Jaguar estates

For what I know, my Jaguar XJ12 Estate was made on order for Mister Williams, Chairman of the Jaguar dealers group Hatfields of Sheffield. It was ordered to an English designer, Chris Humberstone, and was delivered ready-to-use at Hatfields in 1984 as a one-off project.




Both shots in Paris in January 2010


Chris Humberstone is the designer of the Jaguar Owen Sedanca, the XJ12 Rapport Forté, the Triplex Ten Twenty Special show car, and of many others. He managed his own company, Chris Humberstone Design Ltd, specialized in one-off conversion for rich and famous. In the 80’s he worked as a freelancer for several years, notably as a consultant to several Formula 1 teams, including McLaren and Benetton. In 1989, he decided to capitalize on the resurgence of interest in the Mini by reviving the Harold Radford name. In 1992 he designed the innovative Allard J2X Group C Le Mans racer. He later became managing director of Spice Racing Cars in Australia. His career was cut short by his untimely death a few years later.

Conversion of my red XJ12 Estate was made on basis of a XJ12 HE saloon car from 1981. There’s no evidence of the coachwork that did the job. The roof was removed from B pillar to be lengthened with a new piece, the rear doors were modified with new window frames to suit the roof line, the C pillars were redesigned and the complete rear of the car from C pillar was widened. More than 20 cm were added between the reshaped rear wings to allow the use of a straighter roof and larger tailgate, making the rear of the car looking more square (and it is indeed). These mods are not highly noticeable; when you look at the car you can see there's something different but cannot tell what at first sight. The 2 gas tanks were relocated in the rear wings with new fuel cap doors (they are originally fitted in the rear wings but in a different way). The complete job was made of metal, no fiber glass was used. The hatch window is a factory parts but I was unable to source it, the rear doors glasses (curved) were specially made as were the flat rear glasses. A sporty gimmick was added during the conversion in the form of a retractable wing placed on the roof at the junction with the hatch. It can be operated manually from a switch on the dashboard combined with the electrical opening of the RH and LH fuel doors. The rear seats fold 2/3. The trimming of the rear seats and of the luggage area suits the original trimming. The car was originally red and was fitted with the XJS wider wheels painted red from the conversion. It was presented at Jaguar by Mr Williams with the hope to see the factory taking back the project to put it in production.

Mister Williams used it as a personal car until 1988. Between 1984 and 1988 it was regularly displayed in the showroom of Hatfields and it was occasionally displayed on local motor shows. At one time it was fitted with a full body kit. It was re sprayed in 1988 in the same red color after the body kit was removed. It was sold in 1988 to a London enthusiast and was accurately maintained but was nearly never used. From 1988 to 2009 it was well hidden by the owner, being used only once a year to go to the MOT. Nobody heard about it anymore and no article in specialized newspaper was written about it. The only trace I found in newspapers was a picture published by Jaguar Enthusiast in 1992 asking readers to tell if they knew it or if anyone saw it. The same picture was used in 2002 in the same newspaper as an illustration of a special Jaguar estate car. I bought it in auction in 2009 with only 18.000 documented Miles on the clock, having been driven for as less as 1000 Miles in the past 20 years. During the summer of 2009 it was recommissioned and extensively use, showing now 25.000 Miles on the clock.


Jaguar Enthusiast May 1992


Estates Jaguars were very rare until the factory X-Type Estate was put in production. Here are some info's I know about Jaguar family cars, not about the numerous hearse based on Jaguars:

Some Mark VII estates are known, some should still be in existence.
Sorry, no pictures.

3 Mark IX were made, one from an unknown maker is still in existence waiting to be restored by the Jaguar Enthusiast’s Club and 2 were made by Appleyards (one was scrapped, the other one is currently for sale, needing a complete rebuild). Sides are looking nearly the same but the rear treatment is very different.


The one owned by the JEC


The remaining one from Appleyards for sale on e-bay

Two XK 150 were converted to shooting brakes. One is known as the XK150 Tow Car (now in Switzerland), the other one as the Fox Bat (presumably hold in France or in UK)


XK150 Tow Car


XK150 Fox Bat

1 Mk2 was converted by Jones Brothers following an idea of Mike Hawtorn the famous English racer. The project was cancelled after the tragic death of Mike Hawthorn but it was continued by the factory. The car was called the Mk2 County. It was used as a fast assistance car for works Mk2 in rally. It is now part of a collection in The Netherlands with others one-off estates.


