Jaguar Mark 1 Day at Brown's Lane
September 25th, 2005
Dan Davis 1959 3.4 Litre (Mark 1) RHD Auto Santa Monica, California

It is indeed rare for anything as mundane as a business trip to turn out to have serendipitous results, but this is indeed what happened to me.
Recently, I was able to close a deal in the UK which would require on-site installation and training for a software application that I helped to develop. Dates were set, and I looked forward to getting the opportunity to swing by the Jaguar factory so I could visit the JDHT. As it happened, my trip was being planned to put me in the neighborhood of the Jaguar factory on the last Sunday of August, which meant that the JDHT museum would be open. I could not believe my luck!

Then, as things seem to always do, the dates changed. I began to resign myself to the fact that I would probably end up in the UK mid month, and only get to peer through the fence. Then I happened across an article by the Jaguar Drivers Club which mentioned that the factory, in conjunction with the club was planning a special 50th anniversary celebration of the Mark 1, at the factory on the 25th of September. Now this was just too good to be true! As time wore on, it began to look more and more like the end of September was a possibility, and then with a little gentle persuading, dates were once again set, and this would put me in the right place, at the right time.

I left Los Angeles International on Friday evening, and arrived at Heathrow Saturday at noon. Grabbed a shuttle bus to the rail station, and jumped on a train bound for Coventry. I had secured a hotel room at what appeared to be a fairly miserable hotel not far from the factory, and when I got there, this was unfortunately confirmed, but as it was just a short walk to the factory, I made the best of it.

Sunday turned out to be really much more than I would have hoped for. The old gates to the factory headquarters were opened around 7am, with one recently restored Mark 1 owned by the JDHT sitting by itself in the lot.

While I was checking this one over, others began to arrive. By 10AM 48 Mark1's had taken positions in the parking lot, while on the other side, Mark2's, 240's, 340's, Stypes and Daimlers fought for space. In all I counted well in excess of 100 saloon cars in attendance. Also present were several E-types, a D-type, XK's, XJ's and the Ian Appleyard XK 120 ''NUB 120''. Also on display was the former Coombs racing Mark 1, "BUY1".

The Jaguar Drivers club had arranged for a tour for the few days prior to the event, and many of the Mark 1's at the celebration were driven to the event from other points in Europe. As I reviewed the many excellent examples I was pleased to meet with and chat with their owners about their cars, their restorations and the was very happy to find that they each shared the same enormous passion for their cars as I did.

The JDHT museum was well stocked, with Swallows, an SS1, A very rare Airline Saloon, a wonderful example of the XKSS, along with a lightweight E-type, a C-type and the XJ13. Here, I met Norman Dewis who was kind enough to supply an autograph, using the Bonnet of the XJ13 as a writing table. This will be a treasured keepsake! Outside was an Autojumble where I picked up a few spares that I was later able to get through customs, while inside the studio Nigel Thorley gave a presentation on the history of the Mark 1 and 2, and Gary Albrighton the project engineer for the XK180 talked about the development of Jaguars new XK car. I was also pleased to meet Julia Simpson, the archivist for the JDHT who told me that they were having a special on heritage certificates, and I was happy to take her up on it! I have taken many photographs of the event, many of which are shown below:

I have identified many of the pictures in the list below, as always, please click picture for a larger version

panorama.jpg		C-type.jpg
Statue of William Lyons outside the Headquarters	XKSS	Swallow Sidecar	Austin Swallow
Austin Swallow		SS 1	Airline Saloon
Airline Saloon			Le Mans Trophy
		XK 140	C-Type
	Lightweight E-Type	XKSS
NUB 120	JDHT Mark	JDHT Mark	JDHT Mark
JDHT Mark	JDHT Mark	JDHT Mark	JDHT Mark
	Old Factory
Norman And Friend	Hawthorne Replica
	NUB 120	Norman and the XJ13
Hawthorne Replica	Hawthorne Replica
			Prototype XK 4 cylinder
Prototype XK 4 cylinder	Prototype XK 4 cylinder
BUY 1	Concourse Winner		Parting Shot

Last Updated
October 17, 2005