New Avengers Jag up for auction
Cult fantasy secret agent series The New Avengers was one of the hits of the mid 70’s.
But the other star alongside Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt and Joanna Lumley was this 1976 Jaguar XJ12, now for sale at H&H Classics on October 14th, 2015 with the very modest estimate of just £10,000 to £12,000.
John Steed’s famous Jag, in Racing Green, was the eighth XJ-C 12 made and originally an experimental model featuring a Broadspeed body kit and extra wide wheels fitted for the TV series.
Dry stored for many years and now in need of restoration, it comes to the market as a dream project for someone who loves a barn find conversion.
There can be very few British cars that speak more eloquently of the automotive culture of the UK in the 1970s than this burly, rakish, cool brute that was John Steed’s Big Cat.
This smooth secret agent was well matched by the equally elegant but tweaked, tuned and pumped up version of Jag’s pillarless XJ Coupé that boasted a dozen cylinders offering 5.3 litres.
Driven by an elegant man in Saville Row tailoring and a bowler hat, the car, gritty Gambit and purring Purdey were perfect foils for him and the oh-so-British action.
Damian Jones, sales director of H&H Classics, commented, ‘Who of us who remember the series did not at one time or another fancy ourselves at the wheel of this car? Now there is a chance to make that fantasy a reality for a very nominal amount. And who knows, maybe the chance to find a modern-day Purdey in the passenger seat!’
