Lynx Eventer XJS . Where are they all ?

[tr7v8]

That is dreadful ^^^^^ What on earth made them think that was a good idea:-(

[BDF!]

chris.mapey said:

I posted these a while ago that I found on another website...
Looks like that there is at least one less Eventer...
Chris

The one destroyed by Marc Watkins, it looked restorable before he raced it!



At least 3 or 4 were destroyed,
- the one bangered by Marc Watkins
- possibly another one bangered in 2007 by some Sasha Martindale (not confirmed)
- one seen recently in a scrapyard in Sussex (hardly damaged and not repairable)
- probably a 4th one from which I bought the tailgate on e-bay few monthes ago (either it was dismantled, either it run without tailgate )

Edited by BDF! on Wednesday 1st October 23:24

Edited by BDF! on Wednesday 1st October 23:25

Edited by BDF! on Wednesday 1st October 23:27

[jag guru]

chris.mapey said:

I posted these a while ago that I found on another website...

Looks like that there is at least one less Eventer...



After...





Chris

Sacrilege....................surely they could have found
something else for banger racing. And sold this on to someone, anyone
who was prepared to restore it.
The guy MUST have known what he had here.There's any amount of
mass produced tat would done for this purpose.This is effectively a
bespoke car he's trashed !
This image has been in my head all day !
AAARGHHHHH !

Edited by jag guru on Thursday 2nd October 18:41

[BDF!]

jag guru said:

Sacrilege....................surely they could have found
something else for banger racing. The guy MUST have known what he had here.

Edited by jag guru on Thursday 2nd October 18:41

Of course he knew what he did! Bangers are prized for the rarest car to be destroyed!

[i] "Marc Watkins, born 1972. Marc has always been interested in Banger racing from an early age. He first started racing when he was 14 in an under 16 non contact formula at Trent Raceway (Needwood Raceway). A lot of other drivers have been brought up on this track, namely almost all of The Barton Boys. Marc has raced in other formulas, such as Street Stox, Bombers and Rebels. His favourite race is the figure of eight held at Hednesford Raceway.

He is nearly always picked to race for the Incarace team and has raced at quite a few different tracks up and down the country. Marc has numerous wins under his belt but is probably better known for his aggressive racing for the Incarace team which have done really well in the inter promotion team races, winning the Championship regularly.

He has been called up to race for the North team on every occasion so far, to race in probably the most explosive Banger meeting in this country, THE CIVIL WAR (North V South), which is normally held at Hednesford Hills Raceway. He's claim to fame is winning the Demolition Derby at CIVIL WAR 1 in the rarest car of the day, a V12 5.3 Jaguar XJS Eventer (estate)." [/i]

[lowdrag]

Interesting photo that Chris. I wonder though if you know that there was a french firm who took a fibreglass mould of an Eventer and sdtarted to make some themselves? Not many because the name is registered to Lynx and they got a bit angry about it. We went to Goodwood in one of the two 3.6 litres this year (#42) - here we are wafting through the early morning mist:-



The other 3.6 Eventer belonged to David Steele, the ex Liberal party leader, for many years and is now owned by someone I met recently. Incidentally, there were two on Ebay at the same time some months back, one admittedly in need of serious bodywork and the other with full history, restored in 2001 and yet no one even put in a bid at the reserve of £5,000. CKL sold one a few months back at £11,500 and that wasn't perfect but then all these cars are old now and basically just a rusty XJS. If the original poster wants some help on finding one would he please send me a PM? I think that they are the perfect gentleman's express with loads of luggage room and even two vestigial back seats - I've spent some time spread across the rear seat! Fuel consumption is the bugbear of course and even in the 3.6 it struggles to do better than 19mpg even on a continental tour.

Edit: the ex president of my french Jaguar club bought a LHD burgundy V12 a couple of years back and is delighted with it. Can't find the photo I took for the moment. However, here's a photo I took while touring in 1995. I still miss my S type saloon but then we can't have everything!

Edited by lowdrag on Tuesday 7th October 09:14

[lowdrag]

Found the V12 photo. This taken at the end of a rather good evening chez moi during the Le Mans Classic 2006:-

[BDF!]

Hi lowdrag, I've just sent you an e-mail...

About the second one Eventer 3.6L you know (not the one from MPP), could you please help me to contact his owner?
At my knowledge, there are 3 Eventers 3.6L:
-#42 at MPP
-#22 accidented at rear and for sale in Australia for 2 years
http://www.lynxeventer.com/products/eventer%20n%c2...
-and the third one you know in UK and still unknown to me
According to my info's all of them should be equiped with manual gearbox.

