1986 Jaguar XJ6

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. The Jaguar XJ6 sold in fairly large numbers in North America during the 70s and 80s, but you don't see many of them on the street these days. Perhaps that's because brutish, ham-fisted Americans (and those Moosehead-swilling, tuque-wearing Canadians) can't be trusted with such precision British machinery… or maybe all those British car jokes really do draw from a well of all-too-painful reality. Either way, a few of these cars are still alive in Alameda; we've seen this total beater '78 and this semi-nice '84, and now we're going to look at this somewhat rough '86.
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1984 Jaguar XJ6

Considering how many Jaguar XJ6s I see in the junkyard, they're not so common on the streets of Alameda. My guess is that dead Jags languish in back yards, garages, and driveways for year after year (it just needs a few "minor repairs," really!), until an enraged wife or landlord dispatches them to The Crusher. Whatever the reason, it's been quite a while since we last saw a Jaguar in this series, so I was pleased to spot this decent-looking '84, not far from yesterday's DOTS Porsche 912. Close examination of this car reveals a few warts, but try to imagine the post-Malaise cocaine-fueled optimism of Jaguar ownership in the mid-80s when you look at it. More »