2009-04-13 19:15:16 | Coventry Racers writes:

The record was updated:

2012-08-01 15:10:35 | Coventry Racers writes:

The record was updated:

2016-01-03 19:42:34 | Coventry Racers writes:

The record was updated:

2009-04-13 18:57:41 | pauls writes:

The car is mentioned in the book "Jaguar D Type & XKSS" by Graham Robson as restored and registered 5000 NT and owned by Bryan Corser. Ex Philip Scragg factory converted D-type.

2009-04-14 18:16:08 | pauls writes:

According to "Jaguar D Type & XKSS" by Graham Robson car was dispatched Apr. 29, 1957.

2011-10-12 16:16:16 | Nigel writes:

I worked for Clements Sporting Cars in Melbourne in 1968 and I used to polish the jaguar. It had been made to look a bit like an XKSS as it had a chrome luggage rack on the rear and lacked the fin behind the driver, although I vaguely remember that it may have had a rounded type of headrest. I cannot remember what type of windscreen. It was painted in BRG but did not have the white roundels on it.

2012-07-29 16:21:46 | pauls writes:

Photo added from this site, do not know if it is accurate but appears to match late descriptions.
www.wired.com/autopia/2010/09/jaguar-75th-anniversary/

2016-01-03 18:16:26 | Wilde writes:

The picture uploaded in july 2002 is wrong. It's XKSS701. XKD540 was still in Germany in 2010 with reg. 4XK.

2016-04-06 22:05:12 | pauls writes:

Actually XKD540 once had UK registration XK 55, its likely the 2012 photo is correct. A list of registrations is just below the data plate. XKSS701 holds reg # XKS 5.

2016-09-11 01:40:19 | Bill Clemens writes:

Good Morning Everyone,

I have just received this interesting article from an old friend, Graham, so I thought I should share it.

Interesting history of the most raced "D" type which, as in the text, I owned until becoming a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Melbourne.
The XKSS, as it became was not a suitable centre piece for a Mercedes dealer, no matter how special !
Within months of selling it I was very lucky in being able to acquire a late production 300SL Mercedes roadster, which I registered as Vic SL300.
My understanding is that the XKSS sold for 2.5 Million Euros ! I wish I had been the seller at that time. At least I have had them both at one time.

Cheers, BillC

2016-12-21 02:37:49 | gary pearce writes:

I can well remember this car from 1968. I was driving past Clemens Sporting Cars showroom in Poath Road Hughesdale, Melbourne and there it was sitting in the showroom.
I stopped and went in and the sales guy was kind enough to spend 20 minutes or so talking to this raggedy assed kid about the car. From memory it was dark blue almost black and had the initials "CH" on the door which I assumed was from Colin Hyams ownership. asking price was $25000.00 - a lot of money back then - I was earning $30.00 per week.
I also recall that Colin Hyams drag raced the car at Riverside Dragway in Melbourne. Can't remember any times but what I can remember was that he selected reverse gear instead of first during one race and when he dropped the clutch at 5000rpm the car left line backwards scattering sundry officials and onlookers.
What a car!!

2017-08-29 06:17:56 | Noel Macwhirter writes:

As an 18 yo I remember seeing this car in the Clemens's Poath Road front window as I walked to Hughesdale railway station each day going to work. One summers evening coming home they were driving it out onto Poath Road, absolutely floored it going towards Kangaroo Rd. For about two hours that evening I could hear it roaring around the streets, wonderful. Never realised it wasn't an XKSS but a D-Type.

2018-12-04 14:11:30 | John Elmgreen writes:

I am posting a copy of a letter I received from Bill Clemens back in 1971 re this car. I was tracking XK histories before then ... and ever since!

2022-01-11 05:39:23 | Jesse Fowler writes:

hello,

My grandfather peter fowler used to own this car back in 1985 and I have been trying to track where this car is now and find more recent photos of the car. if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

2024-10-05 05:56:34 | pauls writes:

Car to be at auction 11/1/24

rmsothebys.com/auctions/lf24/lots/r0054-1957-jaguar-xkss/

Auction description:

London, United Kingdom 2024

1957 Jaguar XKSS

£9,000,000 - £11,000,000 GBP 

Chassis No. XKD 540

Engine No. E 2029-9

Body No. H 2040

Highly significant and historically important; the first XKSS to be offered at auction in Europe

The most sought-after of all road-going Jaguars; considered to be a D-Type for the road

Retained by Jaguar until April 1957; later returned to the manufacturer for conversion to full XKSS specification in October 1958

Impeccably preserved, retaining its matching-numbers monocoque chassis, front sub-frame, and body

Upgraded from 3.4- to 3.8-litre specification by the Jaguar factory in 1960; importantly retains its original cylinder head

Accomplished racing history includes competitive entries in the United Kingdom and Australia

Sold to Jack Browning in 1959 and subsequently to Australia in 1962, where it was raced locally by Laurie O’Neill and Colin Hyams

Purchased in 1972 by noted Jaguar enthusiast Bryan Corser, prior to its sale in 1985 to long-term owner Hermann Graf von Hatzfeldt

Fastidiously maintained in recent years by marque specialists Pearsons Engineering and CKL Developments Ltd

Accompanied by a generous spares package that includes headlights, a rear axle, Marston Excelsior radiator, pistons rods, wheels, wheel bearings, and more

Factory records indicate that XKD 540 was completed at Jaguar’s Brown’s Lane factory on 1 November 1955 in Production “Short Nose” D-Type form, finished in the classic Jaguar colour combination of British Racing Green with Suede Green leather interior. Remarkably, it remained unsold after more than a year. Contemporary Jaguar records list the car—somewhat cryptically—as “redundant after experiment”, although further details as to exactly what this experiment entailed remain a mystery.

