Just out of curiosity, does any of our Australian members recognize this type of plate? I’ve never seen one on a factory XK but may be on other Jaguar types as it refers to Girling Hydraulic Brakes.
It is advertised as an “Original Factory Lube Plate” for the Jaguar XK 120 140 150 MK VII VIII and IX. Available for the attractive price of only GBP 275 excl. shipment.
I assume this was made locally and may be even only by Brylaw Motors of Sydney.
Bob K.
Yes Rob, it’s identical so apparently only made by Brylaw in Australia. Don’t understand why this company only recommended Castrol lubricants, unless Castrol “sponsored” this initiative.
But I would not really appreciate it when somebody would have riveted it on top of the original Jaguar Plate.
Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to you.
Bob K…
Yes, it is odd to put it over the data plate, when there is plenty of unused space on a Mark V scuttle, but notice the extra holes where the Brylaw installer apparently must have first put it higher, covering the chassis number. 
I can understand the concern about using the right brake fluid, as Mark V was the first Jaguar model to have hydraulic brakes.
Perhaps Brylaw was a dealer for Castrol products as well.
Were Pop-rivets even available back then?
Yes.
British engineer Hamilton Neil Wylie invented the “Pop rivet” and patented his brainchild in 1916. Also called a blind rivet it allowed one person to fit a rivet with access only needed from one side.
BRYLAWS were easily the major DISTRIBUTOR of Jaguar Cars, from immediate post war to well into the 1970s up until the British Leyland debacle…
Their HQ was in Melbourne (State of Victoria) with a MAIN DEALERSHIP in Melbourne, but many other minor Dealerships throughout the States of Victoria and Tasmania. BRYLAWS also had a MAIN DEALERSHIP in Sydney (State of NSW), with also many other minor Dealerships throughout NSW and the ACT (Canberra - Australia’s Capital City). The DISTRIBUTOR for South Australia was DOMINION MOTORS, who shared a very strong relationship/interchange with BRYLAWS (Melbourne). The lesser markets of Queensland (and Northern Territory) had ANDERSONS AGENCIES as their DISTRIBUTOR and M.S. BROOKING was the Distributor for W.A.
Jack Bryson - the principal of BRYLAWS had a very close relationship with William Lyons and was instrumental in Jaguars post war export or bust recovery, but was allowed freedoms regarding factory support/Brylaws guarantees for the ‘unique’ Australian Market, and indeed arranged local manufacture in Melbourne of certain components/accessories that were not exempt from special low duty arrangements for cars imported from UK - bumpers, leapers etc. But also determined the Australian recommended Servicing requirements for cars in all the territory covered by their Distributorship and Dealership network. So from about late 1948 onwards (last of the Mark IV) the UK factory recommended separate Lubrication PLate was replaced by a local BRYLAW (Melbourne), BRYLAW (Sydney) or DOMINION MOTORS local lubrication plate, and for Mark V where the factory Chassis Plate included all the UK recommended lubricants at the lower two thirds of the Plate, the lubricants part was simply guillotined off and the top part with all the numbers reattached using only the remaining top two holes, and a special separate BRYLAW (Melbourne), BRYLAW (Sydney) or DOMINION MOTORS local lubrication plate attached with four new holes being drilled in and pop-riveted in place… see attached example of an ex BRYSONS (Melbourne) car as supplied new to a customer in Victoria… , on an April 1950 built Mark V
Note, the two lower holes that used to secure the cut off part of the factory Chassis Plate have been filled, but are still there.
Now Robs photo of the BRYLAWS (NSW) Lubrication Plate is ‘strange’ and I would say, someone’s efforts with a restoration. This car 625082 was a UK Home Delivery car, ordered through Brylaws, so would have been picked up from factory with its original Chassis Plate intact, and no Brylaw plate yet attached. No idea when this car came back to Australia, so who and when attached the BRYLAW (NSW) plate, noting all the pop-rivets are quite different to those used by the factory, and indeed those used by BRYLAWS when they originally removed/refitted the cut down Chassis Plate, and fitted their additional Lubrication Plate, albeit I cant say for sure when Brylaws first used pop-rivets instead of dome-headed screws. Whether fitted by Brylaws (Sydney) Dealership when in for a service, or whether fitted by someone else years later, who knows, but it’s not a well done effort with the extra two pop rivets top-centre, and you can see two holes at bottom centre that suggests the Lubrication Plate was initially fitted over the top of the factory plate, covering the stamped in numbers…
The eBay listing is most interesting - I must say I always thought these BRYLAW/ DOMINION MOTORS Lubrication Plates were made of brass, but given the asking price for this one, I will have to check those I have in my collection and see if I also have one of these rare variants seemingly made of gold … 
But other guesses - CASTROL was then very much the preferred Lubricant Company in Australia, also HQ in Melbourne, and indeed not all the factory recommended lubricants were available in Australia, so yes maybe Brylaws had a special deal with Castrol, but nothing more than that…
And in Qld, WA and NT - very small number of new Mark IV and Mark V sales - all cars retained their original unmodified faatory Chassis Plate, with no additional local Lubricants plate…
I stand corrected.
Could have sworn someone wrote they got dinged for that at a concourse.
They would under JCNA rules as the car must be as it left the factory not dealership. I don’t believe the plates were mounted in Coventry.
Not quite correct Pat…
Each country that conducts Concours according to a RULE BOOK does indeed have a number of exceptions from being other than 100% ex-factory original, including JCNA that sets the rules amongst affiliated clubs in USA and Canada, and correct me if I am wrong but also in some events in Mexico.
