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Back in the late 1950s there wasn’t anything much quicker on British roads than a 3.4 Jaguar sedan. At a time when the typical four-door car struggled to better 85mph, the 3.4 would top 120mph and reach 60mph faster than most sports cars. That was as stock. Tune engine and chassis for performance and you have a car that, up to 100mph, would have given an E-type a run for its money. Only back then, the E-type was two years away from being invented, which gives you an idea of the superiority of a modified 3.4 over anything else it might meet.
At the time it created a class of its own, really: the luxury sports saloon. Without it and its Mk 2 evolution, I don’t think Jaguar would have survived much into the 1960s
An ideal racing-driver’s car, you could say, and you’d be right. It was certainly the choice of Mike Hawthorn, the tall, blond and film-star handsome 29 year old who in 1958 had won the World Driver’s Championship by one point from Stirling Moss. Before that, in 1955, he’d been in the Jaguar sports car team, driving the long-nose D-type to victory at Sebring and at Le Mans. He might have won Le Mans in 1956 too, had not his D-type’s fuel injection system played up.
Mike then left the Jaguar team but remained very much in the company’s affections: both Sir William Lyons and race team manager Lofty England regarded him almost as an adopted son – in Sir William’s case, a replacement for his own son (also called John Michael), killed on the way to Le Mans in 1955, in Lofty’s as the son he never had.
No surprise, then, that even though he was no longer driving for them, Jaguar
provided Mike with a brand new 3.4 saloon on long-term loan in October 1957. This he drove it on both road and track. Registered VDU 881, the car was modified at the Hawthorn family’s Tourist Trophy garage at Farnham, Surrey, and at Jaguar. Especially when running with the Jaguar-built racing engine fitted, it probably had over 70bhp more than standard and, as Hawthorn also specified a low ratio final drive (4.09:1), acceleration would have been prodigious.
Hawthorn and VDU 881 had some great dices on the race track (his winning of the
1958 production car race at Silverstone is the most memorable) - and perhaps on
the road too. In fact, it’s been conjectured that a friendly dice with Rob Walker’s 300SL Mercedes-Benz on a wet and windy day in January 1959 might have contributed to him losing control of the Jaguar on a fast, downhill stretch of road near Guildford.
Because sad to relate, Mike was killed when the 3.4 left the road and was split almost in two by a tree.
Mike was laid to rest in Farnham’s cemetery and the 3.4 was taken back to Coventry and dismantled. But the image of the British Racing Green car being hurled round Silverstone has been an enduring one in motor racing – and it certainly captured the imagination of XK 150 and E-type owner Nigel Webb, who back in the late 1980s (prompted by a suggestion from his father) decided to restore a 3.4 to exactly the same specification as VDU 881.
A one-man car – Nigel Webb and the 3.4 he painstakingly put together over a 15-year period. He regards it as a tribute to Mike Hawthorn, one of Britain’s greatest racing drivers
He had little idea back then of the magnitude of the task, and the lengths he would eventually go to in order to identify exactly what had gone into making VDU 881 what it was. He researched every possible piece of literature published on the car, and also obtained much help from Jaguar restorer Paul Roach who had established contact with former Tourist Trophy garage mechanics. The JDHT were able to supply some information, and then – although initially they took some persuading – Lofty England and Mike Hawthorn’s fiancée Jean Ireland (nee Howarth) also contributed to the project.
The Donor Mark 1 back in 1993!!
And talk about attention to detail: engine, transmission and suspension are all
modified as closely as possible to ‘Hawthorn’ spec., the interior and exterior modelled exactly as the original and, to underline the attention paid to detail, even the ignition and door keys of Nigel’s car have the same numbers as Hawthorn’s (FP670 and FP744, since you ask…).
The job of refurbishing the body shell was taken to extremes I’d never heard of – for instance, quite apart from the usual repairs to front fenders, rear spring hangers, spare wheel tray and so on, this car had the integral chassis rails underneath removed, and also the engine bay side panels.
Not necessarily because of any obvious corrosion, but because unless these parts are removed, Nigel and his restorer considered that the condition of the metal within couldn’t be judged properly. Finally, the refurbished shell was given a high quality repaint in British Racing Green.
