Subject: Time:10:29 AM
OFFICE MEMO Jag XK replicas Date:9/20/94
Ray wrote:
>I did get tickled by a fellow bugeye owner who confided that all the XK140s
and XK120s were replicas. I said they couldn't be; every XK replica I have
ever seen looks queerly distorted and several of these cars were spectacular.
He swore they were; he said every one had a placque on the dash declaring that
it was a replica.
My tuppence:
I'll give Ray the benefit of the doubt that he already knows what this really
means, but for those who don't:
Every XK120 roadster got a dash plaque from the factory saying:
"Certified that this Jaguar car is an EXACT REPLICA of the record breaking car
which achieved the speed of 132.6 mph at Jabbeke, Belgium, 30 May 1949
certified by Wm. Heynes, Chief Engineer, Jaguar Cars Ltd."
This wasn't strictly true in that the record car had a belly pan and a small
aero screen instead of the full windshield, but it was close enough for them to
lay claim to being the world's fastest production car.
XK140 roadsters all got a similar replica plaque but the speed was 141.51 mph.
So Coventry called its own cars replicas. Ray's friend was almost sorta right
in a way, but not the way he thought.
Rob (just what we need, yet another definition of the word replica) Reilly
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