Tracking down an E Type.

[roygarth]

My parents-in-law bought one of the first E Types new in 1961. They went in it on their honeymoon through France. My father-in-law died recently and this photo came to light.
I thought it might be fun to track it down for my mother-in-law. Does anyone have any top tips which might help me track it down?

[Orcadian]

It's not on the DVLA site with that number as a Jaguar. The number is a Grimsby reg. Could try Grimsby newspaper to see if anyone remembers it. Not sure if Grimsby held on to their registration records when DVLA came along.
Jaguar clubs such as JEC and JDC might know something but E types rotted away in thousands and couldn't be given away in the 70's so may not be around anymore. I hope it is so that you can complete the story.
Ian

[MikeE]

That looks like an outside locking bonnet to me, if so I really hope it's survived and it's the most valuable of the production E-types being one of the first 90 or so produced

[roygarth]

MikeE said:

That looks like an outside locking bonnet to me, if so I really hope it's survived and it's the most valuable of the production E-types being one of the first 90 or so produced

I think my father-in-law said it was the 6th produced. He said driving through France was amazing as, well you can imagine, nobody had seen anything like it.

[a8hex]

roygarth said:

I think my father-in-law said it was the 6th produced. He said driving through France was amazing as, well you can imagine, nobody had seen anything like it.

Looking on http://www.xkedata.com "6" seems not to be listed. RHD OTS seem to start at 850001, only 850006 seems to be missing in the first 40 numbers.

You could try the E-Type club. I suspect they'll have someone who tracks these things, their sister club, the XK Club certainly does.

You could try the E-Type forum on Jag-Lovers too.

[MikeE]

a8hex said:

Looking on http://www.xkedata.com "6" seems not to be listed. RHD OTS seem to start at 850001, only 850006 seems to be missing in the first 40 numbers.

You could try the E-Type club. I suspect they'll have someone who tracks these things, their sister club, the XK Club certainly does.

You could try the E-Type forum on Jag-Lovers too.

850006 is missing because that's 4 WPD which became the first lightweight E-type in 1963, so I think we can discount the car in this thread being #6

[roygarth]

MikeE said:

a8hex said:

Looking on http://www.xkedata.com "6" seems not to be listed. RHD OTS seem to start at 850001, only 850006 seems to be missing in the first 40 numbers.

You could try the E-Type club. I suspect they'll have someone who tracks these things, their sister club, the XK Club certainly does.

You could try the E-Type forum on Jag-Lovers too.

850006 is missing because that's 4 WPD which became the first lightweight E-type in 1963, so I think we can discount the car in this thread being #6

I'll check with my mother-in-law to see what else she remembers re. build number etc.

[MikeE]

roygarth said:

I'll check with my mother-in-law to see what else she remembers re. build number etc.

If you know the interior and exterior colour when new and where in the country it was bought you should be able to identify it on the e-type register as it's only chassis number 850001 - 850090 you need to consider, and most of these have the original spec colour and interior listed

[roygarth]

MikeE said:

roygarth said:

I'll check with my mother-in-law to see what else she remembers re. build number etc.

If you know the interior and exterior colour when new and where in the country it was bought you should be able to identify it on the e-type register as it's only chassis number 850001 - 850090 you need to consider, and most of these have the original spec colour and interior listed

It was bought near Grimsby. I'll confirm interior colour but pretty sure it was black. Do you have a link please to the register?

[a8hex]

roygarth said:

MikeE said:

a8hex said:

Looking on http://www.xkedata.com "6" seems not to be listed. RHD OTS seem to start at 850001, only 850006 seems to be missing in the first 40 numbers.

You could try the E-Type club. I suspect they'll have someone who tracks these things, their sister club, the XK Club certainly does.

You could try the E-Type forum on Jag-Lovers too.

850006 is missing because that's 4 WPD which became the first lightweight E-type in 1963, so I think we can discount the car in this thread being #6

I'll check with my mother-in-law to see what else she remembers re. build number etc.

Chassis numbers aren't generally the sort of thing people remember.
I wonder whether someone like Terry McGrath or Philip Porter has written a book tracing the histories of the early E-Types.

[MikeE]

a8hex said:

roygarth said:

MikeE said:

a8hex said:

Looking on http://www.xkedata.com "6" seems not to be listed. RHD OTS seem to start at 850001, only 850006 seems to be missing in the first 40 numbers.

You could try the E-Type club. I suspect they'll have someone who tracks these things, their sister club, the XK Club certainly does.

You could try the E-Type forum on Jag-Lovers too.

850006 is missing because that's 4 WPD which became the first lightweight E-type in 1963, so I think we can discount the car in this thread being #6

I'll check with my mother-in-law to see what else she remembers re. build number etc.

Chassis numbers aren't generally the sort of thing people remember.
I wonder whether someone like Terry McGrath or Philip Porter has written a book tracing the histories of the early E-Types.

