.jpg?w=1)
Details
The ex-Kurt Lincoln, Timo Makkinen, Scuderia Askolin
1956 JAGUAR D-TYPE SPORTS RACING CAR
Registration No. XSV 979
Chassis No. XKD 530
Engine No. E 5003 - 10
British Racing green with green leather upholstery.
Engine: six cylinder, twin overhead camshaft, 3,781cc, c290bhp at 5,500rpm; Gearbox: four-speed manual; Suspension: independent front suspension by torsion bars and unequal length wishbones, rear, live axle suspended on trailing links and one-piece torsion bar; Brakes: four wheel disc. Right hand drive.
Jaguar's magnificent legend was built at Le Mans during the 1950s where their initial C-Type specialized roadsters first won the 24 Hour Grand Prix d'Endurance race in both 1951 and 1953. For 1954 a far more sophisticated sports racing car was developed and became known as the D-Type. Entered as factory team cars, the first D-Types were only narrowly beaten by a much larger engined (4,954cc) Ferrari V12 at Le Mans in 1954. The winning speed average at Le Mans was 105.1 mph but Jaguar quickly got their revenge a few weeks later when the D-Types came in first and second at the 12 Hours of Rheims at an average speed of 104.55 mph. In the 1955 Le Mans race the Works team won the 24 Hours classic and this was repeated twice more when entered by the private Ecurie Ecosse team from Edinburgh, Scotland in 1956-57.
This D-Type hat-trick of GP d'Endurance victories against the strongest opposition sealed the Jaguar marque's charismatic image, and these handsome machines have been acknowledged ever since as one of the greatest classic sports racing cars. While the Le Mans race attracts much attention, the D-Type was highly successful both as a Works entry and in the hands of private owners in innumerable races throughout the world. In addition to its outstanding competition record and capabilities, the D-Type can also be used as a remarkably docile yet extremely exhilarating road car. Perhaps this is why these cars continue to be so sought after today.
In the eyes of many, the sleek lines and beautiful proportion of the D-Type make it the best looking sports racing car of the post-war period. Although developed from the successful Jaguar C-Type, it was a major progression of design from both a mechanical and technical standpoint. Under the direction of superb engineer William Heynes and his team mechanics, an almost entirely new car evolved. The most significant feature retained from the victorious 1953 'Lightweight' C-Type Jaguars was of course the wonderfully reliable six-cylinder twin overhead camshaft production XK engine. Heynes continued his development of this engine and his experience gained from the last Works C-Types ensured the continued use of the triple Weber twin choke carburetors. With new competition valve timing, revised cylinder head and other modifications some further 30 bhp was attained. At the same time the engine was importantly fitted with a dry-sump lubrication system which ensured an abundant supply of oil at the right temperature without surge or air bubbles. The water cooling system was much improved with a Marston aircraft-style alloy radiator and revised water routing and like the C-Type no fan was employed and efficient cooling was vital.
The Borg & Beck triple plate clutch and flywheel assembly was revised and greatly assisted acceleration while providing the strength required for long distance events. The gearbox was also improved and strengthened and significantly was Jaguar's first all-synchromesh gearbox. The suspension was similar to that of its predecessor, yet again was much updated and improved. The superior disc brakes were again those supplied by Dunlop on the successful 1953 Works cars with improved efficiency.
Undoubtedly the most innovative feature of the D-Type was the revolutionary use of a central monocoque. Under the design direction of Malcolm Sayer, who strongly utilized his aircraft background, the center of the car was built on a stressed skin principle. Built with light aluminum in a series of bulkheads, it produced a very lightweight structure with great torsional rigidity. To this central tub was attached a triangulated rectangular frame from which the engine and mechanical components were supported. Apart from the savings in weight and distribution, this design produced a much narrower cross sectional area and, combined with the new sleek aerodynamic bonnet and tail section, the drag was much reduced. In addition, the dry sump system permitted use of a very shallow oil pan, which in turn allowed the overall stance of the car to be dramatically lowered. Indeed at Le Mans in 1954 the Jaguar achieved top speeds of 172.8 mph on the Mulsanne straight; the best the 375 Plus Ferrari could attain was 160.1mph. Another visible modernization was the adoption of 16in. Dunlop pressed alloy wheels which were stronger, lighter and far easier to change than the wire wheels previously used on the C-Types.
