Metric Speedometer?

[Peter C]

My first post to this forum so bear with me.
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My car, a Series 1, 4.2L, FHC was dispatched to a Belgium distributor in 1965. Would it have had a metric speedometer?
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The car was bought by a US serviceman and brought to the US where I acquired it in 1976. The speedometer at that point was imperial but the 14,000 mile odometer reading was obviously not correct. I assumed that it had been switched.
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Thanks for your help.
Peter C
S1 4.2L FHC

[Heuer]

That sounds entirely plausible. Bear in mind though the original owner could have ordered whatever specification he wanted from the factory. A lot of US servicemen ordered their LHD cars whilst on tour in Europe but as they had the intention of taking them home they may have asked for US specification (3.54 diff, mph speedo, white indicators etc) to be delivered. Others may have bought s/h and simply asked their local Jaguar dealer to convert them on their return although these would probably retain the European spec diff. Your first clue could be to find out what diff ratio the car has.

[Peter C]

Thanks David. I was not aware of the ordering flexibility. The US serviceman was not the initial owner. According to the Heritage Certificate my car was "dispatched" to the Belgian Motor Company and sold to a name that suggests a local. The diff is a 3.07, so I will now comfortably conclude that by switching back to a metric speedometer my car is closer to stock.