This car is a very early example of the 4-litre XJ6 – it was registered by Jaguar Cars at Browns Lane on June 26^th 1989 – three months before the 4-litre model was officially launched. This car was used as part of the press fleet for the launch of the 4-litre model. It was driven 10,000kms in 16 days on a ‘Cape to Cape’ drive to showcase the flexibility of the new 4-litre capacity engine. The story was published in the August 1989 issue of Jaguar in-house magazine Legend.

The drive started above the Artic Circle in Tromso and worked its way through Europe, attending launch events on the way – one of the stops was the Hockenheim Ring in Germany where the German magazine MOT Die Autozeitschrift put the car through its paces. The drive concluded at the very tip of Gibraltar, with Africa almost visible on the horizon. The car was then used by the Jaguar Press Department for a while before being purchased on December 14^th 1989, by renown motoring Journalist Paul Skilleter. He had purchased the car to be used as a staff car on the motoring publication Jaguar Quarterly and Jaguar World; by now UDU already had 12,000 miles on the odometer.

The car received its 15,000 mile service at Grange Jaguar in Brentford in June 1990, and continued to be used extensively by the publication. In 1992 as part of a feature, UDU was taken to JaguarSport’s facility at Bloxham for the FAB treatment (Fitted at Bloxham). This was a service offered by JaguarSport (and approved by Jaguar Cars) where owners could have their XJ-S or XJ6 upgraded with a variety of performance and bodywork enhancements. As UDU was built as a basic spec manual 4-litre XJ6, it was treated to variety of JaguarSport upgrades, including spoilers, new grille, new JaguarSport alloys, colour keyed mirrors to tighten and beef up the look, and this is how the car appears today.

After UDU’s magazine career was over in 1997, it was purchased by Jim and Helen Rawlings and moved to Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Jim and Helen were active members of the Jaguar Drivers’ Club and the car was well-known in club circles. When Jim passed away, his family wanted to find a new home for UDU and approached the JDHT to see if we would be interested. Its heritage as both a Jaguar press car and a pre-production 4-litre plus its magazine fame did make it of interest to us. However it was the stories of its life with Helen and Jim that we were most interested in and it remains as a tribute to Jim’s enthusiasm for Jaguar. The car was kindly gifted to the JDHT in January 2024 by Jim’s family. With over 160,000 miles under its belt, UDU does require some minor bodywork fettling but it is our aim to keep the car in operating and ‘unrestored’ condition in honour of Jim and his family.