From a driver's standpoint, not only was the D-Type faster with superior acceleration, aerodynamics and lightness, it handled far better with delightfully direct steering and overall balance. In addition for those fortunate enough to sit in a D-Type cockpit, it is true comfort in a highly relaxed and snug driving position with long leg room and easy to use pedals and instruments.
According to the test record diary kept by Les Bottrill (he tested all 67 production D-Types) XKD 530 was first shaken down on October 4th at the Motor Industry Research Association track, where 185 miles were recorded. A final test run was conducted on October 24th for some 50 miles, after which time the car probably returned to the Browns lane factory for final painting.
Finished in the traditional colours of British Racing Green and suede green upholstery the new Jaguar was dispatched on February 13th 1956 via the Finnish agents Suomen Maanviljelijain Kauppa OY in Tampere. The first owner was the well known sportsman, Kurt Lincoln of Helsinki who himself was a former Jaguar C-Type owner (XKC 044) and had represented Finland in their Davis Cup tennis team.
The original Jaguar ledger records that the car was sent out to Lincoln with a deliberately aged appearance, it reads 'Rough up clutch, brake, and accelerator pedals to indicate use… change steering wheel for used wheel' 'Fit used driver's seat upholstery' 'Set speedometer to something over 5,000kms'. All of this and more was accomplished to avoid paying a high import tax for a new car, something that was confirmed many years later when researching the history of the car with Lincoln. Correspondence throughout Lincoln's ownership is held on file, and makes fascinating reading.
Unfortunately during transit one of the headlamp covers was broken, and a replacement had to be sent quickly before it could be raced. This may account for the reason that the headlamps are so protectively bound when it made its debut in the 'D' in May 1956. On its first outing Lincoln won in the over 2 litre race, beating both a Ferrari and a Mercedes at the annual Djurgard Olympic Park circuit meeting in his home city. He followed this up with another win at Savonlinnan ajot. Throughout the next four years it was actively campaigned as part of the Scuderia Askolin.
In Lincoln's hands the Jaguar raced in the 1957 winter season, in February in the Loviisan Jaarata and in March in the Laajalahtr Helsinki, it won both times in the Sports cars class. After which a succession of other drivers also used the car. Vaino Miettinen running it at the Elaintarhanajo that year and coming home in 5th place.
By February 1958, to keep up with the latest racing Lincoln was keen that his Jaguar be converted to sportscar configuration, with full width windscreen and two doors, he also wished for his car to have a tail fin 'such as the racer-drivers have on their cars in Le Mans' to this effect SMK corresponded with Jaguar on his behalf. When the reply came that such modification would cost £650 for the Appendix C conversion and an additional £165 for the tail fin, there was no further response from Lincoln.
The racing continued through the 1958 season, Miettinen again running it, winning twice in March at Keski-Pohjanmaan, and in another race. Through the rest of 1958, it was driven by Lars Finnila (2nd at Littoisten and Vammalan) and then Bjarne Rehen, who came sixth in that year's Elaintarhanajo, and recorded a 2nd and 3rd placing in two races at Lohjan rata-ajo.
On file is a video of some of the '58 season's racing by which time the blue and white liveried Scuderia Askolin can be seen to consist of at least two Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas, as well as a 250 Tour de France, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing and two Cooper 500s. This phenomenal equipe must surely have been one of the most important in the country at the time.
For 1959, it seems that Lincoln had organised his own sportscar modification for the Jaguar, as contemporary racing photographs at that year's Elaintarhanajo clearly show it with full width windscreen. Raced throughout '59 by Esko Keinanen, that was the only race that he would finish, coming in 4th behind Carl Otto Bremer's Ferrari Monza, Graham Whithead's Aston Martin and John Kvarnstrom's Ferrari Monza.
At the end of May 1959, presumably disappointed by the lack of success with the car that year, Lincoln was again in correspondence with Lofty England in Coventry to see if his car could return to the UK for a complete overhaul. After protracted discussion over the likely costs, the car did return. At the factory its engine was bored out to 3.8 litre specification, the gearbox was overhauled, the brakes fitted with new pads, the pipes and hoses replaced, a Thornton Powerlok differential was fitted. This work is also recorded in the excellent book by Andrew Whyte Jaguar Sports Racing & Works competition cars from 1954.
Again after some discussion, the factory repainted the car to a white livery, which upon its arrival back in Finland in February 1960, Lincoln vehemently complained had not been completed to a satisfactory degree!
