I've been working on a 1966 4.2. All the official Jaguar documents that came with the car are titled "Jaguar Mark 10". That includes the driver's manual, the service manual, and a nifty poster-sized chassis lubrication chart. Not an "X" anywhere.

Yet I see only an "X" elsewhere, including here, the Jaguar Journal, and Wikipedia. Either way, of course, it is pronounced "ten".

I have not found any explanation for this, aside from the obvious: the large sedan predecessors of this model were all named with Roman numerals. I am submitting an article to the Jaguar Journal about my project; I must be suitably pedantic!

I believe Jaguar referred to the car as an "X" during development. Was a 1961 model officially an "X"?

 

'X' is the Latin numeral for 10.

So for the current year, the latin equivalent is MMXXIV. M=1000, so with two of them it's 2000, then X=10, so two of them makes 20, I=1, and V=5

 

I'm subjected to an annual wellness visit during which I'm tested for dementia. When asked to write out the numbers on a clock face, I decided to impress the nurse by writing them out in Roman numerals.

In context here, which is the clearest sign of dementia for a 73-year-old man?I had to look up "Latin numerals". They are the words used in Latin-based languages. E.g., "one" is the English Latin numeral for the Arabic numeral 1 and the Roman numeral I. When I was a docent in a car museum exhibiting the cars of James Bond films, I told patrons that I had a license to be pedantic. I know, inappropriate in a car forum. Sorry.

(Ever wonder why Bond never drove a Jaguar? Only the bad guys. They'd look especially villainous in a Mark 10.)

 

A friend was investigating the line in my article about my motivation for electrifying the car: "... a quiet and smooth drive system befitting a plump, stately British car." (A reference to James Joyce's famous opening to Ulysses.) He told me he happened onto something about how Jaguar did not want the car identified with an "X". He was unable to find the page again, nor could I find it. Weak! But plausible.

I also did a search for "Brochure Jaguar Mark X". Early marketing of the car by Jaguar indeed called it an [a] "X". In some later marketing materials they referred to it as a "Ten". And later (?) a "10". I got a weak impression that it became a "Ten" or "10" when the 4.2 came out, but a systematic investigation of brochures, marketing materials and other documents might reveal a good timeline for the evolution of the name.

Or reveal confusion even within Jaguar. I'm going to embrace this confusion, given their current confusion over their new direction into electric cars.


Embrace confusion!

 

License to be pedantic! I love it!