2005-11-22 05:01:42 | David Barnett, Classic AutoSports, Scotland writes:

This was my first car when I was 18 (1968) and started my life long passion for XK s !. In 1968 I moved from Scotland to London to work with interesting cars. Every night I walked past this XK140 (Registered RXR 999) dhc in Imperial Maroon, black hood and disc wheels, sitting a side street in Battersea, South London. It was road taxed, but covered in dust and getting worse by the day. Eventually I plucked up the courage to go and knock on the door where it was parked. I asked the old man if it was for sale, he said it belonged to his son who was at University and he would ask him, The following evening I kocked on the door again to be told yes he would sell it, How much i asked ?, £80 if his son came home and got it running or £40 if I bought it the way it was !, I''ll have it the way it is i replied !, The following Saturday I returned, paid for and towed the car back to the flat where I was staying. That night i couldn't sleep for looking out the window, down on to my pride and joy, i was on cloud nine, 18 years old, my first car !. It took me a couple of weeks to get the cylinder head gasket done, with many neighbours passing by, telling me how misguided I was wasting my time and money on an "old car like that" !. Eventually I got it running sweetly (or being 18 years old what I thought was sweet!) and my brother and I road tested it up the West End of London, yes you could actually drive in central London then !, the icing on the cake that evening was blowing off a Healey 3000 across Battersea Bridge !. The car gave me many thousands of miles of pleasure and kindled my love for XKs for ever more. I sold the car to Bob Kerr at Loch Lomond around 1973 to finance work on another XK120 fhc and regreted it ever since !.

2014-08-17 07:37:46 | PaulW writes:

UK licencing authority website lists it as road tax expired May 1994. Any news since then?