MODIFIED TOP TEN
From an aftermarket estate to a spacious XK 120, a hugely powerful XKR to an updated S-TYPE R, we look at ten of our favourite modified models that have appeared in Jaguar World over the past 15 years
1 GUYSON E12 SEPTEMBER 2007
It’ll come as no surprise that the hard, angular lines of the Guyson E12 are the work of William Towns, the designer behind the 1976 Lagonda saloon.
He’d been wanting to rebody an E-type for some time, getting his chance in 1972 when his friend and northern industrialist, Jim Thomson, crashed a Series 3 open-two-seater.
Instead of rebodying the car, Towns bonded new glass fibre panels onto the original steel, apart from the one-piece bonnet which was all-new. The result was a very long, square yet distinctive car which the pair originally wanted to put into production. A lack of interest meant only two were built but the second was later put back to standard leaving Thompson’s original as the sole example.
2 RIXON-BUCKNALL SPECIAL MAY 2008
This might appear to be from the Thirties but under the old-fashioned body is an XK 140 since the man who commissioned it, a Colonel Rixon-Bucknall, didn’t like the look of modern cars.
Despite Jaguar not usually selling running chassis, since the Colonel was one of William Lyons’ earliest customers having bought a Swallow sidecar in 1922, on this occasion it relented and in January 1956 delivered a XK 140 chassis complete with a 3.4 engine and C-type head.
Nixon-Bucknall’s ideas were made a reality by the Hastings Sheet Metal Works resulting in a simple yet handsome car. The Colonel later used the Jaguar to tour Europe, keeping it until the Seventies. It was restored in the early 2000s for its then owner by Classic Motor Cars in Bridgenorth.
3 ABBOTT XK 120 AUGUST 2009
When New Zealander David Stuart Mitchell wanted a car for his growing family in 1951 he didn’t buy a saloon like most of us would but had an XK 120 open-two-seater converted into a unique four-seater instead. Handmade by British coachbuilder, Ed Abbott Ltd of Farnham, the new body was 18cm longer to make room for a rear bench. Yet it still kept the XK 120’s basic lines, the extra length cleverly hidden in the shape of the rear wheel spats.
Despite the obvious cost, Mitchell didn’t keep the longer XK 120 long, selling it in 1954. It then had 17 owners in 21 years before a blown head gasket saw the car being stored in a barn. It was restored in 2002 by a New Zealand specialist and later found its way back to Europe.
4 LYNX TWR EVENTER JANUARY 2012
Whether it’s adding more power, chopping off the roof or making it more practical, immediately after its 1975 launch a huge industry was built around modifyi
