Vehicle Description
Chassis No. 637251
Engine No. SL3199
Body No. C1315
It's a perfectly British thing to do. After years of war and the
resulting rationing and hardship, those at the newly renamed Jaguar
Cars Ltd. simply went back to work in 1945. There's no better way
to dust off a foe than to return to exactly what you were doing
before the fight. Smartly, they chose to continue making their
successful and elegant line of saloons, now widely known as the
"Mark IV," with engine sizes available in 1 �, 2 � , and 3 � -liter
displacement. Naturally, the 3 �-liter overhead valve engine was
the one to have, with the stout inline-six cylinder good for
125-horsepower and a 100 mph top speed. In addition to the three
different engine sizes, Sir William Lyons' company offered these
models as both a four-door "Sports Saloon" or a two-door
convertible body called a "Drophead Coupe." The Drophead Coupe
design provided the wind-in-the-hair experience well known to Lyons
from his earliest pre-war days creating bespoke motorcycle and
sidecar designs.
According to Jaguar Heritage Trust, this 3 �-Litre Mark IV Drophead
Coupe chassis number 637251 was produced on 17 June 1948 and first
sold as a left-hand-drive example through International Motors in
Los Angeles, California. Originally finished in Battleship Grey
over a black interior, today it wears a fetching two-tone exterior
livery of maroon with black fenders. The exterior features all the
highly finished jewelry expected on a post-war luxury car including
painted knock-off wire wheels with whitewall tires, dual fender
mirrors, landau bars, and an accessory badge bar. The interior,
with seating for five, has been smartly restored in tan leather
with an appropriately matched three-position beige soft top. Smiths
gauges are set into a burlwood dashboard, with additional wood trim
surrounding the windshield and door tops. A toolkit is exquisitely
integrated into the trunk lid and a driver's Instruction Book
completes the amenities.
Since joining the Academy of Art University Collection in 2010,
this matching-numbers example of Jaguar's final pre-war Jaguar
saloon has rubbed shoulders with many of the finest, artfully
designed vehicles made, and for good reason! Jaguar Mark IV's,
especially well-restored examples in 3 �-Litre specification with
the rare, flowing Drophead Coupe coachwork with seating for five,
are the epitome of the space, grace, and pace for which post-war
Jaguars are known.
