There are times when, no matter what, superlatives are not enough. So it was when, after much searching, I finally obtained Terry's telephone number and was invited to go and see his Aladdin's Cave in Mesa, east of Phoenix; and what an Aladdin's Cave! Terry is very well known in Jaguar circles world wide and his reputation precedes him wherever he goes. It was, therefore, no quirk of fate that led people to telephone him a few years back when, following the death of a certain gentleman in California, people moved some empty boxes in his garage to find a long lost Jaguar hidden for nearly forty years. It was no other than the long lost 12th lightweight E type, covered in dust and with but 2,000 miles on the clock from new. His recounting of the tale of his arrival to authenticate the car tells that he arrived a little early for his appointment and started walking round the garage. He pulled aside so creepers and looked inside to see this long lost supercar. His modest telling of this story still raised the hairs on the nape of my neck. How often is it that one has such a privilege? Once in a lifetime if you are extremely lucky. He recounted that the paintwork had been attacked with a grinder in places because the gentleman back in the 12960's was in the middle of a divorce and wanted to convice his ex wife to be that the car was worthless! He then concealed it under piles of empty cartons and it never again saw the light of day during his lifetime. After being sold at auction the car was shipped back to Lynx Motors in England for a synpathetic fettling which included a lot of work just to create just the right shade and patina of paint to blow in the damaged areas. The car now has more air than road miles!
To walk into terry's underground workshop is to walk into a Jaguar fairy tale. There, sitting quietly in the corner full of patina and quiet purpose, was a yellow short nosed D type belonging to an Ecuador client, a car that I have subsequently seen here at Le Mans last year during the Classic. This man doesn't keep the car for show you know!
Sitting opposite, a, for me, mythical car, my first introduction to D types in that it was the first real cvar I ever drove thanks to the then owner Jim Wallis. I refer here to OKV 2, one of the three works 1954 short nose cars, resplendent in her BRG livery and still very much campaigned by Terry. How I came to drive it was that I had taken my 348 Ferrari to Donington race circuit for a Ferrari track day and try as I might I couldn't even hang on to, let alon pass, Jim at the wheel of this car. He very kindly let me do a few laps which, if truth be told, were done very sedately since I was frightened of bending it. But to sit where such mythical names as Moss, Walker, Whitehead, Wharton, Dewis, Flockhart and Fairman had sat was pleasure enough in itself. The tarmac of Le Mans, Rheims, Dundrod and Oporto had passed beneath the wheels of this magical car.
A photo of the engine wearing the correct DCO3 40mm carburettors.
Sitting not far away was XKC 017, one of the early C types which Terry has had for many a year and which he freely admits to be his favourite of the two. I didn't press the issue but it must be an embarrassment of riches to be forced even to make the choice. This car was exported to the USA when new and seems from the records to have spent most of its life in California until Terry purchased it in 1987.
Elsewhere were more "mundane" cars such as XK's and E types, some in for service and some for sale but all beautifully presented.
Turning around was motorbike corner but amongst these was a real surprise, the Brough bought by a young William Lyons as a callow youth and registered in the name of Swallow Sidecars. Now this Brough sported the model name SS80; could this perhaps have influenced him when he started making cars perhaps? Just a thought.
Terry isn't just a Jaguar man (well almost) as this following photo will show.
Bikes included an Ariel Square 4 and quite a few others.
Moving on I found one of the 16 XKSS cars, derived from the short nosed D type, in for restoration. Here are two photos front and rear. My favourite Jaguar of all time which will remain but a dream since in the last year alone they have passed $3 million a car.
Christian Jenny isn't perhaps known to you in the USA, but he is an avid collector of Jaguars in Switzerland. Two of his cars were there, one, the SS100, fresh from a very successful concours at Pebble Beach.
I wrote some time back about the Walter Hill collection and mentioned that I had seen, probably for the one and only time in my life, an SS90. Wrong; here is another nestling in Terry's underground store.
Talking of SS cars, Terry has commissioned a reprint of the original SS catalogue, two pages of which are shown here.
Hanging up above was an extremely rare dealers illuminated sign.
Finally, what can one say about this self effacing encyclopaedia of Jaguar knowledge? That without ever having met me he readily invited me to see his toy store, spending precious time patiertly explaining all and answering each and every question. For us europeans, it is reassuring to know that there is such a heavyweight champion of our amrque so far from our shores. Thanks Terry.
