I have just purchased a 1971 series 2, Car # 2R14639. There is a '71 for sale on Ebay that the seller claims is a very rare car as it was one of the last 16 series 2 6 cyl. cars built along side of the series 3 V 12's. If this is true, is my car also one of the "rare" 16 as it has a number that begins with 2R... Can anyone shed some light on this or is the seller on Ebay just hyping his car?

Submitted by jsolo61654@aol.com on Mon, 09/27/2004 - 18:10

Henry: My car was built June 22, 1970 and dispatched October 2, 1970 (as per the Heritage Certificate). It is labeled as a 1971 E-Type Series II. Nothing special about it (except that it's an E-Type Jag) and you can find many for sale in Hemmings etc. I'd be *very* skeptical about the 1 of 16 claim... sounds to me like someone just trying to up the ante...

1971 XKE Series II
2R14220

Submitted by NE52-32043 on Tue, 09/21/2004 - 10:29

Henry,

None of which takes anything away from your car. As Mike Frank points out, doesn't matter what it was titled. Remember, most auto manufacturers, even in the '60s and '70s, introduced their new "model year" in September. I can't say for sure that Jaguar did that with the E-type, but I wouldn't be surprised. So cars toward the end of the Series may have been called '71 model year cars, even though they were built in '70, as Mike points out. I've personally seen too many "'71" cars to believe that any car is "1 of 16".

Enjoy your car and ignore the hype that someone on Ebay is trying to get the uninitiated to buy into.

Steve Weinstein, JTC-NJ
'70 XKE FHC
'69 XKE OTS

p.s. As you can see, I'm a Ser. II guy also. So's Mike Frank.

Submitted by hpitts@direcway.com on Tue, 09/21/2004 - 09:00

Thanks for the clarification. My car was built on 3September 1970 and titled as a 1971 car. It has the chrome on the air intake and the Jag logos on the side. (They were removed when the car was painted and it looks much better!) It is obviously one of many made during the last production run of the series 2 6 cylinders.

Submitted by mfrank@westnet.com on Mon, 09/20/2004 - 20:29

The guy on E-Bay is hyping his car. The "1 in 16" stuff is really getting old. All Series II production ended in 1970. A few cars were delivered and titled in 1971. The "1 in 16" number comes from delivery statistics reported in one of the standard books....aside from the fact that delivery and build date could have been separated by weeks, all of the 16 were OTS's.

There's no sure way to identify the last Series II cars. 1970's had the mouth chrome, the bonnet side leapers, and the 2r2 serial number. There are literally hundreds of cars with these characteristics.

The sad thing is when someone turns up at an event, or on a web forum proudly boasting about his "1 in 16", usually bought at a premium price. It's never pretty.

Submitted by NE52-32043 on Mon, 09/20/2004 - 15:02

Henry,

If I'm remembering this correctly, Jaguar built several "Ser. III" cars with 6 cylinder engines in them right at the beginning of the Series in 1971. They are 2+2's (maybe a roadster... don't recall), with the Ser. III bonnet and all other Ser. III amenities (which are almost the same as the Ser. II cars), but they have the 6's instead of the V-12. '71 Ser. II cars are not that rare that it adds special value to them, unless, perhaps, you had the very last Ser. II ever made.

Several books list all of the production numbers for the various Series cars. You should look at the build date on the door frame on the driver's side. That will tell you when it was actually built. If you are a coupe, not a 2+2, I don't think you'd fall into that category. If I get a chance, I'll look up the build numbers later this evening and post them for you.

Steve Weinstein