D-Type Jaguar in Record Sale
Classic UK Car Sold for More than $4m
At The Goodwood Festival of Speed in Chichester this year, Bonhams, the international fine art auctioneers set a new world record auction price for any Jaguar motor car. The 1955 Jaguar D-Type Sports Racing Car 'XKD509' was sold to a British buyer for a magnificent £2,201,500 ($4,366,011).
This figure betters the previous world record of £1,706,000, set in 1999.
'XKD509' - sold on behalf of the Littlewoods Football Pools family - was the very first production D-Type and its price, when sold new in 1955, was a princely £2,500.
History of Jaguar Cars
Jaguar Cars trace their history back to the popular tourist resort of Blackpool in the UK. In 1922 a young man named William Lyons, aged just 21 and William Walmsley, who was building a rather stylish sidecar which he was attaching to reconditioned motor cycles, formed the Swallow Sidecar Company with a bank overdraft of £1,000. Their ingenious use of aluminium in the creation of sidecars allied with innovative style meant their business was immediately popular and production expanded rapidly.
With the growing popularity of the motor car Lyons saw a new opportunity. He created a most stylish two-seater body which was mounted on the Austin Seven chassis. An order for 500 was obtained from one of the main London garages and production commenced.
However Lyons was not content with simply building body work chassis. To begin with he arranged for the Standard Motor Company to build a chassis to Swallow's design and from there he developed to SS range of cares. Walmsley did not share his partner’s enthusiasm, ambition and obsession severed his connection with the firm in 1934 forcing Lyons to find a new engineering team which included Harry Weslake, a distinguished engineering consultant specialising in cylinder head design and a young man named William Heynes.
In 1935 the name Jaguar first appeared with a completely new saloon and sports car range. For the new chassis and engine unit, Lyons designed a fresh body style, less flamboyant than previous models, yet still stylish. Heynes had produced a completely new chassis and Weslake had managed to increase the output from 75 hp of the previous 21/2 litre side valve engine to no less than 105 hp using overhead valves.
The result was the sophisticated car that is so associated with Jaguar.
The World of the Jaguar
From its early beginnings the Jaguar developed in to a high performance car with a pedigree of racing history. In the 1950’s the company dominated the Le Mans 24 hour race with 5 wins in that decade. In 1951 and 1953 it was with the ‘C’ Type model but the others were with the ‘D’ Type, the model that sold for more than £2m at the Festival of Speed.
The Jaguar has become the icon of British driving. Featuring in many UK television shows such as Minder and Inspector Morse, as well as films like Austin Powers and with a list of famous owners, perhaps most notoriously the former Deputy Prime Minister John “two jags” Prescott.
Since 1989 the quintessentially British car has been on overseas ownership. In 1989 the Ford Motor Company made a move to buy the company, the sale of which went through in 1990. One of the most important aspects of this deal was the Jaguar retained its own identity and production was continued in the UK.
Ford has, this year, now sold Jaguar on to Indian Car Company Tata Motors Limited.
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