In Australia we have a similar umbrella organization ACJC that there are eight State/Territory affiliated Clubs whilst there is a ninth Jaguar Club not affiliated with ACJC.
IN an ACJC affiliated event we do have a few only parochial exemptions from strict factory 100% originality, indeed if a car has Victorian Registration it is not debited for fitting after-market seat belts back to I think 1950 build cars as that is a legal requirement for Victorian Road Worthiness and Registration. With the added BRYLAW or DOMINION Lubrication Plates - that is of course an allowable local/Distributor modification, but if nothing fitted, then that’s OK also…
In North America, in an JCNA event, there is no special exemption for having a BRYLAW lubrication plate fitted below a cut down factory Chassis Plate - and why would there be… short of someone in USA with more money than sense buying this eBay offering, I cant imagine these plates have ever been seen before in USA, lert alone fitted to a car being judged in a JCNA event…
But JCNA does allow American made and fitted sealed beam headlamps in an XK120/140/Mark V/Mark VII, despite not being factory fitted, plus also a Tung Sol flasher relay in XK120s that was not factory fitted, plus a few other local ‘parochial’ non-factory modifications… And that’s fair enough - there is good and agreed reasons for allowing ‘local modifications’… Bottom line is if you want to enter a JCNA or ACJC Concours, read up on the Rules, and see what is allowed or not allowed, but don’t complain if you fit WHITE WALL tyres (for instance) to your Mark IV or Mark V or pre 1952 XK120 and get rightly deducted for this non-authentic owner preference after-market fitment, given the regular commentary we seem to get on arguing the merits or otherwise of WW tyres… …
Some of the products may not have even been available in Australia
Thanks everybody (and Roger in particular) for the amount of info on these “Lube Plates”.
The background is now clear.
I do wonder however whether it was “smart” to cut away part of the original Lubrication Plate, as the valve clearance data disappeared. And these clearances even changed at some moment.
Again, the power of the collective knowledge and access to additional information of this forum is remarkable!
Best wishes to everybody and “Dona Nobis Pacem” seems a good idea.
Bob K.
and they shouldn’t loose points at Concour
I would love the time to put a book together on ID plates and aftermarket lube, ID etc type plates. I have a 2-3 thousand photos from 1932 to the 1980’s of these.
Whilst very common to find Australian MKV’s from the states of Qld, NSW, Victoria and South Australia plus some MKIV’s and MKVII’s with the chopped ID plate and or a separate Australian Lube plate fitted the one I have only ever seen one of on an XK120 is
660819
in 2-3 European countries it was mandatory to fit additional Identification plates to allow the car to be registered the most common seems to be adding the weight.
Australia cars continued through to late 1960’s with separate foil lube sticker attached to heater box
French cars of the 60s often had a plate with the name of the distributor. Mine didn’t come with one, but, as required by law, I had to affix a plate with the axle loads and chassis number to the right side of the frame.
I don’t want to drill holes, especially not for the government, gluing is legal but to be safe I made it look like pop rivets. The plate is countersunk at the rear and the pop rivets were filed flush. Aluminium tape at the back of the pop rivets imitates broken stems. If anyone wants to stick a plate somewhere I recommend doing this, it looks very realistic and leaves no holes.
By the way, they (bryson) would fit it over the ‚false‘ lube information and of course they wouldn’t mind the damage caused to the plate back then.
Well done Dave, I have seen these fitted to Mark VII, but seems I never had my camera handy, as I looked, but couldn’t find an example - but given Mark VII continued in from the Mark V with GIRLING HYDRAULIC BRAKES no reason not to still fit this same plate, albeit by 1953 now showed the renamed BRYSON INDUSTRIES rather than the Mark IV and Mark V BRYLAWS…
I hadn’t seen an example of any Melbourne, Sydney nor Adelaide new XK120 with and similar plate fitted, BRYLAWS nor BRYSON, and indeed have seen plenty such cars with zero sign of ever having such a plate fitted…, so personally, I think Terrys example on 660819 is ‘questionable’, and more likely a ‘later’ addition…
AS before - I don’t have proof of course, but seriously doubt Terrys 660819 example is one period fitted by BRYLAWS or indeed BRYSONS. Apart from GIRLING HYDRAULIC BRAKES being at odds with the XK120s LOCKHEED HYDRAULIC BRAKES, I have seen many original Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide new XK120s that clearly have never had any BRYLAWS/BRYSONS plate fitted - so why this one… Terry, do you have a better photo of plate - is it BRYLAWS or BRYSONS and is it Melbourne or Sydney example… 660819 is an XK120 with a pretty chequered history, so not a reliable car re such detail apparent anomalies…
Having said that Terry, you say ‘very common … with Qld’ Mark Vs - that’s new to me, I have never heard of nor seen a Qld (presumably ANDERSONS) local Lubrication Plate - would love to see an example please…
And similarly ’ plus MkIVs with a chopped ID Plate’ … those I have seen retain the original factory ID plate, but simply replace the separate same size factory LUBRICATION PLATE, with a local same size LUBRICATION plate - quite different to the Mark V/VII BRYLAWS/DOMINION Lubrication Plates, as per example below on a 1948 Mark IV…
Sorry about the deletion of numbers, but an extremely original car, albeit I doubt that extends to the screws securing all three plates - indeed how often do we still see the small GEARBOX NUMBER plate…
