Vehicle Description
1952 Jaguar XK120 Period Competition Roadster
Constructed in 1952, LUF964 is a genuine home-market RHD XK120
roadster that was delivered new to Brighton Jaguar dealer Bill
Cannell, who ran the famous Moore's garage. Cannell had close links
with Jaguar and the factory works team and along with Tommy Wisdom
entered the C-Type that Stirling Moss famously drove to victory at
Rheims in 1952. Cannell's XK120 was driven to this very event,
possibly as a back-up race car, and can be seen in the background
of a delightful period photograph that features Jaguar Chairman
William Lyons, his son John, Chief Engineer Bill Heynes, driver and
journalist Tommy Wisdom and Cannell himself enjoying a picnic in
front of their cars.
Further details of Cannell's ownership are still being researched
but by the summer of 1953 LUF had been acquired by amateur race
driver Roy Pell who fitted an aeroscreen and ran it at his local
circuit, Silverstone. Delightful period photographs obtained from
Pell's widow show him in action at the Nottinghamshire Sports Car
Club meeting held on August 8th. Like many drivers of his time,
Pell also took the car rallying and he is mentioned in the December
1953 edition of Motorsport as having taken part in the MCC Daily
Express Rally. His performance in a driving test was noted as being
fast but he then lost time discussing the next move with his
co-driver.
Following Pell's period of ownership, LUF soon passed to a Mr
Jaconelli, who used the XK for touring holidays to Italy.
Photographs on file from the Jaconelli family show the car to have
been repainted in two-tone Red and White by the late 1950s. During
the following decades the car passed through a few more hands
before being acquired by Jaguar enthusiast Roger Marriage in the
mid-1980s. By this time LUF had been repainted Blue but was
otherwise very original, having benefitted from many years of dry
storage and not being subjected to poor quality restorations in the
intervening years. Indeed it was the presence of the original 1950s
aeroscreen holes, still preserved on the scuttle, which alerted
Marriage to the car's interesting history. Tragically Marriage died
suddenly before he had time to initiate a proper restoration and
the car was then sold to JD Classics who have since undertaken a
body-off professional restoration and full programme of race/rally
preparation, which included uprating the engine to high torque
competition specification.
With the work just completed, the car is now in immaculate
condition and presents beautifully in its correct Old English White
with Biscuit and Red interior. Presented at the Salon Priv� in
September 2017, the car was awarded with 'The most elegant car of
the Show' by Judges and is�now�ready to resume its competition
career having been built to full FIA specification. As such it
offers a very rare opportunity to acquire a genuine period
competition XK120 with links to the Jaguar works team and would be
eligible for all major historic events including the Mille
Miglia.�Its Numbers Match the vehicle's factory data sheet�and it
comes accompanied�by a good history file containing many period
photographs.
Please contact us for further details.
