Matt Finch, current custodian of the Old English White 240 that will have caught your eye on the front cover, has something in common with XJ6 Series III owner, Ray Reed, who featured in our October/November 2021 issue: he has no great affection for the wider Jaguar marque and his car is the one and only example he’s ever likely to own… assuming you don’t include a childhood Dinky toy replica. Where the stories diverge, however, is that whilst Ray purchased his car a couple of years ago to fulfil a personal ambition, Matt’s ‘Mk2’ has been present throughout his whole lifetime.
JDHT records reveal that TAB 80F was manufactured on 26th January 1968 and immediately dispatched to the distributor – PJ Evans in Birmingham – before finding its way to the Kidderminster-based dealership of Stanley Goodwin and Son. Meanwhile, Matt’s father, Ron, had decided to reward his hard work in the family’s fish and chip shop by treating himself to a prestige car – and after brief consideration of a Rover P5, his attention turned to the rather more sporting image of a Jaguar.
Ron’s vision was an S-type in light metallic blue with red leather trim. Intriguingly though, he discovered that the S-type’s 15’ 7” length wouldn’t fit behind the sliding doors of his home garage – an important observation that I’m not sure would have occurred to everyone in the midst of new car purchase euphoria! But there was a solution. Living up to the epithet ‘compact Jaguar’, research revealed that at 14’ 11” in length, secure door
