Want "tool room" Jaguar D Type builder and advice
Discussion
I am searching for a builder that can provide detailed, best quality, correct replica of a 1955 (no fin) with long nose(1956) D-Type. Some builders offer live axle suspension, some offer 4 way independent suspension. Which is best for safety and road driving use? Is one better than the other? Anyone on this List know of or can suggest a high quality, builder that can provide a new, correct aluminum bonded and riveted paneled bodied replica of this car? Anywhere in the world? Lynx had a good reputation but they have changed management. Tempero in N.Z. has been contacted without reply, possibly due to the Covid-19 virus. Any help would be most appreciated.
Surely if you want a 'tool room' replica, it's got to be live axle, because that's what the originals were?
Anything else is merely a pastiche.
IRS is better - which is why not even the most budget shopping trolley lacks it these days - as would be modern brakes, electronic fuel injection, etc., but if you want a 'tool room' replica, that's missing the point.
Anything else is merely a pastiche.
IRS is better - which is why not even the most budget shopping trolley lacks it these days - as would be modern brakes, electronic fuel injection, etc., but if you want a 'tool room' replica, that's missing the point.
Wearing my ex Lynx Engineering hat now!
If you want a tool room copy then look for a Lynx replica from the late 80s. It will be Jaguar IRS but as somebody at Jaguar once commented to us, it is what they would have done anyway. That said they did make one de Dion suspended car but it was not successful. I think the set up we used was easily the best both for road comfort and for handling.
Although there are short nose cars that have been converted to long nose an original 1955 car would have been short nose plus small fin, this was always referred to as the 'tack on' fin since it was simply screwed on to the headrest to counter high speed straight line instability. The later long nose cars had a fully faired fin which was longer.
The original D Type structure was entirely riveted with the skin being made up of small segments butt welded into large sections which might have pieces riveted in, there was no bonding anywhere, our cars were constructed in exactly the same way. If I recall correctly we used one gauge thicker aluminium and also the lower outer skin of the tub used NS3 or NS4 rather than S1C used for the rest of the skin as it is much stronger. The tubular internal structure was slightly different on the Lynx but both ours and the original were Reynolds 531 bronze brazed.
The company now trading as Lynx have absolutely no connection with the original company so I cannot comment on their product. I suggest you contact Roy Kent at The Old Racing Car Company in Norfolk, they have several showrooms and he is both very knowledgeable and a massive fan of original Lynx cars of which he has sold quite a few.
Most of the original Lynx people are still in touch with each other and we still talk fairly regularly to update each other on events. Chris Keith-Lucas is still working under the name of CKL Developments. It was the most exciting and rewarding chapter in my working life and the most enormous privilege to have worked beside, and been educated by, some of the most brilliant engineers imaginable. Please feel free to PM me if you would like to talk in more detail.
If you want a tool room copy then look for a Lynx replica from the late 80s. It will be Jaguar IRS but as somebody at Jaguar once commented to us, it is what they would have done anyway. That said they did make one de Dion suspended car but it was not successful. I think the set up we used was easily the best both for road comfort and for handling.
Although there are short nose cars that have been converted to long nose an original 1955 car would have been short nose plus small fin, this was always referred to as the 'tack on' fin since it was simply screwed on to the headrest to counter high speed straight line instability. The later long nose cars had a fully faired fin which was longer.
The original D Type structure was entirely riveted with the skin being made up of small segments butt welded into large sections which might have pieces riveted in, there was no bonding anywhere, our cars were constructed in exactly the same way. If I recall correctly we used one gauge thicker aluminium and also the lower outer skin of the tub used NS3 or NS4 rather than S1C used for the rest of the skin as it is much stronger. The tubular internal structure was slightly different on the Lynx but both ours and the original were Reynolds 531 bronze brazed.
The company now trading as Lynx have absolutely no connection with the original company so I cannot comment on their product. I suggest you contact Roy Kent at The Old Racing Car Company in Norfolk, they have several showrooms and he is both very knowledgeable and a massive fan of original Lynx cars of which he has sold quite a few.
Most of the original Lynx people are still in touch with each other and we still talk fairly regularly to update each other on events. Chris Keith-Lucas is still working under the name of CKL Developments. It was the most exciting and rewarding chapter in my working life and the most enormous privilege to have worked beside, and been educated by, some of the most brilliant engineers imaginable. Please feel free to PM me if you would like to talk in more detail.
Mike-tf3n0 said:
...Chris Keith-Lucas is still working under the name of CKL Developments. It was the most exciting and rewarding chapter in my working life and the most enormous privilege to have worked beside, and been educated by, some of the most brilliant engineers imaginable. Please feel free to PM me if you would like to talk in more detail.
Complete thread derailment - and very sorry for that - but it would seem that Chris is the father of Sarah Keith-Lucas, the lovely meteorologist on the BBC 
.Sorry - as you were...
Mike-tf3n0 said:
Indeed so. She and her brother used to come to the works from time to time and were great favourites with all. It gives me great pleasure to see how that little girl is now grown into the lovely woman she has become.
Is Andrew still with CKL? He was last time I spoke to him, and Sarah I've met as a metrologist. It's a small world. Back to the topic, I'm sure Lowdrag will be along soon to give the current status (or pre-plague status) of the D-Type reproduction market place. I think he was suggesting some of the Jaguar continuation series cars might be coming to market soon at less than their original price.
Then as Mike was suggesting, if you want to know anything about Ds then CKL would be worth talking to.
Also as Mike was saying, a real recreation is going to be a live axle job. The Lynx cars were IRS and ride better, but from the time CKL took me for a drive on country roads in an original D they don't ride too badly on the road.
I think so but I haven't spoken to Chris since last year so can't be sure.
Regarding rear suspension, yes the live axle set up isn't bad all things considered but if you just think about the difference in unsprung weight between the two arrangements there is no way that heavy old axle could equal the irs arrangement, always assuming the two were set up properly of course.
Regarding rear suspension, yes the live axle set up isn't bad all things considered but if you just think about the difference in unsprung weight between the two arrangements there is no way that heavy old axle could equal the irs arrangement, always assuming the two were set up properly of course.
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