One Sweet Six: The engine that made Jaguar

[Hagerty]

Human nature is such that even in the darkest of hours, people can still imagine a sunnier future. Thus was it in the depths of World War II, as Luftwaffe bombs rained down on a burning Coventry in Britain's industrial heartland, that a group of engineers standing fire watch with helmets and sand buckets began to plan one of the greatest sports car engines ever to burn gasoline.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/one-sweet-six-the-engine-that-made-jaguar/

[edriver]

Thanks, Don and Hagerty, for this history of the Jaguar XK-6 engine. An electric motor will never look and sound as good!
Does one of the pics really **bleep** seats is entirely possible.

[edriver]

this got bleeped-out (try to re-post):
...**bleep** engine is entirely possible.

[edriver]

bleep???...a "1965 Jaguar E type 4.2 S1 fixed head coupe"? The brake vacuum servo and the intake manifold indicates a 1961-1964 3.8 litre E-Type. I looked up the other Gettyimages of the vehicle: it is a fixed head coupe with a single line Jaguar badge on the hatch door, again an indication of a 3.8 litre. But it features the seats, **bleep** engine is entirely possible.

[edriver]

the **bleep** did not like the word "s.h.o.w." without the dots. What sense does that make?

[edriver]

now this un-bleeps the 2nd **bleep** (hopefully):
But it features the seats, s.h.i.f.t. k.n.o.b., centre console and a rev indicator with a 5000rpm redline of a 4.2 litre. The red mark of a 3.8 is at 5500rpm. I doubt the "1965", but a "4.2" replacement engine is entirely possible.

[edriver]

done!

[Sajeev]

@edriver I am sorry this is happening and thanks for showing us which words it is filtering out.  I will share this with the tech team as they work to fix this software issue. 

[Snailish]

it did s-h-u-t for me earlier.

So it is too granular towards words that are close to the bleeps you want to bleep. If no one ever bypassed bleep filters the no-post list would only have to be the actual swears or offensive words.

testing:

s-h-i-f-t     = **bleep**

s-h-o-r-t  = **bleep**

s-h-u-t = **bleep**

b-o-t-c-h- = botch

[audiobycarmine]

Commas and hyphens...

USE them.

“Lascivious” and “Voluptuous”?
“Priapic”?!?
You’re cooling down with “ravishing”.

SUPERB article, though.

Hagerty: please call off the crazy auto-censor — We can't even read edriver's post.
**bleep** this crap.

[Sajeev]

We're trying, all I can do is ask for your patience. 

[CarlJensen]

Excellent article on a masterpiece of an engine. Also impressed you accurately tied it back to the Peugeot GP car. In the US, we of course had three manufactures in total...In addition to Duesenberg, Stutz and Miller saw the performance advantages. But these were such limited, high priced performance and pure race cars...very different from Jaguar's accomplishments with both racing and production cars. Very well done article!

[Camarojoe]

Focus on this great well written article. Don't care if there are some errors in pictures or bleeps, the story is about an engine that was way ahead of it's time in 1947 and also why is survived until 1992. Agree with edriver, and I have said it here before, a big piece of the automotive world will die in the EV era. You could always hear an XK powered car on the road or the track. It was a joyous sound. Will we be able to train our ears to hear the wind rush and tire crunching noise? Sad sad sad.

[Fieroman3]

Brit in line sixes have a unique sound. A neighbor has a 1975 TR6 and another has his beloved Austin-Healy 3000. I can clearly hear them from a block away.
Sweet unique sounds. So different from my cherished 1988 Fiero GT.
EVERY summer Sunday, we gather at our local pâtisserie for coffee and chat.

[Gary_Bechtold]

One of the all time greats. I wish Jaguar was going to have a promising future with the 6 but they are going all electric. So sad to see this legendary company and arguably their most famous engine configuration is not available in something like the F-Type.

