JAGUAR HERITAGE TRUST NEWS ISSUE 8 – March - April 2016

Welcome to the eighth issue of ‘The Trust’ – the that the Trust’s oldest car, an 1897 Daimler newsletter for the Jaguar Heritage Trust. Phaeton now has pride of place in the entrance gallery of the main museum, sitting alongside The last two months have been something of an other icons of the British car industry including adjustment period for the Trust team - settling the famous HUE 166, the first ever Land into the pattern of life at the British Motor Defender, a and of course a Series 1 Museum following its grand re-opening in Jaguar E-type. February and also getting used to the new working relationship with the Jaguar Classic organisation as reported in the last issue. That doesn’t mean we haven’t still been busy supporting events and working on cars – read on for details…..

British Motor Museum update

The refurbished British Motor Museum and the new Collections Centre have proven to be very popular with visitors since the re-opening on The Daimler, which is the oldest surviving February 13. Like for like visitor numbers built car, had recently been brought through to the end of March showed an amazing back from the National Motor Museum at 78% increase over the same period in 2015. Beaulieu where it had been on loan for a couple The optional tours of the Collections Centre of years. More about this unique car later… have been a major draw with almost all visitors wanting to come and see the reserve car A few more vehicles have also been brought collections. To deal with this demand, at over and put into the Collections Centre or the weekends and during school holidays it proved workshop including the Trust’s newly necessary to allow visitors to access the building refurbished 1956 long nose D-type and a couple on a continuous basis rather than booking onto of the ongoing restoration project cars – the a timed tour – but with numbers restricted to 200 1901 Lanchester 12hp Tonneau and the 1964 in the Centre at any one time, there were still Major. Because the doors to some queues at peak times! the ground floor of the Collections Centre were temporarily broken, these cars had to be towed up the access ramp to the upper level – a little nerve wracking as the Majestic Major had no brakes and weighs over two tonnes!

The vehicles on display in the Jaguar Zone – eight of the most iconic sports/racing cars in the collection - have not changed so far, although some car swaps are likely to be needed as we The 1964 Daimler Majestic Major head into the busier events season. One change arriving at the Collections Centre that visitors will notice from late April onwards is 1

Events Review: gatherings over successive weekend. The first of these was the inaugural Jaguar Breakfast March and April proved to be fairly quiet months Meet held on April 2, which proved to be with no major external events, although a extremely popular - with more than 150 Jaguars number of the Trust’s cars were called upon to (and their proud owners) turning up at Gaydon. support local activities.

In late March we were able to provide a rather special retirement present for a colleague from Jaguar Land Rover who had been involved with the Trust over the years.

This event is the brainchild of Peter Simpson, member of both the JEC and XKEC, and is planned to take place on the first Saturday of each month. All Jaguar and Daimler owners are welcome to attend – click here for further information.

Those attending the first meeting were able to enjoy a hot breakfast in the museum cafeteria before gaining exclusive access to the new Mark’s smile says it all as he anticipates his Collections Centre building where Jonathan ride in the D-type with Richard Mason driving Partridge, Vehicle Collection Manager for the Jaguar Heritage Mark White, Chief Engineer Advanced Body in Trust gave a brief JLR Product Development, had decided to take talk about the cars early retirement on medical grounds at the end on display. To set of March. Mark played a crucial role in the the scene, three development of the advanced aluminium cars from the construction of all the current Jaguar product Trust's collection range and was well known to the media as a were parked spokesperson on this subject at many of the outside the new model launches over the last decade. building - the ex- works 1956 long nose D-type, a 1958 XK150 DHC and the famous 1961 Series 1 E- type OTS (reg 77RW) which is the first right hand drive convertible to be built.

60 years of evolution – the D-type alongside The following Saturday April 9, it Mark’s F-TYPE R was the turn of the Daimler and

Lanchester Owners’ Club to host As a fitting send off, arrangements were secretly its AGM and Spring Conference made to roll out the Trust’s recently refurbished at Gaydon. 1956 long nose D-type to take Mark for a brisk run round the back lanes near Gaydon. Not To provide an appropriate welcome for the only is this car celebrating its 60th birthday this delegates, three of the Trust’s older vehicles year, but the D-type was also the first Jaguar to were put on display outside the Collections adopt an all-aluminium monocoque construction Centre. The line-up included the Trust’s oldest similar to today’s products. car, an 1897 Daimler Phaeton, recently returned from the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu Staying close to home, the beginning of April where visitors have been enjoying it for the last saw the British Motor Museum host two Club two years.

