Dear XK owners,
I am collecting the histories of every XK120, XK140 and XK150 Jaguar ever made - yes, all 30,000 of them. This is a serious project.
I commenced collecting this sort of information around 1970 in Australia and was co-author (with Terry McGrath of Perth) of The Jaguar XK in Australia in the 1980s, the book becoming a collector's item and selling for many time the original price. In the 1990s I commenced collecting information worldwide, including founding the XK-Lovers email list on the internet. I have also carried out extensive research in the Jaguar archives at Browns Lane., Coventry over several decades.
I now have information of some of the history of more than 6,000 of these cars, the cars being identified by their chassis numbers. I am not just compiling a register, but as much of each car's individual history over the years as possible. Ultimately this project may well become another book or books.
I would very much appreciate any assistance any owner or owners or clubs can give or comments you may make.
The history sheet is linked at:
http://www.jag-lovers.org/include/HistorySheet-Jul05.doc
- but I don't care what format I receive the history in.
What I would really like is the set of numbers from the ID plate of your car, plus its ownership/servicing/racing/general use history, including licence numbers (often the only way to find a car from a photo).
Would love to hear from XK owners anywhere!
Regards,
John Elmgreen
(1951 XK120, 1959 XK150 S, Sydney, Australia)
XK Jaguar Motoring Historian
Elmgreenatihug.com.au
Ph +612 9231 4466 (work)
Fax + 612 9221 5195
Member of The Society of Automotive Historians (USA), The XK Club (UK), Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia, Jaguar Drivers Club (UK), Jaguar Enthusiasts Club (UK), Classic Jaguar Association (USA)

Submitted by benoit@boutiqu… on Thu, 03/02/2006 - 16:38

Benoit Gateau-Cumin
1961 XK 150 FHC
#S836484DN

I have just purchased my XK 150 at auction at Barret Jackson in Scottsdale. I do not have any history on my Jaguar, and therefore would like to know how to go about getting a Heritage Certificate. I was told that once I have that, it is relatively easy to track down the rest of the car's history.

Submitted by NE18-46927 on Thu, 03/02/2006 - 09:36

Dear John (McFadden),
I can understand that in these privacy conscious days not everyone would wish to assist in a project such as mine. What level of personal information (as opposed to information about the car) is provided, is up to each owner. I can also say that having published the Jaguar XK in Australia book a very long time ago, I have never had a complaint of a privacy kind. We did not (and I would not) publish detailed names and addresses and phone numbers, but we did state owners' names and town or suburb name.

This is part of the entry re our XK120 ots so that you can see how this was treated:

660472
Owner: John Elmgreen, Mosman NSW Australia
Chassis completed on 15 December 1950 and despatched 8 January 1951 to Henlys of London. Sold new on 10 January 1951 through area dealer Pikes of Plymouth to enthusiast Mr K. Watkins of Ivybridge, Devon. He had owned an SS90 pre-war and, having heard of the new XK, visited the factory with his brother ÔÇ£to see the plansÔÇØ. It was acquired in 1956 from an owner in Canvey Island by Roy Carter of Wickford, Essex and after he had been sent to the Middle East during the Suez crisis, he sold it in 1957 through a local service station to Kingsley Grimwood, also of Wickford. The car appears to have been taken off the road in 1962 and much work was done on it, including fitting a factory reconditioned engine (W2960-7) due to a corroded head. ... [etc]

All of this was voluntered to me by the people concerned.
I can guarantee that no information is passed on to others for purposes such as the creation of mail lists.
Rarely, but it has happened, I have been asked to keep certain information confidential and have of course respected that. The reasons given or inferred were (a) divorce, or (b) tax.
I often provide information re a particular car in response to a particular enquiry about that car - e.g. by someone thinking of buying it - or where a past owner wants to know where his car is today - or where a new owner is trying to get some of the history. A satisfying example was linking up a Florida guy who had bought his XK120 new in Paris (1953) with his old car a few years ago! But of course it is more often not possible to know where the car sought is.
We have also been responsible for passing on information to prevent frauds - e.g. cars represented as something they were not, usually involving re-stamping of numbers - or cars said to have had some dramatic history or famous past owner.
Anyway, I would welcome any contributions from those who would support the documenting of their car's history.
Regards,
John Elmgreen (XK120, XK150S)
Sydney, Australia

Submitted by mcfoo@columbus… on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 23:21

You are asking for a lot of personal information without any guarantees as to how it will be used, or any security measures you have implemented to guard it.