The rebuild provided the desired results as its 1960 racing season was an altogether different story from the year before. Now at the hands of Lincoln himself again, he won in the 500 kerho Laajilahti and two rounds of Vammalan jaarata, all within ten days of its return to the country.
It is understood that Lincoln sold the Jaguar to Olli Lyytikainen in Autumn 1960, possibly another Scuderia Askolin driver, as it is entered in his name in 1961. Although, on a number of occasions the car was driven by a young Finnish driver Timo Makinen, who later became a world famous rally driver, most notably in Austin Healey 3000s and one of the first of the 'Flying Finns'. In 1961 XKD 530 raced and won at Tallinn in a Formule Libre race organised by the Central Automobile Club of the USSR. While Kurt Lincoln drove that day in other cars, the D-Type was run by H. Hietarinta, this event is believed to have been the only time a D-Type ever raced in the USSR.
At the end of 1961 the car was sold to Jukka Asukas, who ran it just once in 1962, winning in Class 10 of the Jalasjarvi. From him it was sold to Tauno Ikonen in autumn 1963 and a year later passed to Seppo Immanen. The latter driver drove the car successfully in '64 and '65.
By 1966, the Jaguar was sold to Nigel Moores in the UK who was building an extensive collection of racing Jaguars at the time. The mechanic and curator for Nigel Moores was Paul Kelly and he described the external bodywork as being deplorable, and hardly recognizable as a D-Type, as the bodywork had been damaged, badly repaired, modified, and cut about to use for 'ice racing'. The top centre section of the monocoque had been completely cut out, making it in effect a completely open two seater. The tail section had been "manxed" and finished at the rear of the fuel tank (like a bob-tail Cooper). The mechanical components were all genuine D-Type although obviously also in need of a rebuild. The bodywork comprising of the monocoque, bonnet and tail were sent to Williams & Prichard who were commissioned to rebuild the car in the form of a long nose D-Type. Again according to Kelly Williams & Prichard stripped all the usable metal off the nose, tail and centre section.In accordance with standard restoration practice we believe that the serviceable metal together with the original body tag H2030 which is riveted to the rear of the passenger seat were fitted into a newly built monocoque. The original front subframe (numbered XKD 530) which the lower part runs through the monocoque was checked over and re-jigged by Frank Coltman was fitted to the long nose coachwork and monocoque as newly made by William & Prichard. As the car was intended to be raced they decided to fit a 3.8 litre unit with the highly desirable wide angle head. Interestingly the engine they fitted (E 5003 - 10) and still in the car today was an original spare works Jaguar engine that was prepared for use in XKD 605 (works long nose car) for the 1957 Sebring race, although was not used as they ran a fuel injected 3.8 litre that day. That race was the first time that a works car had used the 3.8 litre engine rather than a 3.4. Whether this engine saw use in a works car is unknown at this present time, however its number clearly dates from early 1957 and it was built for use in a works D-Type. The remaining mechanical components were rebuilt or replaced by genuine D-Type spares from their extensive stockpile of spares.
The original engine was kept as a spare and the remains of the damaged bodywork were retained in the back of the stores by the Moores collection for a number of years.
Meanwhile XKD 530 now sat in the Moores collection in Long Nose configuration.
Upon the death of Nigel Moores his extensive collection of Jaguars and spares (owned under the trading name of Sarnie Ltd) was acquired in September 1988 by Mr. Evert Louwman. Six months later on March 31, 1989 (according to the bill of sale) Mr. Louwman sold XKD 530 to the present owners. The current owner decided that he would prefer to race and own the car in its original short nose configuration and therefore through John Pearson he commissioned Nash Morgan & Co. Ltd to remake the nose and tail, this work was completed September 1990. Over the past 12 years this D-Type has raced extensively in historic competitions and has been driven by the owner, Gary Pearson and on a number of occasions the legendary 'fabulous Flying Fin" Timo Makinen has entertained the crowds with XKD 530. Race preparation during this period has been carried out largely by the highly respected Jaguar specialists John and Gary Pearson. In the latter's hands in 1992 it won in the race preceding the French Grand Prix, and came a respectable 3rd in a similar pre-cursor to the British GP the same year.
