FOR SALE 1956 Jaguar D-Type – XKD 526
A
lthough Jaguar can trace its roots back to the early 1920s, its sporting foundations were really established with its run of success at Le Mans during the 1950s. Having won the 24-hour endurance classic in 1951 and 1953 with its C-type, Jaguar then scored a hat-trick of victories in 1955, 1956 and 1957 with the iconic D-type. Only three of the Jaguar D-type were sold new to Australia, and XKD 526 was the first of them. Brisbane dealership Westco was run by the Anderson family and had been a Jaguar agent since 1947. A letter to the Jaguar factory dated 15 April 1955 shows that they were looking forward to taking delivery of the D-type that had been
48
allocated to them, but it was September before XKD 526 was tested at MIRA by Les Bottrill, and not until 13 October did it leave Browns Lane, bound for Brisbane via Liverpool docks. It was fitted with engine number E2042-9 and body number 2026. It’s thought that the car was jointly owned by Cyril Anderson and his intrepid wife Doris – known as ‘Geordie’ – plus Bill Pitt and Charles Swinburne. Its earliest competition outings were made in the hands of ‘Geordie’, who had been born in Scotland in 1908. Having moved to Australia and married Cyril, she raced an early XK 120 between 1950 and 1952, then replaced that with another XK 120 in which she won the 24-hour Mount Druitt race along with Pitt and Swinburne. On acquiring the D-type, she was quoted
as saying that, as well as being used as a racing car, ‘sometimes it will come in handy as a hack for doing the shopping.’ Despite offering the car for sale in mid-1958, when it was marketed as ‘Mrs Geordie Anderson’s successful D-type Jaguar’, Pitt continued to race it throughout that year. There was more success at Lowood, and he once again entered the Victorian Tourist Trophy and Melbourne Grand Prix meetings on consecutive weekends at Albert Park. He led the former for the first 12 laps until being passed by Whitehead’s Maserati and then lost second place when he pitted for bodywork repairs after a slight off. The following weekend, he finished sixth in the Melbourne Grand Prix behind Stirling Moss’s winning Cooper.
