Daimler Double Six 6.0 V12

During the development of the XJ40, British Leyland had considered providing the Rover V8 engine for the car, which would have eliminated the need for future Jaguar engine production. Therefore the XJ40 bodyshell was allegedly engineered to prevent fitting V-configuration engines. As a result, the engine compartment of the XJ40 was particularly narrow and also unsuitable for the installation of Jaguar own legendary V12 engine. Jaguar, who was no longer under British Leyland´s control in the early 1980s, also misjudged the market development in that decade and could not ignore the V12 engine developments by the competition. When the XJ40 production started in 1986, Jaguar knew that they must build a XJ40 with V12 engine. This led to a six-year overhaul of the entire front end to fit the V12 engine into the XJ40 engine compartment. During this period Jaguar kept the older generation Series III V12 model for sale till 1992 alongside the new XJ40 that was only available with six-cylinder engine, this was necessary to satisfy customers demand. In 1993, the XJ40 with a new V12 engine (internal development code XJ81) was finally available for the customers. There were two models, the Jaguar XJ12 and the more luxurious Daimler Double Six. The new V12 engine was enlarged to six liters and equipped with a new four-speed automatic gearbox. As the XJ40 production was ending in the next year, the production numbers of the XJ81 (XJ40 with a V12 engine) were low and ensured that the XJ81 would be a rare car. Allegedly a total of 3799 XJ81 models were produced, from which only ca 1100 (different sources state 1086 or 1102) were the more luxurious top of the line Daimler Double Six models.

Recent service at 142500km/06.2024  included the replacement of all the fluids and liquids, sparkplugs, acc. belts including replacement of the main belt pulley.