Back in June I was privileged to park the old girl in a line-up honouring the E-type's 60th birthday at the London Concours, held across three rare hot and sunny days at the Honourable Artillery Company in the City.
The organisers wanted representative fixed-head and open-top examples of Series 1, 2 and 3 cars, together with couple of select examples illustrating the car's competition history. Being the owner of a Series 2, and living reasonably close to the HAC, and having enjoyed past london Concours events as a spectator, I was happy to oblige......
The slightly surreal experience of finding my humble S2 in a line-up with 'E-type royalty': 77RW, 1 VHP, and HDU 555N. Any thought of 'Oh well, at least the S2 OTS next to me is reasonably run-of-the-mill' was quickly banished when I got chatting to its owner, Michael Quinn, the car having been gifted to him by his grandfather... Sir William Lyons. Michael was a truly lovely guy, and a real pleasure to meet.
Here's my jalopy looking her best for the public. Despite 'only' being an S2, she was really well received, and I spent a lot of time answering questions (from the public, other display car owners (not just E-types), and the organisers. The nice thing about a general car display like this is that if a car's well turned out and has an interesting story, folk are really appreciative regardless.
Living and working reasonably nearby, meant that I could arrive early each day and check the car over before the public arrived. On the second day it also meant I had the unique pleasure of having a whole 'field' full of some of the most wonderful machinery all to myself
By the way, for those who don't know the HAC, it's owned by the army and is in the heart of the City - making the 'field' reputedly the second most valuable cricket pitch in the world (the most expensive being the one that occupies prime Hong Kong real estate).
In the photos above you'll have noticed the utterly gorgeous 250GT SWB Ferrari. This was its filler cap. You just can't buy provenance like that.....
Messrs Hammond and Metcalfe discuss the finer points of Harry's Espada. Later, I managed to accost Mr Hammond and remonstrate with him for the way he thrashed my integrale on Top Gear some years back. He was suitably apologetic
Finally, getting ready to leave the morning after the show closed, having spent the night bunked up with one of the CUT 7s and the Lindner-Nocker car
I have to say, the Old Man, rest his soul, would have been chuffed to pieces to think that his car, which his son used to be so rude about , should one day end up lined up with some of Jaguar's finest.All in all a great event, helped enormously by being blessed with some fabulous weather, and from an owner's point of view superbly organised, with a good flow of communication from the organisers throughout as well as very well laid-on hospitality. Recommended.
Simon
), and asked if they'd mind awfully if I parked my car there for a moment to get a photo.