Ray Archibald's XK120 and MK2 Jaguars

[chrisl]

Hi Chris ,

Did you buy it from Ron Eaton? I was very keen on the car when I first saw it out the back of his yard, but my obsession with Cadillacs and hot rods got the better of me. It was $1200.00 if I recall and that would have made it the 5th car I had on tick . British were cars my parents drove!

I bought it in Nov 1974 from Zebra Service Station Ltd in Papatoetoe for $2750. Sold it in Aug 1975 for $2800! I was a Uni student at the time and had to raise the cash for an air fare to the UK to go on a Dorian Singers' tour. Pretty much been in the UK ever since. I was out of Jags for nearly 40 years, seduced by other classics such as Daimler Dart, NSU RO80, Jensen CV8 Mk III, TVR Tuscan, Lancia Fulvia Zagato, and, for almost 30 years, a 1968 Iso Grifo 7-Litre. Finally persuaded to sell that about a year and a half ago, and am now back in a 1950 XK120 OTS (bronze with biscuit & tan interior) which I'm really enjoying fettling. I've put it back to the original disc wheels and rear spats, and even gone back to drum brakes! Upcoming article in the XK Gazette, if anyone belongs to the UK XK Club.
Who is Ron Eaton, Duncan?

[ERC]

Taken at Manfeild 1999, Bryan at the wheel. A lovely man. Wife Marion looking on and looks like Brian Grant to the left.

[chrisl]

Great pic! I see it's wearing the number 27 which it had when Ray Archibald came 6th in the Lady Wigram 100 miles in 1954.

[chrisl]

Me sitting in 660864 (which I christened "Xerxes") in about 1975 at our flat in Ranfurly Rd, Epsom.

[AMCO72]

Chrisl..........could this be the Chris L who I knew as a member of the JDC in the mid 70's......If it is......a big hello to you Chris. Do you remember coming out to the farm in that car and us going for a burn up the road.......On our return something serious happened to the engine.......timing chain I think and you stored the car in my garage for a week or 3......That was one wild car and I always thought it inappropriate for a cultured chap like you......Regards Gerald Fogg.

[chrisl]

Gerald!!! How very nice to hear from you! And a big hello to you, too. Do you still have the Mk IV and the SS1 tourer?
Yes, I remember the occasion very well indeed, and still tell that story. While sitting in the XK before leaving to go back to Auckland with the engine idling, it suddenly stopped dead with an ominous clunk... On lifting the bonnet we were met with the sight of timing chain hanging out of broken cam cover. Imagine if that had happened at the speeds of up to 90mph we had just been doing! Turned out that the top chain tensioner had not been correctly locked in place and had come loose, allowing the pistons to meet the valves. The head was toast, but luckily, only a couple of small marks on the piston tops. I raided the 3.8 Mk 2 I had previously sold to my flatmate for its B-Type head and put that on the 120.
I always hankered for another XK120 and now I have a very nice early roadster. Trouble is, with current daytime temps in England of 2 or 3 degs, I'm not tempted to venture out in it - I'm not the hardy chap I once was!
Still singing - worked at the Royal Opera House now for nigh-on 28 years - time to hang up the larynx soon, I think...
Hope all goes well with you, and many thanks for making contact again.
Chris

[chrisl]

My 1950 XK120 660405 after converting to LEDs

[chrisl]

Car is now back on disc wheels and spats, as originally built

[AMCO72]

Chris, clearly you have a few more dollars in the bank now.........remember the old days when you couldnt afford to mend your shoes and carried a piece of linoleum, or was it cardboard around with you to put under your shoes to stop the rising damp ! Have a great pic somewhere of you posed by your MK4 half in a deep drain by the side of the road........you were giving the Victory signal of course. You were what I call a real enthusiast, as anyone who has read your post above will see by the sort of cars you drove. My MK4 and SS long gone.....into sensible cars now like Hondas........Anyway, love the XK120, and the colour........I believe this was a factory option as I had a friend with a MK5 painted the same. I know this is way off topic for the Archibald cars, but too bad, it was 660864 that started it all.

[Steve Holmes]

Chrisl..........could this be the Chris L who I knew as a member of the JDC in the mid 70's......If it is......a big hello to you Chris. Do you remember coming out to the farm in that car and us going for a burn up the road.......On our return something serious happened to the engine.......timing chain I think and you stored the car in my garage for a week or 3......That was one wild car and I always thought it inappropriate for a cultured chap like you......Regards Gerald Fogg.

What a great thread this is! Even better for putting you and Chris back in touch with each other.