As can happen with old racing cars and especially D-Type Jaguars there is some controversy surrounding XKD 530. We understand that the remaining parts of the damaged monocoque (we believe without the body tag) were sold from the Nigel Moores collection to John Harper in around 1982. Using part of this monocoque, and, we believe, part of the original tail together with a new sub-frame from Lynx Engineering, a D-Type was constructed (which we will refer to, for the purpose of this text, as the second D-Type.)
After the Nigel Moores Collection had been sold the original engine and part of the original gearbox were also fitted to the second D Type. At around this time, a subsequent owner of the second D-Type made claim to the XKD 530 chassis number. It then went to the Monaco sale held on May 22nd 1990 by Brooks Auctioneers. The second D-Type subsequently passed to the USA and is still in the ownership of a long time Jaguar Enthusiast.
Owing to the fact that D-Types can essentially be split into two halves, on more than one occasion two cars have evolved, as in this case claiming the same identity. However, the car on sale today is offered with the benefit of a continuous and documented chain of ownership as chassis number XKD 530.
In recent years the FIA, who issue the racing papers/documentation for most of the worlds racing events, decided to pull all the D-Type papers and re-assess the cases. At this stage in time we are told there may have been at least two sets of FIA papers extant belonging to the second D-Type in America, one from the RAC, MSA in England (as the car used to reside in the UK in the early 1990s) and another set from Switzerland. The car that is on offer today also had an English set of FIA papers. Naturally both owners had to submit their documentation of ownership and history, and 4 to 5 members of the FIA Eligibility Working Group, who are based out of Geneva (yet meet in Paris) decided that FIA papers should be issued only to the car we have on offer here today. Despite this ruling from Europe a set of FIA papers were also issued, at around the same time to the second D-Type in the USA by the American arm of the FIA (ACCUS FIA).
We presume that these two groups on each side of the Atlantic did not discuss the case between themselves! While the FIA is the governing body of Motor Sports around the world and controls most of the licenses for cars and drivers in Europe, Asia, South America the FIA does not control vintage and historic racing in the USA. It is therefore quite true to say that both cars have a set of current FIA papers with their respective owners.
As seen today, this car is beautifully race prepared, though it has a slight patina of use. It comes equipped with its ex-works spare 3.8 litre engine and a wide-angle head. It naturally is a front running car in its class in the right hands, as discussed above it comes with a newly re-issued set of FIA papers from the United Kingdom, Motor Sports Association.
**
1956 JAGUAR D-TYPE SPORTS RACING CAR
Registration No. XSV 979
Chassis No. XKD 530
Engine No. E 5003 - 10
British Racing green with green leather upholstery.
Engine: six cylinder, twin overhead camshaft, 3,781cc, c290bhp at 5,500rpm; Gearbox: four-speed manual; Suspension: independent front suspension by torsion bars and unequal length wishbones, rear, live axle suspended on trailing links and one-piece torsion bar; Brakes: four wheel disc. Right hand drive.
Jaguar's magnificent legend was built at Le Mans during the 1950s where their initial C-Type specialized roadsters first won the 24 Hour Grand Prix d'Endurance race in both 1951 and 1953. For 1954 a far more sophisticated sports racing car was developed and became known as the D-Type. Entered as factory team cars, the first D-Types were only narrowly beaten by a much larger engined (4,954cc) Ferrari V12 at Le Mans in 1954. The winning speed average at Le Mans was 105.1 mph but Jaguar quickly got their revenge a few weeks later when the D-Types came in first and second at the 12 Hours of Rheims at an average speed of 104.55 mph. In the 1955 Le Mans race the Works team won the 24 Hours classic and this was repeated twice more when entered by the private Ecurie Ecosse team from Edinburgh, Scotland in 1956-57.
This D-Type hat-trick of GP d'Endurance victories against the strongest opposition sealed the Jaguar marque's charismatic image, and these handsome machines have been acknowledged ever since as one of the greatest classic sports racing cars. While the Le Mans race attracts much attention, the D-Type was highly successful both as a Works entry and in the hands of private owners in innumerable races throughout the world. In addition to its outstanding competition record and capabilities, the D-Type can also be used as a remarkably docile yet extremely exhilarating road car. Perhaps this is why these cars continue to be so sought after today.