If you could find some time to look at my website, I'll be pleased to have your feedback and to know about others Eventers you may know that I don't.

Best regards, Pascal

[richw_82]

I remember seeing two Eventers up at Derek Watson's in Bakewell a couple of years ago. One was a complete rebuild form the ground up, and had been fitted with XJS Cabriolet style Targa panels in the roof. The other was a V12 that was a little down at the heeel and for sale as it was.

Anybody know the fate of these two?

Ric

[BDF!]

Hi Ric,

The one with the targa roof (exclusive modification made by Derek Watson) appears on the web site of DW.
It could be owned by a JEC members as it takes part to the Entente Cordiale in 2007
http://www.lynxeventer.com/products/eventer-bleu-r...

The other one could be Eventer n°27 (a grey one with a sun roof). It's still for sale at a very low price, 1st owner and unrestored, but it needs a complete overhaul. I know the owner, so I may help if someone is interested in this project.
http://www.lynxeventer.com/products/eventer%20n%c2...

[richw_82]

Nice site..

I don't know a buyer for the Eventer, sorry. I always felt a bit sorry for it. I used to go up to Watsons quite a bit when my brother worked there, I think he may have had something to do with the Targa panelled car.

Ric

[BDF!]

Hi Ric,

N°27 is in good hands but belong to someone who simply can't make use of it. Phil will not let it go anywhere and certainly not to a breaker.

About the targa, your brother could possibly help me to know more about this particular job? It seems the targa start at the junction of the original XJS roof and of the new roof fitted by Lynx. This junction is very prone to rust. I can imagine this exemple was very rusty and DW prefered to cut it off. S why not replace it with a targa?

Thank you

[richw_82]

I will ask...

Regards

Ric

edited to add....

Just spoke to my brother by phone, he did work on this car, he's going to give me some detail when I see him later on tonight.

Edited by richw_82 on Friday 24th October 10:50

[lowdrag]

BDF! said:

Hi Ric,

N°27 is in good hands but belong to someone who simply can't make use of it. Phil will not let it go anywhere and certainly not to a breaker.

About the targa, your brother could possibly help me to know more about this particular job? It seems the targa start at the junction of the original XJS roof and of the new roof fitted by Lynx. This junction is very prone to rust. I can imagine this exemple was very rusty and DW prefered to cut it off. S why not replace it with a targa?

Thank you

I think you'll find that Lynx did not weld their roof extension to the old XJS roof but fitted a completely new roof. Any rusting therefore is probably down to water penetration around the traga.

[BDF!]

lowdrag said:

I think you'll find that Lynx did not weld their roof extension to the old XJS roof but fitted a completely new roof.

Hi Lowdrag,

There's no doubt that Lynx weld the new roof on the remaining part of the old one. On older Eventers the roof was even possibly cutted between both B pillars as you can see here


But usually the original roof was cutted 15 to 20 cm back from the front screen and following a curved line.


I know in the press it was said Lynx used a one piece roof but it was spotted to the old one. It was in one piece from side to side and from the place it started to the tailgate. Nobody ever said it started from the front screen...

On the pictures bellow you can distictively see the rust line running on the junction of the new roof. It's one of the usual rusty place on Eventers






Best regards

Edited by BDF! on Monday 27th October 22:20

[lowdrag]

To hell with the Eventer, just look at the background of the first photo! Probably a couple of real ones in there amongst the Lynx replicas I reckon.

[williamp]

I'd love an evanter. Such a shame people like banger racers exist...

[BDF!]

lowdrag said:

To hell with the Eventer, just look at the background of the first photo!

Eventers are rarest than D Type (from wikipedia: "Production is thought to have included 53 customer D-Types, 18 factory team cars, and 16 XKSS versions")

Lowdrag, you know them better than I do, so let us know...

This one at the foreground should be a true one, not a fake


What about these (don't look at the Eventers )...

[richw_82]

Morning!

Sorry for taking a while but I managed to pin down the little brother this weekend.

The complete targa section from the windscreen back to the folding portion and the complete rollover hoop and side pillars were taken from a donor cabriolet. The roof of the Eventer was measured and cut to finish where the cabriolet folding roof would start... and the forward section of the Eventer roof removed from the original welds.

Apparently the only "hard part" (that's what the brother said...) was having the rear side glasses cut down because of the thicker cabriolet side pillars fitted.

Regards

Ric

[BDF!]

Hi Ric,
Thanks for these interesting info's. Is "little brother" still working for Derek Watson?
Regards, Pascal

[richw_82]

No he left about 18 months ago, due to a health issue. He still has an appettite for old Jaguars though which often benefits me!!

Regards

Ric