![Jaguar XJ6 (Series I) ex-Sir William Lyons CREDIT: ANTHONY CULLEN HANDOUT](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2018/07/25/TELEMMGLPICT000170124753_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNDQ0y2DdNIwwDHZEcDOyHTChVDzPAacb74SmeiwYZ_s.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Jaguar XJ at 50: driving the 1968 original and the current model
![Jaguar XJ6 (Series I) ex-Sir William Lyons CREDIT: ANTHONY CULLEN HANDOUT](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2018/07/25/TELEMMGLPICT000170124753_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqNDQ0y2DdNIwwDHZEcDOyHTChVDzPAacb74SmeiwYZ_s.jpeg?imwidth=680)
With 2018 being the Jaguar XJ’s 50th anniversary year, it provides the perfect excuse to see just how far the model has come in that time. And there can be no better way to do it than by driving one of the very earliest cars back to back with one of the latest to hit the road.
Which is how I find myself rolling along Surrey country lanes in an early XJ6 Series 1, registration PHP 42G. This is a significant car, having belonged to company founder and long-time managing director Sir William Lyons.
Lyons used this car as his personal transport for two years before it later became part of the the company’s Heritage Collection Trust.
Later known, for obvious reasons, as “Mister Jaguar”, Lyons formed the Swallow Sidecar Company with fellow motorcycle enthusiast William Walmsley in 1922.
After producing coachbuilt versions of other cars, in 1931 Swallow revealed its first bespoke model, the SS1, a four-seater fixed head coupé. This was followed by an open tourer bodystyle.
![Jaguar XJ6 (Series I) ex-Sir William Lyons CREDIT: ANTHONY CULLEN HANDOU](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2018/07/25/TELEMMGLPICT000170124717_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqek9vKm18v_rkIPH9w2GMNoGXySPv9M1Jbe0Fc3Bi1Fk.jpeg?imwidth=350)
In 1933 the company name was changed to SS Cars and produced its first “Jaguar” in 1935, although it retained an SS badge.
Lyons changed the company name to Jaguar Limited immediately after the Second World War, to avoid unfortunate connotations with the most feared of Hitler’s Nazi troops.
Enough of the history lesson, back to the original XJ, the first in a line of Jaguar saloons to bar the name. The driving experience is remarkable, for despite its enormous, thin-rimmed steering wheel, lack of mod cons and heavily offset pedals, this XJ6 glides in a way I’m not sure any modern car can.
![Jaguar XJ6 (Series I) ex-Sir William Lyons CREDIT: ANTHONY CULLEN HANDOUT](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2018/07/25/TELEMMGLPICT000170124752_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwRMWbYwzrg_3PLcMwCu9G8U.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Turn the wheel and the response is crisp and stable, while the 4.2-litre version of Jaguar’s famed XK straight-six engine has enough pull to make for relaxed progress. The whole thing is a delight.
What a contrast it is to jump into a modern XJ, with its digital screens and hi-tech driver assistance systems. This particular car is a £94,000 XJR 575, which went on sale last year and features a supercharged V8 engine that pumps out 567bhp.
![JAGUAR XJ CREDIT: ANTHONY CULLEN HANDOUT](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/images/2018/07/25/TELEMMGLPICT000170124234_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqXmwSw5xMSsoTK8TrHyMvdHan9Niqk45CGgz9AGh570w.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The result lacks almost all of the old-timer’s charm, replacing it with brutal performance and a thunderous soundtrack. It’s a giggle, but you’ve got to be on top of your game to keep it all in check.
What’s telling is that when the two cars are parked after the drives it’s not the speed and power of the newcomer that has left the greatest impression, but the sublime ride and handling of its 50-year-old predecessor.
And I didn’t expect to be saying that.
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