[anjan_c2007]

This BIG CAT Jaguar 1.5 L has been the darling of the Vintage and Classic Car / Bike rallies at Nagpur, ever since its inception in 1986. It has won trophies in every rally as Best Maintained Classic Car and also a few other categories for many, many years successively. There were many more gorgeous cars sometimes in the rallies, but this Jaguar has been always stealing the limelight.

Owner and our long time family friend, Dr Sqn Ldr Subir Mukerji (Retd) is proud of his car and has tried to keep it in a pristine and gleaming condition.The car is with him since January 1970. Its first owner was the Late Mr Mohammed Hidaytullah, ex- Chief Justice of India and later Vice President of India. The second owner was the Late Mr D.P.R. Cassad. He proudly shows a letter from the Late Mr Pranlal Bhogilal, President,VCCCI, Mumbai dated 01.01.1993 that says " The vehicle BYJ 15 is a rare classic car and is registered with our club."

We have just done a thread for Sqn Ldr Subir Mukerji's 1956 Landmaster.

Sqn Ldr (Dr) Subir says that he has never had any major repair since he has bought the car. Virtually no major spare has been changed. The chrome plating is vintage 1948 from the factory. The Lucas headlamps with chrome work are quite imposing. There are two parking lights and two fog lamps. It has a wooden dashboard and wood panelled door and interior panelling is also wooden. The steering wheel is telescopically adjustable, both for the fore and aft and also for high and low positions.

The original leather upholstery is still intact.The seats are of calf leather and are Oxford Blue in colour. "The calf leather is wrinkle free and soft, but cannot be in fine fettle, when subjected to abuse", says Subirda. The rear seat has a central folding arm-rest, with two reading lights on either sides.

The quarter glasses on the front windows are lever operated. The instrumentation comprises a speedometer graduated upto 100 MPH, a tripmeter, a tachometer graduated upto 50 X 100 RPM (red between 4500 and 5000 RPM), ammeter, tempreture, water and oil gauges, two lockable glove boxes and two ash trays on the dash.

The one peice windscreen has two wipers and is of the swing open adjustable kind, with an easy acting control lever. It also has a sliding sun- roof. There are two semaphore arms on the "B" pillars. The two indicator switches to activate the semaphores are steering mounted. It also has an OE heater and demister. The headlights have an electromagnetic dipper. All the electricals are of Lucas make certifying Sir William Lyons' (founder of Jaguar) penchant for the old faithful British company.

The car has a four speed manual transmission with the reverse.The driving position is high and visibility is good. The car's manouvering and handling is like any big car of its times and the turning circle is quite large. While driving, Subirda though sometimes through his windscreen, watches the newer, smaller and peppier cars, that overtake and cut lanes swiftly.
The engine is a straight, in-line, four cylinder, 1775 cc with a 13-23 HP output, fuelled by a SU carburettor. It consumes one litre of petrol for every 8 - 10 kms.

Tech Specifications:

Engine 1775 cc
Bore and Stroke 71 mm X 106 mm
RAC Rating 13-23 HP
Wheelbase 9 feet 4.5 inches
Track 4 feet 7 inches
Firing order 1,3,4,2
Valve Clearance In .012
Engine Warm Ex .012
Engine No. KB 4750
Chassis No. 413639
Body No. B 7605

The car can reach 60 - 65 MPH (110 kmph) on flat and open stretches of roads and is a traffic stopper. "The car has no ageing creaks and knocks" affirms Subirda.

The tool kit is aesthetically placed on the interior of the rear luggage boot lid. The Dunlop tool box is lockable and has slots to smugly fit all necessary tools like the cranking lever, a jack with handle,Tony bar, an air filling hand pump, an oil can and spanners of various hues.

The doctor summed it all up "As long as the heart of this machine is proper, I have no worry. We do not mind a knee or hip replacement, if need be, but only as long as the heart is strong enough."

As Jaguar enthusiast Chris Graham has said "Classic Jaguars, whatever their age, need to be used, they thrive on it. The inherent quality of the marque ensures durability, assuming a reasonable degree of care and attention from an understanding, enthusiastic owner."











The proud owner featured above with his car

[FINTAIL]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

This BIG CAT Jaguar 1.5 L has been the darling of the Vintage and Classic Car / Bike rallies at Nagpur, ever since its inception in 1986. It has won trophies in every rally as Best Maintained Classic Car and also a few other categories for many, many years successively. There were many more gorgeous cars sometimes in the rallies, but this Jaguar has been always stealing the limelight.

Yes, agreed. All the same, this car is miles from being perfect. The dashboards condition- For goodness sake a better dash can be fabricated. This one has been painted, and rather cheaply at that. And the overspray.... The meters can also be aligned properly, can't they?

Surely this deserves a better attempt at maintaining? I mean....look at the beading below the bonnet. Surely it can be aligned, and properly at that, or else, new ones can be procured.

And tidbits of rust here and there. Naked screws, and that stickerwork atop the radiator. I seriously doubt if it is original. Oh, and the overspray evident...

The number of cracks on the tyre.

The needless lights on the wings as well. Oh, surely this can be much better.

As an aside, this would have been the fifteenth vehicle registered in Nagpur, when it was in the Bombay Presidency, as is evident by the BYJ registration. Was this car originally registered in the Central Provinces and Berar (CPB?) ?

And lastly, does anyone recall what BYJ/1 was?

[anjan_c2007]

These pictures were clicked at a function by me in 2012, when the Jaguar was parked beside a Tata Nano - shows the old Sir William Lyons and the new Ratan Tata/ Cyrus Mistry rendevous !

[BowMan]

Lovely car there that seems to have aged gracefully. But as pointed out could use a bit of TLC.