Not sure if you got my point so appologies if I'm restating something you know anyway but 850006 was used as the prooptotype for the lightweight E-types in 1963 and given the new chassis number S850006 and hence that's why it's not in the list you provided

[MikeE]

roygarth said:

It was bought near Grimsby. I'll confirm interior colour but pretty sure it was black. Do you have a link please to the register?

Maybe it's this one then:

850029 supplied to J.M. Greatham, Lincs?

[roygarth]

MikeE said:

roygarth said:

It was bought near Grimsby. I'll confirm interior colour but pretty sure it was black. Do you have a link please to the register?

Maybe it's this one then:

850029 supplied to J.M. Greatham, Lincs?

Yes! That's him. Where is link to this information? Does that mean it was 29th built?
So what do I do now to see if its still alive so to speak? Many thanks BTW.

[Roy C]

http://www.xkedata.com/cars/detail/?car=850029

[MikeE]

roygarth said:

MikeE said:

roygarth said:

It was bought near Grimsby. I'll confirm interior colour but pretty sure it was black. Do you have a link please to the register?

Maybe it's this one then:

850029 supplied to J.M. Greatham, Lincs?

Yes! That's him. Where is link to this information? Does that mean it was 29th built?
So what do I do now to see if its still alive so to speak? Many thanks BTW.

Was JM Greatham your father in law then?

If so then I guess this is the car in the picture here http://www.xkedata.com/cars/detail/?car=850029

Look at the comments at the bottom of the http://www.xkedata.com/cars/detail/?car=850029 page, you'll see it was reregistered as 29XKE so you could update the comments to say it was originally registered REE 300


It's also shown being restored at the bottom of this page http://www.classicautosports.com/Work_in_Progress.... so these guys might be able to put you in contact with the current owner

[roygarth]

MikeE said:

roygarth said:

MikeE said:

roygarth said:

It was bought near Grimsby. I'll confirm interior colour but pretty sure it was black. Do you have a link please to the register?

Maybe it's this one then:

850029 supplied to J.M. Greatham, Lincs?

Yes! That's him. Where is link to this information? Does that mean it was 29th built?
So what do I do now to see if its still alive so to speak? Many thanks BTW.

Was JM Greatham your father in law then?

If so then I guess this is the car in the picture here http://www.xkedata.com/cars/detail/?car=850029

Look at the comments at the bottom of the http://www.xkedata.com/cars/detail/?car=850029 page, you'll see it was reregistered as 29XKE so you could update the comments to say it was originally registered REE 300


It's also shown being restored at the bottom of this page http://www.classicautosports.com/Work_in_Progress.... so these guys might be able to put you in contact with the current owner

Yes John Greatham was my father-in-law.

This such good news. My hope was to find the current owner and see if my mother-in-law (Elizabeth Greatham) could be re-united with the car. Would be fun to make it a surprise and film it etc. I'll keep you all posted on developments.

Again many thanks for your help thus far.

[Carsie]

What a great end to a story, bet you're feeling seriously chuffed at that response Roy

Well done PH lads!

[Orcadian]

If REE 500 and 29 XKE are one and the same car, then 29 XKE is indeed alive and well and has tax and MOT and is still white! There seems to be a slight anomaly with the DVLA info (surprise, surprise!) in that although it shows up as a 1961 car, first registration was 2006. This could mean that it died and then was granted its number on a non transferable basis after resurrection, or that it was exported and re-imported at that time. It seems to have been in fairly constant use sine 2006 and is now showing just over 70,000 miles - or at least, the speedo is!
All in all a very fascinating story just from an old picture - you should write this up for a Jaguar magazine - I'll bet more info would surface too. I hope your Mother in law can be reunited with it sometime.
Ian

[roygarth]

Carsie said:

What a great end to a story, bet you're feeling seriously chuffed at that response Roy

Well done PH lads!

Very chuffed! I'll speak to Classic Autosports and see if they can put me in touch with current owner.

Just realised that the new number plate refers to the fact that it was 29th XKE built. Cool.

Thanks again. I'll keep everyone posted.

[MikeE]

roygarth said:

Carsie said:

What a great end to a story, bet you're feeling seriously chuffed at that response Roy

Well done PH lads!

Very chuffed! I'll speak to Classic Autosports and see if they can put me in touch with current owner.

Just realised that the new number plate refers to the fact that it was 29th XKE built. Cool.

Thanks again. I'll keep everyone posted.

Yes let us know how you get on, would be good to see some pictures of #29 today

Just so you know Roy the chassis number of your father in laws car is 850029 which means it was the 29th right hand drive open two seater (convertible in other words. On the register it's referred to as a RHD OTS). There will have been a number (have no idea how many) of RHD FHC (fixed head coupe), LHD OTS and LHD FHC built prior to 850029 rolling off the production line.

Saying that it's the outside locking bonnet RHD OTS which are the holy grail of production E-types so 850029 really is/was a special car.

If you have time to look through the register I referenced you'll notice that the vast majority of this first batch of 90 are still alive and well, which is remarkable given that in the 70's they really were unloved but I guess with values as they are now then virtually any condition was a viable restoration project.