BBQ Grill in full flow
XK150 ready for the road
400 bhp TVR Tuscan Challenge Car
Rebuilt engine and gearbox in XK Chassis
Dashboard before the refurb starts
And how it will look shortly.
The "Manney" XK Alloy before shipping to Classic Autosports.
You can see and read more about this car here For more about Classic Autosports www.classicautosports.com
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|  | Classic
Autosports BBQ - 9 July
 Report
& Photos - Jim Paterson
Dave
Barnett's Classic Autosports annual barbeque went off well
despite some manic weather on the 9th of July. I had planned to take
the Healey up to the workshop
but some of the rain showers were more like Malaysian monsoons with the
occasional Dehli deluge thrown in. I took the Audi A3 and managed quite
a few aquaplanes on flooded road sections.
The
BBQ smell made up for it as I approached the garage in what was now
bright sunshine. The heaving tables of goodies were regularly topped up
with burgers, bangers, and chicken legs, fresh from the barbeque, which
for obvious reasons, as you can see, was outside the workshop!
 Lots
of Classic Autosports clients, friends, and Classic
enthusiasts dropped in for a feast and a chat. The Glamis Extravaganza
was also on that weekend and a number of participants came along for a
free meal and a general chat with old friends and colleagues,
including several personalities such as Bill Price who ran the BMC
Competitions Department for over 20 years embracing cars from the MGA
to Metro 6R4 and everything in between, a fascinating unassuming man
with many good stories to tell.
 In the
workshop Dave has quite a selection of cars in various states of
restoration or rebuild. I spotted a big Healey, several TR's and a
brutal looking racing 400bhp TVR Tuscan Challenge
car. A 1937 Ford V8 Pilot Shooting Brake (the only RHD one
left out of 80 made) was in the paint booth. The term 'Shooting Break'
evolved from the French term 'Break de Chasse,' which meant a break in
the hunt. For British based vehicles, the term 'Brake' commonly
referred to any station wagon carrying a hunting party to a location.
These cars generally had a large coachbuilt area to house the hunters
and their weapons, and Dave's version has the familiar wooden rear
associated with the type.
But Classic
Autosports real speciality is Jaguar, of which XK120, 140,
150 and E Type are the favourites. The Jaguar XK120 has been quoted as
"the greatest crumpet catchers of all time", and they have a
workshop full of them in various states of restoration, all of which
will live up to the quote for their owners when they roll out of the
garage completed and ready to go.
 Dave has
acquired one of the 242 hand-built aluminum body XK120s of which only
approximately 50 survive. The alloy XK120 was the fastest production
car of its time - capable of 120 miles per hour. The first 1948/49 cars
were handbuilt with an aluminium body over an ash frame. In 1950 Jaguar
switched to mass-production using pressed-steel bodies. Early XK120s
posted top speeds over 120 mph in magazine testing, and a specially
prepared example reached almost 137 mph, making it the world's fastest
production car.
Dave's example
(chassis number 120) was imported from the States and as you can see
has a bit of work to be done before it takes to the roads around
Arbroath. The car was bought new in March 1950 by Henry N
Manney who later fitted it with aero screens and raced it. Manney was
America's best known motoring journalist and road tester who worked for
Road and Track magazine and was also responsible for writing the
aforementioned quote "the best crumpet catcher in the world".
 The
front section of the car has a story to go with it. Dave found the car in Texas alongside the ex Clark Gable
XK120 (chassis number 3) which was the very first XK to be imported
into America in 1949 when Jaguar and other British manufacturers were
on a big export drive to repay war loans. The owner of both these
rare cars had taken the best parts of the bodywork for the Clark Gable
car including the front end bodywork from Dave's chassis number 120. A
close check of the left wing identified a hole where a radio ariel had
once been fitted, which along with the aero screen fittings from the Manney
car now on the Gable car, confirmed that the front of Dave's car has
now got some tinsel town provenance to go with it!
How
time flies when you are having fun, and only too soon the sun set and
the flames on the barbeque died to warm embers as the day came to a
close. But there is always 2012 to look forward too, when once again
Dave, with sons Gareth and Innes, and John who knows all there is to
know about rebuilding a Classic, will once again open the doors on the fascinating
world of Classic Car restoration.
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| Updated 11 July 2011
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