[JerV8Flat4]

This was a great article, but I’ve enjoyed Don Sherman’s stuff for almost 40 years now. Print version didn’t have any problems with bleeps. I just loaned that print version, with its excellent narrative and illustrations, to my best pal to show his dad, who had an XK-140 in college and used to swap rides with his buddies in their Austin Healys and Porsche Speedsters.

[SAG]

Chrysler "Hemi's"_ Ha!
you were beaten "early" in the game.
by more than one manufacture.

[GLaing]

Best article/history of the XJ-6 engine I have read. Thank you.
I have a ‘68 jag e-type coupe with the 4.2L engine. While I work to keep the rest of the car from falling apart, that engine runs as strong and smooth after 54 years as a new car. It is an amazing engine! This article helped me better understand why. Cheers!

[GeorgeWA]

I never realized how the Jaguar engineers developed such a technological breakthrough with the x6 engine …I owned a 73 XJ6 and I remember the engine as being smooth and powerful but sadly the Electrical “bugaboos” that plagued that car are the memories that most come to me when I think of that car..I wonder how is it that the engineers made such a great engine that lasted 50 years but saddled it with an electrical system that was downright untrustworthy… In any case a great story Don Sherman …I’ve always loved his automotive way with words since his days at Car&Driver…

[Fieroman3]

Yeah, the dreaded Prince of Darkness. I remember the famous Peter Egan restoring a Lotus Elan for at least two years, all nuts and bolts out, and taking the road christening the fresh restored car, with his wife Barb to visit friends, not that far away. When they arrived, a lil' puff of smoke came from the underdash, no more lights nor wipers in a rainstorm. Nightime. Never heard about it after.

[11JA]

I have a ‘C’ Type replica and it draws plenty of admiring looks. Invariably when parked at a club meet people will ask to look under the bonnet (hood) to digest the beauty of the engine. It is hard to imagine what a sight it must have been in 1948 when almost every other British car had a four cylinder very basic iron lump as a power source.

[bkwanab]

What this article fails to mention is that the prewar SS Cars used both four and six cylinder engines supplied by the Standard car Company of "Standard Triumph" fame. When Lyons developed the DOHC heads during the war they were installed on the same Standard four and six cylinder blocks. With the name change to Jaguar and the huge interest in the DOHC six cylinder engine post war they never put the four cylinder design into production. An example can be seen in the Jaguar museum at the factory. Jaguar ceased sourcing the Standard block castings when they redesigned the engine with equal cylinder spacing that enabled the larger capacity 4.2 liter engine.

[Inline8OD]

Always, a l w a y s;  regardless how crisp and accurate the article, someone's compelled to weigh in with "what this article fails to mention." Don gave us his usual fine encapsulation, a tight magazine piece, this time of the Jaguar XK engine. He wasn't tendering a book or post doctoral thesis.

 Try it yourself sometime.

[Snailish]

I see your point, but sometimes the "footnotes" people add are interesting too.

"Fails to mention" is a strong wording... and probably not the case here. "Didn't choose to say" likely reflects the author's knowledge better considering how stellar this article is.

[Inline8OD]

Another good Don Sherman article. Thanks Don and Hagerty.

A most refreshing break from the onslaught of how much is my muscle car/Corvette/Mustang/hemi Cuda or barely out of Kelley Blue Book "classic" worth miasma.

[cwcmaser_3500]

Maserati inline 6 has an equally long and successful run - from the 1940's through the 1960's. All alloy, DOHC, racing (A6G, 250F, 300S, 350S); grand touring (3500 GT/GTi; Sebring 1 and 2; Mistral 3700 an 4000).

[rsk3768]

An excellent article, and very appropriately timed for me as today's job is to calculate the valve clearance shim sizes for my '55 XK140's engine rebuild.
It's a beautifully over-engineered blend of the sporting and the practical - seven enormous main bearings in a 3.4? ...and yes, it is insured with these folk.