A Remarkable Car – The Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas Series One

For many years, this writer has regarded the Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas Series One as the pinnacle of the XJ family. It is a car that exudes opulence and good taste in equal measure, a saloon of quiet but definite presence. So, when I saw this Coral-coloured example on eBay, the reader can imagine how I envied its future owner.

Jaguar launched the Double Six Vanden Plas on the 26^th September 1972. Management at Browns Lane planned to build only twenty VDPs per week and sent the bodyshells from Coventry to the Vanden Plas works in Kingsbury with just one coat of paint applied. The elaborate modifications carried out by the coachbuilder included fitting the Daimler’s cabin with leather upholstered seats; this VDP had cream trim, with Chamois Deep Olive or Tuscan as other options.

There was also extra soundproofing, Birstall Evlan carpets with nylon rugs, and Asian burr wood door cappings and fascia. The rear passengers had their own cigar lighter and adjustable reading lamps, while the windows were electrically operated. That was not all, as additional equipment for the Double Six Vanden Plas included:

• A Radiomobile 108SR radio and stereo tape player with a power-operated aerial, Lucas fog and spot
• A remote-control driver’s door
• Sundym tinted
• And even air

To further distinguish the VDP from the standard Double Six, Kingsbury fitted a vinyl roof and applied a gold coachline to the buyer’s choice of seven metallic paint finishes: Coral, Aegean Blue, Aubergine, Caramel, Marello, Sage or Silver Sand.

The price of the finished product was £5,439.06, while a long-wheelbase Jaguar XJ12 was £3,367, and the Double Six was £3,848. To put these figures in context, the price of a Mini 850 was £695, a gallon of petrol was 35 pence, and milk cost five pence per pint. But a Daimler dealer could point out that the Double Six Vanden Plas was over £3,000 cheaper than a Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 at

£8,600 and over £5,000 less expensive than a Bentley T-Series.

Indeed, the flagship XJ saloon was intended to be a car to rival such exalted machines. As The Daily Telegraph put it, the VDP was “designed to compete with the world’s most exclusive cars”. Autocar saw it as built to “meet the requirements of the customer who may wish to be chauffeur driven for business purposes and at other times, drive himself”.

Meanwhile, Jaguar saw the Double Six Vanden Plas as “A very remarkable motor car for the man of position who occasionally wishes to forget it”. By that, they did not mean it was a Daimler for QCs and managing directors who belonged to a hippie commune at the weekends but Peter Bowles-style drivers who could not resist the chance to drive a coach-built version of the world’s only four-door twelve-cylinder production car.

September 1973 saw the launch of the second-generation XJ, and Jaguar sold a mere 355 of the VDP Series One. In many ways, it was a belated heir to the Daimler Majestic Major – and it was indeed “A very remarkable motor car”.

With Thanks To: Euro Way Lesiure