Owning heritage is a pride itself, and seems no one is going to know it better than Jaguar Land Rover now.
As reported that JLR purchased the largest privately owned collection of British cars, the carmaker had secured important collection for the nation.
The collection includes 543 mostly British classic cars and features many significant Jaguar models including XK SS, C, D and E-types. The seller was a British enthusiast named James Hull.
The purchase was made by the recently created Jaguar’s Special Operations division which includes the Jaguar Heritage business.
To continue the legacy further, a brand new Jaguar Heritage workshop at the historic Browns Lane, Coventry, site will maintain the Jaguars in the collection – this new facility will also offer Jaguar warrantied servicing and restoration of the company’s classic models
The cars in the collection will be actively used to support Jaguar brand events and customer experiences around the world and in developing markets, creating value for the Jaguar Land Rover business.
Jaguar says core of the collection was 130 Jaguars. These include early Swallow Sidecars and Swallow coachbuilt Austin Sevens, plus a full and diverse range of pre-war SS models, 7 XK 120s – including a rare alloy-bodied example, C- and D-types, an XKSS, 8 E-types, 30 classic Jaguar ‘Mark’ model saloons plus 19 XJS models and over 20 XJ saloons with interesting and famous previous owners. All the cars are in immaculate condition.
Cars in the collection are not to be retained idle, Jaguar confirmed of using them actively to support brand events and customer experiences around the world and in developing markets, creating value for the Jaguar Land Rover business.
Expressing his views over this bulk purchase of heritage cars, John Edwards, Managing Director of Special Vehicle Operations said, “We are delighted that Jaguar Land Rover has come to an agreement with James Hull to secure the future of this very significant collection of Jaguar and British cars. We share the same objective as James to keep this unique collection in British hands and we are delighted this agreement secures their custody for the future. We look forward to continuing to work with James going forward as we develop our heritage activities.
Heritage is becoming an ever more important differentiating factor when it comes to experiential customer marketing and in developing our brands in new and emerging markets. Jaguar and Land Rover have a combined “back catalogue” of over one hundred and forty years to draw upon and some of the most iconic vehicles in the industry. In addition with the explosive growth and interest in classic car events worldwide and the increase in the size and value of the market, there is a strong brand and business rationale underpinning this agreement.”
James Hull commented, “Travelling all over the world to build the collection over the years has been a labour of love and a life’s work, so my primary motivation was not to get the maximum price but rather to secure the future of the collection in this country with the right custodian. I have got to know Jaguar Land Rover well in recent years and they have borrowed cars from the collection for events such as the Mille Miglia and supporting Jaguar in China. They are the perfect custodians to take the collection forward and I know it is in safe hands.”