Classic Car Hire in Yorkshire by Reflections

After the earlier successes of the Jaguar C-Type other motor racing teams were copying the designs of Jaguar and eventually surpassing them , the old C-Type had pretty much reached its limits so there was nothing left to do but develop a better sports car - the predecessor to our beloved E-Type Jaguar classic hire car, the Jaguar D-Type.

Malcolm Sayer, formerly of the Bristol Aircraft Company, was taken on board by the Jaguar team and was responsible for many of the new aerodynamic improvements to the Jaguar D-Type racing car, including its characteristic tailfin. Although the new D-Type retained a very similar tubular chassis to its predecessor, the new body of the classic racing car was taken directly from aircraft design in that the middle section utilized a monocoque, or fuselage body that in itself, on top of the chassis, formed the structure of the car - unlike other cars that used a body-framework structure with an outer shell attached.

The new D-Type Jaguar was entered into Le Mans in 1954, the same year it was first produced, and managed speeds of 170mph, 20mph faster than the C-Type. However Ferrari had brought along a 4.9 litre Goliath of a car, which resulted in a furious struggle for the lead between the two teams. No one was sure who would win, both teams suffered losses and mishaps, until the 24 hour race culminated in a pitched battle between the D-Type Jaguar of Rolt and Hamilton and the Ferrari of Gonzales, a Brazilian taxi driver, and Trintignant - the Ferrari won in the end with Jaguar D-Type flying into second place only 1 minute later, in its first race outing! The Jaguar D-Type went on to win race upon race around the world after that day at Le Mans.

The Jaguar D-Type was built with competition in mind, to win races, and no other purpose. However, after Jaguar decided they did not want to race any longer they offered the winning racing cars, which were built on a production line, as classic sports cars to the public under the name Jaguar XKSS. They made some minor changes, notably adding an extra seat for a passenger, a second door and a windscreen that went the full width of the car instead of the little cockpit style screen of the racers. Unfortunately a disastrous fire broke out at the Brown Lane plant that ruined nine out of the twenty five cars that were being made ready for sale.

During the lifetime of the D-Type Jaguar 53 were made for racing customers, 18 were made for the racing team itself and 16 XKSS versions were produced for the general public. In July 2008 the first factory production D-Type (XKD-509) was sold at Bonhams auction for almost two and a quarter million pounds.

Our pride and joy, the E-Type Jaguar classic sports car, had some very exciting ancestors indeed, so it's small wonder such an amazingly beautiful and classic car design evolved into our E-Type classic car for hire in Yorkshire when it came from such pedigree stock!    NEXT the E-type arrives