XKC 023, in Greer AZ, 2001 C & D-Type tour, its first outing in nearly 40 years. Picture Christian Jenny

For Jaguar enthusiasts, barn find stories are always fascinating; many of us dream of discovering an old E-type or XK or SS tucked away somewhere in a barn and there are probably many still out there. There is even something romantic about imagining one of those beautiful cars emerging from its dusty cover, in an abandoned barn or old garage, being brought out into the light then carefully restored to its original condition and and returned to its natural environment... the open road or track !

However, such discoveries are not necessarily significant or even economically viable unless the car was built in small numbers or had a unique history. For the best or for the worst, most of the rare or significant Jaguars have been accounted for and the odds of finding one sleeping in a barn are small... very small indeed; skills and extensive knowledge of Jaguar history will be just as important as pure luck.

With a production run of only 53 cars, the C-Type is without a doubt one of the rarest Jaguar models ever built; even when compared to the D-Type, the C emerges as more rare ( 87 D-types were built between 1954 and 1957 including the 16 converted XKSS). The importance of the C-Type racing history with the first Le Mans wins bringing Jaguar into the spotlight of international motor racing means that nearly all of them have been accounted for. Some through the research of Jaguar Cars but also thanks to the efforts of individuals passionate about Jaguar's history. One of them is Terry Larson, a well known collector and restorer, who not only maintains the C and D-Type registries but is also a true enthusiast who love these cars and what they represent.

For years, there was really only one C-type whose fate was not known. A car which never raced at Le Mans, or was never driven by one the legends of the time; it was "only" one of those production cars sold to customers in North America and entered at less prestigious venues but which helped build Jaguar's reputation in the States. One of of the many cars which became outdated after a few years and turned into just another used and beat up race car... words which just don't even feel right 50 years later.

The story of XKC 023 began on September 22, 1952 when it was manufactured by Jaguar in Coventry, with records showing the experimental department testing the car on October 3rd. The tester was none other than Norman Dewis who nearly 50 years later would be reunited with the car during the course of its restoration. It was shipped to the West Coast Importer in Los Angeles, Charles Hornburg, on November 28, 1952 and transferred directly to the Seattle Jaguar dealer Joe Henderson. The car was actually unloaded in Portand Oregon and driven to Seattle by a friend of the dealer named David Fogg. The drive took place in freezing weather and in addition to being ticket-me-red XKC023 had no bracket to hang a tag and yellow headlights, attracting the attention of a state patrolman who issued a ticket, later dismissed in court.

Click on the links in the text for more period images of the car Picture copyright Tony Adriaensens - Corsa Research

Soon after its delivery, it was fitted with the new Westlake Competition head featuring larger valves and higher performance camshafts. The car was entered in various races on the West Coast including the Seattle Mayfair 100 miles race driven by Hollywood screenwriter and producer Jack Douglas who would finish 2nd. Douglas, often seen trackside with actress Mitzy Gaynor would later on purchase the car (1954). Because of a disagreement on the price, Joe Henderson didn't include the Westlake head in the deal and it was removed from the car by David Fogg who installed it on his own XK120 . A factory replacement C-Type head was fitted on the car and is still there today which, like all dealer supplied factory replacement, doesn't bear any engine numbers.

Over the next couple of years, 1954 / 1955, XKC 023 was raced by Jack Douglas in a number of California races such as Bakersfield , Santa Barbara , and more ... Some of the period pictures available tell the story of the car like this spin during a race at Santa Barbara.

In a more serious incident, July 10th 1955, Douglas rolled it over some hay bales at Torrey Pines; both car and driver survived and even made it into the media spotlight with a sequence of pictures published in Road and Track ( 1 2 3 ). While the C-type was being repaired, Douglas decided to move up to a D-Type which he took delivery of in New York and drove cross country to the west coast. Incidentally this D-type, XKD 531, now owned by Tom Gorskritz of California, was part of the C and D-Type reunion at the 2001 Championship Challenge in Franklin TN.

In January 1956 Douglas sold the car to his race mechanic Ces Critchlow for $ 2000. Ces Critchlow, whose full name was John Cesar Critchlow, had begun his racing career in 1951 at the age of 17 using a false ID, something which didn't prevent him for placing 2nd in his first race, driving an MG TD in Salt Lake City... Ironically, in his first race driving the red C, at Santa Barbara, Ces beat Jack Douglas in his new D-type finishing in the top 5 five. One of Ces' modification to the car was to weld the spider gears in the differential to maximize traction out of the corners, an old dirt track trick...

Ces wanted more power from the car and installed a Hillborn constant flow fuel injection system. It produced a lot of torque and power but also suffered from numerous teething problems one of them being fuel starvation while cornering under certain conditions. In his second race driving XKC023, Ces had a close call at Pomona driving in very wet conditions, sliding off the track and coming to a stop within feet of group of spectators...At some point under Ces' ownership the car was repainted white.

Click on the links in the text for more period images of the car Picture copyright Tony Adriaensens - Corsa Research

After another DNF at Palm Springs, Ces entered XKC023 at the Paramount Ranch Races where he would crash in practice after brake fluid leaking onto one of the rear brakes sent him into a spin, down the shoulder bank to finally rest upside down with the fuel injected engine still running. In a tragicomic scene, Ces couldn't reach the ignition switch with one arm trapped under the car and had to put the car in gear and use the brakes to stall the faithfully running engine... all this with fuel leaking from the tank and cigar smoking corner worker...

While the tough C-type tubular chassis was fine, the alloy body was damaged beyond economical repair. This picture was taken by Tom Groskritz, a well known expert on the C and D-Type who was then racing his own C-Type ( XKC 033 ) in that same group. Ces sold the car to his employer, Horwath Motors who decided to replace the body with a Devin fiberglass body but fitting the body was complicated because of the C relatively large size requiring an extension and extensive fiberglass work.

In May 1957, Ces was drafted in the US Army for a two year stint. During that time the car was traded a couple of times, first to a painter in exchange of repainting the garage facade and the in 1962 to Frank Schierenbeck in exchange for work on the painter's truck. Schierenbeck will be the car longest owner to date as he would own XKC023 for the next 30 years...

Owner of Car Services Imported of Costa Mesa, Frank Schierenbeck was well known for his experience with Jaguars and went on working on the car replacing the Hillborn injection system with original SU carbs and testing it at Orange County airport in 1963, recording 165mph... He entered the car in various SCCA event, as attested by an SCCA sticker on the windshield, but also registered it for street use with the California DMV in 1962 . They issued a California DMV Title ( commonly referred to as a pink slip) with an DMV assigned number as they didn't know where the chassis number was.

In early 1974, Schierenbeck moved to Idaho and to Alaska a short time later, leaving the Devin bodied sports car behind in California, stored in his parent's garage. Another interesting twist in XKC023 history took place when his nephew entered it in a few races which Frank quickly prohibited, concerned for his nephew's safety. Apparently out of revenge, the nephew partly disassembled the car and when Schierenbeck returned from Alaska in 1981, he moved the car to his new home in Northern California along with a number of partially complete XKs.

For the next 16 years, while interest in Jaguar's heritage increased and many of the once neglected old beatup race cars were found and restored, one of the 53 legends remained hidden, partially disassembled and hiding under a fiberglass body. After finding the original chassis number on the frame, in 1997, Frank Schierenbeck had the car inspected by the DMV so that the number would be included on the title; a replacement title was issued listing the correct number. The detailed inspection form filled out by a DMV inspector and the modern format title can be found in the document section, at the end of the page.

But the coveted XKC 023 number was not completely lost and had found its way on three separate cars while Frank Schierenbeck didn't know the number was hidden on a frame rail under the fiberglass body.... One of them was a quality replica built in England by Peter Jaye, well known for his quality work, carrying no original parts whatsoever. After learning that his replica had somehow acquired the 023 number through new owners, Peter Jaye promptly lifted any doubt on the status of the car.

The other two however did carry a few of the parts the original XKC023 left Coventry with...

Frank Schierenbeck with his dogs in front of the shed where XKC023 remained hidden for so many years. Click for more pictures : Previous - Next

Along its turbulent youth in the 50s, XKC023 had shed two major sets of parts which would make authentication more delicate. First was the original cylinder head which, along with the engine block itself, carried the engine number and provided a limited possibility of authentication. As mentioned earlier in this article, the original cylinder head was replaced with a high performance Westlake head soon after delivery. Eventually, after finding its way on a race boat engine, the original cylinder head ended up bolted to a new engine an shipped back to England where the same Peter Jaye build a C-Type replica. Again, after leaving his shop, the car acquired a chassis plate, with the various numbers that belonged to XKC 023. Recently, in 2001, this car was sold at the Barret Jackson auction for about $ 150 000 and clearly represented as a replica.

Then of course was the body itself, which was removed from the car when it was judged damaged beyond repair in 1957 and replaced by the Devin fiberglass body. After sitting for almost 20 years, these original panels along with some new spares and a factory replacement chassis which had been originally ordered by Californian Jim Chamberlin to build a Special race car, were sold to a Jim Dale in Canada who rebuilt what he thought was XKC023. The body panels which were too damaged were replaced with new replacements and for nearly 24 years, the owner genuinely thought this was the real XKC023. When he heard about the discovery in the Schierenbeck garage Jim Dale contacted Terry Larson and in what is perhaps the most exemplary and honorable twist to this story, agreed to sell the car to Terry Larson for replica price so that the original bits could be reunited with the genuine car. With the discovery of the real XKC023, Jim Dale's car had really become just a spares car with no history and would later be resold as such but its few original parts, including the the grille, instrument panel, door and body tags could be reunited with the real XKC023.

One of the extraordinary aspects of finding and literally uncovering XKC023 is the fact that when Terry Larson first saw the car in Frank Schierenbeck North California sheds, it was a very complete chassis : engine, suspension, brakes, rear axle, frame etc... quoting Terry Larson "We're not talking a few little bits, we're talking about everything you need to drive down the road.".

The numbers on the engine block and the top cover of the gearbox matched the original records, another critical sign of the car's authenticity. Terry had talked to Frank Schierenbeck on and off for almost 10 years before his first visit to Oroville, Ca and while aware of his extensive assortment of XK pieces which would possibly include the lost C-Type, he didn't expect to find so many of

XKC023 original components. An important part of the authenticity puzzle was also found in one of the two original chassis number, located on the front cross member and even though such a number could have been added to a spare chassis later in its life, Terry did recognize the type of marking as coming from the same stamping dies used on factory cars with known history.

After purchasing the car for one of his client and moving everything back to his Mesa, Az, shop, Terry went on to look for the second chassis number, something which

When the Devin body was fitted to the frame, it had been necessary to create some mounting points and one of these happened to be on the shock tower where the second number was stamped by the factory. Removing the mount and the weld was critical to reveal yet another proof of XKC023 identity. The process of removing the weld was carefully documented on film with the numbers appearing one by one, again almost as an archeologist would carefully brush off dust a valuable and fragile relic. At first the numbers were barely visible under the rust and old paint, then once cleaned XK02 appeared. When the weld was cut and folded back it became clear that the it didn't cover the last digit and once the rust was cleared, the final digit, 3, was revealed .

This hidden stamping, which even Schierenbeck didn't know about, did establish beyond any doubt that the lost XKC023 had been found. It also gives the XKC023 discovery a near archeological dimension... perhaps explaining the 1999 Autoweek cover story featuring an Indiana Jones looking Terry Larson...

Restoring a car as rare as XKC 023 is not easy but there are few people in the world with Terry Larson's experience (no less than 7 C-Type restoration and various work on another 8) and this is something that's needed when dealing with nearly one of kind legends. While the C-Types and D-Type were production cars, their very low production numbers and the techniques in use in Coventry 50 years ago mean that each car is unique and just a bit different from the next one.

Restoring XKC023 was obviously even more complicated by the fact that most of the body was no longer available as the only body panels that have remained with XKC 023 since new were the original floor pans, footwell panels, propshaft cover, & tunnel cover which still had the original harduras trim on it

Click on the links in the text for more images of the restoration

After finding and exposing the almost lost chassis number on the shock tower, the relatively complete mechanical components were meticulously disassembled, rebuilt, refinished and reassembled. Among the new parts installed were the radiator, electrical harness and systems along with disc brakes to replace the original drums. The disc brakes that were fitted were standard XK150 brakes, something that many original C-Type where converted to in the late 50s using parts available from the dealerships.

Most of the major components were in very good shape as the car had only covered some 12 763 miles and also because of the care Frank Schierenbeck took in storing the car such as covering the engine's internals with grease With the head and sump off the block, he simply coated everything with wheel bearing grease providing excellent protection. Interestingly, the differential's spider gear where still welded ( done in1956 by Ces) ; they would be replaced during the restoration and fitted with tight clutch packs for street and track use.

To insure the car would be returned to its original state, the chassis, original parts taken off the "spares car" along with an original bonnet and tail section Terry already had, were sent to RS Panels in Coventry where the body was rebuilt and trial fitted to the chassis. Great care was taken during the rebuilding of the body to use as many of the original panels both coming from Frank Schierenbeck's shed (original floor pans, footwell panels, propshaft cover, instrument panel & tunnel cover) and from the Jim Dale car. These original parts, combined with factory original tail section (from XKC 026) and bonnet Terry Larson already had, do make a very correct and original body shell.

Click on the links in the text for more restoration images

The chassis was not just sent to Coventry to ensure a good fit to the rebuilt body but mostly to be inspected by experts in the UK. This was important to get yet another positive authentication of the chassis and to preserve as many details as possible it was sent in its existing condition, uncleaned and rusty, with part of the welded bracket left on the shock tower. Among the British experts who inspected the car was Peter Jaye who had built the previously mentioned quality replicas and is recognized as one the leading C-Type experts; all agreed on the chassis' authenticity.

After rebuilding the replacement body, everything was then shipped back to Arizona where the rebuilt components where re installed . Of course, XKC 023 received the same red paint finish it had when it originally left Coventry nearly half a century ago.

In the later stages of the restoration XKC 023 would receive yet another seal of approval when Norman Dewis reviewed the restoration work and even signed it off on the fuel tank with the mention "Inspected and passed by Norman Dewis." As the former head of Jaguar experimental department and chief tester, Dewis is without a doubt one of the most significant figure in the history of Jaguar because of his involvement in testing and developing every Jaguar race and road model from the early 50s throughout the 80s. Despite his age and his retirement, Norman Dewis has remained one of Jaguar's most fervent enthusiasts and has become an icon in the Jaguar community. He often comes to the US for Jaguar events such as the C and D-Type tours organized by Terry Larson and was their guest while XKC 023 was nearing completion. His signing off the work was highly symbolic since he had inspected and test driven the car on Nov. 3rd 1952 in Coventry before it was dispatched to the US.

In late October 2000, fully reassembled and restored to its original glory, XKC 023 was finally ready to be reunited with something it had been separated with for way too long : the open road... and what would be better than an 800 miles tour with a number of C-Types and D-Types organized by the Larson's ? ( see the many pictures in the gallery at the end of the page). A couple of months later, in January 2001, XKC 023 would once again cross the ocean and return to Europe to its new home in Switzerland where it joined a extensive collection of significant Jaguars which include the1935 SS90 Prototype, two SS100, an alloy XK120, and more, some restored by Terry Larson. Its owner Christian Jenny has already entered the car in various events such at the 2001 Mille Miglia; click on the links in the gallery to view more pictures of XKC023 in action

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In addition to the physical evidence which proves the originality of XKC023, all the documentation gathered and carefully researched by Terry Larson reinforces the authenticity of the car. In the world of C and D Types, for a car to be considered absolutely genuine, it must have a continuous history and the amount of details provided by the men who owned, maintained or raced XKC023 all add up to nearly half a century of continuous history.

There are many details which came to light through these accounts and they provide a unique and often colorful insight not only on XKC023's continuous history but also on a time when motor racing was not yet a multi million dollars business, a time when talent and courage was more important than pure engineering expertise...

 

 

 

 

 

XKC 023 Identification numbers
Chassis	Engine	Gearbox	Body
XKC 023	E 1023-8	JH 10417	K1023

 

Documents : Letters and Testimonies		Choose a document from this list Dave Fogg - Drove XKC023 from the docks Mike McEniry Letter - Helped remove the body Mike McEniry - Early History Tom Groskritz - Owner History California DMV Inspection Form California DMV Title Previous Page - Next Page
	Previous Page	Next Page

 

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About this article : The author and JCNA wishes to thank Terry Larson who provided the material used in writing this article. Terry has done extensive research compiling pictures, letters & documentation from numerous people who owned, worked on, raced, and knew this car since it was new. The extent of the documentation allowed the complete history of XKC 023 to be traced over half a century in great details. All pictures by Terry Larson except otherwise noted. Some of the information was obtained from Tom Groskritz, is a well known expert on these cars and has been keeping extensive records on the C and D Types since they were new. He has supplied much of the information on US cars to the people who have done books, such as Andrew Whyte, Philip Porter, and Paul Skilleter. Tom has written a detailed account of this cars history from 1955 to the present. See Tom's letter in the document.

Period racing pictures coyright Tony Adriaensens - Corsa Research. Corsa Research is a non-profit foundation which has as main purpose to
collect and keep automotive photo's (negs and slides) for the future and can be reached via email at corsa@pandora.be

Posted 5/6/2002

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