My wife and I are currently staying in France and I can vouch for Chris regarding the temperatures.

[ERC]

Can't remember whether this was a scanner focus issue or an out of focus photograph on a slow shutter speed! Probably the latter.

I'm pretty sure there was either a front cover shot in NZCC magazine, or an article about that time.

[AMCO72]

I felt the car lost something when it was restored and gained fat wheels and a rollbar. Compare it with post 24 in all its original guise, was one hell of car back then........but it was also just another troublesome English sports car. When I came to sell my XK120 DHC I had a big job getting 500 pounds for it... this was in 1967.....no one wanted it. Of course I should have shoved it in a shed and forgotten about it.......but I needed a practical car for farming purposes......Bryan Wyness had promised me a drive, but it never happened. Never mind, I consider myself fortunate to have been behind the wheel.

[chrisl]

What a great thread this is! Even better for putting you and Chris back in touch with each other.

My wife and I are currently staying in France and I can vouch for Chris regarding the temperatures.

I wish the current owner would look at the thread again, and get in touch... I guess you're facing the same chilly northerlies in France that we are afflicted with!

[chrisl]

Chris, clearly you have a few more dollars in the bank now.........remember the old days when you couldnt afford to mend your shoes and carried a piece of linoleum, or was it cardboard around with you to put under your shoes to stop the rising damp ! Have a great pic somewhere of you posed by your MK4 half in a deep drain by the side of the road........you were giving the Victory signal of course. You were what I call a real enthusiast, as anyone who has read your post above will see by the sort of cars you drove. My MK4 and SS long gone.....into sensible cars now like Hondas........Anyway, love the XK120, and the colour........I believe this was a factory option as I had a friend with a MK5 painted the same. I know this is way off topic for the Archibald cars, but too bad, it was 660864 that started it all.

Gerald,

I can't say I remember the shoe situation, but it's true I didn't have a pot to p--s in as a student back then! Can't imagine how I talked a finance company into letting me buy any car, let alone a Jag, on hire purchase.
I'd love to see that pic of my mishap with the Mark IV sometime. I remember Alex Bright writing in the Auckland JDC mag "83 x 106" about my carving a 6 foot grin into a clay bank - "you could say, putting a smile into banking" he said, quoting a popular bank advert of the time!
My current XK120 is back in its original colours of Jaguar Bronze with Biscuit & Tan interior - one of my favourites, I have to say. Maybe my absolute favourite is Suede Green, mainly because I saw an absolutely pristine 120 in that colour on disc wheels and spats in Archibalds' showroom in about 1968. It obviously made a big impression on me!
I first saw 660864 at the Nelson showgrounds in the early 1970s, which was a stopping point for a huge NZ vintage car rally. It was then owned by Duncan Purse, who had restored it (very nicely) and it was at that time on body-coloured wires. By the time I acquired it, it had gone back onto the ENV axle with disc wheels, and was lacking the spats. Little did I realise when admiring it at that rally that I would one day be its custodian!

[Autopia]

Hi Duncan, good to hear from you. Charlie Conway had it on behalf, think the owner lived near Puke....$12,500 which I had to beg and borrow to get!

Hi Rob,
long time no speak. Who did you buy it from first?

[Autopia]

Pukekohe, 1981

[ERC]

https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoser.../698833815.jpg

NZ Classic Car magazine - December 2004 - Listing on TradeMe - NZ version of Ebay, at the moment.

[chrisl]

https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoser.../698833815.jpg

NZ Classic Car magazine - December 2004 - Listing on TradeMe - NZ version of Ebay, at the moment.

Managed to get a copy on Ebay a while back.

[JC1]

Apologies for the absence.

The Mark2 has been fully recommissioned so it is a reliable daily runner without destroying any of the original soul or patina. It's a great car and a lot of fun to drive. Registered 5800 AO in the UK is as close as I was able to get to its NZ reg of AQ5800 (there is no Q in UK road registration). I took the attached photo at Goodwood Motor Circuit last year. The car is retired from motor racing and will stay as a road car to preserve its condition. It's an important piece of Jaguar history and needs preserving.

Thank you for all your comments and pictures. We are about to start on the XK120 with the intention of making it look just like at did in the 1954 GP, except I will leave the 3.8L engine and disc brakes as it just makes it a more fun drive. I will send pictures when it is completed, but that won't be for a while.

[JC1]

Hi Chris,

Sorry to have missed this post. Please contact me at johncorrie@gmail when convenient.

The car is stored at my engineer's workshop near Silverstone and once we start work on it I would be delighted to meet you there and show you the car again.

Best, John