OVERLOOKED OPULENCE

Ask any classic car buff to name a compact Jaguar of the 1960s and it’s the Mk2 that tends to get mentioned first, often followed by the S-type. One particularly interesting offshoot of the latter, however, was the Jaguar 420 and its Daimler Sovereign sister, both of which made their debut at the Earl’s Court Motor Show of October 1966.

Onlookers might have been confused, thanks to the 420 being an addition to the line-up rather than a replacement for the existing Mk2 and S-type. Did Jaguar really need yet another compact saloon in its range? With the benefit of hindsight, however, the decision to launch the 420 was a clever one, enabling Jaguar to offer a new, more powerful model for a couple of years, injecting fresh interest into its line-up while the XJ6 was still in final development.

The fact that the 420 managed to look substantially different was equally clever, with Jaguar boss William Lyons insisting on a new flat-fronted look. Not only was this in complete