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This Daimler has some interesting design details original cars as possible. In the inaugural race including a two cylinder that uses hot held on 14 May 1966, renowned historic racer tube ignition and a folding hood made out of Neil Corner won in his Jaguar D-type from the elephant hide! Lotus Mk10 of Chris Warwick-Drake, with the Aston Martin DB3S of John Le Sage finishing in It was lined up alongside another veteran, the third place. 1901 Lanchester 12hp Tonneau, which is also a fascinating example of early automotive engineering with a horizontally opposed twin cylinder engine and 3-speed epicyclic gearbox. Completing the trio was the 1913 Daimler TE30 Cranmore Landaulet with its 6 cylinder sleeve valve engine still amazing onlookers with its near silent operation.

Some of the cars that took part were the originals from 50 years ago and for those that were not available, a car of the same make and model was used. The Trust was very pleased to be able to supply its 1956 long-nose D-type (393 RW) to represent the winning D-type from 1966. Technician Dave Withers lined the D-type up on the front row of the re-formed grid and after a After the normal AGM business was completed, public walkabout all the cars did a number of Tim Hannig, JLR Classic Director, gave a short parade laps round the historic circuit. talk to the delegates to explain his new organisation and its various commercial activities which was followed by Jonathan Partridge providing an update on the JDHT and specifically its collection of 30 Daimlers and Lanchesters. A break was then taken to pay a visit to the Collections Centre and technician Dave Withers delighted the crowds by firing up the 1897 Daimler – always a slightly scary process with naked flames in the engine compartment!

Media Activities:

The Trust often gets called upon to supply cars from its collection to the media in support of magazine features or TV programmes. In early March we were contacted by Murray Scullion from Classic Car Weekly who was looking for an early XK8 (X100) to take for a run to th At short notice the Trust was then asked if it celebrate the 20 anniversary of its launch this could support the Historic Club year. (HSCC) 50th anniversary celebrations at Castle Combe race circuit on April 16. Fortunately, a suitable car was available – but only just! The car concerned is a 1997 XK8 A key element of the weekend’s activities at the coupé (P55 XKB) that was generously gifted to Wiltshire track was a re-staging of the 1966 grid the Trust by its second owner in 2005 when it from the first Griffiths Formula race for sports had only covered 5000 miles from new. For the cars from 1945 to 1955, using as many of the last couple of years it has been on display in the 3

Jaguar Gallery at the Coventry Transport Museum but by good fortune it was swapped during February for another unregistered XK8 in the collection that was the original Geneva Motor Show reveal car from 1996.

The 1997 XK8 in the Coventry Transport Museum before its removal

After such a long period in the museum, P55 XKB needed some thorough preparation work and a new set of tyres – particularly as the CCW team were planning a pilgrimage run out to Jabbeke in Belgium. We were then contacted by Shiver Productions (part of ITV) who are producing a new TV series featuring car obsessed celebrities. The details of the series and its name are still secret at the moment but it aims to reunite the celebrities with cars that have played an important part in their lives. The Trust was contacted because one of the featured celebrities has had quite a lot of experience in one of our vehicles and has fallen in love with it to the point of giving it a nickname – Betsy! On April 20 Betsy (better known as the 1953 XK120 OOF 748) was duly despatched to Goodwood for filming to take place. No prizes Journey’s end – P55 XKB at the memorial to for guessing who the happy celebrity was… Norman Dewis’ 172mph speed record in 1953 (photo courtesy of CCW)

As Jaguar historians will know, Jabbeke was the town where the original XK120 set an astonishing speed record of 172.412mph over a flying mile on 20th October 1953 with none other than legendary test driver Norman Dewis at the wheel. Murray and his colleague James Sadlier drove P55 at a slightly more sedate pace out to Jabbeke in memory of this great feat and to celebrate the long lineage of the XK.

The finished article appeared in the 13th April edition of Classic Car Weekly and described the The 1953 XK120 getting ready for the shoot trials and tribulations that were had securing the (how many cameras does it take?) replacement set of tyres as well as Murray and Look out for the programme screening on UK James’s driving impressions of the near 20 year TV later this year. old XK8 – which were mostly very favourable!

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Archive News: many places for various body repairs to be made prior to the all-important re-paint. Because of the museum displays and external events, the vehicle collection is often the most visible aspect of the Trust’s activity. However, the Archive team also plays a vital role for the Trust collecting, cataloguing, preserving and conserving a vast range of company documents, records, artefacts and other materials relating to the history of Jaguar and its predecessor marques.

Heading up this team is Faye McLeod who is a professionally trained archivist and who has strong links with many of the professional bodies including the Archives and Records Association for which she acts as Training Officer for the Section for Business Records (SBR). In this capacity, Faye has played a key role in setting up the first SBR Summer Workshop which will take place at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon on Thursday 23rd June.