In the eyes of many, the sleek lines and beautiful proportion of the D-Type make it the best looking sports racing car of the post-war period. Although developed from the successful Jaguar C-Type, it was a major progression of design from both a mechanical and technical standpoint. Under the direction of superb engineer William Heynes and his team mechanics, an almost entirely new car evolved. The most significant feature retained from the victorious 1953 'Lightweight' C-Type Jaguars was of course the wonderfully reliable six-cylinder twin overhead camshaft production XK engine. Heynes continued his development of this engine and his experience gained from the last Works C-Types ensured the continued use of the triple Weber twin choke carburetors. With new competition valve timing, revised cylinder head and other modifications some further 30 bhp was attained. At the same time the engine was importantly fitted with a dry-sump lubrication system which ensured an abundant supply of oil at the right temperature without surge or air bubbles. The water cooling system was much improved with a Marston aircraft-style alloy radiator and revised water routing and like the C-Type no fan was employed and efficient cooling was vital.
The Borg & Beck triple plate clutch and flywheel assembly was revised and greatly assisted acceleration while providing the strength required for long distance events. The gearbox was also improved and strengthened and significantly was Jaguar's first all-synchromesh gearbox. The suspension was similar to that of its predecessor, yet again was much updated and improved. The superior disc brakes were again those supplied by Dunlop on the successful 1953 Works cars with improved efficiency.
Undoubtedly the most innovative feature of the D-Type was the revolutionary use of a central monocoque. Under the design direction of Malcolm Sayer, who strongly utilized his aircraft background, the center of the car was built on a stressed skin principle. Built with light aluminum in a series of bulkheads, it produced a very lightweight structure with great torsional rigidity. To this central tub was attached a triangulated rectangular frame from which the engine and mechanical components were supported. Apart from the savings in weight and distribution, this design produced a much narrower cross sectional area and, combined with the new sleek aerodynamic bonnet and tail section, the drag was much reduced. In addition, the dry sump system permitted use of a very shallow oil pan, which in turn allowed the overall stance of the car to be dramatically lowered. Indeed at Le Mans in 1954 the Jaguar achieved top speeds of 172.8 mph on the Mulsanne straight; the best the 375 Plus Ferrari could attain was 160.1mph. Another visible modernization was the adoption of 16in. Dunlop pressed alloy wheels which were stronger, lighter and far easier to change than the wire wheels previously used on the C-Types.
From a driver's standpoint, not only was the D-Type faster with superior acceleration, aerodynamics and lightness, it handled far better with delightfully direct steering and overall balance. In addition for those fortunate enough to sit in a D-Type cockpit, it is true comfort in a highly relaxed and snug driving position with long leg room and easy to use pedals and instruments.
According to the test record diary kept by Les Bottrill (he tested all 67 production D-Types) XKD 530 was first shaken down on October 4th at the Motor Industry Research Association track, where 185 miles were recorded. A final test run was conducted on October 24th for some 50 miles, after which time the car probably returned to the Browns lane factory for final painting.
Finished in the traditional colours of British Racing Green and suede green upholstery the new Jaguar was dispatched on February 13th 1956 via the Finnish agents Suomen Maanviljelijain Kauppa OY in Tampere. The first owner was the well known sportsman, Kurt Lincoln of Helsinki who himself was a former Jaguar C-Type owner (XKC 044) and had represented Finland in their Davis Cup tennis team.
The original Jaguar ledger records that the car was sent out to Lincoln with a deliberately aged appearance, it reads 'Rough up clutch, brake, and accelerator pedals to indicate use… change steering wheel for used wheel' 'Fit used driver's seat upholstery' 'Set speedometer to something over 5,000kms'. All of this and more was accomplished to avoid paying a high import tax for a new car, something that was confirmed many years later when researching the history of the car with Lincoln. Correspondence throughout Lincoln's ownership is held on file, and makes fascinating reading.
Unfortunately during transit one of the headlamp covers was broken, and a replacement had to be sent quickly before it could be raced. This may account for the reason that the headlamps are so protectively bound when it made its debut in the 'D' in May 1956. On its first outing Lincoln won in the over 2 litre race, beating both a Ferrari and a Mercedes at the annual Djurgard Olympic Park circuit meeting in his home city. He followed this up with another win at Savonlinnan ajot. Throughout the next four years it was actively campaigned as part of the Scuderia Askolin.
In Lincoln's hands the Jaguar raced in the 1957 winter season, in February in the Loviisan Jaarata and in March in the Laajalahtr Helsinki, it won both times in the Sports cars class. After which a succession of other drivers also used the car. Vaino Miettinen running it at the Elaintarhanajo that year and coming home in 5th place.
