Jaguar Classic have been making headlines lately, for all of the right reasons. Mirroring the rate of pace of the modern department responsible for cars like the E-Pace and I-Pace, large-scale vintage projects have been flying out of the new Jaguar Classic Works facility in Coventry at a barely believable rate.
Just in the past few years alone, we’ve been awed at the D-Type, XKSS and E-Type Lightweight continuation cars. These stunning exact copies of the immortal originals are as bespoke and time consuming to build as a car can be, and Classic Works are making a combined total of 40 of them. Through their Reborn series they’re now offering complete ground-up restorations, they have engineered and built the all-electric E-Type Zero, they are offering servicing and detailed pre-purchase inspections on classic models, they’ve launched an entire parts division to supply Jaguar Classic genuine parts, and they maintain a fleet of Jaguar exotics which are shown and raced all over the world.
In anyone’s language, Jaguar Classic have been pretty busy of late. And that’s without even mentioning the 543-car strong Dr James Hull collection that they acquired in 2014, which was amalgamated with their existing collection.
All of these expanding operations take up a great deal of space, and it’s no wonder that they would eventually look to sell off some of the more esoteric corners of their collection. It’s obvious that cars like the SS100, C-Type, D-Type, XJ13, the Group 44 E-Type, Broadspeed XJ12, XJR-9, R3 Formula One car, Concept 8, and the various Bond cars all have their place secured in the JLR heritage collection. But do they really need a 1960 Borgward Isabella?
Dr Hull devoted himself to assembling this £100million collection, and its high concentration of rare and well-preserved Jaguars was likely the reason behind JLR’s purchase. But as Jaguar Classic’s operations have expanded, the time has come to shift the, shall we say, less sexy machines.
Brightwells will sell 108 cars and over 200 pedal cars from the JLR collection at a dedicated auction at Bicester Heritage on Wednesday March 21. While it’s all pretty low-end stuff in the scheme of the collector car world, there are some genuine oddities in the sale and most examples feature low miles or extreme rarity. What’s more, there are no reserves on any of the lots, and some great bargains are sure to be had.
Fancy a 1991 Austin Metro Clubman L Automatic with just 10,132 miles on the clock? A 1972 Austin 1300 Countryman showing just 16,162? Or a 1996 Lada Riva Estate that has been driven just 4,200 miles and has never been presented for its first MOT?
Take that pretty Isabella, for example. It will need minor recommissioning, but it is one of just a small number of UK-delivered right-hand drive cars, and its last tax disk is dated 1975. There’s a stunning 1938 Peugeot 402, a rare Reliant Scimitar Ferguson 4×4 prototype, and the only Jaguar powered lot – a speed boat called ‘Moon Blazer’, in need of a full restoration.
It’s pretty obvious that Jaguar Classic do not need these cars in their collection, in fact, we’re wondering how they managed to hold on to them for so long in the first place. But we’re also slightly thrilled, because a lot of genuinely enthusiastic people are going to get their hands on some truly interesting cars, and likely for a bargain price.
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Words by Andrew Coles
