Lost & found
Stories in Lost & found usually begin with a picture of a very run-down, derelict and often bodiless vehicle. This one is different, however, because it features a 1955 Jaguar MKVIIM that has covered just 2020 miles and is in fine condition.
It was sold new by Henlys of Camden Town to a Thomas Crichlow of Wimpole Street, London, and registered SLL 346. He ordered it in pale blue with an auto ’box – his then pregnant wife had just passed her test, so he thought it would be best. He didn’t like the transmission and his wife found the car too large for London, so it was put away and hardly used.
Crichlow’s son, Vangh, has confirmed the mileage and that in the late 1950s and early ’60s his father would take the family out in the car at Christmas, driving around London to see the lights. Vangh was allowed to stand on the front bench with his head through the sunroof. The car would then be returned to the garage and covered over until the following year. The Jaguar was last run in the late ’60s.
The Crichlow family offered the MKVIIM for sale in 2017, when it was auctioned by Bonhams at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting. “I first viewed it in a mews garage in Mayfair, where it had clearly been parked for many years,” says John Polson, a Bonhams senior specialist. “Fortunately the garage was dry and the car was still in remarkably original and good order.”
The family thought the car was a MKVIII but Bonhams revealed it to be a MKVIIM, later confirmed by a Jaguar production trace certificate – the MKVIII had a one-piece ’screen and the rear spats were cut away.
The car was bought by John Sinclair-williams of Yorkshire, who decided that the bodywork needed a little attention and had it repainted, but it was soon acquired by Mel Herman, who is better known for his interest in Allards.
He had been intrigued by the story and asked Alan Harris, chairman of the Jaguar Drivers’ Club MKVII/VIII/IX Register, to inspect it with him. Harris was amazed by the car’s originality and rust-free condition, which is very unusual with this model.
“During lockdown it has given me a most enjoyable time, slowly refurbishing it and discovering the still-bright, unpainted bare-steel inner faces of the body panels,” says Herman. “No wonder they rusted!”