Running an XK120 in the 1950s
Discussion
Best read ever about motoring. Knowing something about Jags of the 50s, The Americans loved your Dads style I bet G.B. used to export all they could manf: with a waiting list in Great Britain, ----unless you new someone at the TOP. Splendid, thanks for your time over the article. Get it Back, sell the story--Its history. knibbo
A lovely story.I have been involve In classic cars mainly Jags myself and have driven all over europe but in the 90s,driving XKs aboad seems to bring out the best in people and I have had some great adventures but it never beats the tales you hear from the 50s and 60s.Thank you very much.
Just chanced upon this thread. I would get back in contact with the current owner. Sometimes people need time to think things over.
He probably generally thinks he will live forever and will get around to everything eventually like we all do.
He may have given it some thought after your initial approach, though, and may be more open to the idea now.
If still no joy just leave your details - you never know.
He probably generally thinks he will live forever and will get around to everything eventually like we all do.
He may have given it some thought after your initial approach, though, and may be more open to the idea now.
If still no joy just leave your details - you never know.
I never saw this thread originally but it so similar to the story of our family XK120 that I thought I would compare notes.
I have only a few shots from the 1950s as most was taken with the clockwork cine camera, but I have great memories of fast drives with a couple of fishing rods sticking out the back when I was a boy.
I hope that this post might inspire either Redrose or whoever owns it to restore and cherish the car.
My uncle who is still going strong at 91 and still driving (including the occasional run in the XK), bought the car brand new from Mann Egerton in Norwich 62 years ago in July 1952. It still carries the Mann Egerton enamel badge on the dashboard.
It has all the old paperwork, the guarantee from Jaguar, all the service documents and even a Tecalmit leaflet for “XK100 and XK120” models. The XK100 being the proposed four cylinder version of the straight six which was dropped.
Not often that there is a complete life history of a car which is over sixty years old.
Here he is testing out the car at Snetterton in 1952.
|http://thumbsnap.com/CVadWvse[/url]
He married in 1959 and went to Lisbon for the honeymoon. His new father in law, unbeknown to him, had the car strapped to a cargo vessel and sent out to Lisbon together with a telegram requesting that he was to bring his daughter back home safely.
Uncle had a clockwork cine camera and there is a good deal of footage of the car being driven around Portugal.
He said that he could have bought most of the Algarve for peanuts as it was just a bare coastline. He would of course have lost it all in the subsequent “Carnation Revolution” of the early seventies.
He said that the potholes nearly swallowed up the car but that the XK120 was wonderful as the exhaust system runs through the chassis and the ground clearance is huge for a sports car.
He came home via the Pyrenees and France but the car boiled at the top of the mountains. They were rescued by the locals who repaired the radiator hose and were so astounded to see such a car which must have seemed like a space ship arriving.
The journey through France was only a few months before Redrose’s parent’s tour. Unfortunately all the photos are old cine film and I do not know how to convert.
His first child was born in November 1960 only a couple of months before Redrose and she was put in her carrycot in between the front passengers just as Redrose’s did at much the same time. However no trouble with the gear lever so they kept the car.
It was taken on many a cricket tour and even mentioned in Henry Blofeld’s autobiography.
The drum brakes he claimed were good for about three crossroads on the Fosse Way but usually overheated and faded dangerously on the fourth.
The car was mothballed in the late sixties and then sent for restoration in the late seventies. The restorer took it apart so it looked just like the picture of the Redrose family car. The restorer was skilled only in mechanics and not in finances so there was a dispute about the amount of money being taken for little result.
This was how I found it.
|http://thumbsnap.com/SosBNvNy[/url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/Un07exDZ[/url
In the end uncle gave the unrestored car to me on one condition. The condition was that since each of his three daughters had given birth to daughters and he now had eight granddaughters and not one grandson, that they were all to go to the Church in the car on their Wedding Day! They are all in their twenties now, all beautiful, and all unmarried.
I led by example this year and took my bride to the ceremony in it. (picture at end)
I had the car restored by Guy Broad in 1998 who did a superb job and I have not had a
problem with it in the following sixteen years.
I would recommend Guy to Redrose if manages to recover the car but these sort of restorations are not for the faint hearted.
|http://thumbsnap.com/poXL1u24[/url]
When the restoration was completed, I took it to Browns Lane just before it closed for this photo
|http://thumbsnap.com/4vFrfxFl[/url]
He had it ready for the Jabbeke celebrations in 1998 when they closed the motorway there for us to pay a tribute to Soapy Sutton’s run when he managed to do 124 mph with the hood up and 132 mph with the hood down and screen taken off. This shut the journalists up who had been questioning Jaguar’s claims that the car could do 120 mph.
