The man who sold his fully restored Jaguar XK140 to buy a wreck

What would you do if you had sold your fully restored Jaguar XK140? Invest in Royal Mail, pay off the mortgage, have a relaxing six-month holiday in Dubai? Having sold his beautiful, Twyford Moors restored, XK140 Tony Hall chose none of these options. Instead he has done what any self-respecting petrol head would do and has bought himself another XK140 DHC restoration project.

For those of you who do not know Tony Hall either personally or by reputation, he can only be described as a gentleman seriously afflicted with the classic car bug and with exquisite taste in cars. Twyford Moors and Tony first crossed paths nearly ten years ago when he brought himself and XK120 OTS restoration project. This car will be well know to XK Club members as the Jolly Green Giant and its progress has been followed by the XK Gazette. The Jolly Green Giant is now for sale and can be viewed on the website by clicking here.

Alongside his XK120 OTS Tony also purchased what would be described by the youth of the classic car scene as a 'rat look' XK120 FHC; many enthusiasts would describe it as a complete restoration project. Despite many disparaging whispers about the state of this car it did indeed start, run and move under it's own steam and even had an MOT. Mr Hall however had greater ultimate goals and after a while the fixedhead had to move aside for the next project.

JThis project was a full nut and bolt restoration of an XK140 DHC. Twyford Moors restored this XK140 to the highest standards including many of our modifications and upgrades including our disc brake conversion, 5-speed gearbox and power steering. Again the XK Gazette followed this XK140 restoration and the end result was a pristine looking and fantastic driving XK140. So why did he sell it?

"I thought I would be retired by now and enjoying the car much more," says Tony, "I just wasn't using it enough and such a great car deserves to be used. I also see these cars as part of my pension fund so it makes sense to do another project." So the Jaguar XK140 was sold, remarkably quickly, and the hunt started for the next project. Tony tells us, "I want the next car to be more personalised. I want to build a more powerful engine and stiffen the suspension."

So after a couple of months hunting an XK140 DHC restoration project has been found. "Ian (Mills) put me in touch with Jag City where they had an XK140 in need of restoration," but as Tony tells us it's not the average barn find. "The body is a complete custom, home built job. It's held up and spaced out by bits of wood. There are plaques on the dash showing the car attended Jaguar club events in the 1980s."

As the photos show this is going to be quite a project. We are going to have a lot of parts to find but the chassis looks good, mechanically the car is complete and it has it's original speedo and rev counter (these are getting harder and harder to find). The restoration will begin soon and we will have more updates on this fantastic project. If anyone has any information about this car we would love to hear from you.