The D-Type that went Down Under
This is the seventh customer D-Type ever built. When new it immediately found its way to Australia and into the ownership of Bib Stillwell, a future four-time consecutive winner of the open-wheel Australian Drivers’ Championship. Arriving in Melbourne in 1956, it was used extensively by Stillwell, setting numerous records at local circuits, including the Bathurst 500 and the Rob Roy Hill Climb, and it took an outright victory at the South Australia Trophy in Port Wakefield. After briefly being prepared for a run at a land-speed record, the XKD 520 returned to sports car racing, winning the Bathurst Road Racing Championship in 1956.
At the Moomba Tourist Trophy at Albert Park, it roared to a 2nd-place finish in March 1956. It also competed in the Australian Tourist Trophy at the same location in November, where the car finished 5th. Stillwell’s career in XKD 520 essentially concluded the following spring on 24 March 1957, when he took 3rd place at Albert Park.
A short time later, the car was purchased by AMPOL (the Australian Motorists Petrol Company) on behalf of Jack Davey, who was a regionally renowned wartime radio personality. It was entrusted to Bill Murray of Surfer’s Paradise and was prepared for the AMPOL-sponsored speed trials, but unfortunately, an accident during transport prevented the car’s participation. The D-Type was sold to enthusiast Frank Gardner, who rebuilt the still-capable race car and undertook a competition campaign of his own, taking 2nd place at Bathurst in 1958, 1st place at the Mount Druitt Hill Climb, and 3rd place at both of the Orange Racing Car Scratch Races (where he notably only lost to grand prix cars).
Over the years since, the D-Type passed through many different owners, with the most notable being Richard Attwood, then the future 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, who acquired it in 1967.
RM Sotheby's will be offering this 1955 Jaguar D-Type at their upcoming Paris auction held between on the 5th February. For more information on this and other vehicles at the sale, click on the link below. Photos: Tim Scott © Courtesy of RM Sotheby's.