2006-02-03 11:45:26 | pauls writes:

Car was mentioned in the March '06 issue of Classic and Sports Car magazine. Number "166" noted as being the earliest "racing" E-type in Australia. Built on 16, Jan. '62 and sold by Bryson Industries in Melbourne in March of '62 to Bill Leech.

Driven by Doug Whiteford it set many records. It has had many owners but by '92 it was in Tasmania with Wilf Allison who restored the car. Currently in possession of Laurie Cousin and Bob Anderson who are considering selling it.

The E-type register in Australia have more documentation on its history.

2010-01-05 22:02:51 | Anonymous writes:

Words: David Dowsey
Pics: Guy Bowden
First published in Unique Cars issue #254

Just what is it that makes one car more notable than another? Maybe the said car was a factory demonstrator, the first or last off the production line, was used for a major magazine road test, has been in a movie or had a famous past owner.

All will add to a car's history file - and probably its re-sale value as well. But there's one more thing that perhaps above all others will give a car an edge - a genuine racing history in the hands of a recognised racing driver.

With the popularity of historic racing at an all time high organisers of top-drawer events like the Mille Miglia Retrospective and Goodwood Revival are restricting entries to cars with a genuine racing history. So it doesn't take Einstein to realise what this does to the world's finite supply. That's right; cars with a racing provenance are often reaching outrageous premiums.

Australia punches above its weight in supply but there are only so many of these genuine cars to go around. And with the Aussie dollar going south cashed up European and American buyers have an eye on our stock.

Which brings us to this Jag - chassis #860166. It's an E-Type sure, and these sexy machines will always have their followers but they are not exactly thin on the ground are they? And this E-Type looks like most others. Granted it's in very good condition but what's so special about it?

Let's go back to the beginning. This particular car was built on 16 January 1962 - the 166th right-hand drive E-Type coupe off the production line. It is believed to be the third coupe delivered to Australia and the first for Melbourne's importers Bryson Industries.

But it wasn't bought by Mr Joe A. Average, the purchaser was Bill Leech, one of Australia's most recognised racing identities in the 1950s and '60s. Leech along with brother Jim ran a successful trucking business in Melbourne and the two owned an astonishing array of cars over the years including the ex-Jean Behra Maserati 300S, ex-Louis Chiron Bugatti Type 37A, a rare Cisitalia D46, Ferraris and all manner of Jaguars. Bill was a businessman first and racer second. To him it was all a bit of fun but he was pretty handy on the circuit be in no doubt.

Leech purchased the Carmen-red-with-biscuit-interior E-Type on 21 March 1962 - registered HND 111. In a situation unparallel today Leech drove the car straight out the showroom and onto the race track - with some success.

Writing in a letter to past owner Wilf Allison Leech states that after registering the car he 'took it to the Bathurst Easter meeting to run it in'. If this is the case then it makes this car Australia's first racing E-Type. It was then raced with both Leech and driving legend Doug Whiteford at the wheel at Sandown, Calder Park, Rob Roy and Lakeland Hill Climbs and the Geelong Sprints in 1962 where Leech won his class with a time of 15.73sec in 1962.

It is one of around a half dozen new E-Types - both coupe and convertible - raced in Australia. Perhaps the two best-known are Bob Jane's coupe, chassis #621, and the later famous Light Weight E-Type. But neither is still with us unfortunately. After a very successful racing career Jane's car is believed to have been destroyed in an accident in the Adelaide Hills.

The Light Weight E-Type, once owned by Peter Briggs and housed in the York Motor Museum in WA, was sold in 1999 at the Amelia Island Concours in the US for the hefty sum of $US770,000 (A$1,022,187 at today's rates ) which is not a bad investment considering Briggs bought the car for A$76,000 in 1980. The precious Light Weight E-Type is believed to now be in the hands of a collector in Japan.

"This car is quiet commonly confused with the almost identical Bob Jane car because the Jane car was raced so much and so successfully," says current co-custodian Laurie Cousin. Jane first campaigned his E-Type at Sandown on 20 May 1962. Pictures can be seen of Doug Whiteford driving the Leech-owned E-Type and Jane racing side-by-side when the cars were new.

Always buying and selling exotica Leech sold his curvaceous E-Type to car dealer J. McLaughlan in Melbourne and it was subsequently purchased - among others - by Colin Hyams in August 1965 and Ray Delaney in September 1972 - both well known identities with a taste for expensive motor cars. It was also featured on the front cover of edition three of World's Fastest Sports Cars in 1962 when new featuring Victorian registration HND 111.

The featured car is owned in partnership between Laurie and his friend Bob Anderson who are about the car's tenth custodians. A friend of theirs, three-times Australian Gold Star champion John McCormack, rang Bob in 2003 and suggested that the Bill Leech E-Type Jaguar may be available for sale in Tasmania. Eventually Bob went there to have a look and after some checking he realised it was the car and bought it back to South Australia.

"It was bought from a car dealership who didn't know what they had," enthuses Laurie. "Imagine that! A car of this importance and the dealers didn't know what they had."

