Pay attention good citizens of the UK Jaguar appreciation society. Something special for you to ponder

The British Racing Drivers Club mascot in the name of the first owner hints at an extraordinary history for this most rare and superb 3.8S. Remember only 115 were ever made in RHD

Captain Ian B Baillie’s racing exploits are well documented. His life in and around racing are not known to me. But I can imagine he was a well educated man born in 1928 and joined the army probably too late to see action in WW2 but I imagine he wanted very much to do his duty for King and country and fight in the second world war. I can imagine he was a gentleman who thrived on the adrenaline of challenge. The facts are he was a 1950’s racing super star who competed at the very highest levels of sportscar racing. Amongst his steeds Aston Martin DBR1 arguably the most beautiful race car ever built raced to 9th in the 24hours of Le Mans in 1960 the high point of 9 races in the Aston. Prior to that and relevant here are 13 endurance races in the Jaguar XK D Type and XK140.

So the story goes Lofty England head of competition dept at Jaguar arranged for Baillie to be the first recipient of the end of line XK150S 3.8 which makes this car pretty special and a significant piece of Jaguar history. According to the JDHT certificate Lofty England arranged for a righthand drive 3.4 litre car to be pulled from the production line and fitted with the 3.8S triple carburettor variant ahead of the works press cars. The car then ear marked for ‘personal export’ to Baillie probably in the channel islands where he used the car adorned with his BRDC named mascot on the bumper until 23rd March 1961

The car returned to the mainland with Baillie and was registered 69BVF the number it has carried since. From the continuation green logbook we can see Baillie sold the car to a Mr Fergusson in December 1965 who moved the car on to a Mr Everard in April 1966. From what I can see Lt Colonel Ian B Baillie born just down the road from my home in Laycock passed away in 1978

Anybody who views our cars will know we are hopelessly and uncontrollably moved by a car with a fabulous and in this case quite unique history. I would have loved to have met Mr Baillie but I will have to make do with this story and this magnificent car.

The car today is a matching numbers car and it is presented in a magnificent restored condition in Jaguar gunmetal metallic with dark blue interior. A ‘nut and bolt’ ‘body off chassis’ restoration with over £80,000 spent on parts alone and thousands of man hours invested in this quite beautiful car and a credit to the keen XK man Philip Dobson who managed the restoration. Every penny spent is documented and the result is a truly beautiful car

When you piece together the provenance and the racing romance with the Jaguar racing heritage and a modern nut and bolt carefully detailed restoration it creates a compelling case for this XK to be worthy of careful consideration by a person who has to have the best and has to have the best with a sensational story. It’s a great car with a fabulous history file, for sale at a fraction of the cost to restore it