Jaguar World Monthly Magazine

9 September 2014

When Jaguar Land Rover announced in late July that it was buying Dr James Hull’s amazing collection of cars, I was taken completely by surprise. I’ve never seen the fl eet in its entirety, but I know plenty who have and they all say its breadth is staggering, as is the condition of the cars themselves. If the other cars are anything like Dr Hull’s beautiful XK 120 coupe that won the Jaguar Drivers Club’s Champion of Champions concours in 2013, I tend to believe them. Then, there’s the numbers – an incredible 543 cars in total, of which 130 are Jaguars. These consist of seven classic XKs, eight E-types, 19 XJS models and more than 20 XJ saloons. So it’s fi tting that the company that produced these cars should buy the collection. Which will be looked after by the Heritage Division of JLR’s new Special Vehicle Operations Department (the team that is building the six new Lightweight E-types). For all the good news, there are several as-yet-unanswered questions about the collection’s future. Firstly, how will SVO’s Jaguar Heritage differentiate itself from the existing organisation of the same name that has been in existence since the Eighties? Plus, JLR says the cars will be “actively used to support brand and experiential marketing”. This isn’t entirely without precedent, since Jaguar has previously used cars from the Hull collection for corporate events. Yet Jaguar Heritage already has 150 cars for this, and the majority of those are famous and historically important. And finally, what is going to happen to the non-Jaguars? These include Minis, Morris Minors, Triumphs, Hillmans and even an Alfa Romeo Montreal. Will they be sold, displayed or left in storage? I’m sure the answers will be revealed soon – for the price JLR will have paid (it’s thought to be anywhere between £30 and £100 million), there must obviously be a plan in place. So, if Jaguar wants to add an Ultraviolet blue S-TYPE 2.7 Sport in, erm, used condition to the collection, it knows where to find me.