2008-09-26 20:36:19 | pauls writes:

Car offered at:

www.brightwells.com/3rdparty/orphanspress/classiccars/viewdetails.php

Auction description:

Lot number 85

Hammer value £87,000

Estimate £50,000 - £70,000

Description Jaguar XK140 SE Drophead

Registration WKO 140

Year 1956

Colour British Racing Green

Engine size 3,442 cc

Chassis No. 807362D/N

Engine No. G7212-8

This particular car is one of those few survivors, a genuine right-hand drive drophead coupe in remarkably original condition that has had just two owners from new and has covered a mere 36,600 miles to date. As the original purchase invoice shows, it was supplied new by Rootes of Rochester in March 1956 to Peter Marsden Burnett. A good customer and friend of Sir William Lyons, Burnett was a high-profile prison governor who enjoyed a special relationship with Jaguar, buying several new cars from them and getting celebrated Jaguar figures such as Lofty England and Mike Hawthorn to address the inmates at Pentonville Prison and elsewhere to remind them that an interesting, crime-free life was possible outside the prison walls.

A Special Equipment model (as denoted by the ‘A’-prefix chassis number), the XK140 was ordered in British Racing Green with a Suede Green interior piped in red (at £6 6s extra) and a matching hood bag and tonneau cover. A close-ratio gearbox (£11 extra) with overdrive was also specified and the wire wheels deleted in favour of disc wheels (saving £30). Although no specific reference is made to it on the purchase invoice, the car is also fitted with the C-Type cylinder head and twin exhausts which boosted performance to 210bhp. A particularly nice touch is the original and appropriate registration number, WKO 140.

Burnett kept the car for 11 years and covered some 28,000 miles in it, meticulously keeping all maintenance bills from firms such as Jaguar Cars Ltd, Rootes of Rochester, Russells of Chatham and Attwoods Garage of Stafford, before it was acquired by the current vendor in 1967. Always garaged in his 43-year tenure, the car has been regularly but sparingly used, only clocking up another 8,500 miles throughout this time as is evidenced by many old MOTs from the present day back to 1965. Still in excellent running order and due to have a fresh MOT before the sale, it certainly fired up readily and ran very sweetly on the occasion of our visit to take these pictures.

The car appears to be exceptionally original throughout with no signs of any previous welding or repairs. The doors still open and shut beautifully, a tribute to the great skill with which these cars were made in the first place – and seldom equalled on restored cars. The interior woodwork and leather trim is similarly original with the kind of patina that only comes from decades of light use and loving care. The rear springs still have their original leather gaiters and grease nipples. Even the carpets, hood-lining and hood bag are original as are the tools and the wheel-changing kit in the boot. All the original handbooks, including the manual for the original HMV radio (complete with discreet under-car aerial) are still present and still in their original Jaguar brown paper wallet as supplied from the factory. There is also an almost unbroken run of old tax discs from 1957 to 1980.

While restored XKs are relatively plentiful, original cars like this, with so few owners, such low mileage and such extensive documentation are a very rare find indeed. A thing of beauty in so many ways and correct in every detail, this is a museum quality motorcar that would be the pride of any collection.

2011-11-06 19:23:56 | pauls writes:

Car now offered at:
www.jdclassics.co.uk/car/388

Sellers description:
Make/Model Jaguar XK
Engine 3.4 Litre
Body Style Drophead
Year 1956
Jaguar XK 140 Drophead Special Equipment. British Racing Green/Green hide with Red piping, Green carpets, Black hood, Racing Green wire wheels. An original very rare factory full specification UK supplied matching number car with C Type cylinder head, genuine 36500 miles and two owners from new, full history, original buff registration book etc. Original, unrestored and cherished since new. JD detailing just completed. Wonderful example.

2018-08-21 16:09:30 | pauls writes:

Car attended the XK70 event June 2018, offered by Eagle E-types.

2020-11-21 13:58:44 | pauls writes:

Car now offered at:

www.classicdriver.com/en/car/jaguar/xk-140/1956/732846

Seller's description:

1956 Jaguar XK140 SE 3.4 DHC

A truly outstanding two-family owner, 36,631 miles from new example. Exterior repainted to a very high quality, while the interior remains completely original.

Outstanding original survivor

36,631 miles from new

Incredible two-family owner example

Very rare full-specification UK car

Matching numbers & C-Type head

Full history with original buff logbook

Surely one of the most well preserved Jaguar XK140s in existence.

It’s fair to say that Mr Peter Burnett was something of a Jaguar fanatic. As a friend of Sir William Lyons, Lofty England and indeed Mike Hawthorn during Jaguar’s halcyon years, there was little else that Burnett would have wanted to drive. He had, after all, driven Jaguars from the beginning; starting in 1938 with an SS100, which was sold in order to buy the ‘new’ XK120 in 1951 before that was part-exchanged for the XK140 you see here on 17th March 1956.

Ordered in British Racing Green and specified to the full Special Equipment level, this XK140 featured a host of extras including the desirable C-Type cylinder head, contrasting red piping to the Suede Green leather, close ratio gearbox and tonneau cover.

Another nice detail was the original registration number of WKO 140, which the car retains to this day.

Mr Burnett cherished the XK140 for 11 years, covering approximately just 28,000 miles, before selling it in May 1967 to his friend Mr I. Menzies of Loch Ussie, Scotland. This remarkable car remained in the Menzies family for almost 45 years and their careful ownership has preserved the condition impeccably.

Just prior to us acquiring the XK140 for our collection in 2015 a professional yet sympathetic exterior repaint was performed, all the while retaining as much originality as possible. The result is a car that outwardly presents beautifully, and yet has retained its evocative and irreplaceable original interior.

With its stunning originality backed by an incredibly detailed history file of original paperwork, back to the 1956 order form, this is not just a special XK140 – it is special full stop. With fully restored XK140s not uncommon, this is likely to be one of a kind.