Originally Posted by Jacksdad619

I'm sure you're right - he did drive the car for many years, after all. As a kid (and a gearhead even back then) it drove me nuts knowing it's true significance and not being able to spill the beans to anyone though. I found out when my Dad came back from an evening with Mike, and as they'd gone through one of the buildings he saw the E-Type and commented on him still having it. Like most people, he knew about the Jag from back when he still drove it, but didn't know about it's pedigree. It had some dents in it and when he asked what had happened, Mike told him a guy (a plumber IIRC) had stood on the car to reach something. My Dad knew that it shouldn't have done that much damage, and that's when Mike told him it was because it was aluminium. Knowing that E-Types were steel, my Dad pressed him and Mike told him the full story of the car and asked him not to tell anyone as he didn't need every collector from the UK to Japan beating his door down. That would have been back around 1980 and the classic car market was on one of it's highs, but I guess Mike was pretty comfortably off back and then didn't need the money it would have fetched.
My Dad was active in the Chester Vintage Enthusiasts Club in the sixties and seventies (still have a couple of his 1st place trophies from the 1969 Ruthin Rally), and he'd tell me how Mike was by far one of the most sensible of the group. Whereas many of them would buy old cars like Austin Sevens for a couple of quid, drive them until they stopped and either use them to keep the next one going or just park them and walk away, Mike would keep the better ones and stash them away. Smart man.
I haven't read anything in recent years about the car being sold (all the online articles I've read still name him as the owner) so I assume he chose to let the mill go and kept the Jag as that would have easily paid off his debts and let him stay. It's easily one of the most sought after E-Types in the world and worth a not-so-small fortune. And to think he bought it off a used car lot...

Originally Posted by CaliExPatCT

Hi, Torrance, California here. You gotta love the weather on the West Coast...right!!!!!