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Carsales Staff2 Aug 2014
NEWS

Jaguar buys world's largest British classic car collection

James Hull's massive collection of British classic cars, appropriately, is now in the hands of Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar has just added 543 cars to its corporate car park with the acquisition of what is said to be the world’s largest collection of British classic cars.

Amassed over many years by car enthusiast James Hull, the collection comprises what are described as “mostly British” classic cars, including the likes of an SS100, a rare alloy XK 120, some early E-Types and a MK 10 once owned by Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons.

The collection is made up of a number of British marques owned by historic figures including Winston Churchill’s Austin and Lord Mountbatten’s Mini Traveller. A Bentley once owned by Elton John and a lone Morris Minor are also part of the collection.

At the core are more than 130 Jaguars. According to a report in the Financial Times, the collection also includes 365 miniature pedal cars, as well as industry memorabilia.

James Hull is a British dentist with a group of practices in the UK that mainly specialise in cosmetic work. The extent of his car collection became more widely known when it was put up for sale this year, reportedly due to his continuing health problems.

The reserve price was reported at 100 million pounds Sterling, or A$180 million. The successful Jaguar move came after a number of bids from overseas investors.

The collection will be used by Jaguar as a support for “brand and experiential marketing to develop the [Jaguar and Land Rover] brands and business in existing and emerging markets.”

It will play a part in the global launch of the new XE model in early September, as well as in “other events and activities in new and emerging markets” where heritage can play a key role in establishing and developing the brand.

Responsible for the welfare of the collection is Jaguar’s new Special Operations wing that has announced recently one of its projects will include the building of six “perfect” recreations of the race-bred lightweight E-Type Jaguar from 1963.

The cars will be built at a new Jaguar heritage facility at Browns Lane, close to where the original cars were built.

Special Operations’ first project was the F-TYPE based Project 7 inspired by the legendary D-Type Jaguar.

Jaguar says the cars in the collection have been “painstakingly assembled and restored” by James Hull, who commented recently: “Travelling all over the world to build the collection over the years has been a labour of love and a life’s work, so my primary motivation was not to get the maximum price but rather to secure the future of the collection in this country with the right custodian.

"I have got to know Jaguar Land Rover well in recent years and they have borrowed cars from the collection for events such as the Mille Miglia and supporting Jaguar in China. They are the perfect custodians to take the collection forward and I know it is in safe hands.”

John Edwards, who is managing director of Special Vehicle Operations, said: “We are delighted that Jaguar Land Rover has come to an agreement with James Hull to secure the future of this very significant collection of Jaguar and British cars.

"We share the same objective as James to keep this unique collection in British hands and we are delighted this agreement secures their custody for the future. We look forward to continuing to work with James going forward as we develop our heritage activities.”

Jaguar has its headquarters in Coventry in the UK but has been owned by Indian company Tata Motors since it purchased Jaguar Land Rover from previous owner Ford in 2008.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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