1955 Jaguar XK140 DHC

• UK-supplied, right-hand drive DHC originally finished in Pastel Blue with Navy Blue leather and a Dark Blue Hood
• Laycock overdrive and wire wheels from new. Now painted in Triumph Sebring White
• Owned by the late Harry Neville Harris (and family) since 20/07/1966
• Last MOT’d in 2005 at 70,034 miles. Large history file, displaying many years of care and enthusiasm
• A real Barn Find. Whilst complete with resident cobwebs, muck and dust, the car does appear to have been well stored and seems to be a fairly solid basis for restoration
• With XK Jaguars remaining as popular as ever, PWT 777 on offer at No Reserve seems an unmissable opportunity.

Jaguar Cars launched the XK140 at the London Motor Show in October 1954 with a raft of improvements over its predecessor, the landmark XK120. The styling was enhanced by a revised grille and larger bumpers along with new rear lights, which now incorporated the indicators. The handling was improved by rack and pinion steering and telescopic dampers and the interior space was enlarged to allow the addition of occasional rear seats. The power unit remained Jaguar's well-proven, 3.4-litre, twin-cam six, which now produced 190bhp in standard trim thanks to higher-lift camshafts and revised porting. To ensure reliability, steel bearing caps replaced the previous cast-iron type. A close-ratio gearbox enabled better use to be made of the increased performance whilst a Laycock de Normanville overdrive became an option for the first time. Special Equipment (SE) XK140s came with wire wheels and Lucas fog lamps and could be ordered with an engine developing 210bhp courtesy of a 'C'-type cylinder head.

From Jaguar records we can establish that this venerable XK140 DHC was built in right-hand drive on 20/06/1955, finished in Pastel Blue with Navy Blue leather and a Dark Blue Hood. It was fitted with a Laycock overdrive and wire wheels from new and distributed through Appleyards in Leeds before being first registered on 30/06/1955.

On offer from a deceased estate, this lovely XK was bought by the late Harry Neville Harris in 1966 (logbook stamped 20/07/1966) and has remained within his family ever since. The most recent MOT is dated 3rd September 2005 with the mileage stated as 70,034 and it’s understood that it was parked up not too long afterwards.

At some point in the late eighties, Mr Harris appears to have been researching the history of the car prior to his purchase but without much success. He wrote to a lot of people (correspondence in the file) and a promising communication from the DVLC detailing previous owners is missing the vital page. There is a letter to an Edward Graves from whom Harry appears to have bought the car and the old ‘Buff’ logbook shows that Ralph A Clarke of Lowestoft is registered as the first owner (November 1963) and there is a letter on file from Jaguar to R A Clarke dated July ‘63 so he certainly owned it at that point. An HPI report in January shows just one former keeper before its transfer to Mr Harris's son in 2018, although this would appear to be incorrect. Another part of the mystery is that prior to Harry’s ownership the car was painted Triumph Sebring White, the colour it wears today. With its distinctive registration number (PWT 777) it should be possible to trace the car’s early life and it could be a fun project for its new owner.

The substantial History File covers some 55 years with the family and includes rafts of photographs, MOTs, years of invoices, Buff and Green logbooks, Parts List, Wiring diagram, the original Maintenance/Service Handbook and even a fuel ration book which one would assume relates to the Suez crisis.

Our vendor is not able to confirm that the Jaguar is a matching numbers car, there may have been an engine swap in the 1980s, and we hope to confirm this, one way or another, however, it seems that the car was finally parked in 2006 due to a clutch issue that would have required engine removal which doesn’t appear to have happened. This is a bit of a ‘Barn Find’, however, whilst complete with resident cobwebs, muck and dust, the car does appear to have been well-stored and seems to be a fairly solid basis for restoration.

With XK Jaguars remaining as popular as ever, this original UK RHD project on offer at No Reserve seems an unmissable opportunity.