2003 Jaguar S-type R Supercharged V8 ( Rare ) on 2040-cars

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Jaguar takes bite out of Mercedes' Magic Body Control chicken ad

We were quite impressed by Mercedes-Benz when it aired its Magic Body Control commercial, starring a group suitably funky chickens demonstrating their ability to jive to Diana Ross and the Supremes. Now, Jaguar has taken the opportunity to poke some fun at its German rival, releasing its own take on the Magic Body Control spot, and um, there's a big cat involved.
You'll really want to take a look at this video, which is just another sign that in terms of clever ads, Jaguar is doing quite well. We aren't sure if "Jaguar vs. Chicken" will make it onto TV any time soon, but it's still fun to see the British brand take the mickey out of Mercedes - it's rare to see automakers go after each other so bluntly in their marketing efforts. Scroll down to watch the video (we've also included a bonus video, Jag's recent "Cat In A Box" spot).

Top Gear caught filming Best of British near Buckingham Palace

YouTuber and car-fan extraordinaire Shmee probably had very little trouble tracking down the Top Gear film crew recently, as the group was putting together an episode that could accurately be described as "excessive." With its flag-waving (literally) Best of British theme, the TG guys gathered a jaw-dropping array of British cars, and parked them all right in front of Buckingham Palace to make extra sure that the point was driven home.
Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were outfitted with a trio of Jaguar F-Types festooned with gigantic Union Jacks, with which to survey the landscape of British motoring glory. In the video below, you'll see that this includes any number of Mini, Aston Martin, Lotus, McLaren, Land Rover, Bentley and Rolls-Royce models (just to name a few), as well as a healthy dose of weird stuff that most people would never guess at being built in the UK. The lawnmowers and military vehicles are especially cool.

Junkyard Gem: 1977 Jaguar XJ6L

British Leyland began selling the Jaguar XJ in 1968, and production continued through multiple platform generations (and corporate owners) until just a few years ago. The original XJ was facelifted twice, in 1973 and 1979, with sales of the six-cylinder version extending into 1987 (Series 3 cars with V12s were built through 1992). Production numbers were never very high, but these cars proved popular in the United States and I still find them every so often during my junkyard travels. Here's a Series 2 XJ6 saloon that showed up in a Denver-area self-service yard last winter. Jaguar introduced a long-wheelbase version of the XJ saloon for 1972, giving it a four-inch stretch in order to better compete against the planned Rover P8. Since Rover was a fellow British Leyland brand, this was like Buick pouring big resources into crushing a threat from Oldsmobile, to the detriment of the overall company. In any case, the long-wheelbase saloons proved so successful that the short-wheelbase four-doors got the axe a couple of years later (the coupes stayed on the shorter chassis). Jaguar continued to add the "L" badging to the saloons for quite a while after that, presumably because it looked classy. The paint on all the upper body surfaces has been nuked down to the steel by the relentless High Plains sun, so we can assume that this car spent a decade or three sitting parked outside. It may have started out in Arizona, one of the few places with fiercer sunlight than eastern Colorado. Is it possible that it really turned a mere 46,630 miles during its life? With most cars of this vintage, I'd assume that the five-digit odometer has been turned over once or twice. With a Jaguar and its troublesome electrical components made by the Prince of Darkness, however, that's not such a sure bet. To own a car like this, you need to be willing and able to give it the money and work it requires to stay on the road; not many are suited to this responsibility. The interior looks to have been in very nice condition before the car got parked in a field somewhere. The wood interior trim has seen better days. Back in the 1970s, Mercedes-Benz had a big edge over Jaguar with mechanical sophistication and build quality, granted, but Jaguar beat those Stuttgarters hands-down when it came to making a car interior feel like a billionaire's library. The engine is a 4.2-liter XK6 straight-six, rated at 162 horsepower and 225 pound-feet.