Nigel working on the interior
The engine going into place
881 VDU coming together in 2003
The completed Hawthorn replica
The 160mph speedo Mike had fitted to the car
Boot mounted battery that Mike found gave better weight distribution
Nigel giving Murray Walker a tour of the car back in 2003 at Goodwood
John Pearson, another great Hawthorn fan, has a look round Nigel's recreation at Farnham Spares Day
It took three Mark 1s to provide the parts needed for the build - here are the remains of the other two!
Mike always kept a blanket exactly like this on the back seat
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In British Racing Green with body-color wheels and minimal chrome, the 3.4 looks a serious sporting sedan. The Jaguar Driver’s Club and British Racing Driver’s Club badges are exactly as Hawthorn had them – as are the Marchal headlamps and Raydot spotlights. Note the registration number: the authorities wouldn’t re-issue Hawthorn’s, but offered Nigel the reverse combination. He accepted!
This car had probably cost a six-figure sum to create and I didn’t want to put it into a hedge - backwards
When Nigel offered me the chance to drive the car, I climbed behind the big
(standard) Bluemel wheel with some trepidation. This car had probably cost a six-figure sum to create and I didn’t want to put it into a hedge - backwards. The blue-printed 3.4 unit thrummed into life, and within 50 yards I knew one thing – this was about the best and slickest Moss box I’d used for years. But then, it was built by Alan George, ex-Jaguar and probably the world’s best in this department. The close ratios were augmented by an uprated overdrive unit, and at present a 3.07 axle is fitted – the 4.09 really does make the car low geared, even with the Laycock device.
The Hawthorn car was fitted with C-type bucket seats, which Nigel had replicated. Extremely comfortable, they also locate the driver well
The engine itself, assembled by another ex-factory man, Ron Beaty, was also a
delight; on a 9:1 compression ratio, it’s topped by a genuine production D-type head and cams, and fed by two big 2 inch H8 carbs. Especially with that low axle ratio, it provides a huge thrust of acceleration as the cams come in at about 3,000rpm, accompanied by a rising, musical, straight-six howl from the twin competition mufflers. On the wet country lanes we were sometimes on, even the limited slip differential installed couldn’t prevent the cross ply tyres (remember those?) from spinning, so acceleration out of slow corners was exciting to say the least.
The 3,442cc engine is period-modified with high compression pistons, larger carbs., and fully lightened, polished and balanced internals; it pushes the car to 100mph in probably around 18 seconds. The car is stopped by the (optional) Dunlop disc brakes which are entirely effective on the road
A driver used to the glued-to-the-road, electronic interfaced, traction controlled sports sedan of today would be utterly thrown by this combination of instant throttle response and near-zero grip. Fortunately, perhaps like others of my generation, I’ve grown up with cars like these, and both kept Nigel’s 3.4 on the island and I began to seriously enjoy it.
The 3.4 in action: the original narrow track is widened thanks to the offset
‘competition’ wire wheels, which aids handling, but the period cross-ply tyres offer little grip. They are very progressive, though – unlike the Duraband early radials on VDU 881 when it fatally crashed on the Guildford by-pass. Some who’d driven the car prior spoke of their alarming sudden break-away
I’ve long had a soft spot for the original, squat, chunky, 3.4 sedan and this drive in perhaps the ultimate period-modified example turned affection into infatuation. What a superb package the car is! Compact, wickedly handsome, beautifully furnished in leather and veneers, extremely comfortable, and quick.
Very quick.
... beautifully furnished in leather and veneers...
At the time it created a class of its own, really: the luxury sports saloon.
Without it and its Mk 2 evolution, I don’t think Jaguar would have survived much into the 1960s.
Paul Skilleter
You can see some more photos, stills and watch a selection of videos relative to 881 VDU HERE,
including one of this test drive by Paul.
The passenger compartment with original Tourist Trophy Garage badge which was owned by Mike
Nigel and Kelly, one of his daughters, providing a pretty picture with 881 VDU
One hot cat checked out by another...
... and by Norman Dewis, Jaguar's Chief Development Test Engineer at the time who drove with Mike and helped develop the Mk 1
Corridors of memories: one Hawthorn fan has built up an extensive collection of memorabilia and photographs connected with Jaguar’s favourite son
Behind the wheel with Nigel is an experience...
The radiator blind chain pull hand control that Mike had fitted to the car by Roy Monk a few weeks before his death. This may likely be the source of confusion over the car having a hand throttle control...
.... and the blind it controlled
Please see our page on the Radiator Blind for more information on this.
A view of the car from the rear offside. Note the body colour wheel spokes - Mike had an unpainted set as well
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