OWNING
We encounter an unusually pristine XK8 with just 12,000 miles behind it
I when we meet owners of cars photographed for JW: “Is this your first Jaguar?”
Generally the answer goes one of two ways – either it’s the first foray into Jaguar ownership or a long string of the cars culminating in something exotic like an XK120 or E-Type. In John Underhill’s case though, the XK120 came early on.
After starting his motoring career in fine style with a £40 Zephyr Six in the early ’60s, he then found himself in a Herald coupe which was followed by a split-screen Morris Minor running an 1275cc Austin-Healey engine which sounds like great fun. This eclectic choice of transport was no doubt helped by a weekend job at a car breaker where the owner also built stock cars which John was enlisted to drive at Brandon Stadium in Coventry.
As John recalls, this was a time when nothing was impossible for an enterprising breaker and he witnessed all kinds of things which are now frowned upon but which were common back then, including rebuilding write-offs, cut ’n’ shuts, big engine conversions and similar. Much of this would of course be frowned upon today if not downright illegal but as he says, it gave him a great grounding in mechanical skills.
“I’ve always been a Jaguar fan,” John says and it was a trade contact through the breaker which enabled John to source his first Jaguar: a 2.4-litre Mk1 in two-tone grey at what he remembers was a “bargain price”.
Not however, quite such a bargain as the next Jaguar he acquired, shortly after being posted to Singapore with the army and deciding a 500cc Suzuki was probably not the safest transport: an XK120, for which he paid the princely sum of £120 in 1968.
By then his collection included an MG TC, Triumph Spitfire and Triumph Vitesse convertible, so he was able to take advantage of the cheap labour and have the Jaguar restored to what he describes as pristine condition.
It wasn’t long before a return to the UK beckoned though, at which point John parted company with the Jaguar, something he kicks himself for today. “I could have had it shipped back for free,” he muses, “but instead I sold it to an American, thinking I’d buy an E-Type when I got home...”
When he couldn’t find a suitable E-Type at short notice, John found himself seduced by the glamour of an Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint. Unfortunately, Bertone’s delicate lines were somewhat modified when John lost the back end one wet night, rolled it three times and ended up in a ditch with the roof caved in. Luckily, he walked away albeit soaked in petrol.
More bad news arrived when the insurance company went bankrupt the day after the settlement cheque arrived, but that didn’t stop John continuing his impressive roster of what are now
