Jaguar Mark 1
| Jaguar Mark 1 | |
|---|---|
Jaguar 2.4 Litre special equipment early 1957
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Jaguar Cars |
| Production |
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| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Mid-size luxury / Executive car (E) |
| Body style | 4-door saloon |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 2,483 cc XK I6 3,442 cc XK I6 |
| Transmission | 4-speed manual 4-speed manual + overdrive 3-speed automatic |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 107.5 in (2,730 mm) |
| Length | 181 in (4,597 mm) |
| Width | 66.75 in (1,695 mm) |
| Height | 57.25 in (1,454 mm) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Jaguar 2½ Litre saloon |
| Successor | Jaguar Mark 2 |
The Jaguar 2.4 Litre Mark 1 is a British saloon car produced by Jaguar between 1955 and 1959. Referred to in contemporary company documentation as the Jaguar 2.4 Litre and Jaguar 3.4 Litre. Its designation Mark 1 followed its October 1959 replacement by Jaguar's 2.4-litre Mark 2. The 2.4 Litre was the company's first small saloon since the end of its 1½ and 2½ Litre cars in 1949, and was an immediate success, easily outselling the larger much more expensive Jaguar saloons.
The 2.4 Litre saloon was announced on 28 September 1955. The 3.4 Litre saloon announced 17 months later in USA on 26 February 1957 was designed for the American market and was not at first freely available on the domestic market.
In 1951 Jaguar relocated to Daimler's Browns Lane plant which provided not merely sufficient production capacity for their existing range, but enabled them to move into the middle-weight executive saloon sector, then occupied in the UK by cars such as the stately Humbers, the bulbous Standard Vanguard and the heavy Rover P4. Jaguar's new 2.4 and 3.4 introduced a modern style and a new level of performance to this respectable company.
Although having a family resemblance to the larger Mark VII, the Mark I differed in many ways. It was the first Jaguar with unitary construction of body and chassis. The independent front suspension featured double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, and an anti-roll bar, all carried in a separate subframe mounted to the body by rubber bushes (with only minor revisions, this system was used on subsequent Jaguar saloons including early versions of the XJ). The live rear axle used a simplified version of the D-Type suspension, with inverted semi-elliptic springs cantilevered into the main body frame with the rear quarter section carrying the axle and acting as trailing arms. Transverse location was secured by a Panhard rod, the system being a significant improvement over other contemporary Jaguar saloons and sports cars (the reason for the unusual inverted leaf spring arrangement was the same as for the D-Type, to transfer all rear axle loads forward to the unitary body shell. The rear of the car was unstressed). The rear wheel track was some 4.5 in (114 mm) narrower than the front track and looked peculiar from behind, a feature that was blamed (probably incorrectly) for excessive understeer at low speed. It was reported to be better balanced at higher speeds - indeed, the narrower track was deemed to assist high speed straight-line stability and was a feature incorporated in many record-breaking cars of pre and post-War design. Nevertheless, it is probable that the narrower rear track was occasioned by the lack of a suitably dimensioned component from Salisbury, the axle manufacturer.
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