By February 1958, to keep up with the latest racing Lincoln was keen that his Jaguar be converted to sportscar configuration, with full width windscreen and two doors, he also wished for his car to have a tail fin 'such as the racer-drivers have on their cars in Le Mans' to this effect SMK corresponded with Jaguar on his behalf. When the reply came that such modification would cost £650 for the Appendix C conversion and an additional £165 for the tail fin, there was no further response from Lincoln.
The racing continued through the 1958 season, Miettinen again running it, winning twice in March at Keski-Pohjanmaan, and in another race. Through the rest of 1958, it was driven by Lars Finnila (2nd at Littoisten and Vammalan) and then Bjarne Rehen, who came sixth in that year's Elaintarhanajo, and recorded a 2nd and 3rd placing in two races at Lohjan rata-ajo.
On file is a video of some of the '58 season's racing by which time the blue and white liveried Scuderia Askolin can be seen to consist of at least two Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas, as well as a 250 Tour de France, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing and two Cooper 500s. This phenomenal equipe must surely have been one of the most important in the country at the time.
For 1959, it seems that Lincoln had organised his own sportscar modification for the Jaguar, as contemporary racing photographs at that year's Elaintarhanajo clearly show it with full width windscreen. Raced throughout '59 by Esko Keinanen, that was the only race that he would finish, coming in 4th behind Carl Otto Bremer's Ferrari Monza, Graham Whithead's Aston Martin and John Kvarnstrom's Ferrari Monza.
At the end of May 1959, presumably disappointed by the lack of success with the car that year, Lincoln was again in correspondence with Lofty England in Coventry to see if his car could return to the UK for a complete overhaul. After protracted discussion over the likely costs, the car did return. At the factory its engine was bored out to 3.8 litre specification, the gearbox was overhauled, the brakes fitted with new pads, the pipes and hoses replaced, a Thornton Powerlok differential was fitted. This work is also recorded in the excellent book by Andrew Whyte Jaguar Sports Racing & Works competition cars from 1954.
Again after some discussion, the factory repainted the car to a white livery, which upon its arrival back in Finland in February 1960, Lincoln vehemently complained had not been completed to a satisfactory degree!
The rebuild provided the desired results as its 1960 racing season was an altogether different story from the year before. Now at the hands of Lincoln himself again, he won in the 500 kerho Laajilahti and two rounds of Vammalan jaarata, all within ten days of its return to the country.
It is understood that Lincoln sold the Jaguar to Olli Lyytikainen in Autumn 1960, possibly another Scuderia Askolin driver, as it is entered in his name in 1961. Although, on a number of occasions the car was driven by a young Finnish driver Timo Makinen, who later became a world famous rally driver, most notably in Austin Healey 3000s and one of the first of the 'Flying Finns'. In 1961 XKD 530 raced and won at Tallinn in a Formule Libre race organised by the Central Automobile Club of the USSR. While Kurt Lincoln drove that day in other cars, the D-Type was run by H. Hietarinta, this event is believed to have been the only time a D-Type ever raced in the USSR.
At the end of 1961 the car was sold to Jukka Asukas, who ran it just once in 1962, winning in Class 10 of the Jalasjarvi. From him it was sold to Tauno Ikonen in autumn 1963 and a year later passed to Seppo Immanen. The latter driver drove the car successfully in '64 and '65.
By 1966, the Jaguar was sold to Nigel Moores in the UK who was building an extensive collection of racing Jaguars at the time. The mechanic and curator for Nigel Moores was Paul Kelly and he described the external bodywork as being deplorable, and hardly recognizable as a D-Type, as the bodywork had been damaged, badly repaired, modified, and cut about to use for 'ice racing'. The top centre section of the monocoque had been completely cut out, making it in effect a completely open two seater. The tail section had been "manxed" and finished at the rear of the fuel tank (like a bob-tail Cooper). The mechanical components were all genuine D-Type although obviously also in need of a rebuild. The bodywork comprising of the monocoque, bonnet and tail were sent to Williams & Prichard who were commissioned to rebuild the car in the form of a long nose D-Type. Again according to Kelly Williams & Prichard stripped all the usable metal off the nose, tail and centre section.In accordance with standard restoration practice we believe that the serviceable metal together with the original body tag H2030 which is riveted to the rear of the passenger seat were fitted into a newly built monocoque. The original front subframe (numbered XKD 530) which the lower part runs through the monocoque was checked over and re-jigged by Frank Coltman was fitted to the long nose coachwork and monocoque as newly made by William & Prichard. As the car was intended to be raced they decided to fit a 3.8 litre unit with the highly desirable wide angle head. Interestingly the engine they fitted (E 5003 - 10) and still in the car today was an original spare works Jaguar engine that was prepared for use in XKD 605 (works long nose car) for the 1957 Sebring race, although was not used as they ran a fuel injected 3.8 litre that day. That race was the first time that a works car had used the 3.8 litre engine rather than a 3.4. Whether this engine saw use in a works car is unknown at this present time, however its number clearly dates from early 1957 and it was built for use in a works D-Type. The remaining mechanical components were rebuilt or replaced by genuine D-Type spares from their extensive stockpile of spares.
