1953 Jaguar Mark VII

The Jaguar Mark VII evolved from the interim Mark V, which had a similar appearance to the pre-war Mark IV, but with long flowing separate fenders. Since Bentley had already used the Mark VI name, Jaguar went to the next Roman numeral. The Mark VII used the roofline and grille (with the Jaguar signature) of the Mark V, but now with a full-width body with slab sides. There were three inches of additional leg space for the rear seat passengers made possible by moving the engine farther forward. The new trunk had a vertical spare wheel and was significantly larger. There was a two-piece, V-shaped windscreen, fully integrated headlights, and removable rear-wheel spats. The new DOHC XK straight-six 3.4-liter engine provided the 160 bhp and was backed by a four-speed manual gearbox. The MKVII quickly acquired the options of Laycock de Normanville overdrive or Borg-Warner automatic transmission. Independent front suspension via wishbones and torsion bars worked in tandem with a semi-elliptic leaf-sprung back axle. Twin trailing-shoe drums could be found at all four corners.

Jaguar introduced the Mark VII at the 35th International Motor Exhibition at Earls Court in London in 1950 and during its production lifespan last until 1954, 20,918 examples were sold.

With the XK engine and the attractive silhouette, the Mark VII was the perfect fusion of luxury and performance.

by Daniel Vaughan | May 2020