What’s a Jaguar E-Pace like to drive? He entrusted Bonini, a test driver, to drive a 6C2500, with all the equipment he needed, to Berlin, travelling at night to avoid bombings, and to bring a letter to Albert Speer, with whom Gobbato had good relationship. Rear-wheel drive is standard; all-wheel drive is optional with either engine. It has four brawny engine options, excellent handling, standard all-wheel drive, and more cabin and cargo space than most classmates. The XJC was never more than a niche car in Jaguar’s line-up, a personal favourite of Sir William Lyons but one that never really took off in the sales war of the time. Fast forward to today and after this no just one goes anywhere with no cell mobile phone. 鈥榁oiturette鈥?or, in Italian, 鈥榁eturetta鈥?was considered a 鈥榮tep-down鈥?class similar to Formula 2 or Formula 3000 of today. Heimo Hietarinta finished 1st in the Formula Libre Class at the Leningrad Grand Prix on August 27, 1961. XKD530 is believed to be the only D-Type to have ever raced in the Soviet Union, and the occasion was reported in the September 1961 issue of Finnish magazine Tekniikan Maailma, forever documenting the car鈥檚 momentous participation.
As rebuilding the original body was deemed to be too prohibitively expensive for a car of such value at that time, it was decided that the later D-Type construction manner, which involved separately bolting a front and rear chassis sub-frame to the monocoque body, afforded the opportunity to remove the damaged body and salvage as many original chassis components as possible. The D-Type arrived at the Works competition department in Coventry in December 1959, and the engine block was replaced with a factory 3.8-liter example. The engine block was cast in Elektron (magnesium) and what was unusual for that time, it consisted of two separate castings integrated with a common head. The sump and crankcase were cast with identical material. The transfer to and supply of the new locations was very difficult for both the material and the workers. From then on, Gobbato and the staff tried their best to stop material as well as workers from being carried away, but the fascist activists became even more ferocious, and unknown men used to get into the factory and take away workers suspected of antifascist activities, most of them never to be seen again.
A few kilometres away, in a hilly north-eastern location called Armeno, were transferred the experimental workshops, where the parts for the AR 1101 28 cylinder were built. Ing. Gatti, transferred from Naples to Armeno with his staff, as there was no space left in Orta; he recalls they were housed in a knife factory called Inuggi. The engines were thermally stressed to such a degree that a so called 鈥榝ifth stroke鈥?was needed. RRV Motor Cars II, L.L.C. Italy, keen to stay at the forefront of at least one aspect of motor racing turned its back to Grand prix cars and decided to build cars for the Voiturette class. If you buy an XE, buy that one. Painted Red with an interior trimmed to match, it was one of a very small number of D-Types (perhaps as few as two or three examples) to be so finished when new. Chassis number XKD 530 is one of the 54 examples produced for privateer customers, this car left the factory on February 13, 1956, finished in British Racing Green. 鈥淟ofty鈥?England, that the rigors of ice racing had taken a toll on the car, and an overhaul was in order.
In November 1966, no longer competitive on Finland鈥檚 ice courses, XKD 530 was sold to English collector Nigel Moores, showing the symptoms of hard use, and the body had been modified to an open two-seater cockpit with a truncated tail. Coachbuilders Wiima, of Helsinki, were retained to install a full-width windscreen, a new nearside door, and a custom tail fin. Retailed through Finnish Jaguar dealer S.M.K., the car was delivered in April 1956 to Curt Lincoln, of Helsinki, a tennis player on Finland鈥檚 Davis Cup team who was known to the racing world for his exploits in F3 midget cars and a Jaguar C-Type. On May 26, 1959, Mr. Lincoln wrote to Jaguar鈥檚 racing chief, F.R.W. The cars had reached the limit of their development and with not enough funds to build a completely new car Alfa Romeo was forced to withdraw from racing and thus the incredible story of these cars came to an end. A successful businessman and enthusiastic race car driver, named Emil Jellinek, used to build race cars using the pseudonym of ‘Mercedes’ which happened to be his daughter’s name. We have an extensive used inventory featuring cars from a great number of manufacturers.