Start with what the Jaguar Mark 2 is: a 4-door saloon with Jaguar XK engine (I6): 2483 cc, built from 1959 to 1969, at the height of the post-war boom. What it meant takes a little longer.
Where it came from
The Jaguar Mark 2 is a mid-sized luxury sports saloon built from late 1959 to 1967 by Jaguar in Coventry, England. The previous Jaguar 2.4 Litre and 3.4 Litre models made between 1955 and 1959 are identified as Mark 1 Jaguars. The Mark 2 was a fast and capable saloon in line with Sir William Lyons' 1950s advertising slogan: Grace . . . Space . .
. Pace, available with all three versions of the advanced Jaguar XK engine: the 2.4, 3.4, and 3.8 litre. Production of the 3.8 ended in the autumn of 1967, with discounted sale of the 3.4 continuing on as the 340 until September 1968, and the 2.4 as the 240 until April 1969. There was no direct successor to the Mark 2 series. The 3.8 litre Jaguar S-Type, an upscaled and refined version of the Mark 2, had already appeared in 1963, well before the first of the Mark 2 models was discontinued. The Jaguar 420, a more powerful and refined version of the S-Type, appeared in 1966. Both of those models remained in production until late 1968, when the Jaguar XJ6 appeared, ostensibly replacing and placed rather midway between them and the larger, more expensive Jaguar Mark X produced since 1961.
Under the skin
The engine is Jaguar XK engine (I6): 2483 cc; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 3174 lb 2.4 manual without overdrive. Drive goes through a 4-speed Manual transmission / manual / 4-speed manual with Overdrive (mechanics) / overdrive / 3-speed Borg-Warner 35 transmission / Borg-Warner 35 Automatic transmission / automat. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 107 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
In the Jaguar line-up the Jaguar Mark 2 has a clear place: it replaced the Jaguar Mark 1 / Daimler 250; it handed the line to the not replaced, Jaguar S-Type; the factory was Coventry, United Kingdom. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Mini Mini, the Dodge Challenger, the Nissan Patrol. Nearby in the Jaguar catalogue sit the F-Type and the Vanden Plas.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Jaguar Mark 2 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.