Goodwood

[steve3.8]

Live video streaming of the Revival , great racing

http://www.goodwood.co.uk/revival/reviv ... aming.aspx

[Heuer]

I see the flat floor 850038 sold for ?225k although I was far more taken by the Alfa 8C which went for ?6.5m.

[christopher storey]

I do hope that the purchaser of "850038" has got what he thinks he has purchased. The story told under this number in the catalogue - see xkedata - is unusual , not least because the " big freeze" did not take place in 1963/64 - this being an important part of the story - but in 1962/63 . Furthermore, other notes on xkedata suggest that a car having this apparent identity was stolen and written off in an accident in the early to mid 1960s. Furthermore, if you suddenly discovered that the car was " historically more important " than you realised, surely this would militate against total restoration rather than inducing you to do it. All very very strange as so many of these "early" cars are . I am also intrigued that the Jaguar stamping man apparently used the 8s the wrong way up !

[MikeC]

I worked on No.38 roadster on and off between the Summer of 2009 and 20012 when the car was put up for sale. The owner was introduced to me in order to advise him on anything that should be replaced to put the car back to "original" in terms of fittings that may have been replaced over the years prior to the E-Type becoming a vintage classic.

The elderly owner was a near naighbour of mine and had maintained his late fathers cars unused in his dealer car showroom for many years including an Austin Healy 3000 Mk1 (also sold at Goodwood) and an old A35 Austin. The important point about the engine block is that it was not original and this was stated in the offer. It's anyones guess as to how and why this happened.

I don't think there is any doubt about the general story but we need to be careful when we talk of a "known history". Is the history known? Well yes and no.

The general story is correct but who knows when the RB310 control box and dynamo were swtiched for the later RB340 which was mounted upside down to match the old wiring harness (I put them back) or when the submerged Lucas fuel pump mounting was modified to take the later submerged pump when the original very early pump with vertical mounting lugs failed.

As far as I can tell the car was restored slowly over the years, paint job then upholstery but not a strip down restoration. For example I recommended that a new wiring harness be fitted but as far as I am aware this was not done. I did however get the car fired up for the first time in many years after stripping down cleaning and tuning both the carburetor and the fuel pump to a loud cheer in the showroom. I also photographed and measured the outside bonnet lock mechanism in order to allow the new bonnets of two early cars under restoration including No.11 RHD FHC to be modified.

There is an element of the ludicrous being introduced into the E-Type story leading to a sort of faux exclusivity. First it was early cars now early cars which are not restored but to now be restored by some exclusive specialist. Then it was the "true" rarity of original RHD cars as compared to Aston Martins. Of course the chances of my two California cars being truly original is a lot higher than the average RHD car and here we see one clear contradiction in the theory.

Was the car worth it? Who knows.

Mike C

[Tony]

Very interesting post. How original is original and how much does it matter. In the case of this car it is ?225,000 worth of matter to somebody. I only hope they drive it and get the payback they expect.
In the case of my car it is an expensive toy which I enjoy and hopefully will be of some value to my kids when I either curl my toes up or whittle it away in a nursing home.
In the meantime it gives a lot of pleasure and owning one is special.

[Candellara]

Out of pure interest (i'm not that au fais with original Lightweights) but i assume that most of the "Lightweights" racing at the Revival are replica's?

Were any of the original 12 Lightweights racing at the Revival? and why do a couple drive with the boot propped open? (i hear that this was a period mod to cool the diff?)

[Heuer]

Owners race their genuine Lightweights and don't spare the horses. They may be worth ?2m each but even if you wreck one it is 'only' going to cost you ?150k to put it back together. Nick Mason races his 250GTO and one of those just sold for $35m!

As regards the boot lid being propped open this was started by Adrian Newey who was the subject to numerous complaints that his Lightweight was running like that and it was acting as a spoiler giving him an unfair and non-period advantage. Fortunately he had a very full documented history of the car which showed it racing in the early '60's with wooden fillets to support the lid. It was done for increased cooling but may have had some aerodynamic effect: