2009-11-05 19:05:45 | terry mcgrath writes:

only 11 special equipment 7-1 compression XK140's were built 10 of which were known to have been exported

2010-02-01 22:56:23 | pauls writes:

Car currently offered at was recently at auction did not sell:
www.brightwells.com/3rdparty/orphanspress/classiccars/viewdetails.php

Sellers description:
Lot number 87
Hammer value N/S (est. £60,000 - £70,000)
Description Jaguar XK140 SE Roadster
Registration RGW 400
Year 1955
Colour British Racing Green
Engine size 3,442 cc
Chassis No. S811290
Engine No. G3200-7S

As stated on the Heritage Certificate in the history file, this XK140 Roadster is a Special Equipment model with an overdrive gearbox and a C-Type head (which boosted power to 210bhp). It was dispatched to Henlys of London on 18th May 1955 and was first registered to Nomikos Ltd, London EC2, on 25th May 1955 with the registration number RGW 400. It was originally cream with a red leather interior. Although the car has a left-hand drive chassis number (S811290) there is no physical evidence that it has ever been a left-hand drive car and it appears to have always remained in the UK and to have always worn the same London-issued number, RGW 400.

The current vendor has owned the car for 23 years and vividly remembers being accosted several years ago at a Jaguar event by a gentleman called Dr Peter Beet who claimed to have been the first owner of the car. He related that it had originally been ordered by the famous English cricketer, Colin Cowdrey, and was sent to Southampton docks to be shipped off to meet Cowdrey in Australia. However a six-week dock strike meant that the car never left the quayside and Cowdrey cancelled his order, leaving the door open for Dr Beet to step in. Sadly we have not been able to verify this story and there is no documentary evidence to support it although other people we have spoken to have also recalled a Cowdrey connection with the car.

In fact there is no documented history with the car until December 1966 at which point a green log book confirms that it was then owned by a Richard Corbett of Cambridge. Evidently an airline pilot, Corbett subsequently wrote to the current owner from Bahrain, after spotting the car in a magazine article, confirming that he had owned it in 1966-67 when it was still painted cream.

The next owner was an Anthony Sainty of Cambridge who acquired the car in August 1967 and kept it until November 1969 when it passed to JR Turnbull, also of Cambridge. In December 1972 he sold it to Roger Joyce of Colkirk Hall, Fakenham, Norfolk, (later killed in a racing accident in his Frazer-Nash at Silverstone) who appears to have kept it for several years and reputedly painted it green. By June 1981 the car had passed to a William Brown of Blackburn who sold it to Peter Sowry of Birmingham in July 1983. The current vendor acquired it from Sowry in 1986, although it was briefly registered in his partner’s name for some of this time.

In September 1984 the engine was rebuilt by Forward Engineering of Birmingham and a new clutch and radiator fitted. The paperwork refers to an exchange engine but the original engine is still in the car. Since then the car has covered less than 6,000 miles and the engine certainly sounds wonderful being notably quiet and smooth running. The vendor states that it also performs very strongly and that the whole car drives beautifully.

He also states that there is no sign of any previous welding on the chassis and further believes that all the panels may be original. It is uncertain exactly when the car was retrimmed in cream leather and painted British Racing Green but it was certainly at least 30 years ago and the car is now nicely patinated all round. A Kenlowe fan and stainless steel exhaust have also been fitted at some time, as have a new canvas hood and sidescreens. The indicated mileage of 61,359 is believed to be genuine and is partially supported by five old MOTs from 1978 to 1985 when it rose from some 50,800 miles to 55,000 miles.

Altogether a fine old motorcar with an intriguing history that is still driving very well indeed and needs nothing other than a proud new owner behind the wheel.

2011-03-25 06:40:48 | John Sherrard writes:

I added a comment about a week ago, but have received no acknowlegement (and just in case it's gone down a black hole somewhere), here's my second attempt to contact the current owner of RGW 400.
I owned this vehicle from April 1962 until sometime early in 1964. I purchased the car from Francis Motors (of Leicester) and still have the original invoice relating to the sale which was for the princely sum of £475.00!
I also have black & white photo's of the car with its original colour scheme of white bodywork, red upholstery and chrome wire wheels. If my memory serves me right, I was the next owner after Nomikos Ltd. (who by the way, appear to be still in business). As there appears to be a void in the list of owners between 1955 and 1966, I thought my input might be of interest to the present (lucky) owner ... I sold it (almost gave it away) to a chap who lived in Hendon. At the time of my ownership, I was unaware of its unique status of being the only one of a batch of eleven that reached the UK market and it was only after enquiring with the XK Register in 1986 that I discovered that originally, it was destined to have been a left-hand drive model (the XK Register had no knowledge of its whereabouts and I had wongly assumed that it had been possibly scrapped).
As I have said, I would like to make contact with the present owner just to fill in a bit more of this car's early history and hope that it may be possible to hear from him via your web-site.
Regards,
John Sherrard

2013-08-17 14:22:04 | Malcolm McKay writes:

Some fascinating early history of this car has now emerged.
Petros Nomikos of the Nomikos shipping family competed in this car in the Acropolis Rally in 1956 and 1957, and photographs (look out for them in the next XK Club Gazette, September 2013) prove that it WAS originally left-hand drive. Their overall results in the Acropolis Rally were nothing special, but they were reported to have been second fastest on the Parnitha mountain hillclimb in 1956 to the winning Mercedes 300SL Gullwing - 7m53s to his 7m47s - an impressive result from a low compression 140SE!
It seems likely (though unproven) that Nomikos brought the car back to England after damaging it on the 1957 event and had it converted to RHD to make it easier to sell - it was advertised in Autosport in 1958.

2015-05-14 23:13:53 | pauls writes:

More history provided in the May 2015 edition of the XK Gazette.

2015-12-30 04:34:33 | pauls writes:

A large article about this car and its history provided in the January 2016 edition of the XK Gazette. Car is now Mediterranean blue with gray trim, completely restored.