Magazine Article 002          My First Jaguar          by          Ian Cowan

I don’t really remember when I first became aware of Jaguar as a make of car.  I do have a vague recollection of my father picking me up from school in a Mk V1, and I had my first drive with L plates in a Mk V11 through what I remember as a rather busy main street in Stafford.  As you might have guessed my father was a car enthusiast and I remember him working under our cars in the pit he dug in the garage, and I have vivid memories of a well equipped workshop with welding and spray facilities.  He must have kindled my enthusiasm for Jaguars and I clearly remember getting up in the middle of the night to listen to the reports from Le Mans to find out if the Jaguars were leading.

My first car was a Ford Special, but the story about that will have to wait for another time.  Sufficient to say I went through six engines and seven gearboxes and numerous other parts, and around 1962 I reckoned that I needed something a little stronger.  (My parents attempted to persuade me to buy a Hillman Husky Estate as I was engaged to Jacquie and they felt that I really needed a good solid!!? car with room for a family, but I had other ideas).  It was then that I spotted an XK120 for sale at Caterham Cars, south of London and I must have persuaded my father that it was worth driving all the way down to look at it.  As I remember the salesman was a gentleman by the name of Graham Nearn.  He was asking the enormous sum of £100 which may seem a bargain now, but was a lot of money to a poor engineering apprentice!  He actually tried to sell me a Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica for the same money but my eyes were very firmly fixed on a slightly tatty dark green XK and Jacquie and I left for home in my first Jaguar.  I remember it was a cold December day with some snow around and the drive back was long and hard.  The hood didn’t fit, and on the way up the A5 near Rugby the dynamo almost fell off.  We scrounged a nut and bolt from the Gibbet Garage and were soon on our way again.  I think my dad accompanying us driving a Mk2, but I can not be sure of that.  One thing I am certain of is that it was a Jaguar.

After a good look around the car it was not long before the body of the 120 was removed from the chassis and we discovered the inevitable corrosion.  Jaguars in their wisdom used aluminum packers between the chassis and body.  It didn’t take long for the action of salt from the road to turn these into white powder making the body removal very easy.  After a lot of cutting and welding the car went back together ….. but…. I reckoned I needed the safety of a hard top following some interesting experiences in the Ford Special.  A visit to a local scrap yard yielded a steel hardtop from an MGA.  A certain amount of panel work followed by a quick respray and the car was mobile.

For the first few months I was regularly running out of petrol as I was not used to a car that used fuel as rapidly as the XK.  Having said that, petrol was somewhat cheaper in those days!  I also recollect numerous core plugs blowing out and having to be fixed at the side of the road.  After the second incident I started carrying spares, although the core plug at the back of the engine did cause more trouble when it came out on a test run up the newly opened Stafford bypass.  This road was later incorporated into the M6.

The car was ready to use when Jacquie and I went on our honeymoon, and ran well with the exception of the exhaust which split in Switzerland.  I was able to convince the garage opposite our hotel that I could weld and they kindly let me use their equipment.  (I think that is known as starting married life as you mean to go on.)  I do remember setting off on the way down France after our second night on the wrong side of the road.  Our first encounter of the day was with three gendarmes on motorbikes.  Having narrowly missed us they were all for booking me until we told them we were on honeymoon and they then wished us well and waved us on!  We were given a very hard time by the Customs officers on our return to the UK.  It may have been the car rather than our appearance that caused that.

It was not long before Jacquie announced that we were going to need more space.  The awful spectre of that Hillman Husky loomed again but I thought I could do better.  I was working in Rugby and I regularly went along the A45 to Coventry.  It was on one of those trips that I realized that if one applied the brakes hard on the 120 at over 100mph all that happened was a cloud of smoke and not much slowing up.  I therefore worked out that what I needed was a car with better brakes and more room…. and if possible more power!

I think my Dad realized that the Husky was a dead duck and he quietly let slip that one of the young lads at Jaguar was selling a wrecked 150.  The chassis had been almost torn in half following a high speed collision with a large tree, but the engine and running gear was apparently OK.  A few phone calls ascertained that the car was an ex development car fitted with a triple SU carburetor set and a modified overdrive unit.  I think £100 changed hands and a breakdown truck delivered the bits to our house in Crick.  The car had all the bits I needed.  Rack and pinion steering to replace the traditional set up on the 120, hydraulic clutch, disc brakes all round, and of course that wonderful engine and gearbox combination.  I split the front wings and attached the front half of these to the bonnet.  The whole assembly was then hinged at the front to make access to the engine and front suspension very easy.  The rear end was very loosely styled on the Shelby Cobra as this would give plenty of room for a carrycot and camping equipment.  I retained the MGA hardtop.  The divided windscreen was changed for a one piece type although I can not remember what screen I used.  The rear screen was formed from Perspex.  I fitted twin fuel tanks from a Triumph Herald and dual SU pumps connected so that both pumps could be switched on.  The spare wheel was accessed through a drop down panel in the rear panel.

I suppose it is quite surprising that the car handled very well indeed considering how I positioned the rack.  We sprayed the car Jaguar light metallic blue basically because we had a lot of paint left over from previous resprays!  And we were all set to carry our new baby around the country in style!  The performance was fabulous and it was great to have brakes that really worked.  Full throttle changes into overdrive top always gave me a great sense of satisfaction.

I have had some interesting cars since then (tales for another time!) but I will always remember my first Jaguar with great affection.  I don’t know where the car is now.  I sold it to an enthusiast in Chesterfield who then sold it on to a classic collector in Matlock.

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