Purchased a year ago Laurie didn't actually see the car until Bob bought it back to Adelaide. "Bob then said to me, 'would you like to go in the car with me?'" Laurie agreed and the two have enjoyed the ownership experience ever since using the car sparingly while maintaining its excellent condition.

One problem encountered by prospective customers of historic cars is the question of authenticity. But this well-known car proved no problem. "It was pretty simple to identify this car going by the body and the engine numbers and the documents that we have been able to put together about the car," says Laurie.

The E-Type has been raced and shown by several past owners and has been refurbished a couple of times. One-time owner Ted Matthews reconditioned the engine and repainted and re-trimmed the car in 1982 and it may have been at this time that the original Moss gearbox was replaced with a more user-friendly all-synchromesh unit.

"The car drives better for it," says Laurie who has owned several Jaguars and other British cars over the years. "The original Moss 'boxes were a bit tricky."

In the hands of a subsequent owner the car was left to run down but in 1992 the Jaguar was once again restored to concours standard in Tasmania by Wilf Allison. It has gradually mellowed over the last 10 years having a lovely well-looked-after patina and presents in the condition it was in during its racing hey day.

The car needed a bit of cleaning and detailing work after the South Australian pair bought it including replacing the windscreen "but apart from that," says Laurie, "it was largely how it is now."

"I've been involved in motor racing all my life and I think a car with history is a wonderful talking point and a wonderful investment as well," enthuses Laurie. "In England they hold a number of historic race meetings (and) they get so many entries for these kinds of events that they virtually made it mandatory that a car has to have a racing provenance if they are to consider the entry. Gone are the days where you would roll up in an MGA or E-Type and put numbers on the side of them and run them in big events in Europe.

"The cars with history are the cars that people want to enter in these events. They are the cars people want to have and naturally this pushes the value up. It doesn't seem to matter much where this history is whether in the USA or Australia or South Africa all they have to have is a proven racing history.

"The only competition event I've used it in is the Tailem Bend quarter mile sprints and I'm pleased to say that when I ran it there in August the car set exactly the same time as Doug Whiteford did (in the Geelong Sprints) in 1962 - 15.73sec

2013-07-11 08:52:59 | Lofty writes:

Owner subsequent to myself had to fit a later gearbox as he neglected to tighten the drain plug after servicing. Second owner after myself installed a recond Mk 10 motor and repainted to car in a non original colour.
In 1977 this car had NO evidence of any prior racing history, so I expect most of the early 'history' is made up.

2014-01-08 10:18:01 | pauls writes:

Link to above article:
www.uniquecars.ninemsn.com.au/portal/alias__uniquecarsau/tabID__203009/ArticleID ...

2014-01-08 10:30:08 | pauls writes:

Car listed for sale at:
www.prewarcar.com/index.php

Description:
Type: E Type 3.8 Series 1
Year: 1962
Price: AUS 175000
This car was the first Jaguar E Type to be sold in Melbourne by Bryson Industries March 1962 to Bill leech and was the first E Type to be raced in Australia. It competed at Bathurst and was driven by Doug Whiteford at Sandown.It has since been owned by several well known racing identities. It has travelled only 13,000 miles since its last refurbishment in the 1990s.Historically a very important E type worldwide.

2014-01-13 02:04:56 | Ray Delaney writes:

I purchased this car from John Seers in 1972 (Reg No JJG200), and it was an exceptionally good car that had been well maintained by all previous owners (Bill Leech, Colin Hyams & John Seers). I sold it in 1975 when I bought a 4.2 FHC.

2016-09-12 12:27:17 | Anonymous writes:

car does have its original motor not a Mk 10 as alleged by Lofty

2019-09-06 21:11:37 | John Elmgreen writes:

See Jaguar Magazine #126 of May 2006 (published in Australia) with 4 page article on Bill and Jim Leech and their Jaguars, with particular focus on this car 860166.

2020-06-15 03:51:31 | Bruce writes:

This car belonged to my late father for a number of years.

It shared it's life with dad's BRG Jaguar 3.8MK2 which was the cause of the sale having been fully restored also, only to roll down the drive across the road down a bank causing damage in excess of it's whole recent pay job .

He decided to divest of expensive cars at that point, a shame but he lost faith as a caretaker

I watched #166 come, be fully restored , and move on to the co owner of a Mazda Dealership in Launceston Tasmania he being the owner of a nice MK2 3.8 .

I only got to drive it once,whilst traversing a highway crossing I put the boot in and the old bloke nearly rolled out of that funny little rounded bucket and nearly ended up as cargo.

I was told "that's not the way one drives an E Type " , amusing as we both knew her race history.

I am sure the car had a ball and relived a bit of the past .

I should have bought it from the dealer at one stage it was down to $35k, but with a young family and no assistance from WA I had to let it go.

Ironically I now own a 1970 E Type 4.2 FHC for which I paid far greater and very much less in condition.

Anyway that's life and hind sight, I must try and find some old photos .

Regards

Bruce