FROM THE COMMENTARY BOX
From a shed in Invercargill New Zealand, a story connected to the current seven times World Formula One Drivers’ Champion, Sir Lewis Hamilton, would seem rather a stretch, but a bit like the TV show, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, this is a true story.
Donald McDonald visits Invercargill to catch up with Dave Brown of Classic Car Developments
Jaguar cars had won magnificently at Le Mans in 1955, 1956 and 1957. At the end of the 1956 racing season there were left a number of partially built D-Types at Jaguar’s factory at Browns Lane. ‘Mr Jaguar’ – Sir William Lyons – thought that if they were converted to roadgoing trim, surely there would be a good market, particularly in the USA for what, along with the Mercedes-Benz 300SL, could be considered to be the world’s first ‘supercar’.
Starting with the basic D-Type, the company made a number of changes, fitting a passenger door, removing that distinctive rear fin and adding a full windscreen, side screens, a bit of a fabric roof, chrome bumpers and other bits of brightwork along with road-legal lights to suit the USA market.
Called the XKSS, by early 1957 Jaguar had completed 16 of their original plan to build 25 cars, but during the night of February 12, a fire in the factory at Browns Lane destroyed the other nine cars still being built. After this disaster, no more cars were produced.
All of the first 16 completed cars were sold in the USA, with famed screen actor, Steve McQueen, purchasing one. His was a white car with red interior, but McQueen changed it to British Racing Green with a black interior. He kept the car for 10 years before selling it to a collector in 1967, but 10 years later he bought it back again. He affectionately called it the ‘Green Rat’. This particular car is now owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Its estimated worth is NZ$35 million.
THE CONTINUATION XKSS
Moving on to 2016, the new Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) decided it would recommence production of the XKSS model after its successful foray into the world of ‘continuation’ cars, spearheaded initially by producing new examples of the Lightweight E-Type model. In 2014 the company decided to build the final six Lightweight cars that should have been built originally in the midsixties, but by that time the mid-engined sports car era had arrived, so the demand for E-Types disappeared. In 2017, JLR set up the Jaguar Classic operation based at the original Browns Lane site in Coventry. Covering approximately 14,000 square metres, this is one of the largest such facilities around.
The very first of these ‘new’ XKSS cars was sold to the Giltrap Group and arrived in New Zealand to feature as a showpiece for the Jaguar brand.
ENTER THE INVERCARGILL CONNECTION
Dave Brown was a fairly accomplished racer on the local club scene, but his true interest lay in engineering and design. Thirty-two years ago he started Classic Car Developments with the dream of building replica C- and D-Type Jaguars. As with any specialist work, over time his reputation grew from the results of his fanatical attention to detail on the cars he was producing. Over the ensuing years, from his modest workshop have come 21 C-Type Jaguars, nine D-Types and latterly 16 Ford GT40s. In many cases the cars were completed to a rolling chassis, leaving the new owner to complete the running gear, but five complete C-Types and five complete GT40s have rolled out of Dave’s Howorth Street building. In addition to the cars, a large part of the business is manufacturing parts for classic Jaguars, these being sent around the world. Again, the demand for his products is based on the reputation and the level of quality of the parts and cars manufactured in Invercargill.
In 2013, a UK-based colleague, who had previously worked as a design engineer for Team Lotus and had established a strong relationship with Dave Brown, called to say a client of his, based in Wales, had asked if he could help him obtain a replica Jaguar XKSS. The client already had a collection of over 400 cars but was keen on adding this model to it.
While Dave’s research is extensive, the drawings, plans and measurements essential to create a car from the ground up result in an average build time of around 18 months. Interestingly, when initial discussions take place with any client on the proposal to build their car of choice, it is not necessarily about money but surprisingly it’s tyre choice and colour that are the two main decisions to be made.
Moving in the rarefied air of expensive and bespoke cars is the realisation that, in most cases, money is not the most important part of any discussion, a good example being a client in New York who not only commissioned an XKSS for himself but then rang back to order a second one for his son.
So, around the end of 2012, construction of the first Jaguar XKSS began in Invercargill. The car was to be finished to a rolling chassis stage and then shipped to the UK, where it would be finished off. Eventually the car was completed in the UK with engine, gearbox and running gear fitted and delivered to its happy owner late 2013. Sadly, however, the owner became quite ill and the decision was made to sell his entire car collection.
SIR LEWIS HAMILTON
Into the story now comes Jaguar Land Rover. Because the collection mentioned above contained many Jaguars, the company decided to purchase the lot. There was talk at the time of creating drive days using some of the cars, but eventually the decision was made to proceed with their continuation project with the XKSS model.
As there were no proper plans or drawings then available, it was decided to use the
Dave Brown car as a template. No body bucks existed, so this car was scanned using the latest technology available and the body was found to be more accurate even than an original. The car was taken apart piece by piece to assist in the creation of the new cars to be built. Eventually, the bits were left in a corner and basically forgotten about.
Meanwhile, Sir Lewis Hamilton was happily going about his business of winning World Drivers’ Championships while his father, Anthony Hamilton, had been quietly building up an amazing collection of desirable cars, with a preference for Triumph sports cars. The Hamilton collection has just recently been sold by Silverstone Auctions and included a 1932 Wolseley Hornet March-bodied Special, a 1960 Triumph Italia 2000GT, 1954 and 1955 Swallow Doretti Roadsters, a 1965 Morris Mini Traveller De Luxe, a 1968 Morris Mini-Cooper S, a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette C1, a 1968 Triumph TR5, 1957 and 1960 Triumph TR3As, a 1971 Radford Mini-Cooper S, a 1958 AustinHealey 100-6 (BN4), a 1977 Triumph Stag MkIII M/OD, a 1960 MGA Twin Cam, a 1980 Triumph TR8, a 2006 Ford GT, a 1960 Alvis TD21 and a 2006 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Coupé.
Any follower of Sir Lewis Hamilton’s career will be familiar with his father Anthony who, like many parents, gave everything he could to foster his son’s Formula One pathway. For many years he could be seen at his son’s side but finally there was a parting of the ways in 2010. However, you would have to say his efforts have well and truly paid off.
Last year through a connection to Dave Brown’s UK colleague, Hamilton Senior discovered the collection of bits of the XKSS and decided to buy them and have the car rebuilt to his exacting specifications. The Jaguar has only recently been completed and while some changes have been made, it is essentially the car as originally created in Invercargill.
Resplendent now in black with red interior trim, the intention is to mount the car on a plinth in Anthony Hamilton’s house. It is apparently totally pristine but through another remarkable circumstance, there is another amazing twist to this tale. Yet another Invercargill connection brings us neatly to the finishing line.
It is a very small world these days and anyone who watches Formula One will have noticed a small blonde lady who accompanies the seven-time World Drivers’ Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton everywhere. Right from the 2016 season onwards he has been joined by a constant face in his corner – his physiotherapist, Angela Cullen. NZ-born and a lover of sports, she was an NZ rep hockey player and has a Bachelor’s degree in health science and physiotherapy. Angela is responsible for Lewis’s diet, travel and general health. She and her family now live in the Alps region in France.
A young New Zealand man, Jake Apiata, was employed by Dave Brown some years ago, who rated him as one of the best fabricators he has seen. Jake and his French wife now live and work in France and he is a good friend of Angela Cullen. Jake’s connection to her may even result in a wonderful photo opportunity if they can arrange for the current World Champion to pose with his father’s NZ-built car.
CONTINUATION CONTROVERSY
In his editorial in the last NZ Classic Driver, Editor Allan Walton outlined the situation within the replica car area after the recent Swedish High Court legal battle between Jaguar Land Rover and the husband and wife team who had built a replica C-Type with the intention of selling more.
While the case is under appeal, I asked Dave Brown for his thoughts on this whole situation, bearing in mind there are hundreds of small companies around the world doing exactly the same thing; that is, recreating classic cars, be they Jaguars or anything else. As Dave knows the Swedish couple well and has had phone conversations with them over time, he is not fazed by the JLR legal decision. In their case, it seems as if JLR has an increasing interest in continuation cars and is trying to protect the intellectual property of the marque. One would think that horse has rather bolted over recent times.
While Dave Brown has been steadily working at his business for many years and has created a gold standard in car creations, his latest project should raise an eyebrow or two. He is in the process of constructing a quarter-scale JA locomotive, the huge
bellowing and hissing steam engines that thundered up and down New Zealand’s railway tracks from the late 1940s until they were finally retired in favour of diesels in 1971. A number were built in the Hillside workshops in Dunedin, but the majority were built by the North British Locomotive Company, which built 40 engines. The first 30 were allocated to the North Island, with 10 coming to the South Island to service the hilly bits between Dunedin and Oamaru, before finally running the length of the South Island.
When asked why he would take on such a project, Dave said it might sound odd, but it is all about giving him a release from his normal work and presenting another challenge. Essentially, it is just another engineering and construction job of work, something he enjoys. His interest in steam stems well back into childhood, when he and his late brother were right into steam engines.
Having built the loco, I was loathe to ask where he was going to run it, as there are not too many railway tracks along Howorth Street in Invercargill, but I guess there will be an answer – perhaps he will simply build his own track!
His interest in steam stems well back into childhood, when he and his late brother were right into steam engines.