The 'E' Type Forum

Someone in our village knew I was interested in Jaguar so gave me this 1969 price list. I thought I would post it here before adding it to our Knowledge Base:

Interesting that a 2+2 fixed head with an auto box would have been some ?500 more than an OTS.

Simon

Simon, I agree and am still looking for someone to exchange their OTS for my FHC and give me an extra few thousand pounds to make it quid pro quo.

Geoff

if someone is interested, I can also barter my XJ6 series 1 against an E-type (any model any colour will do)
:D

PS: my XJ6 has 3 valuable extras : radio, safety belts and power steering...

Interesting that the same radio, fitted to different cars, was a different price, too! OK, I can accept the 420 "including extension speaker" (presumably an additional speaker) might be more - but why the E-Type and XJ6 would be different........

Notice that Jaguar used 'E' Type as the name rather than the 'E-Type'. Maybe I should change the Forum name to match?

I note that my electrically heated rear window (still working perfectly) cost an extra ?22 - bargain! If only I'd got the Borg Warner box in my 2+2, I'd have the most expensive car of all of you.

Has anyone else noticed the slight inconsistency in the Purchase Tax?
Roughly 6/1 in the ?, but not exactly the same rate on each car. The optional extras seem to have a consistent rate, but not the cars.

Geoff

Was the tax rate banded so that once the ex tax price crossed a threshold, the rate changed?

Ian

Stuart Exelby wrote:Interesting that the same radio, fitted to different cars, was a different price, too! OK, I can accept the 420 "including extension speaker" (presumably an additional speaker) might be more - but why the E-Type and XJ6 would be different........

Extra cabling? Two extra door speakers?

Bear in mind these Scandinavian-quality and ultra-stylish components were doubtless supplied by the famous West Midlands h-fi company:
Bang! Oh it's f*cked son...

Ian (Riv944) you may well be right about the banding but I haven't been able to work it out.

I'm sure there are one or two of our 'more senior' members who might be old enough to remember purchase tax on cars back then, but hopefully not too senile to have forgotten how it worked :?

By the 1960s , the differential rates of purchase tax on luxury cars had long gone ( from about 1948 to ?1954 cars costing more than ?1000 bore tax at at 66.66% rather than 33.33% ). However , the reason the sums don't quite addup , as already identified, is that PT was levied on the wholesale ( ex-works) price of the car rather than the retail price, hence a car with a higher mark up paradoxically bore a lower rate overall of tax - measured as a percentage of the price the customer paid - than a car with lower mark up

Now steady on there, Geoff, this is one of your "more senior" members responding, and definitely not senile.......! I remember the purchase tax amount with a warm glow in my Scottish heart, as I didn't have to pay it :D :D . I purchased my first E-Type new at the Scottish Motor Show in November 1969 (at the tender age of 25....) tax -free, for export back to Africa, where I was working at the time. With chrome spoke wheels and radio, a total figure of 1,950GBP seems to ring a bell, not far from the figures in David's list.
My biggest problem was that, when I left the UK in 1966, the Series 1 was in production, with all the associated bits, glass over the headlamps, slim sidelight assemblies, etc., etc. Gorgeous........When I went to the Show to buy one, it had become the Series 2, no headlamp covers, and......well, you know what a Series 2 looks like.....Bit of a shock to the system. Bought it anyway, still a damn beautiful car. Sold it 9 months later in Rhodesia for an undisclosed (!) sum. (Translate as a lot more.......)
Greetings from the geriatric restorer Down Under (but not quite senile yet.......) What'd you say your name was......?

:? :?
Best regards,
Norman.

Norman, as always you put a smile on my face, and make me quite envious of being able to buy such a beautiful car at the tender age of 25. :)
I had to wait another 35 years :( , but now :D

Edited to add a question. What were the roads like in 1960's 70's Rhodesia? Not been there but the other African countries I've visited don't seem as though they would have had roads very sympathetic to a low slung car.

Geoff

Hi Geoff,
The roads in Rhodesia in the Seventies were very good, at least the main arterial roads between the major cities/towns were.....e.g., between Salisbury (now Harare), Fort Victoria (now Masvingo), Bulawayo (still Bulawayo), etc. Also, the main road south to the South African border (Biet Bridge) was the same. One could easily sit on three figures in the E-Type, without any concern. The secondary roads were another matter, some were bitumen single lane, one had to pull off on to the gravel shoulder to pass oncoming traffic, at great risk to one's windscreen if done at speed, given the flying stones. Some roads to the smaller centres were gravel only, generally to be avoided. I only used the E-Type on the main roads, purchasing a second-hand Mercedes 230S (the early 6-cyl. carburetted model....) shortly after arriving. If I went on a trip involving secondary roads, I would take and cheerfully abuse the 230S without a pang of conscience..... :)
The car (the E-Type I mean....) performed extremely well in the African conditions, never missed a beat, did not overheat in even 30-35 deg.C ambient. When I took it out from the UK, I put it on a cruise ship from Southampton to Capetown, and then drove it from Capetown to Bulawayo in Rhodesia. Interesting trip, almost 2,300 km, and pretty well non-stop, half of it at night (!!), the things we do, when young and indestructible...!! Or just stupid....?
Only thing I noticed, on arrival in Bulawayo, was fairly pronounced cracking and spalling of the black enamel on the exhaust manifold........
Kind regards,
Norman.