On 29 April 1957, the car was sold to Jaguar agents Coombs of Guildford. Later that year, the car was sold to its first registered owner, wealthy textile machinery manufacturer and keen hill climber, Phil Scragg of Macclesfield, Cheshire, who registered the car with the Manchester registration mark “WVM 3” and resprayed it in his customary shade of light blue. A Jaguar enthusiast of longstanding, Scragg had previously raced both an SS100 and HWM-Jaguar, and his collection later also included two Lister-Jaguars and the final Lightweight E-Type produced.

At Scragg’s insistence, chassis XKD 540 returned to Brown’s Lane on 27 November 1958 for conversion to full XKSS specification. This was recorded in detail in accompanying correspondence between him and Jaguar’s legendary former Team Manager—and then Service Director—F.R.W. “Lofty” England. In addition to the fitment of a full-height windscreen, passenger door, luggage rack, weather equipment, and bumpers, as per standard XKSS practice, the car was also converted to a higher 3.92:1 axle ratio to improve acceleration.

Despite Scragg’s impressive hill climbing credentials, it appears that his use of XKD 540 was relatively modest, for in October 1959 it was sold to Jack Browning of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Throughout 1960, Browning drove the car in several hill climbs, with a 2nd-in-class at Prescott, and at Bouley Bay in Jersey the car’s most notable results. On 21 October 1960, XKD 540 was returned to Brown’s Lane to be upgraded from 3.4- to 3.8-litre specification, but importantly retained its original cylinder head. Accompanying correspondence between Browning and the Jaguar service department again confirms this. The car was collected by Browning in November 1960 and competed in this form at Prescott and in the Brighton and Weston-Super-Mare Speed Trials in 1961.

In February 1962, XKD 540 passed to another prominent hill climber, Betty Haig. Although the car was reregistered with her personalised registration number “BLH 7”, her custody was short-lived and the car was sold via intermediary Jack Playford to Laurie O’Neill of Sydney, Australia. In 1965, the car was purchased by versatile hill climb, drag—and sometime Formula 5000—racer Colin Hyams of Melbourne, in whose hands it competed occasionally. Curiously, the car’s history file contains a photograph of the great Jim Clark at the wheel, accompanied by friend and rival Jackie Stewart in the passenger seat. The two Scots had apparently sampled the car while contesting the 1967 Tasman Series.

In 1968, Hyams’ purchase of a Ford GT40 hastened the sale of XKD 540, with ownership passing to Melbournian garage proprietor Bill Clemens later that year. However, the car returned to the United Kingdom in 1972, when it was acquired by noted Jaguar collector Bryan Corser of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. At the time, Corser’s collection encompassed the final production C-Type, the ex-Jim Clark D-Type and the ex-Peter Sutcliffe Lightweight E-Type, so this XKSS could scarcely have been in better hands.

As a keen concours competitor, Corser restored the car to the same exacting standard as his other Jaguars. Having retained and occasionally displayed the car for more than a decade, Corser sold the Jaguar to Peter Fowler in 1985, who in short order sold it on to Hermann Graf von Hatzfeldt of Wissen, Germany. In Graf von Hatzfeld’s hands, the car contested the Mille Miglia Storica and several editions of the Nürburgring Oldtimer Grand Prix. The car’s remarkably preserved state was something of which the owner was justifiably proud.

After some 24 years of ownership, Graf Hatzfeld sold XKD 540 to Jaroslav Pawluk of Schwalmtal, Germany in 2008, who used it only sparingly and retained leading Jaguar specialists Pearsons Engineering to attend to its ongoing maintenance. In 2011, the car benefitted from a comprehensive hydraulic system service, cylinder head inspection, and carburettor and distributor overhaul at a cost of almost £10,000. Some six years later, a more extensive overhaul was embarked upon, with the car’s engine, gearbox, and back axle removed, and all suspension, steering and brake components crack-tested. Extensive-but-sympathetic cosmetic restoration work was carried out to the monocoque chassis and front and rear sub-frames, while the fuel, oil, and cooling systems were also overhauled, with this work amounting to some £44,110.

Acquired by the consignor owner in 2017, and used only minimally since, the car has benefitted from further recent maintenance by CKL Developments Ltd, whose proprietor, Chris Keith-Lucas, first attended to the car almost 40 years ago. Recent work has included a further overhaul of the front suspension and brakes, minor electrical repairs, and refitting both the original bonnet and tail section, with cumulative expenditure in the current ownership exceeding £17,000.

That the Jaguar D-Type sits comfortably in the pantheon of all-time great sports racing cars is beyond doubt. However, few would dispute that its near-identical sibling, the XKSS, warrants a similarly glowing assessment among its peers. Indeed, not only does it represent arguably the most captivating and exclusive of all road-going Jaguars; it is surely worthy of inclusion alongside the likes of the Alfa Romeo 8C, Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, and McLaren F1 as one of the most significant and sought-after of all road cars.

In the case of chassis XKD 540, its performance and aesthetic appeal are matched only by its impeccable provenance and originality. The car is noted to retain its matching-numbers chassis, front sub-frame, and body, while major components including the rear axle, suspension, and brake components—and even ancillary items such as the header tank, dry sump tank, radiator, oil cooler and hood frame—are likely to be original to the chassis. The Jaguar is accompanied by a generous spares package that includes headlights, a rear axle (numbered “F55046”), Marston Excelsior radiator, pistons rods, wheels, wheel bearings, and more

Given the car’s itinerant life, and the passage of more than six decades, this is both remarkable and testament to the informed and sympathetic ownership which it has always enjoyed. Comprehensively documented, impeccably preserved and fastidiously maintained, it remains one of only a handful of D-Types or XKSSs considered beyond reproach, and one destined to serve as a uniquely spectacular centrepiece in any prospective collection.