Innehållsförteckning för April/May 2023 från Classic Jaguar

The British winter may have been exceptionally wet although the monthly Jaguar Breakfast Club shrugged this off and continued to attract high volumes to its meetings, strengthening its position as the world’s largest regular Jaguar gathering. Generally assembling on the first Saturday of every month, the most frequently employed venue is the British Motor Museum in Warwickshire, also home to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust vehicle collection. The organisers are gearing up for a busy year of events including a number of ‘away days’ and this summer will see many themed dates and special displays from XJ220s, XJ Coupés and the XJS Club national day to a tenth anniversary display of the modern F-Type, along with ‘Supercharged Saturday’ in June, one of the most popular annual events on the calendar.…

In March 2012 Graham Cooling, a former Project X J220 Engineer, phoned me and asked if I would contact all of the former Project X J220 personnel and as many X J220 owners as possible and invite them all to a 20th Anniversary X J220 Reunion, to be held at Weston Park. I was happy to take on the challenge – it was to be the first time that I would see an X J220 and the first time I would meet Jim Randle, Keith Helfet, Win Percy, Norman Dewis and a host of other Jaguar people besides! Jaguar Heritage were keen to accept my invitation and agreed to bring the X J220 Concept Car to Weston Park, and as it arrived the day before the event I was able…

Stirling Moss, practising for the 1952 Mille Miglia in a C-type, could outbrake Mercedes-Benz 300SLs. But at 150mph, one overtook him “easily,” so he sent an urgent telegram to William Lyons, “… we must have more speed at Le Mans.” The imbroglio that followed was costly despite calm, careful, measured FRW England feeling Moss had “overstated”. Bob Berry accompanying the works team to Italy thought Moss “harassed and tired”. The 300SLs were fast but faced trouble at scrutineering. These first Mille Miglia cars’ upwards-opening doors included the window frames and a portion of roof; it was only later that the ‘gull-wings’ extended over the stiffening structure sills. The race organisers quite reasonably worried that the occupants would be trapped if one overturned. Berry played down Moss’s speculation the German cars…

When Covid hit us, auction houses could no longer hold sales in the usual way, so they had to get inventive. Cars were accepted for sale based on photos supplied by the seller. Some auction houses then took their own upon receipt of the car, but others seem not to have done so. Now, if you were looking to buy a classic would you do so based just on photos? I’ve seen enough dodgy cars in my lifetime to know that only a good session of touchy-feely would convince me the car was one that I would wish to own. Yet these auctions seem to be working well, so perhaps my antenna are working overtime, but I recently heard of someone who turned up to pay for the car, took…

An Independent Publication Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent, ME18 6AL +44 (0)1959 541444 Editorial Editor Ray Ingman . ray.ingman@kelsey.co.uk Art Editor Mark Baker . mark _baker04@yahoo.co.uk Contributors Paul Guinness, Eric Dymock, Peter Simpson, Richard Gunn, Ian Cooling, Lindsay Ross, Richard Holdsworth, Tony Brown, Paul Keating, Letitia Mace, James Wall, Roger, Chris & Nick Gage, Greg Owain, Ross Goodwin Advertisement sales Talk Media Sales Managing Director David Lerpiniere . 01732 445325 david.lerpiniere@talkmediasales.co.uk Account Manager Sara Gordon . 01732 446757 sara@talk-media.uk Advertising Production Tandem Media Production and Design Manager Neil Hepden 01233 220245 . neil@tandemmedia.co.uk Management Chief Operating Officer: Phil Weeden Subscription Marketing Director: Gill Lambert Retail Director: Steve Brown Publisher: Gareth Beesley Print Production Manager: Georgina Harris Print Production Controllers: Kelly Orriss, Hayley Brown…

Much of Jaguar’s early commercial success during the first few decades after the Second World War came from the American market. However well it did in its homeland and the Commonwealth, whatever its sales achievements in Europe, all paled into insignificance compared to the USA and its many thousands of affluent consumers eager to experience and invest in something that Britain did very well: exciting and beautiful sports cars. For any company though, however confident and optimistic, making it big across the Atlantic wasn’t easy. Even Volkswagen, that most phenomenally successful of European manufacturers Stateside, initially struggled to make any impact. From 1949 to 1954, its efforts to sell its air-cooled vehicles in America had little impact, and it was only from the late-Fif ties onwards that sales took of…