The XK ran perfectly when it came to doing the timed speed runs and it was a great event to be part of. Here is a picture of Norman Dewis in front of the car in Bruges
town square.
|http://thumbsnap.com/LwVDkTyx[/url]
Norman again pulling the birds in the XJ13
|http://thumbsnap.com/gkEk5aaQ[/url]
And with the new Jaguar prototype, the XJ13, and an XJ220 behind
The old girl trying to keep up with a D Type and C Type on the Jabbeke highway.
|http://thumbsnap.com/6FqjRg0w[/url]
Some great XK120 themes in the main square at Bruges
|http://thumbsnap.com/MA9v3w1H[/url][url]
A glance in the rear view mirror reveals an original XKSS from America.
Very privileged to be part of the celebrations
Win Percy doing his run with a full head of steam.
[url][img[]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/rIzpgJ6K.jpg[/img]|http://thumbsnap.com/rIzpgJ6K[/ur]
On the way home from Jabbeke I came across a red E type which had been at the event. Bonnet up and clouds of steam. It had blown a core plug, luckily accessible in between the exhaust manifolds. All I had on me was a cheap Chinese made Swiss army knife copy which someone gave me. It had a saw blade on it so I ventured into the scrub on the side of the motorway and set about a small shrub. I manage to cut a wine bottle cork sized bit of branch, by which time there were no teeth left on the blade! Whittled it into shape and knocked it home into the hole left by the core plug, using a bit of carrier bag as ptfe tape. The next problem was how to fill the engine and radiator with water.
We found some plastic coke bottles on the side of the hard shoulder and I had to go down into the filthy ditch where there was about a couple of inches of black water.
The relay system using him and his wife took ages but we managed to fill the car and no leaks. Only just made the ferry and I was rewarded with a good lunch and many thanks.
I thought that was the end of the story as I never caught the man’s name or where he was from.
However a year later I was asked to play golf at Sheringham. Never play golf and never been to Sheringham before. Since it was a lovely day I took the XK120 overshot the golf club and turn sharp left into an industrial estate to turn round.
As I went in a lorry was reversing so I sharp turned right into the first unit. I was busy doing a ten point turn (not much lock!) when a man with a beard came running out of the office and I thought I was about to be told off.
“It’s you” he shouted
“Me?”
“Yes you rescued me in Belgium last year”
“But I do not recognise you”
“Oh, I have grown a beard since then!”
Can these sort of encounters really just be chance?
The car has starred in Miss Marple “The Body in the Library” filmed at Dorney Court with Joanna Lumley, and also another scene filmed at Chorleywood with Simon Callow.
Ben Miller driving Emma the body Cooke at Dorney Court
|http://thumbsnap.com/vc7Ugyz0[/url]
Here is Joanna Lumley and James Fox talking to Ben Miller in the car with Emma Cooke who is about to become the body in the library.
|http://thumbsnap.com/8WAIb5Nq[/url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/vNXbO97C[/url]
June 2014
Should really be on the “Car I will never sell” thread.
As it states on the V5 I am only the keeper and to keep it in the family I am hoping for a petrolhead to marry one of those granddaughters!
I have only a few shots from the 1950s as most was taken with the clockwork cine camera, but I have great memories of fast drives with a couple of fishing rods sticking out the back when I was a boy.
I hope that this post might inspire either Redrose or whoever owns it to restore and cherish the car.
My uncle who is still going strong at 91 and still driving (including the occasional run in the XK), bought the car brand new from Mann Egerton in Norwich 62 years ago in July 1952. It still carries the Mann Egerton enamel badge on the dashboard.
It has all the old paperwork, the guarantee from Jaguar, all the service documents and even a Tecalmit leaflet for “XK100 and XK120” models. The XK100 being the proposed four cylinder version of the straight six which was dropped.
Not often that there is a complete life history of a car which is over sixty years old.
Here he is testing out the car at Snetterton in 1952.
|http://thumbsnap.com/CVadWvse[/url]He married in 1959 and went to Lisbon for the honeymoon. His new father in law, unbeknown to him, had the car strapped to a cargo vessel and sent out to Lisbon together with a telegram requesting that he was to bring his daughter back home safely.
Uncle had a clockwork cine camera and there is a good deal of footage of the car being driven around Portugal.
He said that he could have bought most of the Algarve for peanuts as it was just a bare coastline. He would of course have lost it all in the subsequent “Carnation Revolution” of the early seventies.
He said that the potholes nearly swallowed up the car but that the XK120 was wonderful as the exhaust system runs through the chassis and the ground clearance is huge for a sports car.
He came home via the Pyrenees and France but the car boiled at the top of the mountains. They were rescued by the locals who repaired the radiator hose and were so astounded to see such a car which must have seemed like a space ship arriving.
The journey through France was only a few months before Redrose’s parent’s tour. Unfortunately all the photos are old cine film and I do not know how to convert.
His first child was born in November 1960 only a couple of months before Redrose and she was put in her carrycot in between the front passengers just as Redrose’s did at much the same time. However no trouble with the gear lever so they kept the car.