This full-day workshop will explore the theme of “making your archive relevant to your business” and will include four speakers currently working in the business archive sector, a panel session and a tour of the Museum. One of the guest speakers will be Martyn Hollingsworth (Chief Programme Engineer, Jaguar Classic) who has been leading the engineering side of the programme to build the six re-created light- weight Jaguar E-types. Titled ‘The Missing Six’, Martyn’s talk will outline the painstaking efforts that have gone into building these cars using plans that had lain dormant within the

Jaguar Heritage Archive for over 50 years.

For more information or to book a place at this workshop, please visit the ARA site here.

Vehicle Collection News:

As mentioned in the last edition of The Trust, the biggest restoration project to be undertaken in the first part of the year was to the Trust’s 1956 long nose D-type XKD-605 (reg 393RW). The work was entrusted to XK Engineering in Shilton near Coventry who have many years experience in classic car painting and renovation. As the pictures below show, the car was dismantled and stripped back to the bare aluminium in

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As this unique former works D-type is snippet of Jaguar or Daimler related information. celebrating its 60th birthday this year, one of the One such was received from Colin Cook, a key questions was how to finish the car in terms senior PR Manager at Jaguar for many years, of its racing decals. Although it sported number who was in Malaysia during March for a family 1 when it raced in the Le Mans 24 hours (where wedding. He was rather surprised to come it came 6th) it was decided to opt for the number across this Daimler in the grounds of it wore for its successful first outing in the Reims the restored Governor’s House in the state of 12 hour race in June 1956 which was 25. Melaka (Malacca as was).

XKD-605 heading for victory at Reims in June 1956 driven by Duncan Hamilton and Ivor Bueb As Colin explained, “It was the former official car The decals were duly applied by XK Engineering for the Governor of the state and was I think, and the finished car was collected in mid-March. finally retired in 1986. It is now quietly on It is currently on display in the Collections display in the grounds of the Governor's Centre at Gaydon where it has been much House. The car could probably do with a bit of admired. restoration but it certainly wasn't in bad condition. Several feral cats seem to have adopted the roof as a noontime resting post!”

It is amazing how many Daimlers (in particular) seem to have found their way to far-flung countries. Thanks to Colin for this story and he also disclosed that he was responsible for the choice of ‘Corsica’ as the name applied to the 1996 Daimler concept reported in the last issue of The Trust, as he was a big admirer of the original Daimler Corsica coupé from 1931.

George Buck:

We were very sad to hear that George Buck had died on 18th April at Myton Hospice near Warwick at the age of 92. After an apprenticeship and various engineering jobs - including a stint at Vincent Motorcycles where he supervised a young John Surtees starting

out on his career – It is hoped to be able to put the Trust’s 1953 C- George joined Jaguar in type through a similar process in the near future 1958 as a development subject to any demands for it to appear at engineer and worked his forthcoming events. way through the ranks, ending up as a senior News from abroad: member of the powertrain engineering Feedback from the recipients of The Trust is team before his always welcome whether it be related to retirement in 1986. something they have read or just an interesting 6

He was involved in the development of the Contact Reminder and Update: engine for the ill-fated XJ13 but he was most closely associated with the 5.3 litre twin cam Following the move to Gaydon, our new address V12 production engine which powered the E- is: type, XJS and five series of XJ saloons. George Jaguar Heritage Trust retired to live in Barford near Warwick and Collections Centre continued to tinker with various projects in his British Motor Museum garage, particularly motorcycles which remained Banbury Road a life-long passion. He was very proud of his Gaydon achievement in winning the 1966 British Hill CV35 0BJ Climb championship on an AJS 7R motorcycle. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses are George’s funeral was held at Oakley Wood unchanged. Crematorium near Barford and was attended by many of his contemporaries including Norman A reminder that all enquiries relating to Jaguar Dewis – pictured below with George at Nigel Heritage Trust vehicles should be sent to Webb’s celebration event in May 2013. [email protected] or by calling +44 (0) 24 7656 4431.

For further information on any of the items in this newsletter or copies of any of the images, please contact Jonathan Partridge on the number above or e-mail: [email protected]

© Jaguar Heritage Trust – May 2016

We would like to offer our condolences to George’s son Les and the rest of his family.

The year ahead:

At the time of going to press with this issue, the future events calendar is looking a little less busy than in prior years although it has recently been confirmed that the 1956 long nose D-type th th and 1966 XJ13 (celebrating their 60 and 50 www.jaguarheritage.com anniversaries respectively) will be running at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed which is taking place from June 23-26.

At a similar time it is also hoped that some of the Trust’s cars will be joining in the Queen’s official 90th birthday celebrations in London.

On the Club front, the Trust will be supporting the Daimler and Lanchester Owners’ Club at the Bristol Motor Show on June 18-19 with its 1901 Lanchester which will be joining an 1897 Daimler Wagonette. A selection of Trust cars will also be going to Coombe Abbey for the Jaguar Drivers’ Club 60th anniversary celebration on August 7. More details on these events in the next issue.

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