wheezy 2.4-litre XKengine.
The Mk2 outlived the S-Type by four months, with the S-Type ceasing production at the end of 1968 after 24,993 of them had been made, whereas the Mk2 finished in April the following year (by then, it was called the 240 and 340, denoting its 2.4 or 3.4-litre engine).
In the flesh and from our photographs of this S-Type, it probably looks like along vehicle, but appearances can be deceptive. At 4.75m (15ft 7in) from end-to-end, it’s shorter than a modern S-Type. Plus, it’s only 20cm longer than a Mk2.
Regardless of those official dimensions, sitting behind the steering wheel