[Stanher]

IIRC, this car was featured in Auto India many years ago. And twas a greyish silver then. Much better condition too.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by Stanher

IIRC, this car was featured in Auto India many years ago. And twas a greyish silver then. Much better condition too.

It was light grey in colour then. The car was in a better shape then. The article in Auto India was by Yours Truly.

[W.A.G.7]

Nice good looking car. On the outset it does look very beautiful, but if you delve a little bit more beyond the skin, I think this one needs a serious restoration job, to put everything neat and tidy. The car looks absolutely gorgeous though, no two minds about that.

[msabbasi]

Yes there are a few detailed areas of improvement such as the wood and the fog light lenses. Having said that, the car is pretty old (65+ years) and just keeping it running and participating in shows is a huge credit to the owner. I know because I am one. However, the good thing is that parts are still available - well most of them anyway from UK, Australia and USA. I will be more than happy to help out owners of cars similar to this one in tracking down spares etc. and provide any advice.

The important thing here is that the car seems complete.

For those who may be interested to read more, the resurrection of my 1-1/2 Liter has been detailed on the sister website; Pakwheels. There are two threads to be found there. The first is the beginning of the journey to get the car on the road culminating with it attending its first show ever in 2013. The second thread is more of a "run and improve" affair. I hope it is of interest to those attempting to work on a 1-1/2 Liter Jaguar or others just interested in old cars

First thread: http://www.pakwheels.com/forums/d-i-...2-liter-saloon

Second thread: http://www.pakwheels.com/forums/d-i-...e-improvements

[harit]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

This BIG CAT Jaguar 1.5 L ....... He proudly shows a letter from the Late Mr Pranlal Bhogilal, President,VCCCI, Mumbai dated 01.01.1993 that says " The vehicle BYJ 15 is a rare classic car and is registered with our club."........................

A very nice Jaguar indeed, the car has a body line making it look larger than it actually is. And it looks so majestic.

The car definitely has room for improvement, and at some stage she will need a complete restoration. It will be worth the effort, time and money.

I have quoted the above because VCCCI issued such letters to those in their good books which was meant to help vintage and classic car owners of pre 1960 built cars to get the concessions on car taxes.

A grave error is that the monopoly for this has been given to VCCCI, in Karnataka a similar benefit is given, earlier for KVCC members, later is was changed for the public. That is the way to go.

Cheers harit

[msabbasi]

Originally Posted by harit

A very nice Jaguar indeed, the car has a body line making it look larger than it actually is. And it looks so majestic.

The car definitely has room for improvement, and at some stage she will need a complete restoration. It will be worth the effort, time and money.


Cheers harit

I reply to the section quoted above, there is reference made to the look of the car. Indeed it is majestic. William Lyons was known to have an eye for line and proportions. He had the ability to make cars look expensive while they were a fraction of the cost of Bentley, Rolls, Alvis or the other top marques of the time.

With reference to this particular model, Jaguar offered it in 1-1/2, 2-1/5 and 3-1/5 liter engines. The bigger engined cars were longer by 6 inches owning to the length of the 6 cylinder engine compared to the 4 cylinder engine. To keep the proportions correct, William Lyons specified smaller head lights and slimmer bumpers for the 1-1/2 liter cars. Headlight of the bigger car were Lucas P100 (10" diameter) while the smaller car had Lucas P80 units (8" diameter). The bumpers of the smaller car was specified to be 1" slimmer. IMHO the bigger car with the longer bonnet looks even more majestic than the smaller car. Both the 4 and 6 cylinder cars were identical rearwards of the A pillar. In doing so Jaguar gave the big car feel to the occupants of the smaller car. This is one car that looks pretty from any angle it is viewed.

I also totally agree with the comment about restoring this car. It certainly is worth it to do so. There is immense talent in India to do the work in a cost effective way. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) has in its possession the build sheets of cars from this period. For a small fee, they will send an official certificate of the car indicating the first owner's name, external color, internal trim color and other specifications at the time of leaving the factory. This document is invaluable in deciding the colour and trim of the car during the restoration. I personally like to follow the factory colour as doing so lends more authenticity to the final look of the car.

There is a web site cataloging Jaguar saloons: http://www.saloondata.com/cars/results/. This car deserves to be listed therein.

Since this is a tread relating to the 1.5 Liter Jaguar, I have taken the liberty to post a few pictures of my car detailing the tool kit, dashboard, external and internal views. The first one is the JDHT certificate relating to my car.

[anjan_c2007]

Some more pictures of this Jaguar 1.5 litre clicked about a decade and a half back by me. The owner is seen in a few pictures with his grand daughter.

[wasif]

Makes me so wish I could finish off my Jag 1.5 ! Wonder when it will be ready !!!

[msabbasi]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Some more pictures of this Jaguar 1.5 litre clicked about a decade and a half back by me. The owner is seen in a few pictures with his grand daughter.

A quick question, are the pictures in the beginning of this tread earlier or later than the ones you have recently posted (owner with his grand daughter)

Thanks

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by msabbasi

A quick question, are the pictures in the beginning of this tread earlier or later than the ones you have recently posted (owner with his grand daughter)

Thanks

The earlier pictures on this thread are from 2014 and from recent years. Whereas, these pictures posted a few days back (17/03/2015) are from 2001.

[msabbasi]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The earlier pictures on this thread are from 2014 and from recent years. Whereas, these pictures posted a few days back (17/03/2015) are from 2001.

The car was in pretty good shape in the older pictures. WHAT HAPPENED to it. Instead of getting better with time it has gone down in a rather bad way. Is the present owner not wanting to improve upon it at all? There are only 120 RHD SE 1.5L post war Jaguars like this one left in the world. Each one needs to be saved.