Yes you're right -unfortunately data sheet i was looking at stupidly lumped XJ12 5.3 with XJ40 V12- although i should have known from memory that k -reg is start of XJ40 v12s

You're wrong tali, the XJ40 V12 wasn't released until 1993.

My info is
XJ40 V12 5.3- launched sept 89
x300 V12 6.0 launched sept 94
P60SOV is last V12 built

It might be a mistake to automatically assume that square headlights = XJ12.
I have a 1994 XJ6 that has square headlights.


in fact there are 3 XJ40's in town with square headlights. Only one is a V12.
It is not a sovereign or VDP and AFAIK the only modifications to it are the ones I'm working on.

What about the XJ12 versions of the Series I, II, III or X300, have were they different exterior and interior wise from the XJ6s?

Well, LondonItalian did say that people modify XJ40s with different grilles and headlights and wheels, as is probably the case with the cars shown above (especially the third one). He also admitted you can't identify them for definate from most of the images on this site. However the XJ12 was quite rare (1200 out of 200,000 XJ40s made) so it's very likely most of the XJ40s on this site are XJ6s.

well it is not easy to state a pattern...

1993 XJ6 Sovereign - quads.


1991 Daimler Six - quads


1994 XJ12 - squares


etc etc. Trust me, I tried to find the 100% working way to identify these, but there is none.. Unless you can see the badge on the trunk or see the engine.

I think in this context it's "vanes" rather than "veins"

Yes, but it is also true that a lot of people never bother modifying their cars, aside from choosing their own specifications if they happen to buy the car brand new. A lot of the XJ40s' original owners were probably rich old farts who weren't into fiddling with cars (this is pure speculation of course). Of course the second hand owners may well have changed some of the features.

But with the XJ40s featured in movies, I get the impression in some cases they went for something cheap (that they didn't mind smashing up), so many of them could be older than the 1993+ cars (which is when the XJ12 was finally released). All XJ40s featured in movies made before 1993 (or was it 1992), are definetely XJ6s.

You know, I don't think I've ever seen an X300 or X308 with lattice wheels.

What I've now done is gone through all the XJ40s listed on this site and checked whether they have the lattice wheels or black grille veins (and gold cat's head badge), it turns out that none of them do, so I've renamed them as XJ6s. All the square headlamped Jag XJ40s (the Sovereigns) are named XJ6 now. Given the rarity of XJ40 XJ12s (only a tiny percentage of the overall total of XJ40s produced were XJ12s, 1200 out of 200,000, correct me if I'm wrong), it makes it much more likely that they'd use an XJ6 in a film, especially when one gets wrecked. Some XJ40s listed are too difficult to see properly (should all of these be listed?), so I've left them as XJ.

Now I would like to know how the X300 XJ12 looks different from the X300 XJ6, I have a feeling some of them are erroneously named as XJ12s.