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FOR SALE - 1956 Jaguar D-Type – XKD 526

Although 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 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.

In July 1959, the D-type was bought by Leaton Motors, which sold used sports cars out of premises in the Sydney suburbs and went racing at the weekend. It had previously run a C-type for one of its salesman – Frank Matich – and then decided to upgrade to XKD 526. The car was repainted pale yellow with a central black stripe, and young Matich – who would go on to have a fine career as a driver as well as a constructor – broke the sports car lap record first time out at Lowood.

Matich drove XKD 526 at Longford in March 1960 before handing over to Doug Chivas for the rest of that season. By 1965, XKD 526 was with Michael Crampton – a mechanic based near Sydney – and from him it passed to Keith Russell, who ran a panel repair shop in Campsie. During Russell’s ownership, the Jaguar was painted blue and white, and a 3.8-litre engine block was fitted – although the original cylinder head was retained. Russell entered the occasional race with his new acquisition, his competition outings including a slight off at Hume Weir over the 1966 Easter weekend and – more encouragingly – a third-place finish at Oran Park on 3 July.

In January 1967, Keith Berryman bought XKD 526 for $1700 and would end up keeping it for almost 50 years. He was only 26 years old when he acquired the Jaguar, and he drove it the 250 miles from Sydney to his farm in Stockinbingal, New South Wales. He had the car roadregistered in March 1967 and, at the time he bought it, it was fitted with the 3.8 block, 15x8in wheels, flared rear arches and triple Weber carburettors. It also still had the GT-spec hardtop in place, but later in the year he removed that and replaced the wheels.

The D-type was later stored in a barn at Berryman’s farm, and it was still there in 1975 when Ian Cummins visited. Cummins would go on to become a wellknown Australian Jaguar enthusiast and was looking for a car that he could use as a reference during the restoration of XKD 010, which he’d bought the previous year. XKD 526 was therefore stripped and kept alongside XKD 010 while the latter was restored in Sydney.

Once that project had been completed, XKD 526 itself was restored to concours winning condition. During the 1980s and 1990s, it was occasionally used by Jaguar for promotional events and was driven more than once by Stirling Moss. It even competed in two ‘races’ against a Supermarine Spitfire at air shows in Wagga and Temora.

When Berryman decided to sell XKD 526 in 2014, it was acquired by Jo Bamford, grandson of the man who’d founded the JCB heavy plant company. The D-type was brought back to England complete with its original front frame – which had been replaced when Cummins had restored the car – plus the hardtop, and CKL Developments carried out some restoration work. This included rebuilding and refitting the front chassis frame, returning the bodywork to British Racing Green, rebuilding the original cylinder head and repairing some minor suspension damage. It was also noted that XKD 526 was fitted with a ZF limited-slip differential, which was rare outside the factory and Ecurie Ecosse D-types. Once the car was finished, Bamford raced it at the Goodwood Revival.

The Jaguar passed to a new owner in 2018, when CKL again carried out some restoration work, during which the body was returned to its original configuration, minus the tail fin. It was eventually decided not to refit the 1960s hardtop, but a frame was constructed so that this intriguing part of its story can be displayed with the car.

This Jaguar D-Type is now offered for sale exclusively at The Classic Motor Hub. Not only does XKD 526 boast an extensive period race record, it has a continuous known history and in the past few years has received extensive care in the hands of one of the world’s foremost D-type specialists. It’s a beautiful and impressively original survivor from a golden era of sports car racing.