Jaguar Heritage News
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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 Rover into the pattern of life at the British Motor Defender, a Mini 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 Land Rover 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 Coventry 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 Daimler Majestic 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. 2 This Daimler has some interesting design details original cars as possible. In the inaugural race including a two cylinder engine 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 Sports Car 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.