

David Esch
- Sep 15, 2022
Destination Hilton Head
Margaret DeBolt and David Esch decided to make their trip to South Carolina a bit more interesting...
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A weekend celebration centred around Whittlebury Park in Northamptonshire and taking in some historic and quintessentially English locations – including Bicester Heritage and Bletchley Park.
The Jaguar XK is 75 years old in 2023 – celebrate with us:
A 10-night tour featuring beautiful scenery, enjoyable driving, plenty of relaxation, good food and good company.
...unique...bespoke...intimate...
...history...innovation...excellence...
See here for latest news and updates on our XK75 Weekend
We are very sad to be saying goodbye to our longstanding Swiss Club Representative, Ronald Lorijn, who has been a fine friend and club ambassador for nearly 14 years. A very big ‘thank you’, Ronald, from all of us here at HQ.
In happier news, we are delighted to announce that we will be joined at Bicester Heritage by Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust Managing Director Matthew Davis, who will be bringing along the historic XK 120 LWK 707 from the collection. This record-breaking car was the first to average over 100mph for seven days and seven nights at a marathon event at Montlhéry in August 1952.
The Rep event calendar is filling up nicely, with the better weather bringing out more participants! Thank you to everyone who has been planning an interesting programme...
Organised by Classic Grand Touring
Organised by Backwater Tours
Organised by Classic Grand Touring
Since 1931, details of every SS and Jaguar vehicle that has been produced have been recorded. Initially in a bound ledger which was completed as a vehicle made its way down the production line; from the 1980s a computerised system to recording the same details.
Learn more below.
The Musings of a Gentleman Restorer part 50
The odd thing about aging is that you start off young and want to be old, then you get old and just want to be young again. Except, of course, if you strive to join an over-70s society. Then you have to wait to get in – knowing, of course, that your time to enjoy it is limited by personal association with the Grim Reaper or, in my case, the NHS.
I applied to join the Over 70s Nudist Leapfrog Team in my late 60s just to be sure of getting in [for younger readers, or those from overseas, Nudist Leapfrogging was a regular feature on a 1960s BBC radio comedy show called Round the Horne. I thought it worth pointing that out – Ed]. It’s an elite group of gentlefolk from all walks of life but all sharing that common love of ‘frogging in the buff’. It’s all great fun.
The thing about Over-70s Frogging is that injuries are the main cause of team turnover – literally! Dodgy hips and knees are to be protected for as long as possible because...
XKs at Bonhams’ Goodwood Members’ Meeting auction
Bonhams’ Goodwood Members’ Meeting sale on 16 April included a 1960 XK 150 S 3.8 Fixed-Head Coupé from the collection of the late Peter de Savary. Chassis number T825157DN was supplied to its first owner, a Mr Douglass Growcott, via Henlys of London on 23 March 1960. The XK 150 had five recorded owners from new before the sale, the third acquiring ‘660 NPJ’ in 1965 and keeping the car for five years, and the fourth keeping it for the next 18 years. Peter de Savary purchased the XK at Bonhams’ Bond Street sale in December 2018.
In 2003 the engine and gearbox were rebuilt, while further...
The website, which is actively managed and often updated daily, has a 'Members’ Only' section with a library of technical articles and is ever-expanding.
The Club’s emphasis is very much on using our cars – the XK was designed to be driven!
Thus we have a wide range of events from runs to international tours, from lunches to weekends, from track days to technical seminars. Many are free of charge or the cost is modest. Above all, we aim to give value for money. Some are organised by HQ, and some by our splendid volunteer Representatives around the UK, Europe, the USA, Australia and many other countries.
Philip Porter
It all starts with XKs. What do I mean by that rather obtuse statement? I will try to explain. For one of our earliest issues of this magazine, almost exactly 25 years ago, I wanted to feature on the cover and as the major article, one of the two LT lightweight XK 120s built by Jaguar in case the C-types were not ready for Le Mans in 1951.
I arranged to visit the owner of LT2, Chris Jaques. We took the car up to a local beauty spot for photography. We got on so well that, together with Chris’s lovely wife Michele, we decided to go out for dinner. They then insisted I stayed the night. It was the beginning of a great friendship. Chris was a wonderful enthusiast who owned some amazing cars. That is typical of this club. But XKs are the common denominator. They attract and bind together some very special people. Chris would almost always attend our annual Club Days and Weekends. He would often participate in our UK tours, including in the genuine C-type he owned for a while.
Recently, we lost Nick James; now we have lost Chris Jaques. But while
they lived, they got the most out of the club. Surely there is a message there.
Enjoy life, your XK and the club while you can...
Apart from the emotional aspects, there are a number of hard-headed reasons to buy a classic XK.
Reliability – there is no point in owning a classic car unless you can use and enjoy it, and do so with confidence it is not going to let you down. We have members who have clocked up 100,000 miles in 10 years, in some of the world’s toughest terrain, with no problems. All the XK mechanical components were used in the higher volume saloon cars (sedans) and many were proved at Le Mans. This makes the XKs different...
The opportunity to participate in a wide range of International events, including tours, track days, dinners, factory tours, motoring weekends, hillclimbs and lunches
Monthly 68+ page magazine —The XK Gazette
Expert technical advice
Free Classified advertisements
Discounts on parts, services & more
Buyer's Guide
Club Shop
Technical advice
Porter Press publishes the finest selection of top quality Jaguar books in the world, bar none and these are just some of the titles in their portfolio...
Check with Club HQ for your member discount code (valid on most Porter Press titles).