1961 Jaguar 3.8 Mk Ii Sedan on 2040-cars

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We drove to the Grand Tour Lapland taping in a British beater

In October, it was revealed that the Great British Motoring Show That Is Not Top Gear was going to be filming an episode somewhere in Finland. I happen to be Finnish, which meant I immediately applied for audience tickets, and then waited for the phone to ring. It never did, but a friend of mine got two tickets of his own. By that time it was announced that the filming was going to take place "somewhere in Lapland", and more precisely hundreds of kilometers north from the Arctic Circle. Excellent! We knew just how to get there. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Last summer, we spent GBP1000 ($1230 as of the publishing date) on a running and driving, British Racing Green Daimler Six on eBay and drove it home to Finland the long way, via Scotland. (In America, this car is known as the Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas.) It was still a little bit road legal in early November, as we had attempted to get it through Finnish import inspection. It failed on the grounds of the rocker panel welds being a bit crusty, but the following one-month grace and repair period meant we could still drive it on temporary sticker plates. So, after buying a set of Nokian winter tires the previous week, we set off from Helsinki the day before the filming. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. There is nothing quite like driving the entire length of Finland in a right-hand-drive four-liter rebadged Jaguar in one day – still on British plates, albeit taped over. We clocked up over 1100km in the comfort of the leather interior, whisked away by the four-liter six's oomphy torque and ambient thrum; every now and then stopping for fuel, swapping drivers and wiping the headlights clean from accumulating highway muck. As we passed Rovaniemi and the Santa's Village, roads gradually got so slippery the Nokians really proved their worth. Reindeer flocked on the road, along with foxes and the single white rabbit (he did not have a pocket watch, as far as we could tell). It was not the lack of sleep doing us in, even if the hotel bed was sorely needed after finally reaching the village of Saariselka in deepest Lapland. After a celebratory beer while watching Finnish karaoke, of course. But the show! The next day we spotted the Fisker, the Boxster, and the Saab 900 driving back from taping the show's localized intro.

Jaguar readying SUV for Frankfurt debut

In an effort to target higher-volume vehicle segments, Jaguar is getting ready to introduce its first-ever crossover, and Autoweek reports that we could see it debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. We've heard in the past that the new Jaguar crossover could carry the name XQ, but the report also mentions that the Q-type name is still in the running (now wouldn't Audi just love that?).
A little more clear than the crossover's name, AW says the cargo-friendly Jaguar should ride on the same platform as the upcoming Jaguar XS compact sedan rather than using a Land Rover platform. As for the on-sale date, it still sounds like the XS will hit the roads first in 2015 with the crossover model due out in 2016.

This Jaguar XK120 costs $20,000, but there's a catch

You read that correctly. This Jaguar XK120 costs $20,000. Sounds like a steal, right? There's a catch. It's 1:5 scale. But if you're looking for perhaps the most bespoke riff on a Power Wheels ever, this could be your new toy. Offered by gift-specialist Hammacher Schlemmer, this diminutive Jag is faithful to the original with its swoopy appearance fronted by a narrow, vertical grille. There's a bit of a power drop, as this XK comes with a 110-cc four-stroke engine that can top out at 38 miles per hour. The 1949 model came with a 3,442-cc six-cylinder that made as much as 180 hp from the factory. This toy car has an aluminum hull, steel box chassis, wishbone suspension, and gas shocks, according to the listing. It rolls on 10-inch aluminum wheels and has hydraulic brakes with Brembo, yes Brembo, discs. The inside has padded leather and a wood-rimmed steering wheel. The car shown is silver – but Hammacher Schlemmer notes that it's available in British Racing Green – or any color you like. Obviously you're not hurting for cash if you have 20 grand to drop on a toy, but it is economical compared to real-life 1949 XK120. The car collecting and insurance gurus at Hagerty say an original is worth $475,000 in concours condition. Hagerty notes this Jag is significant for its design that channels the prewar BMW 328. The starting price was $3,940 in the United States when it was new. Related Video: