Former Jeremy Clarkson Jaguar XKR goes to auction
Jeremy Clarkson once famously pulled what he called a “Jaguar face” in an episode of Top Gear. Looking like a cross between Joyce Grenfell and a beaver, the millionaire presenter suggested this was the look of the grille of the Surrey set’s favourite motor car.
A Jaguar XKR that was used as a long-term test car by Clarkson whilst comes to auction this week at a guide price of just £2,500 to £4,000. It has attracted much press attention and the motoring expert was plainly loaned it on the basis of his 1995 comments about the company. In his column in The Sunday Times, at that time, Clarkson stated:
“Within a month, I am quite sure, I shall have driven another car on a better road in finer weather, but for now the Jaguar is the best car in the world”.
The black 4.0 litre Jaguar XJR that Clarkson took possession of in 1999, however, wasn’t quite to his satisfaction as of it, he concluded:
“Black cars cannot achieve that all-over scum effect so, when it’s dirty, it just looks awful. I have to clean it and in a morning, when the dew has evaporated, it’s coated once more in dust. So I have to clean it again. In a month, I’ve spent 42 hours driving it and 420 hours washing it and I cannot even begin to tell you what a chore this is”.
The vehicle was plainly was more to the liking of the single subsequent owner. They have kept the car in “good condition” and it has covered 93,000 miles. With twelve out of thirteen stamps of service history at Jaguar main dealers, an MOT that expires in July 2014 and taxed to November 2013, the car seems like a veritable bargain at next Saturday’s Anglia Cars auction at King’s Lynn.
Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here: