1955 JAGUAR D-TYPE XKD534
This D-Type Jaguar came to New Zealand in September 1956, ordered by Jaguar main dealer Jack Shelley. At that time painted dark blue and powered by a 3.4-litre XK engine, the D-Type was subsequently raced by Bob Gibbons. His first competitive outing was a gravel hillclimb; hardly the right venue for a car specifically designed to compete at Le Mans.
Gibbons went on to win the fateful sports car support race for the 1957 NZIGP in which Ken Wharton lost his life after somersaulting his Ferrari Monza. Following the final races of the 1958 season, Shelley sold the D-Type to Angus Hyslop of Hastings. The combination of D-Type and Hyslop dominated local sports car racing prior to his selling the car in 1961 - reputedly Hyslop used the Jaguar to round up sheep on his farm! During his time with the Jaguar, Hyslop painted it white and fitted a full race factory 3.8-litre short-block D-Type engine. The car then passed into Simon Taylor’s hands, and very appropriately he would win the Ken Wharton Memorial Trophy at the final race held on the Ardmore circuit. The following year the D-Type was acquired by Johnny Riley, who then sold it to Gary Bremner, who repainted the car in maroon.
The late Eoin Young wrote that, on March 12, 1964, the Jaguar once again changed hands, with Noel Foster purchasing it for the princely sum of £1425. At that time the D-Type had completed 21,737 (34,981km) of, mostly, racing miles.
Foster, a farmer based in Ramarama, south of Auckland, took part in a few club events with the D-Type but mostly used the car as a high-speed road car. Through regular use the car’s paintwork began to pick up stone chips so the car was repainted yet again – this time in British Racing Green, but the final colour was rather lighter than usual.
In September 2002, the D-Type was back in its country of origin on the block at Bonham’s Goodwood sale, where the car’s sixth owner purchased it for £485,000.
Today, still resident in the UK, XKD534, now fully restored, is currently painted carmine red.