It was taken on many a cricket tour and even mentioned in Henry Blofeld’s autobiography.
The drum brakes he claimed were good for about three crossroads on the Fosse Way but usually overheated and faded dangerously on the fourth.
The car was mothballed in the late sixties and then sent for restoration in the late seventies. The restorer took it apart so it looked just like the picture of the Redrose family car. The restorer was skilled only in mechanics and not in finances so there was a dispute about the amount of money being taken for little result.
This was how I found it.
|http://thumbsnap.com/SosBNvNy[/url]|http://thumbsnap.com/Un07exDZ[/urlIn the end uncle gave the unrestored car to me on one condition. The condition was that since each of his three daughters had given birth to daughters and he now had eight granddaughters and not one grandson, that they were all to go to the Church in the car on their Wedding Day! They are all in their twenties now, all beautiful, and all unmarried.
I led by example this year and took my bride to the ceremony in it. (picture at end)
I had the car restored by Guy Broad in 1998 who did a superb job and I have not had a
problem with it in the following sixteen years.
I would recommend Guy to Redrose if manages to recover the car but these sort of restorations are not for the faint hearted.
|http://thumbsnap.com/poXL1u24[/url]When the restoration was completed, I took it to Browns Lane just before it closed for this photo
|http://thumbsnap.com/4vFrfxFl[/url]He had it ready for the Jabbeke celebrations in 1998 when they closed the motorway there for us to pay a tribute to Soapy Sutton’s run when he managed to do 124 mph with the hood up and 132 mph with the hood down and screen taken off. This shut the journalists up who had been questioning Jaguar’s claims that the car could do 120 mph.
The XK ran perfectly when it came to doing the timed speed runs and it was a great event to be part of. Here is a picture of Norman Dewis in front of the car in Bruges
town square.
|http://thumbsnap.com/LwVDkTyx[/url]Norman again pulling the birds in the XJ13
|http://thumbsnap.com/gkEk5aaQ[/url]And with the new Jaguar prototype, the XJ13, and an XJ220 behind
The old girl trying to keep up with a D Type and C Type on the Jabbeke highway.
|http://thumbsnap.com/6FqjRg0w[/url]Some great XK120 themes in the main square at Bruges
|http://thumbsnap.com/MA9v3w1H[/url][url]A glance in the rear view mirror reveals an original XKSS from America.
Very privileged to be part of the celebrations
Win Percy doing his run with a full head of steam.
[url][img[]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/rIzpgJ6K.jpg[/img]|http://thumbsnap.com/rIzpgJ6K[/ur]
On the way home from Jabbeke I came across a red E type which had been at the event. Bonnet up and clouds of steam. It had blown a core plug, luckily accessible in between the exhaust manifolds. All I had on me was a cheap Chinese made Swiss army knife copy which someone gave me. It had a saw blade on it so I ventured into the scrub on the side of the motorway and set about a small shrub. I manage to cut a wine bottle cork sized bit of branch, by which time there were no teeth left on the blade! Whittled it into shape and knocked it home into the hole left by the core plug, using a bit of carrier bag as ptfe tape. The next problem was how to fill the engine and radiator with water.
We found some plastic coke bottles on the side of the hard shoulder and I had to go down into the filthy ditch where there was about a couple of inches of black water.
The relay system using him and his wife took ages but we managed to fill the car and no leaks. Only just made the ferry and I was rewarded with a good lunch and many thanks.
I thought that was the end of the story as I never caught the man’s name or where he was from.
However a year later I was asked to play golf at Sheringham. Never play golf and never been to Sheringham before. Since it was a lovely day I took the XK120 overshot the golf club and turn sharp left into an industrial estate to turn round.
As I went in a lorry was reversing so I sharp turned right into the first unit. I was busy doing a ten point turn (not much lock!) when a man with a beard came running out of the office and I thought I was about to be told off.
“It’s you” he shouted
“Me?”
“Yes you rescued me in Belgium last year”
“But I do not recognise you”
“Oh, I have grown a beard since then!”
Can these sort of encounters really just be chance?
The car has starred in Miss Marple “The Body in the Library” filmed at Dorney Court with Joanna Lumley, and also another scene filmed at Chorleywood with Simon Callow.
Ben Miller driving Emma the body Cooke at Dorney Court
|http://thumbsnap.com/vc7Ugyz0[/url]Here is Joanna Lumley and James Fox talking to Ben Miller in the car with Emma Cooke who is about to become the body in the library.
|http://thumbsnap.com/8WAIb5Nq[/url]|http://thumbsnap.com/vNXbO97C[/url]June 2014
Should really be on the “Car I will never sell” thread.
As it states on the V5 I am only the keeper and to keep it in the family I am hoping for a petrolhead to marry one of those granddaughters!
Edited by Vanin on Tuesday 2nd December 07:08
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