Mk2 County

1 XJ6 Daimler Serie 1 was converted by an unknown coachworker, it was in very poor condition when it was published in 2004 in Jaguar Enthusiast issue of October. Does it still exist, I don’t know.


Daimler XJ6 Serie 1 Estate

Ladbroke Avon launched a XJ Serie 3 Estate conversion at the 1980 British Motor Show. It was designed by Anthony Stevens. They expected to sold 250 but only 20 or so were made either with V12’s or straight 6. Many are still in existence, some are for sale from time to time.


XJ12 Avon

Around 1983 Chris Humberstone (the same again) designed and built a one-off estate conversion called XJ12 PMG Rapport Forté Estate (PMG is for Patrick Motor Group, a main dealer in UK) based on his own project XJ12 Rapport Forte Convertible. This car does still exist, probably in UK. It was sold some years ago in auction.


PMG Rapport Forté Estate on www.ARonline.co.uk

In 1988, Chris Humberstone (one more time) designed and built 2 XJ40 Estates for Hatfields of Sheffields that were used as personal cars by Mr and Mrs Williams to replace their red XJ12 Serie 3. One of these is in the same collection as the Mk2 County. Humberstone is supposed to have built at least a third one XJ40 Estate for an American customer, this one is still in the US and was seen in some exhibition’s and club meetings.


XJ40 Estate in Jaguar Enthusiast October 1992

In the late 80's, the Jaguar Board ordered his own staff to design an XJ40 Estate. A useable car was build and is now part of the JDHT collection.


Factory XJ40 Estate prototype

One XJ308 was converted by an Italian coachwork, it’s now used as daily driver in Paris.


XJ308 Estate


Should I have forgotten some, I’ll update this thread later… Oh yes there are some XJS conversions to shooting brake but that’s another story to feed another thread !

 

Great read, and great pictures! Awesome looking wagon, I am very glad that the body kit was removed. In the 80's body kits were popular but IMO not a single one looked good perioud, they all had that look of...done in the back yard drunk look yet missing cladiing bolts...although I do remember that

That is one nice wagon you have and unlike the black one with the "off" roof yours clearly has taste.

 

I enjoyed that Barto. Thanks for taking the time to put the post together. Very informative.

 

Thanks Ted!

This one is specially for you: The XJ12 dogmobile with Oscar and Albert

My pleasure! And because of Krash Kad asked for

 

Waiting with dog breath for the XJS Shooting Brake thread. ....
Cool cars.

 

Teasing


Eventer n°67 Dogmobile with Mike to Don Baldry


The same Dogmobile with Alfie, Mike and Jack

 

Can I move in with the dogs?

 

Dogs in the back, you do know how to enjoy wagon life

 

This post deserves it's own website.

 

hm....I like that markII....almost looks stock

 

I'm a newbie to the whole wagon scene and knowledge, so bear with me...
(My first car was a '72 Toyota Corolla wagon - and that got me hooked on wagons...)

Regarding this Jag estate topic:
Isn't there a UK company named Lynx that still makes these kind of Jag conversions???

"Barto" has "Lynx Hunter" in his user tag. I'm assuming that's the Lynx company that does these conversions???

 

Hello Flash,

You're right and you remind me I promised a topic about XJS shooting brakes!

Few words to answer your question...

Lynx in UK, Arden in Germany, Les Ateliers Réunis in France, Andreas Burlet in Switzerland, all of them converted XJS to shooting brakes.

Lynx built 67 Eventers from 1982 to 2002. The concept and the design is from Chris Keith Lucas.

Arden made very few but there are no known register of their production. It even is possible that they never made one but have only tuned and rebadged some converted XJS from Les Ateliers Réunis before they did the same with some Eventers from Lynx (there are evidences of Arden selling rebadged Eventers in the 90's).

Les Ateliers Réunis built 5 or 6 Eventers copies before they went banckrupcy, probably after they lost a trial with Lynx about copyright.

Andreas Burlet built one for his own use. It looks very different from the Eventer.

I'm sorry it's only in French but have a look at my website (there are plenty of pictures for those who don't read French):www.LynxEventer.com . I'll be pleased to answer your questions if you have some...

 

Any ideas about this one - spotted in Paris?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/telkine/4277445444/

 

Hi Karl,

The XJR Estate is the last one illustrated in the first post of this topic referenced as a "simple" XJ308.

It was sold in auction by Luzzago (Roma) in April 2008. I was hesitant to bid, the current owner wasn’t! This Gentleman lives in Paris where he manages the motor division of a famous French auction house. The conversion was made in Italy.

 

Merci beaucoup, M. Barto!