OWNER’S STORY
This 1955 XK140 drophead coupe has been with the same family since new, but sat in a lockup for over three decades before being rediscovered and restored by the first owner’s nephew
FOR THE marque experts that would eventually restore it, a complete and original XK140 drophead coupe was the holy grail of Jaguars. Genuine barn finds like this rarely, if ever, crop up anymore, making the car an easily once-in-a-lifetime discovery.
But its current owner, Ian Groom, has many more personal reasons to be excited by its unearthing. The sports car has been with his family since new and represents a direct link to his grandfather, uncle and aunt as well as his own youth.
According to the car’s heritage certificate, the XK140 DHC (chassis number 807134) was built on 18 May 1955 and distributed nine days later to Rossleigh Motor Agents of Edinburgh before being sold through The Eastern Motor Company Ltd, also located in Scotland’s capital, in June. It was bought by a local farmer and butcher, Thomas Thompson, for his son, Thomas McKellar Thompson (known by Ian as Uncle Mac) for his 25th birthday.
As well as a beautiful house in North Berwick, Meadowhall, the Thompsons also owned a farm in the Scottish Borders and according to Ian, knew the future Formula 1 World Champion, Jim Clark, very well since his family also farmed in the area. “They were sponsors of Jim Clark’s first racing cars,” Ian tells me.
Thomas senior later bought another farm in Perthshire, which was managed by Thomas plus one of his five sisters, Angela.
Although the car’s original buff logbook shows ownership of the Jaguar officially passed to the business in 1960, Mac clearly still liked his 25th birthday present since he continued to use it regularly. As the son of another his sisters, Morag, Ian can clearly remember sitting in the car as a child in the early Seventies. Mac even kept a journal for the XK140, writing meticulous notes about when and where he drove it, the fuel used plus any issues. A tiny, black diary from 1974 survives but on 12 January the entries come to an abrupt stop.
Ian’s uncle suffered from a heart issue and passed away in early 1975 aged just 44. By never marrying, all of his estate including the XK140 passed to Angela. But she never registered the car in her name and over the next four decades barely used it. Yet it was never totally forgotten.
When Angela died in 2010, Ian was living and working abroad but had lost contact with that side of the family and only heard about her passing from the solicitor handling the estate since he and his cousin were the sole remaining benefactors from a will she had written in 1967.
“When I went to Scotland to sort Angela’s estate, her solicitor suggested I should see the man who had been looking after