As someone who has been involved in the Jaguar world for much of my life, about 25 years ago I met someone who owned a replica D-Type. I was most impressed with the engineering and build quality and decided to research the cars and their creators. I was so taken by it that to date, I have owned three of their cars, and never been disappointed by any of them, and nor have friends and acquaintances. Therefore, I decided that it was time to write a brief history of Lynx, its founders, and its cars. THE BEGINNING Lynx was founded by Guy Black in 1968, and most people are under the impression that the company name was chosen to associate it with Jaguar. Far from the truth though, because at…

“Lyons,, BBlack here”. It was always a respectful tone between the two westmidland automotive “Lyons, way. William Lyons held the phone slightly away from his ear as if to emphasise his mild aversion to the man from the Standard Motor Company. Alice Fenton hovered. Lyons looked up at her, he knew she worried about Captain Black and his brusqueness. She always called him a bully by profession. He had told her that was what it would take if this country was going to beat the Germans. True that, she’d said. “Just to let you know I won’t be building your 2.5 and 3.5 litre engines after the war, or the chassis”, Black said in a matter of fact tone. “We are consolidating our range of cars and concentrating on massproducing…

At some point in your life, there is a moment when you stop and stare. That was, for many of us, the exact point in time at which a Jaguar captured our imagination and you promised yourself that, one day, you’ll have one. Then, the next epiphany comes when you actually get to drive a classic Jaguar. Finally, you get to experience the performance that goes with the looks. From that intoxicating moment forward, you are hooked for life. The problem is that moments like that are increasingly rare for many young people. Ultimately the generation of classic car fanatics of tomorrow, will also be the custodians of the vehicles that current owners have all slaved over and dedicated so much time, passion and money into restoring, preserving or maintaining.…

Mike Gallery has been volunteering for the JDHT since he retired in 2017, after 44 years in the motor industry, and 17 years at JLR. Mike became interested in cars at a very early age. He particularly remembers being captivated by a brochure depicting the recently launched Jaguar E-Type given to him by his father, who picked it up at the 1962 Earls Court Motorshow. Aged just seven, Mike thought the brochure was a work of art and showed the car off beautifully. From that moment forth, Mike became a sports car fan, with the E-Type being his first ‘hero’ car. By his mid-teens, and after a succession of ‘Saturday jobs’ in car accessory shops and body work garages, Mike had developed a keen interest in motor sport. He was…

This edition marks a full year since I agreed to write about XJ40 for Classic Jaguar Magazine. In that time, you have followed the major work undertaken to save my XJ6 which has hopefully inspired others to take a chance and save one of their own. But the work on the XJ40 Register continues. Thank you to those of you who have provided your car info to help the project, your support of what I do and your comments to say you are happy the XJ40 model is getting some focus. So before I start 2023 with more features on different aspects, I thought I would give you an insight to some key figures that my project consists of. They are just top numbers for most common criteria, I would…

In days of old, when E-Types were youthful, few of us left home with camera in hand, except for a specific purpose. But in modern times nearly everyone carries a mobile phone, with the quality of its inbuilt camera being a major selling point of the product. We have become a new breed of amateur photographer and everywhere you go you encounter people taking selfies, holiday snaps or pictures of your treasured classic Jaguar at a car show. The rise of social media has catapulted photography into most of our daily lives, putting our picture-taking into public scrutiny. So, if you crave more ‘likes’ on your social media page or simply a new admiration from your family and friends, coming up are some pointers to help with the basics, leaving…

If you’ve already read our esteemed editor’s rambling message at the front of this magazine, you’ll know that he’s about to bid adieu. (I say rambling – he might be coherent for once, but let’s assume not, if only for the sake of continuity.) And so, this issue brings to an end Ray’s time on Classic Jaguar, almost two years after he agreed – with the aid of bribery and threats – to take over from me. The world of print media is tough these days, but a quality product will always sell – and Classic Jaguar has continued to thrive under Ray’s watch. I’ve enjoyed the results of the new contributors he’s brought on board, the new columns he’s introduced, and I’ve lost count of the number of…