Some of you may remember that, back in March or so, I asked in this
forum if anyone knew of the whereabouts and current state of my
parent’s Silverstone XK120 race car. Phil Porter read the post and
put the current owner and me in touch. The owner, a Mr. Chris
Jaques and I subsequently began emailing each other. Turned out he
was coming from Jollye Olde to see the Monterrey Historics and to
auction off an early race car (a 190? or something participant in
the Bennett races…more on this later!). He was also keen to learn
of LT-2’s history (the cars were only known as Silverstones here in
America: Someone thought it sounded jazzy!) from the time he
purchased it in 1974, from the Brit who found in my parent’s back
yard moldering away…
To make an incredibly long story just a weee bit shorter, Mr.
Jaques (pronounced ‘‘Jakes’’, long A) stayed over with my wife and I
this past couple of days, on his way to California. I had gathered
all the pictures I had of LT-2 (2) that I had and he had brought
along all the reaserched ones he had gleaned, plus the pictures of
the car in its current GORGEOUS condition (pix will be posted as
soon as I can get them scanned in).
Mr. Jaques is acquaintanced with Sir Stirling Moss, who, when over
in the States back in 1963 at the invitation of the local chapet of
SCCA and to promote a race at CDR, he drove and signed the back of
2. At the time it was thought that Stirling had driven 2 in the
early 50s (a ‘fact’ soon disproved). The VERY short history of 1,
2, and 3 follows!
There were three lightweight 120s constructed in 1950, in case the
C-Types were not ready for Le Man the next year. In fact, the C-
types not only were ready, but they ‘whipped hiney’ in 1951 and the
trio of lightweight 120s went ‘on a shelf.’ 2 and 3 were indeed
factory-built race cars; their chassis and one-piece magnesium-
aluminum alloy bodies were constructed by Jaguar. 1 was the
prototype body and was later put together by another person.
2 and 3 were bought by the East coast distributor of Jaguars, a Mr.
Hornberg. 2 was driven by Bill Breeze at Reno and 3 was driven by
none other than Phil Hill (a fact confirmed just last year, when
Mr. Hill visited Mr. Jaque’s residence in England).
Time constraints make it so I’ll have to continue this later! If
you’ve any questions, I’ll try to answer them along the way of
writing more enties on this very interesting and seminal car in
Jaguar’s history! Kinda neat that I know now my parent’s and I were
a small part of that history!
Next: Why 2 had a funny nose…–
Paul Wigton, whom Tweety rules!
Brighton, CO, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
I betcha wish that your old man and mom hadn’t sold that car now!
Wonder what the going price for one of 'em is?
Brandon B Shriver
Hazleton, PA
http://www.shriverperformance.com-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xk@jag-lovers.org [mailto:owner-xk@jag-lovers.org] On Behalf
Of vrooomie
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 1:18 PM
To: xk@jag-lovers.org
Subject: [xk] …Of Silverstones and Stirling Moss…an update!
Some of you may remember that, back in March or so, I asked in this
forum if anyone knew of the whereabouts and current state of my
parent’s Silverstone XK120 race car. Phil Porter read the post and
put the current owner and me in touch. The owner, a Mr. Chris
Jaques and I subsequently began emailing each other. Turned out he
was coming from Jollye Olde to see the Monterrey Historics and to
auction off an early race car (a 190? or something participant in
the Bennett races…more on this later!). He was also keen to learn
of LT-2’s history (the cars were only known as Silverstones here in
America: Someone thought it sounded jazzy!) from the time he
purchased it in 1974, from the Brit who found in my parent’s back
yard moldering away…
To make an incredibly long story just a weee bit shorter, Mr.
Jaques (pronounced ‘‘Jakes’’, long A) stayed over with my wife and I
this past couple of days, on his way to California. I had gathered
all the pictures I had of LT-2 (2) that I had and he had brought
along all the reaserched ones he had gleaned, plus the pictures of
the car in its current GORGEOUS condition (pix will be posted as
soon as I can get them scanned in).
Mr. Jaques is acquaintanced with Sir Stirling Moss, who, when over
in the States back in 1963 at the invitation of the local chapet of
SCCA and to promote a race at CDR, he drove and signed the back of
2. At the time it was thought that Stirling had driven 2 in the
early 50s (a ‘fact’ soon disproved). The VERY short history of 1,
2, and 3 follows!
There were three lightweight 120s constructed in 1950, in case the
C-Types were not ready for Le Man the next year. In fact, the C- types
not only were ready, but they ‘whipped hiney’ in 1951 and the
trio of lightweight 120s went ‘on a shelf.’ 2 and 3 were indeed
factory-built race cars; their chassis and one-piece magnesium- aluminum
alloy bodies were constructed by Jaguar. 1 was the
prototype body and was later put together by another person.
2 and 3 were bought by the East coast distributor of Jaguars, a Mr.
Hornberg. 2 was driven by Bill Breeze at Reno and 3 was driven by
none other than Phil Hill (a fact confirmed just last year, when
Mr. Hill visited Mr. Jaque’s residence in England).
Time constraints make it so I’ll have to continue this later! If
you’ve any questions, I’ll try to answer them along the way of
writing more enties on this very interesting and seminal car in
Jaguar’s history! Kinda neat that I know now my parent’s and I were
a small part of that history!
Next: Why 2 had a funny nose…
Paul Wigton, whom Tweety rules!
Brighton, CO, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
1 Like
Good Christ!
This might be one of the earliest posts I ever made on JagLovr’s, 20 years ago!
I don’t know that I ever posted pictures of the finished car, so I will busy myself in the next week or so, and do that. I inadvertently stumbled across this…
@BShriver was just a kid then… 
@Bob_K1 and I subsequently met, via email, and we have had many correspondences about the old Silverstone!