1957 Jaguar Mark VIII

The Jaguar Mk VIII saloon offered comfortable accommodations, Jaguar's by-then curvaceous styling, and was powered by its predecessor's 3442cc straight-six engine which it shared with the Jaguar XK140 that arrived two years earlier. Its 120-inch wheelbase was shared with its predecessor, the Mark VII M, along with its design that was slightly updated with a new one-piece windscreen. The front grille was updated and a curved chrome strip traversed the waistline, accommodating two-tone paint schemes. The new rear wheel spats were cut back to display more of the wheels.

Jaguar introduced its Mark VIII four-door saloon in 1956 at the London Motor Show and by the time production ended in 1958, a total of 6,227 units were built. The replacement for the Mark VIII was the Jaguar Mark IX.

The Jaguar Mark VIII was the penultimate version of Jaguar's flagship luxury saloon that had debuted as the Mark VII back in 1950. The Mark VII combined the twin-overhead-camshaft engine powering the XK 120 sports car and the independently-front-suspended chassis design in the interim Mark V saloon. In 1954 the revised Mark VIIM appeared, followed in 1956 by the Mark VIII. The latter had a modified cylinder with larger valves combined with the smaller intake port diameter of the original XK cylinder head that had been introduced on the MK VII. With the larger valves and the original intake port diameters, gas flowed faster at low and medium speeds which translated to better low and medium-range torque. It developed nearly 200 horsepower and offered improved top-gear performance and a top speed of 106 mph. The transmission was paired with an overdrive transmission or a Borg Warner three-speed automatic unit.

by Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2022