The original engine was kept as a spare and the remains of the damaged bodywork were retained in the back of the stores by the Moores collection for a number of years.
Meanwhile XKD 530 now sat in the Moores collection in Long Nose configuration.
Upon the death of Nigel Moores his extensive collection of Jaguars and spares (owned under the trading name of Sarnie Ltd) was acquired in September 1988 by Mr. Evert Louwman. Six months later on March 31, 1989 (according to the bill of sale) Mr. Louwman sold XKD 530 to the present owners. The current owner decided that he would prefer to race and own the car in its original short nose configuration and therefore through John Pearson he commissioned Nash Morgan & Co. Ltd to remake the nose and tail, this work was completed September 1990. Over the past 12 years this D-Type has raced extensively in historic competitions and has been driven by the owner, Gary Pearson and on a number of occasions the legendary 'fabulous Flying Fin" Timo Makinen has entertained the crowds with XKD 530. Race preparation during this period has been carried out largely by the highly respected Jaguar specialists John and Gary Pearson. In the latter's hands in 1992 it won in the race preceding the French Grand Prix, and came a respectable 3rd in a similar pre-cursor to the British GP the same year.
As can happen with old racing cars and especially D-Type Jaguars there is some controversy surrounding XKD 530. We understand that the remaining parts of the damaged monocoque (we believe without the body tag) were sold from the Nigel Moores collection to John Harper in around 1982. Using part of this monocoque, and, we believe, part of the original tail together with a new sub-frame from Lynx Engineering, a D-Type was constructed (which we will refer to, for the purpose of this text, as the second D-Type.)
After the Nigel Moores Collection had been sold the original engine and part of the original gearbox were also fitted to the second D Type. At around this time, a subsequent owner of the second D-Type made claim to the XKD 530 chassis number. It then went to the Monaco sale held on May 22nd 1990 by Brooks Auctioneers. The second D-Type subsequently passed to the USA and is still in the ownership of a long time Jaguar Enthusiast.
Owing to the fact that D-Types can essentially be split into two halves, on more than one occasion two cars have evolved, as in this case claiming the same identity. However, the car on sale today is offered with the benefit of a continuous and documented chain of ownership as chassis number XKD 530.
In recent years the FIA, who issue the racing papers/documentation for most of the worlds racing events, decided to pull all the D-Type papers and re-assess the cases. At this stage in time we are told there may have been at least two sets of FIA papers extant belonging to the second D-Type in America, one from the RAC, MSA in England (as the car used to reside in the UK in the early 1990s) and another set from Switzerland. The car that is on offer today also had an English set of FIA papers. Naturally both owners had to submit their documentation of ownership and history, and 4 to 5 members of the FIA Eligibility Working Group, who are based out of Geneva (yet meet in Paris) decided that FIA papers should be issued only to the car we have on offer here today. Despite this ruling from Europe a set of FIA papers were also issued, at around the same time to the second D-Type in the USA by the American arm of the FIA (ACCUS FIA).
We presume that these two groups on each side of the Atlantic did not discuss the case between themselves! While the FIA is the governing body of Motor Sports around the world and controls most of the licenses for cars and drivers in Europe, Asia, South America the FIA does not control vintage and historic racing in the USA. It is therefore quite true to say that both cars have a set of current FIA papers with their respective owners.
As seen today, this car is beautifully race prepared, though it has a slight patina of use. It comes equipped with its ex-works spare 3.8 litre engine and a wide-angle head. It naturally is a front running car in its class in the right hands, as discussed above it comes with a newly re-issued set of FIA papers from the United Kingdom, Motor Sports Association.
**
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.